True Love by Jude Deveraux

Narrated by Tavia Gilbert

True Love is the first Jude Deveraux book I’ve ever experienced. Part of the draw was Tavia Gilbert – she’s a narrator I know and appreciate. I also felt my “romance education” would not be complete without including some Deveraux.

It did not have an auspicious beginning. I’ve heard Ms. Gilbert narrate Jeaniene Frost’s Night Huntress and Night Huntress World series and Karen Rose’s Die For Me. For some reason, when True Love started, the hero, Jared Montgomery Kingsley, sounded like Don (who is not a romantic hero type character IMO) from the Night Huntress books and when Alix appeared, she sounded like Cat. This was not a problem I had in Die For Me. I can only put it down to the paranormal elements in True Love. It sounded as though Ms. Gilbert “over read” a little here (by that I mean, exaggerated the emotions and tone somewhat) while the romantic suspense of Die For Me was read “straight”. I think Ms. Gilbert “over reads” in the Night Huntress books as well – those books benefit from this. I never mistook the hero or heroine in the Rose book for Night Huntress characters but in True Love, it was a constant thing, where I had to check myself and remember which book I was listening to. In the end I put it down to a narrative technique Ms. Gilbert uses for PNR books and thus, the similarities for me.

To add to that, I found the beginning of the story quite opaque and the descriptions of the Kingsley ghost (Caleb Montgomery) didn’t make me over-fond of his character. He admitted to spying on Alix’s mother when she was getting dressed – later, in context this wasn’t so bad, but at first, it was super creepy.

Victoria, Alix’s mother, is an author of romantic fiction. It is very quickly revealed that she has been obtaining plots for her bestseller novels from the journals of Kingsley ancestors and that seemed dishonest to me. I must say that Victoria’s charm was lost on me for much of the book. There were times when I didn’t mind her but mostly I thought she was obnoxious and manipulative. There was a point about 40 minutes or so into the listen when I was seriously wondering how I’d manage to get through the book.

But.

But I did get sucked into the story. When Alix and Jared were in the same scene, I found myself entertained and engaged in spite of myself.

Jared’s family come from Nantucket, Massachussetts. He is a “living legend” in architecture but has spent the past three months or so at home in Nantucket at Kingsley House, to be with his ailing Aunt Addy. Aunt Addy has died and her will leaves the house to Jared but with one caveat. Alix Madsen is to be given use of the house for one year before Jared can take over ownership (it eventually becomes clear why this is so but it does take a while). Jared is at first angry but when he meets Alix, he is drawn to her.

Unfortunately for both, Jared has promised to keep his hands off Alix and this results in quite a few mixed messages. I’m not a fan of big misunderstandings but Jared made it clear that there were secrets he couldn’t reveal and thankfully, Alix was clever enough to work out quite a few of them. She didn’t blame Jared for keeping his word to others and so the conflict I was dreading never occurred.

Jared has a longstanding connection to Alix via her parents, Ken and Victoria, (they are divorced) and this history has been kept secret from Alix her whole life. There are a lot of secrets and it is not always clear why they were kept, other than to further the plot and possibly to frustrate the listener (at least, this listener became occasionally frustrated).

The romance between Jared and Alix was the most enjoyable part. The secondary plot regarding the family history, the Kingsley ghost, and the mystery of what happened to Valentina over two hundred years earlier was less compelling (and this occupied most of the last half of the book). Some things were never adequately explained (why Victoria ever went to Kingsley House in the first place, exactly who Izzy had been in a previous life – yes, this is a reincarnation book too), or at least, they weren’t well enough explained for me.

Nevertheless, I can see the reason why Jude Deveraux has so many fans. Even though the story frustrated me or left me mystified from time to time, I was drawn onwards and found myself looking for excuses to listen in spite of myself.

After a while, I did (mostly) get used to Jared’s voice (and Caleb’s for that matter) sounding like Don and Alix sounding like Cat. I’m not sure whether it is even a fair criticism. Certainly those who haven’t listened to the Jeaniene Frost books won’t have that problem.

But there is something else which made this narration less than Ms. Gilbert’s best work in my opinion (and I say this as a fan). The characters and general narrative kept bleeding into one another. So, for example, Jared would speak, then there would be portion of narrative exposition – the first part of which would sound as though Jared was still talking. Then, Ms. Gilbert’s general narrative voice took over until another character spoke. At times it was difficult to differentiate one major character from another. It was jarring and, unfortunately, pretty regular.

I admit I don’t love reincarnation books (they confuse me) and had I known of its use in True Love, I may well not have requested it for review. However, despite my biases and some of my issues with the story, I did find it an enjoyable experience overall. There was something so darn entertaining about it all.

I think Deveraux fans will get a kick out of what surely must be the reappearance of previous heroes and heroines from her Montgomery-Taggert series and those who don’t mind the paranormal elements (ghosts, reincarnation) will probably appreciate it more than I did. That said, I enjoyed Alix and Jared in particular, the architecture-love, and the friendships between various other characters. While I thought it wasn’t Ms. Gilbert’s best work, it was still better than average and entertaining.

I’m kind of curious to find some other Jude Deveraux books (either print or audio) to try – I have a feeling there will be some I would adore. If anyone has a recommendation, please let me know in the comments!

Kaetrin

Narration:  B-

Book Content:  B-

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my earbuds in (but fairly tame)

Violence:  Minimal

Genre:  Contemporary Romance with paranormal element

Publisher:  Random House Audio

True Love was provided to AudioGals for review by Random House Audio.