The Wrong Wife

An Arranged Marriage Romance (Golden Knights, Book 1)

By: Maya Alden

Narrated by: Donnie Lansdale

Length: 8 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Can an arranged marriage become the real thing?

Declan Knight knows he's marrying the wrong woman—the uglier sister. Esme is shorter, less experienced, less ambitious...just less in every way than his ex-fiancée, who decided to dump him for a tech bro.

When the merger between her father's and Declan's company is at stake due to obscure company bylaws, Esme has no choice but to step in and marry the man who loves her sister.

Esme's sister, Viviane, is a beautiful, high-flying, wealthy lawyer. Declan is the CEO of a global tech company. They are a power couple. Esme is a social worker who doesn't understand the business world and doesn't care about stock portfolios. She wants to help people. And yet, Declan can't deny the chemistry between him and Esme. They have nothing in common, except he wants her like he's never wanted a woman.

As the days pass, Esme has to find a way to enjoy Declan both in and out of bed without falling in love with him. Because when he leaves, as he inevitably will, it will destroy her. Declan is falling in love with his wife despite himself, drawn to her by her goodness and big heart. But she won't let him close, confident he'll hurt her.

Will Declan be able to convince Esme he loves her? And will Esme finally learn to fight for what she wants?

©2023 Maya Alden Books (P)2023 Maya Alden Books

Great Story, Unfortunate Narrator

Quote:📖
She wasn’t a flake, I realized, no, she was a shadow who had put up walls around her to survive because people who were supposed to love her didn’t.

Thoughts: 💡
This story was enjoyable and if you’re reading it I would give it a solid 4.5 stars. However, if you plan to listen to it I highly suggest you listen to the sample first. (You might enjoy the narrator even though I didn’t.)
The story itself is very sweet and filled with all the angst you would imagine. The MCs are like oil and water at first. Declan is a very grumpy, angry man who was jilted at the altar and forced to marry someone he felt was inferior to his ex-fiance.
Esme is a victim determined to see the bright side of life and make the world better for the people around her. Her kindness and genuinity eventually win Declan over, but that doesn’t mean won her heart or her trust.
I loved the way Maya Alden portrayed the mindset of survivors. There wasn’t some easy fix and she did a great job explaining how a victim can be locked in a cycle without ever truly realizing that they are.

Writing Mechanics: ✍️
The plot was interesting and well thought out. The MCs and supporting characters had rich back stories and carefully, and entertainingly, explained backstories. I honestly enjoyed everything about this story except the narrator.

Audio:
The sound quality was clear and precise, but the narrator was not. I love smut, but every time he started talking I cringed. I think the goal was silver fox but that is not what was delivered. The accent and volume of the narration modulated in each chapter, not in relation to the story though, it just seemed like the narrator would just run out of steam. He also attempted to use accents but the accents would switch during the chapter for the same character. This didn’t seem to be in relation to dialogue or inner monologues, it just happened randomly. I generally hate giving bad reviews but this narration was rough and I felt it hurt the story when the book itself would be amazing.

Fun Bits:
⚜️ Soo Much Angst
⚜️ Beautiful Love Story
⚜️ Great Side Characters
⚜️ Interesting Plot
⚜️ Postive Mental Health Rep
⚜️ Diverse Cast of Characters
⚜️ Adept Portrayal Of Domestic Violence &
Survivors

Important Note:✨
This is an interconnected standalone with a full story and different couple in each book.

Stats:📊
Spice Scale: 2 🌶️🌶️/ 5
Character Dev: 5 💙💙💙💙💙/5
Narrator (M): 1 🎙️/5
Audio Quality: 3 🎧🎧🎧/5
Genre: Contemporary Romance📕
Tropes: Arranged Marriage, GrumpyX Sunshine, Forced Proximity, Opposites Attract📘
POV: Dual 👩‍❤️‍👨
CW: Domestic Violence ⚠️

One of my Favorites...

Maya Alden is one of my topmost and most favorite authors and this is coming from a romance avid reader/ listener, so it says something, I guess. I have read the story before, well, several times and it is amazing, captivating. The pain and love, the passion and understanding, the obstacles and yet the resolutions between Esme and Declan were surpassing.. Audiobook was a beautiful surprise and yes, it again did not disappoint. The narrator was excellent, and I felt my mind has got a read aloud voice. Everything was perfect and you would not like to miss this wonderful presentation. Thank you Maya and team for bringing more such joys.

I read the book and loved it, loved the series.

you really needed two narrators for this book and a different narrator. it was much better read.

Great Story, not great narration

Fantastic story. First time listening this author and I’m hooked and plan to read more of this series. Key word is read. The narration is terrible. There is no real distinction between male and female characters. Still worth the credit for the story but here’s hoping the next book does dual narration or chooses someone who can do better distinction between multiple characters.