A Fine Passion

By: Stephanie Laurens

Narrated by: Jill Tanner

Set in Regency England, Stephanie Laurens' New York Times best-selling Bastion Club series evokes a bygone era where romantic entanglements rule the day - and inflamed desires rule the night. In A Fine Passion, Jack, Baron Warnefleet, narrowly avoids marriage when he flees London for the refuge of his estate. But there waits Lady Clarice Altwood, whose beauty is impossible to ignore.©2005 Stephanie Laurens (P)2008 Recorded Books

Grimace, grimaced

Why, oh why do these words appear so often?
The narrator butchered them in a way it became too irritating. It almost killed the book.

horrible narration ruins great book

SL uses the word grimace umpteen dozen times in her books. the only reason I know this is because this narrator mispronounced it every single time. She also mispronounced Dalziel's name as well . she said it as Deal emphasizing the second syllable.
her voice was so pedantic, I had to listen at 1.55 speed just to get through it.
Other than that, I enjoyed the story.

Boud - I - KA

loved it but the mispronunciation of Boudica's name drove me nuts. Boud I Ka. love a strong woman.

I love all Stephnie Laurens books

I really enjoyed this book. She gave us a better understanding of Jack and who he is. I found it easy listening and set at a comfortable pace. Clarice was a wonderful character and hope to see more of her in the next few books.

A warrior finds his warrior queen

One of my favorite Laurens' romances. Jack returns home from war and finds Lady Clarice ensconced as doyenne of the village, filling the shoes he left empty while fighting Bonaparte. When scandal threatens her family, Jack and Lady Clarice go to London where Jack assists Clarice in defeating those threatening her family, and defeat a harpy while at it. Of course they fall in love, leading to the most romantically perfect proposal ever.

This book tries too hard

Full disclosure, I listened to this after the horrendous “Her Husband’s Harlot” narrated by Erin Mallon which had my ears bleeding!

That being said, this book was a major improvement for me for both the story and narration. I’m not sure if I’m more annoyed at SL for using the word “grimaced” as many times as she did or at the narrator for mispronouncing it the 120 times she read it!! 😫 While grating the over use of “grimace” didn’t completely ruin it for me. I appreciated Jill Tanner’s English accent and proper pronunciation of common words like ton (see Erin Mallon comment above).
“Anyhoo” the story is ok, though I don’t think there was nearly enough passion to match the title. It was lukewarm at best and not particularly believable. Her “rescue” of her uncle and then her brothers and how easily the past was forgiven had me rolling my eyes.

Seizing her chance at love

A wonderful story. She judged him before she knew what he had been doing for the past decade. He then kept getting miffed when everyone would come to her for advice. When she told everyone to go to him he realized everything she did was for the betterment of his people. As they grew closure he realized he wanted her for his wife. When she returned to her family after 7 yrs of banishment, they all realized her step mother has been manipulating everyone. Such a beautifully written story with a perfect ending.

Ok

Narrative alright but wish she would have pronounced the word 'grimace' correctly..very irritating hearing it incorrectly spoken especially as it appears quite often in the text!!

Great narration

Pay no attention to reviewers annoyed by what they think is mispronounced words. The narrator is British and is pronouncing words like many English. All the reviewers had to do was google “how to pronounce” grimace or Boadicea to learn she pronounced the words correctly. The story was excellent, going into several directions not predictable. Both main characters are mature so no silly misunderstandings.

I married a man like this one!

reread, bastion-club, traitor, dalziel, suspense, historical-novel

The men of the Bastion Club are second only to their erstwhile spy master.
I have read this series several times and still I am impressed with the imagination and skill that has gone into crafting this novel.
Jack Warnefleet was seriously concussed in the previous novel, the gets bowled over by the opinionated woman he meets upon coming across a near fatal carriage incident. Starts out with a bang and keeps moving along quickly.
Usual bouts of erotica (yes, the hormone spikes DO alleviate some nasty headaches. I know.).
Excellent read. If you haven't read it, you're missing out.
Jill Tanner does a good enough job, I just prefer that this series be done by a male voice.