A Risk Worth Taking by Laura Landon

Narrated by James Langton

I’ve listened to and read a couple of other books by Laura Landon and, although they weren’t dreadful, they weren’t anything to write home about either. I chose to listen to A Risk Worth Taking solely because I happen to like James Langton as a narrator. While he couldn’t transform what turned out to be a fairly run-of-the-mill book into an exciting page-turner, he did at least make the eight-plus hours of listening pleasant ones. The story is simple and undemanding but it’s also unoriginal and has been better executed elsewhere.

Griffin Blackmoor is an ex-soldier and intelligence officer whose wife and young son drowned in a storm at sea four years previously. Weighed down by guilt, Griff has lived a reclusive and aimless life since then and is determined never to experience that sort of loss ever again. Not only that, but because he blames himself for the tragedy, he has become convinced that anyone who gets close to him will be hurt as a result of their association with him.

When Griff’s best friend Freddie, the Marquess of Brentwood, is shot and killed, it only serves to reinforce Griff’s belief that he’s bad news. He is sure the bullet that killed Freddie was actually meant for him and the pain of his friend’s loss, together with the crushing weight of guilt, finally sends Griff over the edge and into taking refuge at the bottom of a bottle.

One of the things the author did well was her treatment of Griff’s alcoholism and his subsequent struggle to kick the habit and stay on the wagon. I’ve read many books where one of the characters has an addiction of some sort which is miraculously overcome with very little pain or effort, so kudos to Ms. Landon for not sugar-coating Griff’s problem and not being afraid to show him when he is inebriated and having trouble walking, seeing, or thinking straight.

Freddie’s last words had been a plea to take care of his sister, Annie, but given Griff’s preoccupation with drinking himself into an early grave, it’s some months before he remembers his friend’s request. Being an unmarried man, he cannot have a single lady residing, unchaperoned, under his roof, so he decides that the best thing for all concerned – and mostly himself – would be for Annie to take up residence with his brother and his wife, the Earl and Countess of Covington.

Lady Anne Carmichael and her young sister, Becky, have been left destitute by their brother’s death, as his estates (with one small exception) are entailed. The new Marquess is all sweetness and light, allowing the ladies the use of a cottage on the estate yet after only a short time, he tells them he needs the cottage for the new caretaker and the sisters will have to leave. There is an alternative but Annie refuses his proposal of marriage even though she has no idea where they will go.

Adam, Earl of Covington, agrees to take Annie in under his roof and to sponsor her for a Season, but there is a condition attached – Griff must stop drinking and sober up. Griff is angry and appalled at what he sees as an unreasonable demand because, of course, he can stop drinking any time he wants. He just doesn’t want to. But he knows he has no choice if he’s to honour his friend’s dying wishes.

Once Annie is settled and Griff makes good on his part of the bargain with his brother, he believes his obligation fulfilled and plans to remove himself from London. He’s finding himself drawn to Annie in a way he hadn’t wanted or anticipated and believes he has to get away from her for her own good.

For her part, Annie finds Griff very attractive but has no wish to become involved with a man who would put his next drink before her. She saw her parents’ marriage fall apart because of her father’s alcoholism and the last thing she wants is to find herself in similar straits to her mother.

Running alongside the romance is a secondary plotline concerning Griff’s conviction that someone is out to murder him. Even though others suggest that perhaps he’s barking up the wrong tree, Griff is convinced he’s the intended victim. After all, he was present when Freddie was killed, and when a runaway carriage threatened Annie’s life. I found it hard to believe that a supposedly intelligent man would so stubbornly refuse to consider any other possibilities but Griff is far too self-obsessed and preoccupied with his own grief and guilt as to be completely blinkered on the matter.

Ms. Landon did try to set up a “red-herring” guilty party, but the identity of the villain was obvious almost from the start, even though his motives were not fully explained until later.

The pacing of the story was uneven; the first and last third of the book worked fairly well but parts of the middle section dragged considerably. The characterisation of both principals lacked depth so that neither of them came off as especially engaging or likeable. Annie was a fairly stereotypical damsel-in-distress and Griffin was almost entirely defined by his guilt and self-pity. He had the potential to be a decent romantic hero but was so self-obsessed for most of the time that he never really developed into anything more. There is a sprinkling of romantic tension between the pair, but this is a squeaky clean romance that doesn’t go beyond the bedroom door so there’s no fun between the sheets to liven things up!

There was some incredibly cheesy dialogue which, to his credit, James Langton negotiated easily and he breathed life into the principal and secondary characters, rounding them out somewhat by virtue of his interpretations. Each character is appropriately voiced using a variety of range and the odd regional accent. The two female characters, Annie and Lady Covington, are easy to tell apart by virtue of the softness of tone employed for Annie and the very upper-class accent used for her ladyship. The villain of the piece sounds suitably malicious and smarmy and Griff’s old army companion is nicely gruff and down-to-earth. Mr Langton’s narration is well-paced and, although he has a habit of using a slight upward intonation at the end of sentences or phrases, it didn’t get in the way of the performance. I find his tone soothing and the slight huskiness to his voice very attractive but even a narrator of his calibre couldn’t rescue this lacklustre story.

Caz

Narration:  B+

Book Content:  C-

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in but fairly tame

Violence:  Minimal

Genre:  Historical Romance

Publisher:  Brilliance Audio

A Risk Worth Taking was provided to AudioGals for review by Brilliance Audio.