A Gentleman Undone

Blackshear Family Series, Book 2

By: Cecilia Grant

Narrated by: Susan Ericksen

Lydia Slaughter understands the games men play - both in and out of the bedroom. Not afraid to bend the rules to suit her needs, she fleeces Will Blackshear outright. The Waterloo hero had his own daring agenda for the gaming tables of London's gentlemen's clubs. But now he antes up for a wager of wits and desire with Lydia, the streetwise temptress who keeps him at arm's length.

A kept woman in desperate straits, Lydia has a sharp mind and a head for numbers. She gambles on the sly, hoping to win enough to claim her independence. An alliance with Will at the tables may be a winning proposition for them both. But the arrangement involves dicey odds with rising stakes, sweetened with unspoken promise of fleshly delights. And any sleight of hand could find their hearts betting on something neither can afford to risk: love.

©2012 Cecilia Grant (P)2012 Tantor

Critic reviews

"Luscious, erotic, and emotionally intense.... Cecilia Grant is a fresh, unforgettable voice in historical romance." (Madeline Hunter)

Finally!!!

Wow wow wow absolutely loved this book. Finally a book in this genre about two flawed/imperfect people that weren’t dukes or duchesses etc. Absolutely loved this book for so many reasons - especially the writing i.e. character development, period details and so on. Beautifully done. Looking forward to next in series and will be enjoying this again in the future.

Meh

Yeah, this wasn't my favorite. I love Susan Erikson and will listen to any book that's narrated by her. This is the first one I've sped up. It wasn't awful, it was just a lot of redundancy. The H & H just constantly carried on about why they couldn't be together until it was just overbearing. I did like the plot and the heart of the story, I just wish it had less conflict between the H & H. That's just something I'm no a fan of in a story, If you are, then this may be fabulous for you! The secondary characters were great and I love getting to revisit previous stories which this had a little bit of.

I paid $4.20 for this on sale and I won't return it. I definitely would NOT have been pleased had I spent a full credit on it, but I very very rarely spend a whole credit on anything.

Not your average bodice ripper

This book and Grant’s, Lady Awakened, are definitely a cut above the average romance, IMHO.
Well developed non-stereotypical characters, well narrated.

I Couldn't Finish it

I listened to 7 1/2 hours, in several attempts to finish it, but finally decided it was a waste of my time.

The first half consisted mainly of card playing -- 1 1/2 hours into the second half its still moving so s-l-o-w I don't have the patience to finish it. It was totally a waste of my time.

Although Susan Ericksen is a talented narrator, I cannot recommend the book.

Just Dumb

I really enjoyed the first book in this series but even Susan Ericksen could not make this book interesting.

Loved it

I love the dialogue ..its such an important part of the book. The story was great, characters richly developed. The story has a start, middle and a terrific ending....

Unusual

Typically, I am thrilled to discover an unusual audible romance - appreciating a breath of fresh air. A Gentleman Undone moves from pockets of fresh air via witty dialogue into inclement weather via progressively frequent thunderstorms of steamy sex. The sex scenes have purpose, other than satisfaction/climax, by moving both Lydia and Will into emotional awareness and toward acceptance and resolution of their individual isolation and pain. The “sex therapy,” and I never thought I’d say this, becomes a bit tiresome to the point that you just wish Lydia and Will would have an in-depth honest dialogue. Neither of their psychological traumas were catastrophic or unexpected given the circumstances, in fact I’m not sure I ever completely appreciated the cause of Lydia’s and the depth of her reaction.
Both characters finally do experience personal growth and self acceptance allowing them to trust each other and deepen their relationship. To say more about this would be a spoiler so I won’t.
Card games, gambling, and ways to beat the system can be fascinating, however there was not enough detail and well developed scenes to hold my interest in these areas; a missed opportunity for some excitement in the storyline. Lydia’s prodigious talent in developing strategies to win hand(s) and to beat the house was the storyline that propelled the plot and gave Lydia and Will a reason to continue their relationship as she teaches Will how to win at cards. This storyline was important but didn’t provide enough tension during the games to keep my interest.
The majority of the story was not complex, fraught with tension, or action driven. As a listener I was not on the edge of my seat anticipating how a conflict or situation would develop and resolve.
I appreciated the narrator’s exceptional ability to deliver detailed sex scenes after detailed sex scenes that were written to illustrate emotional growth and provide an epiphany or two giving characters new ways to see themselves in relation to their meaningful others.
I would recommend this audible book with the following reservations:
1. It is too long with too much extraneous information.
2. The story lacks action, other than sex, causing the story to loose momentum.
3. Initially the characters are under developed. The story suffers from this. The listener has little to buy into and no reason to invest in Lydia and Will’s relationship or their individual journeys.
On the other hand, if the listener is looking for a book that is not a typical light hearted romance but one that is a bit darker with an abundance of sex, and patches of witty dialogue delivered by an accomplished narrator this might be a good choice.

Altogether Perfect

I loved this! I was gradually getting into the story, the beginning was filled with detail. I this had been my first exposure to Cecilia Grant 's writing . I think she is brilliant in her style. The narrator has a strong voice she modulated it well and because of that energy and with the nature of the story she was the best to move the theme from start to end.
This is dark tale of love, honor and redemption there are sexual scenes but this is not light fluff piece, it cuts through the superficial to the truth.

Hurt so good

The writing--exquisite. The storyline--gripping. The characters--damaged but not destroyed. A Gentleman Undone is literary writing at its best. Cecilia Grant manages to avoid all of the canned gimmicks that so many formulaic romance novels resort to using, and the end result is a novel that is original, profound and poignant. I do enjoy novels that trend toward the darker side, though sometimes the darker they are, the less I'm convinced in the end that the characters can truly ever be happy (see Judith Ivory's Black Silk). Grant does dark well, but she knows how to convince the reader (through the aforementioned exquisite writing) that the characters can survive, heal, and eventually thrive together.

Because this is a romance novel, there is obviously going to be a sex scene or two, but what sets this romance (I'm loathe to even categorize this in the romance novel genre--it's that good!) apart from so many others is that each sex scene propels the story forward. Every sex scene is necessary to the story because it is part of the plot; none of them have the author-must-meet-their-sex-scene-quota feel. Miss a sex scene and you've missed a good bit of character development essential to your understanding of the plot. Oh, and the sex scenes are so good (what a paltry word!) they should be measured on the Richter scale.

I waited for this book for five months after reading A Lady Awakened (worth it, of course!), and it looks like I'll have to wait eight months for the next (A Woman Entangled). I don't mean to be pushy, Ms. Grant, but you really do need to write a bit faster.

Brilliant

I rarely review books but I have to say the Blackshear series is magnificent. I can understand and empathize with these female characters!