Narrated by Susan Ericksen
Publisher’s blurb: She’s the matchmaker . . .
Lady Belinda Featherstone’s job is to guide American heiresses to matrimony, and away from men like Nicholas, Marquess of Trubridge. But the charming, disreputable marquess needs a wealthy bride, and he hires Belinda to help him find one. Her task seems easy: find that scoundrel the sort of wife he so richly deserves. But Nicholas’s hot, searing kiss soon proves her task will be anything but easy.
He’s the perfect match . . .
Nicholas plans to wed a rich, pretty young darling to restore his fortune, and he’s happy to pay a marriage broker to help him. But one taste of Belinda’s lips and Nicholas’s sensible scheme to marry for money goes awry, and he yearns to show his beautiful matchmaker he’s the perfect match . . . for her.
My take on the story: I volunteered for this review because I had enjoyed, in print, another book by this author, and wanted to read more from her. I’m conflicted now, because this story never really rose above mediocre for me. It wasn’t unique or interesting, although I expected it to be. It takes place roughly around the time that Downton Abbey fans will recognize as Cora Crawley’s debut – when American heiresses were coming to England and infusing some new cash into old titles. However, Ms. Guhrke couldn’t convince me that the dastardly villain – Nicholas’s father – had any real motivation for his character, and without that, it was just a cardboard, two-dimensional reason to make Nicholas seem a rake. Belinda’s reaction to Nicholas seeking a wife was way out of proportion to reality. Are we just to believe that because her first husband married her only for money, she’s a bitter, revengeful witch who would publish lies about him to warn young women away? And after all, wasn’t making financial and political matches a major part of the aristocracy’s approach to marriage?
Ms. Guhrke’s writing style was passable but the storytelling was lacking. She included a lot of scenes and dialogue that weren’t really relevant to the relationship between Nicholas and Belinda; having a young American heiress throw herself wholeheartedly at Nicholas in one scene and then be enamored of someone else in the next didn’t make sense to me. Again, it was another cardboard character, stuck in to provide conflict that felt false and forced.
My take on the narration: Susan Ericksen is one of those A-list narrators with a ton of experience that you just expect to love. And well, I didn’t. She’s good – don’t get me wrong – but I have to agree with Kaetrin who noticed her tendency to run her character voices together in A Woman Entangled by Cecilia Grant. Even though Belinda was American and female, and Nicholas British and male, there were several dialogue scenes between them where I wasn’t sure who was talking. Nicholas’s voice was often pitched higher, and Belinda’s lower, and I was just as often confused. Ericksen’s acting chops are good, and in general her delivery was also good. Just not great.
Melinda
Narration: B-
Book Content: C
Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in
Violence: none
Genre: Historical Romance
Publisher: Harper Audio
When the Marquess Met His Match was provided to AudioGals for review by Harper Audio.
