The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne (with sound clip)

The Spymaster's Lady

A Month of Romance Audio Favorites Selection

Narrated by Kirsten Potter

Old favorite? That doesn’t quite capture what Joanna Bourne’s The Spymaster’s Lady is to me. Old+favorite makes me think of my broken-in pair of wedges. While the wedges are comfortable enough for a day on my feet, this audio performance by Kirsten Potter is to be savored and not merely borne (name pun intended).

To begin with, you have Joanna Bourne’s unforgettable characters, unexpected twists, tight plotting, and rich historical atmosphere. Then it’s narrated to you by a classically trained Shakespearean actor. It’s one of those experiences that made me love audiobooks!

Set in the Napoleonic Wars (1802), The Spymaster’s Lady is Annique Villiers, easily one of my favorite heroines. Annique is unique — innocent yet deadly, courageous yet pragmatic, resourceful, witty and of course beautiful. She’s been a French spy since childhood, raised by revolutionaries and like them, a true believer in the ideals of liberty and equality. When we meet Annique, she is in a French prison about to be tortured for a secret she carries: Napoleon’s detailed plans for an invasion of England.

Meanwhile British spymaster Robert Grey, the powerful Head of British Section, is on a mission to get those plans. He finds himself sharing a prison cell with Annique. Grey, his comrade Adrian, and Annique quickly form an uneasy alliance to escape their captors. Even as these corrupt villains pursue them into tight do-or-die spots between Paris and London, Annique and Grey discover soul mates —“the other half of the egg”— in each other. But they are Romeo and Juliet set in the spy game of France vs. England. Annique herself is faced with a tough choice, what to do with Napoleon’s plans. The delicious contrasts of loyalties, ethics vs. morals, intrigue balanced with adrenaline-filled action, betrayals, friendships and sweet romance line the road to Annique and Grey’s HEA.

And, Kirsten Potter delivers a perfectly nuanced performance of all these layers! She doesn’t over-dramatize an already full narrative. She totally gets the characters. Annique sounds sexy, as real and unique as Ms. Bourne wrote her, Grey her strong protective hero. All the secondary characters are distinct. Ms. Potter is the character in the dialogs, and also the well-paced narrator moving the story along.

But what pushed this into my must-re-listen pile is Ms. Potter’s handling of multiple accents. Annique is French, of course, and Grey British. Just to bowl you over, though, with Ms. Potter’s wicked crazy talent, she pulls off accented dialect on top of another. Really! There’s a scene when Grey, his crew, and Annique are on the road from Paris to the French coast. To escape detection by French gendarmes questioning their passage, they pretend to be German with heavy Bavarian accents. So Ms. Potter delivers Annique’s lines (in English) with a French accent overlaid just so with Bavarian dialect. Grey and Adrian’s distinct low voices are also German dialect-accented but still somehow British.

You can enjoy the audiobook of The Spymaster’s Lady without distinguishing the accent on top of accent. But it becomes an awesome experience when all that talent just comes together.

So, yes, I suppose The Spymaster’s Lady does count as an old favorite. Just like my favorite wedges that I couldn’t bear to lose, this audiobook is a must-listen experience.

 

Megan


Narration: A+

Book Content: A+

Steam Factor: Glad I had my ear buds in

Violence: Minimal, Fighting

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Penguin Audio

 

25 thoughts on “The Spymaster’s Lady by Joanna Bourne (with sound clip)

  1. How timely! I just borrowed The Spymaster’s Lady from my library’s e-media site.

    Thanks for the review.

    1. Yey! Let me know what you think, esp when you get to that accent on top of accent part. The first chapter is awesome, but I felt bowled over when I got to French Annique with German accent!

      1. I really loved the way she did the accents, totally blew me away! I think she did an excellent job. I’ve also listened to Kirsten do Maya Banks Scottish Highlander books and she did those very well too. She is very talented at a variety of accents.

  2. I listened to this only recently (it’s difficult to get hold of over here!) and loved it. Kirsten Potter does an amazing job, and I’m so excited that the other books are FINALLY coming to audio and that Tantor has secured Ms Potter’s services.

  3. Yes, I see Doyle & Maggie’s story to be released soon!!! I’m so glad publishers listen to its consumers sometimes.

    1. I didn’t know that! I will definitely look for more of Joanna Bourne’s books on audio, she has re-introduced me to historical romance after a several year absence. I’ve read all this series and would definitely look for them all on audio.

  4. I loved this audiobook! I was lucky enough that my library had it, and I listened to it a few months ago.

      1. My library actually has that book as a paperback copy, digital e-copy and audiobook copy. So I had read the book first, then I downloaded the audiobook and I really enjoyed it! I think what I like about audiobooks is that they force me to listen to all the details that I might skim over when I read and give me a new appreciation for the book. It’s quite common for me to read a book first, then listen to the audiobook after.

        1. Understand – I too heard so many more details than if I had just read the print (which I never did BTW). :)

          I wanted to share with others that the audiobook was available digitally at libraries and you confirmed that. Thanks!

  5. I am starting it on Monday…..it’s what I do on my two hour commute…….listening to audios on the bus keeps me in a good mood for when I get to work/home. It’s almost like a meditation…..one morning while I was listening to Archangel’s Legion I missed my stop….on a Rapid too…..so it was a longer commute than usual. Thank goodness for my Kindle!

    I’ll let you know!

  6. When I first started my Audible subscription, this was the third book I purchased. I had read the book but was completely sold on the audiobook by Lea’s enthusiastic recommendation. Time for a re-listen!

  7. I love feeling like I’m not alone in the universe thinking this is an audiobook worth listening and re-listening to! Thanks for all your comments.

  8. Wow! Three hours in: Captivity, forced seduction and Stockholm-syndrome…….well that is definitely not my thing.
    The narration is superb and Annique is a wonderful, complex heroine (if one likes a story where the heroine is constantly, brutalized), but what Grey does to her is despicable.
    I don’t buy the romance or a believable HEA for one minute, in fact I doubt I’ll finish listening.

    As I went back and read your review there is nothing mentioned about Annique’s captivity. I think that would have been worth mentioning……don’t ya think?

    1. Sorry you didn’t like it, fortunate that it was a library download :-) I’m not sure how far you got in the story, but she is a spy after all, I don’t think what happens is that surprising considering her circumstances and the era she is living in. She does a good job of taking care of herself in the book I thought. In fact it’s Annique’s resourcefulness in the situation that I particularly liked. To each his own!

    2. Mel – When I read this one in print, I had some of your thoughts and graded the book a B-.. When later, it was released in audio format, I recalled that it was a wildly popular historical romance and decided to try it again. I guess it was a case of being prepared for the things that happened to Annique (and knowing the ending) combined with Ms. Potter’s impressive narration that made this an ultimate A level audiobook.

      Thanks for pointing out the captivity issue though as other potential listeners have been warned. I’m sorry it isn’t working for you.

  9. Mel–I agree. I should have qualified that scenes/characters may be too intense for some readers without giving away spoilers. I’m somewhat of a “moody” reader/listener. When I want “background” reading/listening (e.g. commuting/falling asleep), I turn to nonfiction or light/fluffier historicals or contemporary titles, maybe some not-too-engaging suspense. “Spymasters Lady” is definitely not in this pile! I’d say it’s more in spirit of Jo Goodman Judith Ivory titles or Diana Gabaldon or older Mary Jo Putney etc …. and if you’ve read/listened to work by these authors, the atmosphere/setting and characters tend to be more complex and so I can’t enjoy it as background but be more engaged with it.

  10. I listened to quite a bit more, but my feelings remain the same. The walk from Dover to the arrival at Meeks St. and the twist oh.and. the. twist….

    Megan: I’m not quite sure what you are trying to say. As to the authors you mention I don’t seem to recall the heroes abusing the heroines like Grey does Annique in The Spymasters Lady. That is not something I care to ever read/listen to in a romance. Intensity has nothing to do with it!

    In Goodman’s Compass Club, Elizabeth, Sophie and especially India are abused by their family or caretakers not North, East or South. IIRC Jamie gave Claire a spanking in Outlander, hardly abusive, he was the one who was brutalized and not by Claire. In Mary Jo Putney’s Petals in the Storm and Jo Beverley’s An Arranged Marriage, both heroines are raped, but not by the heroes. All of those books were intense and with wonderful loving heroes. Now books like Anna Campbell’s Claiming the Courtesan (which I read) often use rape (or “forced seduction” as it is often referred to) these are books I would not knowingly read, because the subject matter is captivity and rape by the “hero” and not very romantic in my opinion. Have I made my point? I can easily say that the narrator was terrific despite my dislike of the subject matter and I would seek her out again in the future.

    People like what they like….it’s all good, but the review of The Spymaster’s Lady made it sound like a lark of a road trip where the hero and heroine try to evade French spies while falling madly in love. Well that’s true but not really the truth of it.

  11. Mel–I really AM sorry you don’t like the book, and it IS all good, totally.

    What I mean by “intense” is that it can inspire strong feelings–in this case, strong dislike. Would I consider Grey’s actions, were it done to ME, abusive? Yes, absolutely. And yes, I agree with you in that context it’s despicable and I wouldn’t want him for a life partner. But in the context of his setting and character, he’s great, with Annique especially. For me, I appreciate the dilemma of ethics vs morals Grey (and Annique too) is in. Like, Grey is this master spy, former army guy. He kills, sends people to die, has to be ruthless. His ethics– follow the rules to protect England (translation: effectively torture/abuse enemy spies for info), come up against his morals–right vs wrong. In the end his morals won out and he chose Annique. That’s simplistic, I know, or maybe too convoluted?? But in any case, that’s what I enjoyed about his character … But really, it’s Annique that shines and makes this a favorite for me.

    As for those other authors I mentioned, I was thinking of Goodman’s spy hero Sherry in”Season to be Sinful” … There’s a disturbing scene with Lily where he really hurts her while making love. I listed these authors as ones whose backlist have heroes who are very good at not explaining themselves, whose actions are really ruthless bordering on abusive. As the romance progresses his feelings for heroine slowly reveal his true character, change him perhaps, at the end deserving the heroine and her love.

    Hope that makes sense! I’m glad you gave it a good try, though. As you said, tastes differ.

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