The Heir

Windham Series, Book 1

De: Grace Burrowes

Narrado por: James Langton

Gayle Windham, earl of Westhaven, is the first legitimate son and heir to the duke of Moreland. To escape his father's inexorable pressure to marry, he decides to spend the summer at his townhouse in London, where he finds himself intrigued by the secretive ways of his beautiful housekeeper.

Anna Seaton is a beautiful, talented, educated woman, which is why it is so puzzling to Gayle Windham that she works as his housekeeper. As the two draw closer and begin to lose their hearts to each other, Anna's secrets threaten to bring the earl's orderly life crashing down - and he doesn't know how he's going to protect her from the fallout.

©2010 Grace Burrowes (P)2016 Tantor

Reseñas de la Crítica

"Burrowes' outstanding debut is a witty, sensual, Regency romance featuring complex characters who ring true to the time period, leaving readers saying huzzah!" ( Booklist Starred Review)

Great Listen

Although this was Grace Burrowes's debut novel, it was unavailable in audio until now. Narrated like the rest of Grace's titles, James Langton does a fantastic job narrating - all 3 of the Windham brothers are easy to tell apart and the female voices are very well done. Anna Seaton finds herself as housekeeper to Gayle, the Earl of Westhaven during a very hot summer. In hiding with her sister, Anna finds herself wanting to trust Westhaven with her secrets as they start to fall in love. I loved this book in print, and the audio is even better. The thing I love most about Grace Burrowes titles is that there is an emotional depth to her titles that aren't found in many stories these days. It's not just the grand gestures and dramatic moments that make up her romances, but the little things in everyday life that help show the depth of feeling that Anna and Westhaven develop towards each other. Westhaven's brothers are interesting characters in their own right who will see their stories released in audio over the next couple of months. I hope the Windham girls' stories will also be released in audio in the near future. I will be pre-ordering St. Just's story as soon as it is available.

just 1 element

The glaring lack is the Earl not saying I love you at all throughout, even though he was aware. He should have been called on it by his brother, when he did not mention his love for her as one of the reasons he used while proposing. It stopped being cute and was just irritating. She deserved better.

Duplicate

Don’t get me wrong. I like the book OK. But, it was way too similar to the first book. Emma, the governess/baker falls in love with the Lord. Anna, the housekeeper (incognito lady) falls in love with the lord. Weak storyline. I probably won’t read her again.

Recommend

I thoroughly enjoyed this story. The characters felt more dimensional than in other similar stories.

I marked it down one star for the performance because the narrator tended to use whiny voice for our heroine.

Good story, annoying narrator

The narrator made the heroine, and many of the female characters, sound constantly whiney. The story was good, though somewhat predictable.

Meh

Story has potential. But some of the lines are so ridiculous I actually laughed out loud. I know it's a cozy romance, that's why I chose it. This Duke is supposed to be honorable, but all he wants to do is diddle his maid. And I do like the voice of the narrator, but his female voice is not good. So Meh.

Historical Romance with Promise

Overall, an enjoyable Regancy by an author with a lot of potential.
The characters were vividly drawn and their banter was entertaining and lively.
Discriptive period detail missed accuracy with minor distractions like calling biscuits cookies.
Without sacrificing anything from the story better editing could have kept the pace of the story from dragging towards the end. Looking forward to reading future efforts.

Lovely story…good male narration

My first time listening to both this author and narrator. I enjoyed both very much. I would highly recommend! I will be buying more of their stories.

It's Mostly What You'd Expect

I wanted to write this review to point out one thing that stood out for me about The Heir. Maybe it will help other readers decide, maybe not, but I think it's worth pointing out.

This is a historical romance novel so it's really everything that you'd expect - man and woman meet, man and woman begin to like each other, man and woman must consider class and propriety and so on. And we certainly know how it ends, right? I mean, it's a love story after all.

However, there is one thing that may seem small to some, but that certainly made a difference in how I connected with the book. In most contemporary and historical romance novels the male lead character has issues with commitment. They prefer to fool around with women who "know the score". God forbid feelings get involved. But Gayle Windham is not that man. As he begins to get to know the heroine, Anna Seaton, and realizes that he really has a genuine affection and respect for her he's ready to put a ring on it. It is Anna that is hesitant to take the leap. Again, that may seem small, but it made a difference to me.

Overall it's a good book. The narrator's attempts at female characters left a bit to be desired, but everything else was fine.

Happy Reading!

If I heard the word 'lemonade' one more time

I might have ripped my ears off. I really wanted to like this story, but it dragged on and on. It was too slow moving and not enough happened to keep my interest.

And the earl really, really likes lemonade.