The Kiss of a Stranger

By: Sarah M. Eden

Narrated by: Luone Ingram

Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins

Publisher's Summary

When Crispin, Lord Cavratt, thoroughly and scandalously kisses a serving woman in the garden of a country inn, he assumes the encounter will be of no consequence. But he couldn’t be more mistaken - the maid is not only a lady of birth, she’s the niece of a very large, exceptionally angry gentleman, who claims Crispin has compromised his niece beyond redemption. 

The dismayed young lord has no choice but to marry Miss Catherine Thorndale, who lacks both money and refinement and assumes all men are as vicious as her guardian uncle. Trapped between an unwanted marriage and a hasty annulment, which would leave his reputation tainted and Catherine’s utterly ruined, Crispin begins guiding his wife’s transformation from a socially petrified country girl to a lady of society. 

Their unfolding relationship reveals encouraging surprises for both of them, and privately, each of them wonders if theirs may become a true marriage of the heart. But their hopes are dashed when forces conspire to split asunder what fate has granted, and as a battle of wits escalates into a life-threatening confrontation, will it be possible for Crispin and Catherine to Live happily ever after? 

About the author 

Sarah M. Eden read her first Jane Austen novel in elementary school and has been an Austen addict ever since. Fascinated by the Regency era in English history, Eden became a regular in the Regency section of the reference department at her local library, painstakingly researching this extraordinary chapter in history. Eden is an award-winning author of short stories and was a Whitney Award Finalist for her novel Seeking Persephone (2008). You can visit her at www.sarahmeden.com.

©2019 Covenant Communications, Inc. (P)2019 Covenant Communications, Inc.

Narrator, narrator, narrator!!!!!

Who chooses the narrator? No author would choose to have their hard work on a well written Regency era London romance read in a AMERICAN accent? It brought this audio book from a four plus to barely a three!

Others in the series are infinitely better

I have read many other books in the Jonquil and Kielder series and I expected to like this one based on other reviews but I really did not. In fact, it was torture through the second half.

***the rest of the review contains spoilers***

The story starts promisingly (but improbably, since as a peer Crispin could probably have arranged another solution) with a kiss and a forced marriage between Crispin and Catherine, orchestrated by her abusive uncle. The couple starts to form a friendship based on Crispin’s kindness and it seems that the rest of the story will involve a series of entertaining misadventures as they fall in love. However, the love story stops progressing and the plot stagnates in the middle of the story. Catherine is left to face her uncle alone several times without Crispin putting an actual plan into place to protect her in case he is away from home. The supposedly reliable butler is repeatedly unable to bar her uncle from the premises. The uncle’s tyranny continues unchecked and drags through the plot. Through the end of the story, with the exception of one bout of fisticuffs, it is always left to others to protect Catherine from her uncle. The only bright light is that Catherine develops some ability to begin to stand up to her abuser. This is extremely frustrating because it is predictable and the events are repetitive (an almost literal “not again!”). At the same time, there is a complete lack of actual discussion between Crispin and Catherine about whether to continue the marriage or pursue an annulment. Each assumes what the other wants, repeatedly, without discussing particulars or plans. Instead of slowly untangling each other’s true desires, the exact same misunderstanding continues throughout. Each scene in the book seems to be a repeat of itself and the same emotions. There is no evolution at all. And then suddenly at the end there are declarations of love and everything ends happily.

I’m a sucker for historical romance novels and definitely get my money’s worth from my Audible Escape membership, but this book misses it’s mark. Don’t waste your time.

Frustrating

This is one of those stories that has you banging your head against the wall screaming "why don't they just talk to one another?!?" The excessive overlooking each other's obvious signs of interest in each other and assigning of baselessly negative motives and meanings to what each one did and said was equally frustrating.

Geico “Let’s hide behind the chainsaws” commercial

Normally I love Sarah Eden books, but this one seemed like it was trying to hard to add conflict that wasn’t realistic. It felt sometimes like a Geico’s ”Let’s hide behind the chainsaws” commercial - a bit ridiculous. I’ll try another book since I normally like her books and crossing my fingers the next one is a little more realistic.

Okay story...

A nobleman, who is pestered & taunted incessantly by a debutant, kisses a woman he mistakes for a servant, just to get back at the debutant. However, the woman turns out to be titled , who has been taken in by her uncle and treated abominably by him. When the uncle see he man kiss his niece, thinking to get rid of her, he demands that the nobleman marry her so she does not have a damaged reputation. This is a story of how the young, titled girl - who has been treated like a servant by her uncle, learns how to value herself. And also how the young nobleman learns to value her, too. Her evil uncle only returns towards the end of the book to torture the couple again.
I enjoyed the book, and the narration was good - but the book wasn't one of my favorites.

What a kiss

First of all I loved the story of two people and their love journey. I laughed a lot, felt sorrow and was on the edge of my seat.

one of my favorites

I love Sarah Eden and this is one of my favorites of hers🤗. The narrator did a nice job and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Cute read

Great story, loved the thought of a cynic falling in love with a soft spoken—but still strong—woman. Narrator did an amazing job at making each character sound unique enough to tell them apart.

The start to my favorite series

Just listened to the audiobook of this and enjoyed it once again. The narrator was very good at varying the voices for each character. I adore the Jonquil series of books but even though I'd read this book several times over the years, this was my first time with the audio version. My book review is below but I also recommend the audiobook.

**********************************************************************************************************

4.5 stars
I confess that I have read this series multiple times and I'm now rewriting my review. I love this series. I adore the characters in all the books and will be extremely sad to see the series end. (I have hopes that Ms. Eden will continue with the next generation). My only complaint about this book is that by the time we get 3/4's of the way through I begin to feel frustrated that the neither Catherine nor Crispin will admit their true feelings as they continue to misinterpret every interaction with the other. I feel like it goes on for just a little bit too long. I know it is part of the exciting climax but maybe the book should have been just a little bit shorter to cut out some of that repeated conflict before the climax? Still, I love the book.

Sex: a few kisses, some leering
Language: none
Violence: Physically and emotionally abusive uncle. Attempted murder by pistol ending with one being shot. Duel by fisticuffs.

Ok story

My biggest complaint was it didn’t feel authentic to the time period. That she didn’t realize that an annulment would be a scandal and impact her life boggles the mind. That a gentleman would use cant phrases with such high frequency was jarring. I also didn’t like that most of the story was driven by misunderstanding and striking out of fear of being hurt