When Jessica comes to Paris to try and rescue her brother, Bertie, from Dain’s evil clutches, she is surprised to find herself viscerally attracted to him. So, when we meet him all grown up and being all about the debauchery, we are less inclined to judge him harshly. The first part of the book sets up the audience to feel empathy for the unloved child Dain was, the monster he saw himself to be (and still does). He is so delightfully besotted and so entirely out of his depth when it comes to the finer emotions.

She absolutely nails his gruff tones and his complete cluelessness when it comes to Jessica.

Reading deepens her voice further for Dain and adds a bit of husk. While she is a virgin, she is not innocent – thanks to her wonderful grandmother, the outrageous, wise, and sexually adventurous Genevieve.

She is a no-nonsense miss and no ingénue. Kate Reading has a lovely, kind of deepish, kind of strident voice which is perfect for Jessica. When I first read the book I didn’t get that subtext. In fact, when she is bantering with the Marquis of Dain at one point, they explicitly discuss this fact. As it happens, when they’re having this discussion there is a wonderful subtext which makes the conversation a kind of foreplay. She has little interest in marriage because she knows that legally speaking, it means her husband owns her. I adore her.įor a start, she is 27 – veritably on the shelf. Now, looking back on it from a position of far greater experience in the genre (although I am still a newbie compared to some of the people around the place), I can see where Jessica Trent is so very different from the everyday Regency heroine. I didn’t realise then how genre-busting and subversive it actually is. It regularly tops polls for favourite romance ever and it was one of the early books I read when I got back into romance a few years ago. Lord of Scoundrels is a classic in the romance genre. It is a perfect match between text and the narrator and I spent most of the listen in a kind of happy daze. When I found out that Kate Reading was narrating, I swear I heard angels sing. It was a great day in the audiobook section of Romancelandia when the announcement was made that Lord of Scoundrels was finally to be released in this format.

Lord of scoundrels by loretta chase