A Wanton for All Seasons

Wantons of Waverton, Book 3

By: Christi Caldwell

Narrated by: Justine Eyre, Timothy Campbell

Love is more than a charade as USA Today bestselling author Christi Caldwell reunites two wounded hearts in a stirring novel about second chances, scandal, and defiant romance.

Annalee Spencer and Wayland Smith were uninhibited young lovers until the Peterloo Massacre set them on two different paths. Raised to the title of Baron of Darlington in recognition of his courage, Wayland is now a model of propriety and heroism. As for Annalee, the trauma of that tragic day in Manchester is ever present. To dull the pain, she lives only for pleasure. And she derives immense pleasure from co-leading the Mismatch Society, a league of scandalously independent women. Perhaps too scandalous...because of Annalee. To save the society, she must adopt a veneer of respectability. For that she needs the man who’s won the admiration of the ton.

Wayland may be conflicted, but he agrees to Annalee’s proposal, if only to atone for having brought his former beloved to Peterloo on that fateful day. Reunited under the pretense of a courtship, Wayland and Annalee find the feelings between them are becoming real. With their own futures at stake, it’s finally time to confront the past, to trust in each other again, and against the odds, to reclaim the love they once had.

©2021 Christi Caldwell Incorporated (P)2021 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Critic reviews

“Fans will enjoy seeing these former lovers come together once again.”—Library Journal

“Since it deals with the effects of PTSD, this, the third in the Wantons of Waverton series, is darker than most Regencies…Recommended.”—Historical Novels Review

Really good

This 3rd installment of this series was not to be undone, you understand why the FMC is so broken after Peter loo.. In cones the man she always loved and the fire ignites..

Narration

Tim Campbell is an excellent narrator. Switching between narrator’s blurs the story. It is difficult to jump back-and-forth between voices given to the characters by two separate narrators in one story. Stick with Timothy Campbell.

Great Story, but…

I liked the story, but I feel the need to speak to the narration. I don’t know why they chose to do male and female narrators for the Wantons series. Although I do value it for other romance series, Tim Campbell is so amazingly fantastic that he can carry all the female roles brilliantly on his own. Whenever the female narrator came in, it was more distracting than anything else. Justine Eyre is a good narrator on her own, but her female characters always sound just a bit too bubbly and her male characters just a bit too morose, and that didn’t work well for the emotionally charged and intimate scenes, nor did it blend well with Tim Campbell’s dramatic delivery. Additionally, their accents are different, and for me, that lent a sort of discontinuity to each character from chapter to chapter. If I had to partner Tim Campbell with a female narrator for a romance novel, I would suggest Emma Roya, from Wantons book 1. Their accents are more similar, and her inflections fit the drama in a way that was more complementary to Campbell’s. But again, TC is so good that he does not need a partner.

Female character

I couldn’t get into the female character. I found her unlikeable. I guess she was too modern in attitude in my taste. I made it through third chapter only which is rare for a Christi Caldwell story. Onward to the next. Christi Caldwell.