Narrated by Susan Duerden
This is the first in Garwood’s Crown’s Spies series and was published in 1988. It’s Regency-based, with hero Lyon, the Marquis of Lyonwood being the spy of the book. Heroine Christina “takes the ton by storm” according to the publisher’s blurb, with a mysterious secret. However, we the readers already know that she was raised by Dakota Indians after her mother was killed, because the prologue outlines how this came to pass. Her English mother was wed to the king of some small European country, a brute of a man whom she escaped by fleeing to “the colonies” (ahem, several years after they ceased being British colonies, I might add – otherwise, this heroine would have been in her dotage when she met Lyon).
The prologue about the Dakotas who find and raise Christina was a wonderful introduction to the story, and truly had me anticipating how she integrated back into British society. That part seemed to be the big secret – I only ever ascertained that they always planned to send her back to her people, and therefore there she went. Bits and pieces of that journey are revealed, but in truth, there were still big holes on the story when it ended that left me wondering.
When chapter two starts, post-prologue, Christina is living with her odious Aunt Patricia, attending ton parties, searching for a husband. Lyon is now a widower with his own secret; again the reader is privy to the “secret” that his wife cuckolded him and died in childbirth carrying his brother’s child and his brother died soon after.
Christina is a pure Garwood heroine, an irritating and infuriating mix of naïveté and bossiness that usually goes too far for me, pushing my personal buttons. She seeks to “instruct” her new husband, generally thinking about what he needs to do or know or say, so that we as readers know her mind, but not actually telling him. I find myself saying out loud to no one in particular, “JUST TELL HIM.” Christina lies – a lot, as in most of the time about most things. If I understood why she felt the need to lie – not little white lies, but complete, bare-faced falsehoods – maybe it would not be so difficult for me. However, I never understood her motivation – just knowing that she didn’t want to reveal her Dakota past wasn’t explanation enough. Why was she determined to get a British husband but never tell him the truth (about anything)? Was she planning to leave him and return to America and if so, why? And why, oh why, did she persist in believing Lyon only married her because she was a princess?? His actions and words told me otherwise, but she stubbornly clung to that. Grrrr.
Lyon also kept his past a secret, but he never really lied about it – he just told her he didn’t want to talk about it. Later in the story he determines that the issue Christina has is trust – well, duh, how can anyone trust HER? So, is it because she lies to everyone that she assumes everyone is also lying to her and therefore untrustworthy?
Ok, ok, that was my frustration with the story – they meet, Christina lies a lot, about everything, and so the tension and conflict is both their relationship and also her past – in the form of her despot father returning to get control of her inheritance from her maternal grandfather. Oh yeah, there is another story there, about Christina’s mother and odious Aunt Patricia and their controlling and wealthy father. And yet – I didn’t actually hate the plot, I just found it circuitous and unnecessarily frustrating.
Now let’s talk about the narration. Susan Duerden is a very talented narrator with a ton of experience. She’s done Garwood, Lisa Kleypas, Eloisa James, as well as other genres besides Romance. She differentiates well between genders, and well enough between characters of the same gender. She has a lot of character voices and wonderful, spot-on local British accents. On the left brain checklist, she has it all. Other audiobook listeners rate her higher than I do, however. I find she goes overboard with accents and characters where subtlety would have been appreciated. I think this is exacerbated with Garwood who tends to create Keystone-cop scenarios, with comic, over-the-top secondary characters anyway. And there is the whispering – I don’t know if Garwood just uses whispering more than any other author, but in addition to my talking to the characters, I find myself saying outloud, “DON’T WHISPER” over and over, and I’m not sure if I’m addressing Garwood or Duerden. I loathed being whispered to so much in this book! Not only is it difficult to hear while multitasking, say, riding in the car or doing chores, it’s danged annoying to listen to. Do other narrators whisper this much? I kept thinking she could just imply whispering without actually doing so. She also whispered when Garwood used “softly” and “soothingly” as descriptors. Waaaay too much whispering. Arg.
Interesting premise, check. Top notch narrator, check. Am I glad it’s finally OVER? Yesssss. However, I am going to try to correct for my personal bias against the abuse of whispering and aggressive character accents in my grade.
Melinda
Narration: B-
Book Content: B-
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence: Minimal, mostly in prologue
Genre: Historical romance
Publisher: Brilliance Audio
The Lion’s Lady was provided by Brilliance Audio to Audiogals for a review.
