The Infidelity Clause

De: Lisa Oliver

Narrado por: Kevin Earlywine

What are you talking about? Marry another man?

Caspian, fourth son and yet still a Crown Prince of Gunkermal, knew he was a party to a marriage contract. Arranged marriages were common in his family, and he expected the contract would cement various trade or security agreements with another country. He just didn't realize the other party to his contract was a full-grown man, who stepped off his ship--and into Caspian's life--as if he owned it.

How much is this marriage worth to our king again?

Nikolas, Crown Prince and only heir of Westland, arrived in Gunkermal to fulfill his part of a marriage contract that was six months in the making. He was under no illusions about his prospective spouse. By all accounts, his intended was a womanizer, a layabout, and likely someone who would fuss if Nikolas should use a wrong fork at dinner. That's why Nikolas insisted their marriage contract have an infidelity clause. He figured his spouse would invoke what was known as the "piss-off" clause before Christmas and he'd be free.

It’s far better to marry someone whose weaknesses we’re already aware of.

One man went into his marriage contract blindly. The other thought he knew everything there was to know about his intended spouse. When circumstances suggested that neither man knew what was actually going on, was there a possibility the marriage could work after all? And what did a pirate captain have to do with anything at all?

The Infidelity Clause is a whimsical story that is the result of the author's muse taking a holiday. If you are a fan of MM arranged marriage stories, set in a land with a dash of magic, and a double dose of humor, you might enjoy this one. The main characters in this story are adults, so intimate situations are described. Please store your e-book content responsibly.

©2022 Lisa Oliver (P)2023 Lisa Oliver

Sweet, funny and emotionally charged. A wonderful read and listen. ❤️

I adore this story and Kevin Earlywine’s voice acting brought it to life so beautifully! It’s a favorite that I’ve listened to often.

Great Listen

Caspian and Nicholas are very different, their first impressions of each other is very different to who they are. I loved listening to this audio.

Ouch

First, I love this book. I would give 5 stars for all the feel goods to most of the books in this series. The third book drags for me, but then things bounce back in books 4 and 5--and anyway, there's a grouchy lizard in book 3, so I still reread it--so I'm quite happy with the series. It's not deep reading. It's low angst, clear good guys vs bad guys, pirates and kings and princes, "experienced butch guy meets virginal cinnamon roll twink through a contracted marriage" series. It's whatever kind of food you love for which you cannot stick to one serving.

I like to buy the audiobooks of books I've already read so I can enjoy them again while doing other things. I was very excited when this popped up.

But the reading is poor. The assumption with an audiobook is that it is professionally read, and while the narrator's voice is a nice one, his reading is a lot like when you're driving on a long distance trip and the person who doesn't get motion sick in a car offers to read a book aloud, only without the part where you really like that person. It's just a guy reading the book to you. Only, there's a problem with an accent.

One of the two MCs is given a softer voice with a suggestion of a vaguely Britsh accent applied very inconsistently. The other is given a stronger voice, which sometimes just sounds louder, and an American accent. Actually, almost everyone else gets an American accent. Minor characters, Arthur, his husband, and Imogene, get somewhat distinctive voices, but most characters don't.

If a book I want to hear does not have an audio version, I use Alexa's read aloud feature, which is like a less sophisticated virtual voice. "She" doesn't know the difference between content (the emotion) and content (e.g., the information in a textbook). She sometimes gives a line the wrong emotional reading because, well, reading requires a lot of intuition we take for granted. She doesn't give any character any accents, and there are absolutely no differences in character voices. She just reads the book as well as an unsophisticated AI can. Virtual voice is better than Alexa, but there are significant ethical issues there since I believe good narrators should be paid well, etc. My point is that Alexa's read aloud feature is never better than a real narrator and isn't in this case either.

So why did I give up at the 60% mark and switch to Alexa? The inconsistent application of the poor British accent in one of the main characters. I couldn't listen to it anymore. I just couldn't. The narrator can. not. pull off the accent, so that idea should have been scrapped. If you aren't familiar with this series, I highly recommend the Kindle books. They're a delight (see first paragraph). If poorly done accents for one of the main romantic leads aren't a problem for you, please enjoy this audiobook.