A Dangerous Beauty by Sophia Nash

Narrated by Bianca Amato

A Dangerous Beauty is the first in Sophia Nash’s Widows Club series, that was originally published between 2007 and 2010. This audiobook is a reissue of a recording originally made in 2008.

Lady Rosamunde is the apple of her father’s eye. A long awaited daughter following the birth of four sons, she is bright, courageous and rather precocious, but is, when we meet her at fifteen, self-aware enough to realise those things. But, as is always the way with such romance heroines, her boisterous nature gets her into trouble when, a couple of years later, she is accused of seducing Lord Sumner, eldest son of the Duke of Helston and told in no uncertain terms that she’s got to marry him. Considering all she did was kiss him on the cheek, this is a bit much, but the stentorian duke all but calls her a whore and her own – supposedly doting – father says nothing in her defence. Knowing that Sumner is, by his own admission, in love with someone else, Rosamund, instead jumps into the arms of one Mr Alfred Baird – a man she’s never met before, mind you – and runs off with him to Gretna Green.

I confess that at this point, I hit ‘pause’ on my mp3 player, wondering whether I wanted to continue to listen to a story in which the heroine was capable of doing something that dumb.

But I persevered, mostly because I was in the middle of some chores – probably a pile of ironing – and wanted to listen to something. By the end of this chapter, we have learned that Rosamunde then endured eight years of misery with a husband whose attractive, attentive persona disappeared when her father cut her off, and that when he died, he left her with nothing.

By the first few minutes of listening to the next chapter, however, I was glad I’d kept listening, because from the moment the hero appeared, I was completely captivated by him.  Luc St. Aubyn, younger son of the Duke of Helston, was a decorated Naval officer before the deaths of his father and brother led to his inheriting the dukedom.  He is a hero very much in the mold of Heyer’s Damerel (from Venetia) – one of those devil-may-care, ennui-laden types who hides their true feelings beneath layers of sarcasm and a biting wit.

When we meet him, he is in discussion with his grandmother over a family wedding, and it’s immediately clear that he adores her and she him. Their dialogue is full of little digs and snark and they obviously love needling each other, but the affection between them is tangible. The dowager has invited a few extra ladies to the gathering a little early, all of whom are members of her ‘Widows Club’. We aren’t immediately informed as to what this club is or why it exists, but that does gradually become clear as the story progresses.

Needless to say, Rosamunde is one of those ladies, and while she is somewhat uncomfortable at the thought of staying at the Helston country seat given her past association with the family, she and her sister Sylvia have nowhere else to go, and she thinks that they will at least have a little time in which to regroup and decide what to do next.

While Luc normally avoids the widows his grandmother invites to stay, there is something about Rosamunde Baird that captures his interest. She’s quick witted, matches him quip for quip and is easily able to ascend to a level of sarcasm that matches his own. But there is something about her which indicates that here is a woman whose passion and spirit have been crushed – and he finds himself wanting to restore the fire he occasionally glimpses lighting in her eyes.

The relationship between Luc and Rosamunde is well-developed and proceeds at a sensible pace, but its real strength is in the brilliance of the dialogue and the witty verbal sparring between them. I have never read a book by this author before – and as I am always a goner for a hero with a smart mouth and a heroine who can keep up with him, I shall have to check out some of Ms. Nash’s other books. Luc is a really swoonworthy hero – all sardonic aloofness on the outside, but a truly caring, compassionate individual on the inside. Both he and Rosamunde – who, fortunately, ended up being a much more engaging heroine than I had originally anticipated – are carrying emotional scars from their pasts, and I loved hearing them opening up to one another and helping each other to come to terms with the things that happened to them.

My principal criticism of the story is with the author’s insertion of a Big Misunderstanding a few chapters from the end. It felt as though it was there simply to pad out the page count and in an attempt to create a bit of extra uncertainty and drama. Luc and Rosamunde have already been through more than their fair share of both of those things, and there was no need for anything extra.

Not only is this the first book I have read or listened to by this author, it’s also the first time I’ve heard Bianca Amato – and her performance here is so incredibly good that I’m asking myself why it’s taken so long for me to listen to her! Her pacing in both narrative and dialogue is excellent, and every single character is clearly differentiated so that there is never any confusion as to who is speaking, whether it be one of the widows, or any of the various friends and relations that appear throughout the course of the story. Her interpretation of the dowager is superb, expertly conveying the essence of the character by means of a sharpened tone but with an injection of warmth that suggests the affection that underlies her frequent exasperation. Ms. Amato has a pleasantly modulated voice in the contralto range so doesn’t need to drop the pitch greatly in order to portray the men, all of whom are just as clearly delineated as the women. Her portrayal of Luc is the real star-turn, though; she captures him and his sardonic personality so perfectly that it’s not at all difficult to get a picture of him in the mind’s eye. He sounds so masculine and sexy that it was easy to forget I was listening to a female narrator! The scenes in which Luc and Rosamunde trade witticisms are perfectly judged, as are the more deeply felt, emotional moments, which are performed with just the right amount of pathos. In fact, all the acting choices are spot on and my only criticism of Ms. Amato’s performance as a whole is of the very dodgy Scottish accent given to Luc’s steward, Mr. Brown.

A Dangerous Beauty turned out to be a very pleasant surprise, considering I had no prior experience with either the author or narrator. There are a few inconsistencies in the story; for instance, there is a twist near the end I didn’t see coming which is then somewhat glossed over; and there is a section in the middle during which a couple of key characters become seriously ill which doesn’t really seem to serve much of a purpose. But otherwise, it’s a thoroughly enjoyable love story with some nicely steamy love scenes and a hero to sigh over.

Caz

Narration: A

Book Content: B

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence Rating: None

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Harper Audio (originally Recorded Books)

A Dangerous Beauty was provided to AudioGals by Recorded Books for a review.