What a Devilish Duke Desires by Vicky Dreiling

What a Devilish DukeNarrated by Elizabeth Jasicki

Lucy Longmore is struggling to make ends meet for her and her grandmother. After her father’s death, they came to London for better opportunities, but plans aren’t working out like Lucy had hoped. Her circumstances change, however, on the day a handsome stranger rescues her from a thief.

Harry Norcliffe, new Duke of Granfield, is tired of the machinations of his mother and the sycophants that surround him. No one seems sorry for his uncle’s death, only glad that he is a duke. He doesn’t mind being a duke but it’s not the only thing he wants out of his life. He wants what his friends have – a married and contented life. When he saves a pretty young woman in the park, he realizes he has found exactly what he’s been looking for.

What a Devilish Duke Desires is a simple romance with uncomplicated characters or plot. Nothing terribly bad happens to the characters and everything is hearts and rainbows throughout the whole piece. It was as if I were watching a Disney movie. It’s not a bad formula but this book had the chance of exploring issues of romance and class and society but it chose the path of least resistance. I had hoped for something more complex and less predictable. As it is, I knew what would be at the end before I had reached the middle of the book and the characters weren’t going to struggle a lot with obstacles.

I made the mistake of listening to Elizabeth Jasicki’s performance in What a Devilish Duke Desires back to back with the previous novel in this series. I notice she has improved in certain areas – she is not drawing out her words nor is she making her female leads sound like drama queens. All of her female characters sound age and class appropriate. Each one is distinct and lively and easily followed in group conversations. Of course, this is not the case for her male voices. They all sound the same and make male group conversations a nightmare. Harry’s conversations with his best friends are ones I skimmed because I seriously had no idea who was speaking.

I want to reiterate Jasicki is not a terrible narrator (I have heard much worse) – just one who seems to have quirks with every production. While this does not enhance the book, it does make for a memorable listen. I can honestly say I remember each one of her performances and they do make the romances I read stand out.

In this case, there are two issues that stood out and made for an even more memorable performance – and lowered my rating. I hear her smacking of lips throughout the entire piece. And there is a microphone reverberation in the background, as if one breath is closer to the microphone than the others, making the sound pulse for a second. I thought it was my headphones but both of these issues are still present with speakers. It got old fast. Once I noticed it, it was un-ignorably obvious from then on.

 

Diana


Narration:  C+

Book Content:  C+

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence:  Minimal

Genre:  Historical Romance

Publisher:  Recorded Books

 

What a Devilish Duke Desires was provided to AudioGals by Recorded Books for review.

 

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