The Duke of Ruin

Reluctant Regency Brides, Book 1

By: Claudia Stone

Narrated by: Duke and Duchess DeFoix

When Lord Greene wagers his daughter's hand in marriage in a card game, no one is less surprised the woman herself. The only thing that shocks Olive is that the man that he has gambled her away to is none other than the Duke of Ruin.

Rumors abound that the Sixth Duke of Everleigh callously murdered his late wife and killed her lover in a duel - and now Olive is to become his bride.

Ruan Ashford took one look at Olive Greene and knew that he had to have her in his bed. The beautiful, auburn-haired temptress will make a perfect Duchess; there's only one problem - his new wife despises him.

When a chance arises for Olive to disappear, she readily grabs hold of it, and soon, the Duke of Ruin is hunting the Cornish countryside for his runaway bride. When he finds her, can he convince her that he's not the dreadful villain the world thinks him to be and that his love for her is real?

©2017 Claudia Stone (P)2018 Claudia Stone

A playful romp!

Prim, proper and mysteriously seductive. This book's two narrators are wonderful and bring the story to life in a dynamic way. If you like British romance and intrigue you will love this book.

Review at half way.

I’m enjoying this story but am about to give it up. The female narrator yells her performance and it hurts my ears. The male narrator has a deep yummy sort of voice that I could listen to all day. I’m just not sure I can listen to the overly loud, exaggerated exclamation and ear piercing voice of the woman narrator. Nails on chalkboard should not be a style!

Great and suspenseful Regency Story!

This was my first Claudia Stone's book. I love Regency Romance. This one is a great story, well written, suspenseful, funny and fast-paced, with a beautiful HEA ending. The storyline is very interesting, filled with twists and turns. I like Olive because she's strong and she does what she could to find her way in her life. I love the Duke! He's an alpha man, protective, caring and with a soft heart. The two main characters fit so well together. I'm looking forward for the next book in the Series (Jane's Story).

Duke and Duchess DeFoix did a great job with the narration. Olive's voice is really good, Duke's voice is really pleasant to listen to. I received this free review copy audiobook at my request and I have voluntarily left this review.

* Review revised after a second listen

Should be re-named The Duke of Triumph

What made the experience of listening to The Duke of Ruin the most enjoyable?

What a wonderful surprise! Two voices for the price of one. The verbal play between the two readers is playful, sexy and dramatic. Loved it.

What other book might you compare The Duke of Ruin to and why?

This is my second book in the genre, but the same voice, so it made it a pleasure once again to listen to.

Any additional comments?

Having two characters read the voices makes it so much more enjoyable to listen to. Looking forward tot he next one!

Finally!

A book where a female narrator speaks for all the women and a male narrator speaks for all the men. This makes it far more enjoyable and much less jarring than a person trying to sound like the opposite sex.

Enjoyable listen despite overproduced narration

The male narrator was a joy to listen to, but the breathless overdone female was grating on my last nerve before the end of the book. Rather than let the story carry its own weight, the narrators added special effects (echoes of the male narrator’s voice for the chorus of men in the bar is an example) as well as acting out the verbal effects of the story - throat clearing, coughs, laughs, etc. This insertion of the narrators yanked me out of the otherwise entertaining story more than once. One star deducted for getting in the way of the story rather than letting me lose myself. Pity as the range of voices was really good when the duchess narrator wasn’t over emoting.

This was a new author for me and I gulped the story down over several days’ commuting. As an avid historical romance reader, I’m all too aware there are rabid purists out there. So let me mention the story is heavy on improbable action, stuffed with anachronisms in both speech and actions, and packed to the gills with swashbuckling. The one sparsely described sex scene is quite literally climactic between a married couple on their wedding night and won’t shock your great aunt Agatha, so it’s a pretty clean read/listen. I’d give it a PG-13.

This audiobook is good old-fashioned fun. If you’ve ever stayed up late to watch a black and white Errol Flynn movie, you’ll love this. If you enjoy spunky heroines who stand up to their men, this is for you. If you enjoy improbable plot mechanisms and don’t care because it moves the story forward, plonk down a credit and prepare to be entertained. I pulled a star for going so over the top that I got a little exhausted as the listener and wanted the pacing to give me a few more breaks in places. It gets a little breakneck at times.

In short, I had a good time. If you’re ready to get your swash buckled, this is a fun way to do it.

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

I had to finish it before I went to bed!

Would you listen to The Duke of Ruin again? Why?

Really enjoyed this! This isn't my usual genre; I listened to the audio-book based on a friend's recommendation. My plan was to listen while walking...but as the story progressed, I couldn't wait until my next walk... so... I had to finish it before I went to bed!

Who was your favorite character and why?

Ruin. His character was well developed.

What does Duke and Duchess DeFoix bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Character personalities! They brought the story alive!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Many!

Any additional comments?

I thoroughly enjoyed the plot. I would have liked less passion and more friendship between Olive and Ruin.

Fun clean romance

This was my favorite book of this series. The story of Olive and Ruan stole my heart from the first page. Both characters had character growth as the story went on and I liked how fierce and independent Olive is. The amazing narration Duke and Duchess DeFoix makes the already great story even better. I like how all the male voices are narrated by Duke DeFoix and all the female voices are narrated by Duchess DeFoix, no matter who's point of view we're seeing in that chapter.
Even though this is a series of stand-alones, I would recommend listening to the books in order, as each of them explain things about the main characters of later books that are not always shown in the rest of the series.

It Needs Heat

So not hot. I can take a great deal of tea drinking, but I have my limits. I can't take a huge amount of filler instead of important interactions.

Okay

I almost didn't listen to this because it was an odd start with the production mismatches in volume and narration style. But it didn't take long for those issues to balance out and for me to take an interest in what would happen next. It became an okay story with an interesting twist early on, though it starts with the eye-rolling trope of the overbearing, lustful duke who needs an heir and gambles for the woman he wants. It gets better once it becomes a story with a real plot and character development. I didn't care for the over exuberant, theatre-like tone of the female narrator who's good with characters but almost yells the storytelling bits. It was tiring, so I'll switch to Kindle if I want to finish the series. I wish they'd given the narrative parts to the male narrator, who I thought had a more pleasing performance. As an aside, if any producers are reading reviews, please note that we don't need to hear a narrator cough and then listen to the narrative tell us the character coughed. One or the other, please, to avoid the unnecessary redundancy.