Tempted by a Rogue by Lauren Smith

Narrated by Carolyn Morris

Lauren Smith’s novella, Tempted by a Rogue has exactly two things going for it.  First – it is narrated by the excellent Carolyn Morris, whose name has been woefully absent among the lists of new audiobook historical romances over the past year or so; and second – it’s short.  Mind you, at around three hours and fifteen minutes, it’s not short enough, because by the half way mark the inconsistencies in the storytelling and characterisation had become so annoying that I struggled to finish it.

The premise of the story – that the hero and heroine have corresponded regularly for a decade and have fallen in love with each other through their letters – is one I normally enjoy.  I like a good epistolary novel, or at least one in which letter-writing plays an important role, so I was well-disposed towards the novella from the outset.  Add in the fact that the funny, tender and heartfelt correspondence has NOT been written by the man the heroine thinks has been writing to her, and the stage is set for a Cyrano de Bergerac-esque tale, which made Tempted by a Rogue an even more attractive prospect.

The story opens with Miss Gemma Haverford eagerly awaiting a rendezvous with her childhood sweetheart, James Randolph, with whom she has had an understanding since he went away to sea eleven years previously.  Unfortunately, however, while absence – and his letters – has made Gemma’s heart grow fonder, within a year of his going away, James decided he was having too much fun with other women to want to settle down.  After having penned a few half-hearted letters to his betrothed, James asked his best friend, Jasper Holland, to write her a few letters (pretending to be him), and then break things off with her. (Side note – ELEVEN YEARS?  She’s written to the man and waited for him for eleven years during which time he’s never once come home? How dumb is this girl that she can believe a bloke who’s never bothered to come and see her in eleven years actually WANTS to marry her?!)

Gemma’s artless, affectionate responses to Jasper’s letters affected him so much that he found it impossible to break her heart and continued to write to her over the next decade.  The problem is that Gemma still believes herself engaged to James, and, given that it is not the done thing for a gentleman to break a betrothal, James needs a way out, especially as he has found another lady he wants to marry.  So he calls in a favour and asks Jasper to compromise Gemma so that he (James) can then cry off in outrage.  The fact that Gemma’s reputation will be ruined is of no concern to James, but even though Jasper is appalled at the thought, he owes James his life and can’t refuse to do this for him.

That’s the set up, and not much happens after that.  Jasper arranges to meet Gemma late one evening in the garden.  Blindfolding her to make sure she doesn’t realise he isn’t James, the couple exchange some passionate kisses and she lets him put his hand up her dress.  The next day at an afternoon party, James repudiates Gemma when she innocently asks him if he’d paid her a visit the previous evening. And to makes things worse, she recognises the voice of the man who HAD visited her as that of his friend, Jasper Holland.  Mortified, confused and dejected, she runs off, with Jasper in hot pursuit.

The rest of the story is taken up with much to-ing and fro-ing on the part of Gemma and Jasper, and quite honestly, I not only lost track of what they were thinking and why, I lost interest, because none of it made sense.  One minute, she loves James, the next she wants Jasper.  Not long after she flees the party, they’re shagging each other’s brains out in the potting shed (ick), and then he’s deciding that he daren’t hope for a relationship with her, not so soon after her heart has been broken.  I would venture to say that that thought should have occurred to him BEFORE he let his garden hose out to play.  And then later, when they’ve re-joined the party and Gemma has decided she’s furious with Jasper, she suddenly starts flirting with him and making suggestive comments.  I felt like I was like watching the Chinese Olympic Ping-Pong team.

This is one of those times when even the most experienced narrator – and I count Carolyn Morris as one of their number – can’t save a poorly executed story.  The cast of characters isn’t large, but she differentiates well between James and Jasper, giving the former a rather supercilious drawl which immediately alerts the listener to the fact that the guy isn’t hero material.  The stentorian dowager who calls everyone by their last name and goes around poking people with her parasol sounds appropriately formidable, and her portrayal of Gemma is suitably youthful and charming.  Ms Morris performs the narration at a good pace, and imbues the story with the right amount of emotion, but as I’ve said, even she can’t make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.

Now she’s returned to the world of audiobook narration, I am hoping to listen to her again very soon and hopefully in something much more concomitant with her talent.

Caz

Narration: B

Book Content: D

Steam Factor: Glad I had my earbuds in

Violence Rating: None (unless you count me banging my head against the wall!)

Genre: Historical Romance

Publisher: Lauren Smith

Tempted by a Rogue was provided to AudioGals by Carolyn Morris for a review.