Vixen in Velvet by Loretta Chase

From the Diary of Leonie Noirot: The perfect corset should invite its undoing . . .

Leonie is the youngest Noirot, of the dressmaking shop Maison Noirot, whose older sisters found their HEAs in the two previous books in the Dressmakers series. She is the business woman of the trio, and her mind is constantly on how keep Maison Noirot in the black. Now that her sisters are not as involved in the day-to-day running of it, she is overwhelmed with all the details – writing the gossip columns Sophy used to write, designing dresses as Marcelline did, while keeping the accounts. She attends an art exhibition for the purpose of attracting a new customer, the socially awkward Lady Gladys Fairfax, whom she intends to make over as her latest coup in the fashion business. At this event, she falls for two things: the Botticelli painting Venus and Mars, and its owner, the Roman godlike Simon Blair, Marquess of Lisburne.

Lisburne is similarly affected by Leonie and does what any modern 19th century buck would do when he learns of her mission: he bets the Botticelli that she cannot turn Gladys from the ugly duckling into the swan. His reward if she fails is two weeks in his company, attending only to him and not Maison Noirot.

Lisburne’s cousin Viscount Swanton is the poet women are swooning over, and his poetry readings and his affect on women in general drive about 2/3 of the plot. Lisburne takes care of Swanton, who is generally distracted by his poetic muse and is rarely aware of his surroundings, which initiates the slight suspense subplot in Vixen in Velvet.

When a review at AudioGals starts with “Narrated by Kate Reading“, you know you are in for a great audiobook experience. She’s truly a superb performer, with the perfect tone for both historical and contemporary romance. She has a whole armory of voices that she pulls out for the various characters – the almost unintelligible cant of the Noirot houseboy, the emotional poetry readings of Swanton, Gladys’ voice which Swanton becomes obsessed with, in addition to her very-well differentiated hero/heroine dialogue.

Because I am such a big fan of Loretta Chase in print, and have truly had high anticipation of finally having her work in audio, I am struggling with this review. The bottom line is, after the suspense plot wrapped up – well before the end of the story – I lost interest. Sure, there is chemistry at the beginning between Leonie and Lisburne. The scene at the British museum is a riveting opening, while the visit to the circus is enchanting, and the driving lesson in Lisburne’s vehicle classic Chase wit. But there are the usual plot devices – Leonie is a strong, independent woman who cannot afford to succumb to any dalliance with a member of the ton when she has a business to run (this was the plot of the first book, Silk is for Seduction). Having similar plots doesn’t mean the journey is the same, but after a while, I did not find it a unique, interesting take on the relationship between two people. About nine hours in, hours of enjoying Kate Reading’s performance of Loretta Chase’s writing, it slowly became mundane. Another lush description of 19th century fashion. It lacked the witty repartee, the funny stories of the Noirot/DeLucey families from the first book. I started finding the secondary characters of Swanton, Gladys, even Lisburne’s valet, more interesting than Leonie and Lisburne.

With Loretta Chase, however, even a book that starts to lose my interest before the end rates higher than many other books I read, because her writing is not just words on a page, it’s the art of true wordsmithing, which, when read by the masterful Kate Reading, is an enjoyment all its own. I think I’ll do a relisten of Lord of Scoundrels now.

Melinda

Narration: B+

Book Content: C+

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence: None

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Tantor Audio