Great story, even better narrator

This is the third Cynster story I’ve listened to and have thoroughly enjoyed them all. The narrator does a fantastic job of making each character believable and distinct. Also his emphasis and expressive voice makes it a very easy listen. The story, of a rake and his extended family, is well written, and on the whole historical acceptable though the kind of behavior displayed by the heroine would never have been tolerated in the society in which this is set.

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Romance, mystery and a little to much sex

Good story, and great narrator, this author is very detailed on the love scenes and they do appear to last a chapter long, this won't be to ever listeners liking, and to be far if you don't like it, Stephanie Lauren's books aren't for you. I enjoy the story very much and can't wait to start the next one.

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Another great book, excellently narrated.

Where does A Rake's Vow rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I love the Cynster books and this audio version is up with the rest of Stephanie Lauren's books read by Simon Prebble.

What about Simon Prebble’s performance did you like?

He is brilliant at voices, be it a young lady, a frostly old colonel, a servant or whatever. Simon Prebble can make you believe there has to be more than one person speaking for the characters.

Any additional comments?

Simon Prebble's narrations are definitely the most enjoyable. It's a shame he didn't narrate all of Stephanie Lauren's books.

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Explicit scenes

This story was well written and I was hooked till the end. Unfortunately, again, too many lengthy, explicit intimate scenes which could have been alluded to without losing the plot.
I will definitely move on to Scandal’s story, nonetheless ,

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Great Listen

Read the first book in the series which was excellent. Listened to this, the second book, and it was great. Loved the narrator and all the different characters. The Bar Cynster comprises of a group of alpha male arrogant gentlemen who are related. These stories are about them and the ladies they meet in their life along with murders, thefts and mystery. This story had sexual tension, humour and an abundance of male testosterone. Enjoy.

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Spell binding

Excellent male narrator puts this tale into another class! His pacing and delivery ensure this mystery has the correct tone and air of wonder needed to ensure this author's words are delivered with full impact, to voice the MCs perfectly and not over-egg the plot. So refreshing to find no silly or frivolous in the female MC's character.

I have deliberately delved back in time to find pre-woke books, as new authors don't seem able to capture the zest and zing of language to express everything needed for a satisfying literary feast; lucky for me there is plenty currently on Audible to choose from.

The Sinister/Cynster/Devil/Lucifer connection is trite and one has to wonder why these unholy names are used. The old Germanic word "Vane" means worthless.

VERY ENJOYABLE

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The Story Was Too Long!

These tales all have a mystery attached to them. I find that the balance between the romance and the solution of the mystery is uneven and takes too long to tell.

In the meantime - with this particular narrative - all that the couple do is have sex! If this were a physical book, one would be flicking through the pages to bypass it, as it is, with the audiobook, one has to wade through it.

This makes the story take too long to finish and one loses interest!

As for the mystery, I believe that one knows who the perpetrator is, very early on. One just doesn’t know the motive (& it just peters out - quite lame really).

I am, however, committed to this series. I intend to go through all of the six cousins. At the moment this title is in the Audio Plus catalogue and is free for members, so I would certainly recommend listening to it.

Both of the main characters are well written, so this was an enjoyable read.

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Utterly terrible / ridiculous sex scenes

The story line is even more obvious than usual, with historical inaccuracies and simply unbelievable events abounding:
leaving the hero and heroine alone in a room with closed door? not enquiring about their whereabouts when they are trapped for hours alone in a hay barn during a heavy thunderstorm? not having tons of hay in their clothes and hair after hours of sex in the hay barn? The heroine conveniently never wearing a corset?

But the worst are the ridiculous sex scenes. The hero’s face always hardens, his eyes –a steely grey – are glittering dangerously, and he prowls like a predator (truly!), continually lifting the heroine’s face up ... Then, his hard fingers usually massage (ouch!) the heroine’s breasts, which are each time swelling (!) due to this treatment, and this several times in a row, so by the end
cow’s udders probably can’t compare.

The narrator is magnifently matched to this stupid story, his gruff tones and hyper-excited reading of the sex scenes a painful unmasking.

My English simply isn’t up to describing just how bad this book really us. Anyone with a functioning brain: stay well away.

This is the first book I am returning, having about 100 in my library. Totally isleading reviews.

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