Narrated by Elizabeth Wiley
The Greatest Lover Ever
Georgina Black and Marcus Beckenham, the Earl of Beckenham, always knew that their families intended for them to wed. As neighbors, they grew up together and, once Georgina turned eighteen, they become betrothed. But when Pearce, a man with his own agenda, claims to have compromised Georgina and presents Beckenham with a lock of her hair, Beckenham feels honor bound to defend Georgina in a duel. Headstrong and willful Georgina, determined to stop the duel, issues Beckenham an ultimatum. While the duel never takes place, it effectively ends their engagement.
Six years later, Georgina’s sister, Violet, is ready to be introduced to society to find her own husband. While Georgina is determined to remain unmarried, she finds herself resolute to attend social functions with Violet in order to protect her. Beckenham, in turn, has decided that it’s finally time for him to forget his prior engagement debacle and choose a wife.
Georgina and Beckenham’s attraction for one another is still there and has now reached a more adult height but, just as you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, Beckenham’s pride and Georgina’s willfulness continue to wage a battle of monumental proportions. Add in further complications introduced by Violet being designated as a potential match for Beckenham and Pearce’s reemergence into society, and you have a mix that continues to conspire against Georgina’s and Beckenham’s match.
I have to admit that it took me a long stretch to get into this book. The beginning is definitely overly drawn out and contains several scenes where the heroine consistently rejects the hero. I was left questioning how this couple could ever fall in love. Their feelings for one another just seemed so tediously wrapped up in any number of other matters, except those pertaining to the heart, and there appeared to be a lot of loose ends that I could never envision tying to the plot of this story. However, I have to give it to Christina Brooke – in the end she makes it all work and even manages to add in a little intrigue and mystery.
Unfortunately, the narration is even trickier to review. Elizabeth Wiley is, without a doubt, a talented narrator. Her skill in producing different intonations, pitches, and accents is clearly superb. I would never have guessed that it was the same person producing the voices for a number of the characters had I not known that she was the sole narrator. She also does a good job of communicating emotion even if, at times, it came across as a little over dramatic. Then again she had to play the roles she was given. In a similar vein, a few of the female roles (including Violet’s and her mother’s) were somewhat high in pitch, even if arguably within character, and therefore drew me out of the performance at times.
Throughout my entire listen, I could hear breathing in between phrases. While a few of the characters had a breathless quality to them, this effect unfortunately went above and beyond that, and I could distinctly hear audible gasps for air in nearly every passage. Without this flaw, this could have been a smoother and more enjoyable listen for me.
With a little more editing in both the writing and narration, The Greatest Lover Ever could have been a great listen. All that said, listeners willing to utilize a little patience, will be gratified with an otherwise well-written and thought out plot structure and, with the exception of the noted weaknesses, a generally good narration.
BJ
Narration: C+
Book Content: B-
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence: Minimal
Genre: British Historical Romance
Publisher: Tantor Audio
The Greatest Lover Ever was provided to AudioGals for review by Tantor Audio.
