Rosalind: A Regency Romance

Bachelor Brides, Book 1

By: Jenny Hambly

Narrated by: Helen Taylor

He is determined to avoid marriage, she to despise men....

London 1818: Destitute, disillusioned, and desperate, Lady Rosalind Marlowe sets the tongues of Regency London wagging when she becomes the "Mayfair Thief". Targeting only those who had won large sums of money from her father, bleeding him dry and causing him to take his own life, she decides to teach them a lesson. She takes something valuable from each, leaving her calling card with a bible quote behind. On her last outing, she is caught red-handed.

Bored, restless, and guilt-ridden over the death of his own father and with his accusations of him being a selfish whelp still ringing in his ears, Lord Atherton heads off a Bow Street runner who is pursuing Rosalind. In an altruistic act, he engages her to be a companion to his mother, leading her to believe he is making amends for his father’s actions. Unaware that he has become the target of enmity from a desperate gambler from whom he has won a large sum of money, they are thrown into a series of increasingly dangerous situations.

Even as events conspire to draw them closer together, Rosalind discovers she has been hired under false pretenses. Will they manage to overcome both pride and prejudice to finally find happiness, or will an unexpected letter from a solicitor drive a final wedge between them?

©2018 Jennifer A. Hambly (P)2019 Jennifer A. Hambly

Wonderful Story

I fell in love with the characters and their interactions. Nothing makes for a better story than to listen to what seems like real conversations.

The narrator has done an exceptional job with the voices of everyone in this story.

I received this audible free at my request. This is my honest review

Is Georgette Heyer here again?!

This book was highly enjoyable , both in story and in narration. Funny characters, reminescent of a Georgette Heyer novel and I think I've found the female equivalent narrator to Richard Armitage. Most female narrators are too shrill. This lady has a beautiful voice that never impedes the story, but serves it very well and keeps the interest to the last word. Thank you.

Good

Nice story. It loses some momentum during the house party, but there are some character insights that redeem it. Despite having a western-style cover, this is a good regency tale that is excellently narrated.

I liked this book! The narration was okay....

I have to begin with the narration. This narrator was okay with both the male and female voices, although a few times she narrated incorrectly, for example the narrator would say a line by a man and use her female voice! Or she would say a line in a peppy voice when the sentence ended with something like "she said drearily". And here now is my pet peeve with ALL narrators.......
I detest hearing them swallow on the microphone! I understand that narrators have to swallow now and then, but they should pause and turn their throats away from the microphone so that listeners don't have to hear them swallow!!! Ugh!!! It's so gross!
The story in this book was very good and the characters were mainly believable.... although the villian should have been targeting Rosalind and not the Earl and his sister. It would have made more sense. But maybe the villian was put after the Earl's (George) sister, because she had a husband who could fight with the villian, whilst Rosalind was still single? Not sure, just a guess.
Overall, I think this book is worth a read. It's a story of characters who are opposite of what you might think they'd be - for example, when Rosalind is taken by The Earl, George, to be his mother's companion, instead of his mother being awful, she turns out to be quite friendly and nice! I especially like the scene when George asks Rosalind to marry "against his better judgement", which at first angers her - it comes to her that, as she's just finished reading the book by Jane Ausen, "Pride and Prejudice" -- that the first time Darcy proposed to Elizabeth he bumbled it by saying the same thing! She sees that she and the Earl are reinacting the exact same scene, and decides to stop it right then, and she DOES accept him, realizing he was just flustered!
Each day that Rosalind stays with the family, she realizes more and more how kind they are and accepting of her into the family.
I think this book was well written with a very good plot! I would highly receommend it!

Familiar story line

The story line is similar to so many others. There isn't enough variation to get someone excited about the book. The performance was well done; but the material prevents a truly exceptional performance.

This book was provided free of charge and this review was done voluntarily.

Regency romance

I usually like humour in my regency romance. This book does not have it but I did like the herione. She is an intellegent woman even if she made a silly mistake at the beginning. We see this intellegence without being told. I don't see a lot like this female (where we see them use their brain) in other historical romance.
Would recommend it to those who like clean romance with a female character who can stand on her own two feet if needed.

Heist turned into Romance

This was a fun spin on a Regency romance, it just starts as a jewelry heist with the main female character as the thief. The story was very entertaining and yes was a bit predictable, but aren't all romances? It was entertaining enough that I will listen again when I need something fluffy while I'm working on my projects. The narrator does a wonderful job with the acting and voices and really had a very pleasant voice to listen to. Overall a great book for those who like a good clean Regency romance.

I was given this free review copy audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

Loved it!

Regency romances are pretty special. This one stayed true to the genre and then some.

Rosalind is easily my favorite character so far this year. Her father kills himself and Rosalind sets her sights on wounding those who wronged him. She was wonderfully strong and loyal and just the right amount of fierceness that you rooted for her right away. She meets an unsuspecting Duke and gets drawn into the Duke's family and more drama.

I love, love, love that the author did not rely on angst and hand-wringing to propel the story. Rosalind was always direct and this book lover TOTALLY appreciated that.

I can't leave without a special nod to the narrator. A Regency romance narrator is a special breed and Taylor stands side-by-side with the best.

Loved this listen!!

Decent

This is a decent book. It was nice that the kindle version was part of kindle unlimited, too. In general the writing was good. It was lacking a little romantic tension and seemed a bit of an afterthought at the end. That being said, I liked the story... and I don’t want to be overly critical as I am a big Jane Austen fan and it’s very hard to find a true regency romance anywhere near her quality. I do enjoy books that leave more to the imagination and I’m a bit of a prude so that is even harder to find in a contemporary regency era book. So, if you’re bored, I’d say give it a whirl. It was easy to listen to while I did other things and I liked the narrator. Great English accent that wasn’t distracting. It added to the novel, for sure.

Very Predictable

Idk, the main characters were too perfect but yet always the victims. The bad guys were unbelievably bad. The only good Scottish person had to be part English and gay. I only kept listening because I wanted to know what happened to the legitimate heir so that was disappointing. Probably the worst part was the male characters came across as being made up by a dreamer. I can't believe any man responding or acting like any of the male characters.