The Wicked Duke

The Wicked Trilogy, Book 3

By: Madeline Hunter

Narrated by: Lulu Russell

Third in the roguishly intriguing series by the New York Times best-selling author of Tall, Dark, and Wicked and His Wicked Reputation.

She appeals to his wicked inclinations, but he never expects she might snare his heart….

Suspected of his brother's murder, Lancelot Hemingford, Duke of Aylesbury, was forced to give up his hell-raising habits in London for the anonymity of quiet country living. So, when an opportunity arises to clear his name in exchange for proposing to the niece of a neighbor, he sees no choice but to accept. Plus, seducing the reluctant maiden will be a most intriguing challenge.

As Marianne Radley is dependent on her uncle, she must accept the Duke's marriage proposal at her family's request, despite her belief he is irredeemably wicked. But along with marrying him, she intends to sniff out the duke's unsavory secrets and expose them to the world: a plan that would be flawless were it not for one minor detail - even she, with all her determination, is not immune to the charms of a rakish duke.

©2016 Madeline Hunter (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Unbearable Narration

It would have been a good romance it not for the bizarre and grating narration. I will never listen to any audiobook ruined by Lulu Russell’s narration.

Have to comment on the narrator.

She made Lance sound like a pain sodden soul. I couldn’t hear his voice half the time because he spoke so deeply. I really enjoyed Mary Jane Wells from the first book in this series. Having made that comment, the rest of the characters were decent. But the main character needs to be heard and understood. Not sound like a person suffering from hemorrhoid

Great story

I’m always a sucker for historical romance. Love the family chemistry along with historical context.

Mixed feelings

The writer has interesting historical tidbits. The mystery of who killed the Duke’s brother was fairly seamless. The point is I thought this book, had I read it as a book instead of listening to it might have enjoyed it more.

The narrator had a beautiful voice, she can be a great reader, but when she was the Duke, her accent, her gruff voice turned him into a crotchety old man. All those love scenes were with a crotchety old man. I tried on occasion to imagine the words in my readers mind, where I would have turned him into a gorgeously voiced man in his thirties, but trying to override it was just too difficult. I’m not sure why so many female narrators add quavers and nasally upper crust accents to the heroes voice, other than possibly they disrespect the genre? They want to make the love scene’s or maybe the heroes ludicrous? It shouldn’t take that much to slightly lower the voice. Just a little. Not too much.

There are narrators who can read well the opposite sex. The ones who do it best don’t do high falsettos from men or from women the overly slow and gruff voices, to the point that the hero sounds doddering. A male hero voice might have a confident clip from a female narrator, a male narrator a slightly smoother or a faint softening. The point is not to turn voices into caricatures, causing listeners to cringe.

Nice sweet story of love and revenge

I likes the story. The slow burn of love. The narration had some to be desired. There were times I didn’t know who was talking. The voice in of Lance was so low, it was hard to hear