Duncan’s Bride by Linda Howard

Narrated by Lesa Lockford

Duncan’s Bride is the tale of an isolated Montana rancher searching for a wife – an interesting 1990’s twist on the mail order bride scenario. I mention 1990 (the original publication date) to help explain our overbearing hero. I’ll tell you upfront he’s an alpha ***hat as only Linda Howard can write them. Yep, Duncan is the hot hunk of husband material it’s fun to read about … but in real life? You’d spook his horse to see him tossed to the ground and deservedly trampled. :D

Narrator Lesa Lockford has an easy to-listen-to narrative voice telling the story with enough feeling to give you the big picture and keep your interest. Her method works well with early Linda Howard audios as they have a LOT of narrative – something I hadn’t realized until her older works started releasing in audio. The narrative, along with the characters’ inner thoughts, tells the story while actual conversation/interaction between the couple are highlights (to skip to).

Ms Lockford does an excellent job capturing the harsh man Duncan has become (thus the horse trampling!) after a greedy ex-wife left him nearly bankrupt. You can hear his doubt about the goodness of womankind in his “voice” after seven years of working his Montana ranch alone while nursing his hurts. Although he’s lost faith in women, he wants a family and heirs to inherit his remaining land. As he plans a marriage that will go his way this time around, he advertises for a wife in several newspapers.

Madelyn Patterson is a laid back self-assured woman looking for her place in the world. She’s been treading water since the death of her mother but she’s ready to move forward when she comes across an advertisement for a wife. She has an inborn curiosity that is piqued thus she dashes off a letter in response. Lesa Lockford gives Maddie a relaxed southern lilt to her voice with attitude to convey her confident yet easy-going personality perfectly.

Why Madelyn instantly falls for a man packing enough baggage for a world cruise or two remains a mystery outside of her mentioned curiosity and his hot body … but she does, so let’s roll with it…

I like Maddie and feel enough for the justifiably wary Reese to stick with their story despite his wounded bear approach to nearly every situation. Lesa Lockford does wounded bear extremely well – like “kick him in the shins” well! Maddie knows what she wants with Reese and is willing to be the water over his stone until he can see the future for them she envisions. But she is never a doormat – she’s independent, stubborn, and has a temper to rival Reese’s when pushed and again Lesa Lockford delivers in verbally portraying these aspects of Maddie’s personality.

Best of all, Maddie is funny, ie: the ongoing trivia one-upmanship – the chicken chase – the resulting chicken dinner! – the water dumping – her fascination with the café waitress’ rudeness – to mention a few scenes worthy of a chuckle. Alas, the funny is where Lesa Lockford let me down. You don’t hear any of the humor despite obvious cues along the lines of “he had to hide his grin”, “they choked on their laughter”, “he bent double laughing and she joined him”. The humor inserted throughout the written story made the book a keeper back in the day and I missed hearing it brought to life.

Still I enjoyed the listen – it is trademark Linda Howard! Sure, I have to read between the lines to see Reese’s actions speak louder than his words. It’s obvious he cares for Maddie from the start – he can’t fight it no matter how hard he tries – it’s his saving grace. His and Maddie’s battle of wills kept me listening down to a completely satisfying conclusion.

Brenda

Narration:  B

Book Content:  B

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence:  None

Genre:  Contemporary Romance

Publisher:  Dreamscape Audio

Duncan’s Bride was provided to AudioGals by Dreamscape Audio for review.