Narrated by Gildart Jackson
Although the full-length novels in Caroline Linden’s The Truth About the Duke series came out in audio book format a few years ago, the prequel novella, I Love the Earl, has only just been released. Novellas are a bit hit and miss for me in general, but I’m a big fan of Caroline Linden’s and was pleased to see that Gildart Jackson had returned to complete the series, so I snapped this up for review.
The Truth About the Duke series features the three sons of the powerful Duke of Durham and their search for the blackmailer who threatens to expose a bigamous marriage that will render them all illegitimate. In I Love the Earl, we meet Durham when he’s merely Francis de Lacey, a businessman living with his spinster sister, Margaret. In her youth, Margaret dreamed of love, marriage and children, but now aged thirty, she’s made peace with the fact that she’s destined to remain a spinster and keep house for her brother.
But their lives are forever changed when Francis receives the news that he’s inherited a dukedom – an immensely wealthy one – and knowing of Margaret’s desire for husband and family, settles an enormous dowry on her, in spite of her protests to the effect that all that is likely to do is attract men who will discard her as soon as they’ve got their hands on her money. Almost overnight, she is transformed from an on-the-shelf, drab spinster in whom no-one has ever taken much interest into a magnet for every fortune hunter in the country.
But Margaret is no naïve, simpering miss, and is determined that should she marry, it will be to someone who wants her for herself as much as for her fortune. The problem is going to be finding such a man.
Rhys Corwen, Earl of Dowling is quite possibly the most impoverished of all the titled young men currently seeking to marry a rich wife. He doesn’t want to marry for money, but it’s a last resort; he inherited his title when he was just ten years old, and years of mismanagement and poor investments by his guardian has left him practically destitute. He’s sold everything he can sell, right down to portraits and furnishings, and the loss of all his livestock in a flood has dashed all his hopes of turning things around and he’s now reduced to shopping for a wealthy bride. One of his friends shows him the list of eligible, rich ladies his mother made for him and encourages Rhys to meet some of them. Reluctantly, he does so and resigns himself to choosing a bland miss or one who will never let him forget what he owes to her –until he meets Margaret de Lacy at a ball and receives a thorough dressing down after asking her to dance. Her frankness and her spirit intrigue him immediately, and he decides she’s the woman for him.
From then on, Rhys makes a point of going to whichever engagements he knows Margaret will attend and at first, she wants nothing to do with him, believing him, like so many others, interested only in her money. But what the author does so very well is to show, right from the start, that yes, Rhys needs Margaret’s money, but he wants her for herself just as much, if not moreso. And soon, Margaret starts to believe him.
I Love the Earl is a charming novella featuring two likeable and appealing characters who communicate well and are honest with one another. I did find Margaret’s initial words to Rhys a little cruel considering she didn’t know him, but given she’s suddenly found herself being schmoozed, fawned over and lied to by almost every man she meets, it’s not surprising she’d have had enough and just snapped. She does redeem herself by apologising later, and then by being somewhat flustered by Rhys’ continuing attempts to get to know her. I liked that Ms. Linden takes the time to have Rhys and Margaret become friends before they embark on a romantic relationship; given the shorter page count of novellas, relationship development often falls by the wayside, but that certainly isn’t the case here.
Gildart Jackson has one of those voices that weakens the knees and I really wish he’d record more historical romance He delivers a good performance here, portraying Rhys as softly spoken and adding a slight Welsh lilt to his voice, and conveying Margaret’s innate good sense and warmth by means of a change of timbre and slight raise in pitch. On one occasion I felt he was a little bit “shouty” when reading her dialogue, but it was only once and didn’t impact on my overall enjoyment. The secondary characters are all clearly differentiated; Francis is gruff, Margaret’s companion is high-strung and a little nasally, and Rhys’ friend Viscount Cliveden sounds appropriately aristocratic. Mr. Jackson’s enunciation is clear and his pacing is just right.
I Love the Earl is a little gem of a listen, a well-narrated, sweet, uncomplicated romance featuring two immensely likeable leads – and the just under four hours running time was time well spent.
Caz
Buy I Love the Earl by Caroline Linden on Amazon
I liked this story very much. It was amusing, fast-paced, and drenchingly romantic. I’ve not read the rest of the series but it’s on my radar now. I didn’t like the narrator as much as Caz did, he was too affected in his manner of speech for my taste. But I could certainly listen to him again, and I will because I want to listen to the other books in the series.
It’s a good series – I think it might have been the first foray into romance for the narrator, and there are certainly some rough edges, but in general the performances are more than decent.
I absolutely adore this series. I read it first, but I think that what made me love it was Gildart Jackson’s narration. The voices and attitudes he selected for each of the three brothers were just right. His female voices were not as successful, but I can overlook that.