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  • Romancing the Rough Diamond

  • By: Clare London
  • Narrated by: Joel Leslie
  • Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins
  • 4.2 out of 5 stars (18 ratings)
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Romancing the Rough Diamond

By: Clare London
Narrated by: Joel Leslie
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Summary

Where trust is the most precious jewel of all.

When Mayfair jewellers Starsmith Stones wins the commission for a British gay royal wedding, CEO Joel Sterling is recommended to the brilliant young designer Matt Barth - only to discover Matt’s the man with whom he shared an anonymous and passionate kiss on the celebration night.

Disenchanted with the commercial jewellery industry, Matt nowadays prefers muddy archaeological digs to designing. Openly resentful of Starsmith’s hostile takeover of his family’s firm, he is horrified at the realization he’ll be working with the man who engineered that deal - but the opportunity to create something fabulous and unique for the royal couple is too tempting to refuse.

Working as a team reignites the spark between Joel and Matt. But when betrayal from within Starsmith threatens both the project and Joel’s confidence, will they have built enough trust to keep their newfound love as precious as the royal jewels?

This story offers you a gruff designer who prefers digging for treasure, a smooth CEO who’s too used to his own company, the glamorous Mayfair world of expensive jewellery, enemies to lovers, a gay royal couple who are fond of mischief, and an embarrassing accident on the Buckingham Palace railings!

Note: This is the same book as previously published by Dreamspinner Press, but with a new cover, and now published by the author.

©2019 Jocular Press (P)2022 Jocular Press

What listeners say about Romancing the Rough Diamond

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars
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    1 out of 5 stars

Did not finish

Shallow characters, who we are told like each other but I am not convinced. I read it for 50%. We got the 'kiss before becoming colleagues' cliché. The 'posh man on the farm' cliché . The 'rough man at court' cliché.
And Joel Leslie's performance could not make it better. Maybe he was as bored as I was.

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2 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Another great story from this author/narrator comb

Clare London rarely disappoints and neither does Joel Leslie, as a combo I've not had anything less than a stellar experience.

This is a later book in the Romancing the... series but each book is standalone and there's no need to have read/listened to any of the others (except you should, especially Ugly Duckling, which is my favourite).

I love hard headed, stubborn Matt and his rekindled love of his profession. And his passion for history and family. And there's a pair of meddlesome princes who are determined to play fairy godmother.

It's a very British rom-com romance with an excellent performance.

Highly recommended

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
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Loved every second of this

Joel and Matt are the perfect romantic couple. They meet in a scene with a nod to Cinderella at the ball and from there this story is off and running. There is lots of interesting detail about the jewelry business and royal weddings, the secondary characters are a hoot, especially the royal couple and the business intrigue provides the perfect amount of angst. I can't think of a more perfect performer for this story than Joel Leslie. He gets all the deep emotions just right but also knows how to bring the champagne fizz to the lighter elements. A perfect blend of story and performer.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Jewels for the win!

Matt and Joel are industry enemies. Joel is the CEO of the company that overtook the business from Matt’s father. Now they have to work together for a special commission for a royal wedding. It starts a bit slow but when they finally accept their attraction and get together is awesome. It’s all about family, great coworkers and and royal newlyweds. I enjoyed the listen!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Matt + Joel = adorable

I’ve been reading a lot of paranormal romances recently and so was looking forward to something different. This book is that something different in all the good ways. Meet cute? Check. Mild conflict? Check. HEA? Absolutely.

Joel is a businessman who is responsible for nabbing the job of producing the jewellery and other assorted baubles for the upcoming nuptials of the first gay royal couple in British history. A real feather in his cap so to speak. That’s all well and good, but he needs the right designer. The solution? Matt. The problem? Minutes after they’d met, they’d locked lips. Not knowing who the other was, of course. The other problem? Matt blames Joel for the takeover of his family’s business and Joel blames Matt for mucking up the deal.

But the prestige of a royal wedding is on the line.

Now, I have to say that I loved the royal couple and I had hoped they might’ve had their own story. Just super sweet adorable and very much mischief makers. I loved the idea there could be a gay royal wedding. Hopefully in my lifetime…?

Anyway, I keep saying it’s a cute story – and it is. There are also some steamy scenes and a truly hilarious scene outside Buckingham Palace. And what is the difference between a palace and a castle? Had to think about that one.

Rounding out this delightful book is narrator Joel Leslie. He did a fabulous job and was perfect for this quirky book. Overall I enjoyed it and I’ll be going back and picking up the others.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
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So Much Fun, Wonderful Performance by M. Leslie

So much fun!

Clare London sure has a way with regular lads. She writes terrific salt of the earth type characters, and I've really enjoyed getting to know Matt and Joel.

This is a fun peek into the jewelry manufacturing biz, and the cast of folks which surround it. (I especially enjoyed the scenes with the royal family.) And Matt's family are fantastic.

Some fascinating insight into the business of high end jewelry in London, England - and a little archaeological history as well.

Romancing the Round Diamond is nicely performed by Joel Leslie, and listening to him perform this is making me want to re-visit the With A Kick series. Mr. Leslie does a stellar job with those as well.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Rough Diamond or Royal Jewels

I have to be honest about the first part of this book, and I almost gave up on it. It just didn't grip me at all. I kept stopping the audio, and it took me days to finally get far enough through that. I then got engrossed in it and couldn't put it down. I'm so glad that I persevered.

The two MC have a brief past without knowing who each other was. Then a rocky start to their working relationship with a hefty dose of hatred from Matt towards Joel.

The Jewellers Starsmith win the ultimate commission from the Royal Household to design the wedding bands for the Prince and his soon to be husband.

The story is good, and the characters are well written, but as I said, in the first quarter of the book, I struggled with it, but it redeemed itself.

Well narrated, clean and clear. Joel Leslie is always a joy to listen to.

Romancing the Rough Diamond

By: Clare London
Narrated by: Joel Leslie
Series: Dreamspinner, Book 4
Length: 6 hrs and 12 mins

❤❤❤ Overall
🎧🎧🎧🎧 Narration
📚📚 📚 Story
Read at 1.25 speed on Audible

I received this audiobook for free from GRR, and my review is my opinion and an honest review.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Listener received this title free

Diamonds Are Forever.

MM, Insta Attraction, Contemporary Romance, an easy story to listen to. lots of ups and downs and misunderstandings but a mutual instant attraction. Enjoyable story with great characters. Joel Leslie loses a star as his Norfolk accent wasn't Norfolk enough! lol but otherwise a great job of narrating.

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars
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Diamonds and Crowns

Romancing the Rough Diamond is the fourth book in the Romancing series. However, each book in the series is completely independent of each other abc should be read as standalones. This book featured an enemy-to-lovers trope which was done well. The passion between Joel and Matt was fiery and fierce which led to some steamy intimate scenes. I also enjoyed the characterization of the secondary characters who were all entertaining. There a few hilarious moments that caught me off guard and had me laughing out loud in public. This was a fun read with drama, slight angst, humor, and romance.

The audiobook was narrated by Joel Leslie who did a fantastic job. The characters were all voiced perfectly and performed well. I thought the overall audiobook production was smooth which made this a great listen.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
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Loved the ebook and the audiobook is even better.

I read Romancing the Rough Diamond back in September 2019 and I loved it. I was so happy to get a review copy of the audiobook – especially since Joel Leslie is on my list of favorite audiobook performers. He did a great job with this story but that’s no surprise as I always love to listen to his audiobook performances.

This is a great enemies-to-lovers story. I've haven't read too many books with this trope and I really loved this one. It has the added "royal" element of the two MCs working together to create something magnificent for the upcoming gay royal wedding.

Romancing the Rough Diamond kept me engaged right from the beginning and didn't let me go, even after I finished reading it.

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