The Orchid Affair

By: Lauren Willig

Narrated by: Kate Reading

Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's Summary

"Pride and Prejudice lives on" (USA Today) in Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation series, which has been hailed for its addictive blend of history, romance, and adventure. In The Orchid Affair, Willig introduces her strongest heroine yet.

Laura Grey, a veteran governess, joins the Selwick Spy School expecting to find elaborate disguises and thrilling exploits in service to the spy known as the Pink Carnation. She hardly expects her first assignment to be serving as governess for the children of Andre Jaouen, right-hand man to Bonaparte's minister of police. Jaouen and his arch rival, Gaston Delaroche, are investigating a suspected Royalist plot to unseat Bonaparte, and Laura's mission is to report any suspicious findings.

At first, the job is as lively as Latin textbooks and knitting, but Laura begins to notice strange behavior from Jaouen: secret meetings and odd comings and goings. As Laura edges herself closer to her employer, she makes a shocking discovery and is surprised to learn that she has far more in common with Jaouen than she originally thought.

As their plots begin to unravel, Laura and Jaouen are forced on the run with the children, and with the help of the Pink Carnation, they escape to the countryside, traveling as husband and wife. But Delaroche will stop at nothing to take down his nemesis. With his men hot on their trail, can Laura and Jaouen seal the fate of Europe before it's too late?

©2010 Lauren Willig (P)2011 Penguin

Back in Paris!

After two installments that did not deal with the Pink Carnation and France, Lauren Willig brings her readers back to Paris with the Pink Carnation and the Silver Orchid, a graduate of the Selwick's spy school. The plot from the past is satisfying. And the Eloise's personal story takes on surprising turns. Fans of the Pink Carnation series will enjoy this.

Reminds me of The Scarlet Pimpernel :)

If you ever enjoyed The Scarlet Pimpernel books, you'll definitely enjoy The Orchid Affair. I really liked the way the story goes back and forth between contemporary and historic times--two stories in one. This is a very cleverly done novel. I highly recommend it!

My First meeting of the Pink Carnation

If you could sum up The Orchid Affair in three words, what would they be?

I truly enjoyed learning about the Pink Carnation and the back and forth from Modern Day to the past is smooth and well done. This is a enthralling story that grabs you and won't let you go. Slightly slow at the start but then gallops on to its ending. I found I had to just finish it because I couldn't wait to see how it all turned out.

Ok entry

The story was enough to keep me interested but there wasn't much mystery to it as there was in the first books in this series. The plot was fast paced and good but I was expecting more of a mystery. As always, Kate Reading was a fabulous narrator. She always does an excellant job. I'm looking forward to listening to the next book in the series.

Ehhh...I've read better

Would you try another book from Lauren Willig and/or Kate Reading?

Kate Reading yes, Lauren Willig, probably not for a while. I read The Mischief of the Mistletoe about a year ago and loved it. I thought this would have a similar feel. I like light humor and tongue and cheek banter between characters. This didn't have much of it.
I also seriously disliked the whole contemporary story line thrown in. It seemed totally out of place and I fast forwarded through most of it. Granted, I've not read/listned to any other of the Pink Carnation series. I would imagine the contemporary story line makes more sense to those who have read other books in the series.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I'm not sure yet. I usually go for the sale items.

What does Kate Reading bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

I'm not too picky about readers, but in a romance novel I much prefer a female reader. Kate Reading does an excellent job reading both male and female parts. I know some reviewers complained that they could not distinguish between the male voices, I didn't have that problem.

What character would you cut from The Orchid Affair?

I would cut out the contemporary store line. It seemed more of an interruption rather than an addition to the tale.

Good story

The continuing story of Miss Gray who played the piano for Henrietta in "The Mask of the Black Tulip". Such interesting characters lived at the time when Napoleon ruled France and they are so well integrated with the story. An amusement for me was that the drawings and paintings by Julie and M. Daubier are mostly real but done by other artists of that period. Kate. Reading's voice is perfectly suited to these stories and should have narrated all of the books.

Love the historical story...

1/2 way through the book but so far I’m loving the historical story and Kate Reading’s performance is wonderful as always. The modern story is getting a bit on my nerves though. Eloise is getting a bit obnoxious. Did you know she has a boyfriend? Don’t worry, she’ll tell you... constantly. Also her treatment of Colin’s sister is really starting to get irritating. Just seems incredibly insincere and kinda condescending towards her in my opinion... hopefully, the rest of the book will change my mind

Another great book by Lauren Willig!

I was very happy to have Kate Reading back as narrator!! She makes it very easy to follow the character changes. Interesting story, tense moments, and a happy ending. These are what make the books in this series so enjoyable for me. I am looking forward to the next book in this series!

Laura Willig is brilliant in this series

kate Reading as always is a great reader ...dont love her american accent but to be fair no one can bring a book to life as well as she does.
my very favorite of these books so far is the affair crimson Rose.

Loved it

I really like the series, but I think this one was my favorite. That being said, the current story with Collin and Elly is getting labored and uninteresting.