Heroine is an idiot

I really don't like books where the heroine is so stupid I can't understand why she is doing anything. She is just TSTL and regardless of what she is seeing around her, does not get smarter.
The heroine lets a young girl (Alice) keep sneaking off with a man, even though if she had said anything to the hero, this could have been avoided. The heroine has an assistant that gets pregnant and runs off, but the heroine doesn't think that this could happen to her, even if she is having unprotected sex with the hero. This point in the plot makes me cringe with the stupidity of the heroine.
So many actions of the heroine defy understanding and things keep coming up that don't make sense. I have approx. 5 hours left, but I really can't finish.....and I really hate not finishing a book.
I have read another Julia London book and thought this might be different. JL just does not understand how a woman thinks or acts. It is difficult to understand how a female writer knows nothing about women.....very strange!

13 people found this helpful

So bad it's almost good.

I had to listen to the entire novel the way people feel the need to watch a car accident.
The only thing Summerfield cared about, it seemed, was Phoebe's physical appearance. "You're so beautiful." "You look like an angel." "Your beauty takes my breath away. " etc.
And while he's condemning Frida's behavior, he's doing the very same thing. Add to that the repeated nonsense about his inability to control himself when he's around her. This nonsense that men have absolutely no control over their behaviour where women are concerned. It wasn't his fault... she was too beautiful.
I gave it 2 stars rather than 1 because it was momentarily distracting from the current dumpster fire the real world has been of late.

4 people found this helpful

Enthralled with the 3rd book in the series

After having read and listened to so many books it is hard to be truly captivated by “series”. I feel as the series continue, the stories lose their originality and just becomes a chore the author has to finish. I was truly surprised to find how original this story was and how much it differed from the first. I did skip the second book but now I am going to purchase that as well. Julia London has quickly become one of my favorite authors and I like her style of writing and her originality from one story to the next. Well worth the credit.

4 people found this helpful

Stupid Phoebe

Phoebe was very stupid and annoying. She started off strong but ended up weak, whining, and stupid.

2 people found this helpful

Good story, narrator average

This is my first Julia London novel, and it’s good but the narrator detracts from the story. Would’ve been a better experience with a more experienced narrator who didn’t talk as fast, try too hard, and had more variation with each character. Not that I could do better, and I will still listen to other Julia London novels, but fingers crossed they will be performed with better narrators…

1 person found this helpful

eh

I'm usually not go picky about the narration but this one was hard to get through.

1 person found this helpful

just ok

i did not care for the hero in this book. snobbish and one dimensional.

1 person found this helpful

Oh what a tangled web we weave.....

... when first we practice to deceive. Phoebe is an extremely talented seamstress and dress designer but she has been using a fake name in order to hide the fact that she is a Lady because a Lady should not be in trade. A dress store owner knows Phoebe's secret and blackmailed her into doing the work for a Viscount who wants to dress his sisters in the best style. Phoebe uses her fake name with the Viscount and is treated as a servant, But she is very beautiful and the Viscount is extremely attracted to her. The Viscount's sisters and brothers are absolute hellions without any social graces because the Viscount had been gone for the past 6 years and their father was unable to oversee them because he had a stroke. Phoebe is not treated well at all by the Viscount's family. The Viscount must marry and produce an heir but Phoebe as a seamstress is not eligible. The story of the star crossed lovers is very interesting but I found the ending to be rushed and rather anticlimactic, thus it lost a star with me.

1 person found this helpful

IMPOSSIBLE TO LISTEN TO!

I was so happy to get this title and looked so forward to sitting back, relaxing, and enjoying it... but, oy vey, what a horrid surprise! The reader, Anne Flosnik, has a terrible speech impediment that makes it absolutely impossible to listen to this audiobook! She lacks the fricatives. So (and I am laughing to tears as I write this), she pronounces "f," "v," "ph," and so on, "p"... and mind you, the main character's name is Phoebe. Goodness gracious, it's as hilarious as it is absurd that this woman should become an Audible reader(unless it's a defective robot?). One cannot follow the plot, because Ms. Flosnik's pronunciation is too distracting! "Poebe had a perpect pigur" = Phoebe had a perfect figure"
"A pipid pantasy" = "a vivid fantasy."
"Wistpool lap" = "wistful laugh"
"A portnight was hardly enup" = "a fortnight was hardly enough"
"All she had to opper" = "all she had to offer"
and on and on...
Also, she pronounces "town" as "tawn"...

I would recommend the author take action and demand a new reading of her book. I look forward to buying a new version read by someone else in the future.

Great and entertaining

I really enjoy the voice of the reader, the story kept you looking forward to the next chapter. The story line was good and loved the ending.