I wanted this to be over. It was tedious.

STORY BRIEF:
She has loved him from afar for several years. They’ve never talked. He enjoys socializing and has had many lovers. He needs to produce an heir and is jilted by two fiancés. Melisande sees this as her chance. She approaches him and offers marriage. He says yes. (I do not understand why he said yes.) She is shy, prim, and proper.

REVIEWER’S OPINION:
There’s no dialogue. There’s no relationship development. Their conversation is so boring. I could never understand how they could enjoy being together, converse, and fall in love. For most of the book their conversation is “Did you sleep well?” “Yes, thank you.” “Shall we have cook pack a lunch for us?” “Yes that would be good.” He asks her what her favorite food is. She replies that she has none. After a few days of this, he realizes he loves her. He calls her my lady wife and my heart. They both have secrets. His secret is that he still feels stress from fighting in the army causing him to sleep on the floor. Also he feels he doesn’t deserve happiness. Her secret is that she loves him. She tells herself it will be a disaster if he ever discovers this. This feels like a book about nothing.

There are several sex scenes that are ok but not special. One publisher’s summary was misleading. It stated “But to her chagrin, her husband pursues her, wooing her as if she were a paramour, not his wife.” I found the opposite to be true. For some reason Jasper is reluctant to have sex with Melisande. It’s like he doesn’t see her as a woman. So, she is the one who must initiate things - coming to him, undressing him, etc. One of the sex scenes toward the end was overly dramatic where he was demanding to know her secret (which was she loved him - but horrors - she didn’t dare to tell him that). This was the major relationship event.

Secondary stories involve Jasper talking to various men trying to discover who the traitor was. (See next paragraph.) For conflict, a few times outside bad guys came along to attack or cause stress.

This is book 2 in the Legend of the Four Soldiers series. There is a mystery that flows through all the books which I believe will be solved in book 4. There was a British traitor who caused some men to be taken prisoner and tortured seven years ago. Jasper spends a lot of time investigating this, but it’s not resolved in this book. Thus a somewhat disappointing cliffhanger feel.

UNRELATED FAIRY TALE:
In many of the author’s books (maybe all, I’m not sure) she has a short fairy tale unrelated to the main story that she divides into short paragraphs. She puts one paragraph at the beginning of each chapter of the book. In the physical books, I skipped those. In the audiobook I couldn’t skip them. I was annoyed at having to listen to them. They took me out of the story. They felt like TV commercial interruptions. They caused me “a little bit of stress” trying to remember what happened in the previous excerpt. I wish she wouldn’t do this.

NARRATOR:
The narrator Anne Flosnik does a fine job.

GENRE: historical romance.

7 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Hoyt has officially become my favorite!

Forget the first book in this series. This one is so much better. I never dreamed I would care about Jasper after the last book. But he's FANTASTIC and Melisande is even better. To be sure this book is shockingly "sensual". Not overly done, but I blushed during every love scene.
This time, the mystery of the soldiers is much more interesting. And you will be introduced to the AMAZING character for the next book. The hideously scarred Alistair of Scotland.

Glorious Elizabeth Hoyt!! I have read the next book and can ensure that one is completely perfect.

I eagerly await the next Hoyt book. But look forward to Desire a Devil, for now.

Highly recommended.

4 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

More Elizabeth Hoyt Audiobooks Please

This book was one of the best historical romances I have listened to in quite a while. Anne Flosnik is my very favorite reader, I would probably listen to her grocery list. I really wish the audiobooks would have been released in order. The characters are so intertwined, it's a shame the last book was released first.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

Great series bad narration

I only wish they had used Ashford Mcnab as in the maiden lane series. That would have made this series a perfect 5 star. Ann Flosnik sounds like a spitter and old woman. Really bad.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

narrator problem

narrator made both lead male and female sound too similar. I had hard time keeping track of who was talking

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Good stories!!

This is a pleasant surprise. This entire series has a tale of the Four Soldiers starting with the Prolgue and before each chapter. The personallity of the main male character is the story of the soldier being told. This is the 2nd book and I enjoyed both and can't wait to listen/read the next one. Love that she brings the others into the story. Anne Flosnik is one of my favorite narrators so I knew she would do the book justice.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Cute continuation...

This is a cute continuation to the first installment of the Legend of the Four Soldiers series. I like that the lead characters aren't the "perfect" physical specimens one usually finds in romantic novels. They were just ordinary people with an extraordinary passion. I also liked the fast-paced and witty dialogue. The narrator did a good job as well. Looking forward to the next book!

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Memorable

PTSD, 18th-century, romance-after-marriage, erotica, England

I read this many years ago but I remember it fondly. Not too many novels of any kind are concerned with the PTSD incurred in the French and Indian Wars in the American colonies. This one is one of four involving British men and is unusually done.
One aspect of the author is the weaving of a folk tale into the novel.
Narrator Anne Flosnik is at her usual dramatic best.

Slogged through this one

It could be my mood, but I didn't enjoy this one. Or, maybe I should have read it on ebook or paperback. The voice talent has a good Scottish accent but her reading isn't as good as some I’ve heard. The sex scenes were particularly awful.

I didn't like Melisande and Jasper. Melisande is cold and boring. I didn't like Jasper’s handling of a dog, his attitude towards Mrs. Fitzwilliam, and his casual dismissal of all the women he discarded. Bit hypocritical with his treatment of Melisande’s former lover.

I didn't like Mouse and I love dogs. I also found Laughing Jack distracting and thought it cut the flow of the story. As for the war traitor, I just want it solved already.

Having said all that, I’ll still read To Beguile a Beast but maybe on ebook this time.

Love the female lead character

This is a good story. Jasper, Lord Vail, is back from being captured in the colonies by the French and Indians. The survivors who were finally ransomed by the British were terribly tortured. Their location had been revealed to the enemy by a British traitor. All the survivors are suffering from injuries and PSTD. Jasper is determined to find the traitor and has been searching since he returned to England. Since he returned, Jasper has had two failed engagements. The last was when he was dumped at the altar. The female lead is Lady Millicient and I know I am misspelling that so I will call her Milly. She is a spinster at age 28 and has been in love with Jasper for the past six years. When Jasper was dumped at the altar, Milly boldly asks him to marry her. For various reasons, Jasper agrees. Now the story is about finding the traitor and growing the marriage. It is very interesting. I really like the characters - especially the little dog named Sir Mouse. He may be my favorite character. The servants Sarah and Pinch are also great characters.

During the course of the story Milly and Jasper go to Scotland to visit another survivor of the capture. He is Sir Allistar and he lives in a cold neglected castle with only one surly man servant. One side of his face is horribly scarred and his eye is missing as a result of the torture he endured. I believe Sir Allistar will be the male lead in the next book of the series along with a female character introduced in this book. I am going to read it because I really like the two characters.

The narrator was good, but I thought her performance as Milly was a little weak. It was not weak enough to turn me off from the performance. The main turnoff for me was the torture. The author did not go on too long, or get as gory as she could have, but it was still disturbing to me. I am extremely upset by torture and cannot stand to hear about it. I fast forward when I get to those parts.