Tall, Dark and Wicked by Madeline Hunter

Narrated by Lulu Russell

Tall, Dark and Wicked is the second book in Madeline Hunter’s Wicked Trilogy. Ives is the son and brother of a duke. Mainly to irritate his (now deceased) eldest brother (who from all accounts was a bit of a prig), Ives became a lawyer. He is regularly asked to stand as prosecutor for the Crown and has a reputation for honesty and a passion for justice.

When Padua Belvoir seeks his help late one night, he is dismayed to realise that he has been asked, by the Prince Regent no less, to prosecute Padua’s father – and as such, he cannot be of much assistance to the delectable lady.

Padua has been somewhat estranged from her father and had only recently become aware that her father had been arrested and was in Newgate Gaol. She has been unable to find out why her father was arrested and her father is saying nothing. A friendly whore leaving the prison suggests Ives to Padua as someone who may help, and thus she visits him at his home to seek his aid.

Ives is between mistresses and in the market for a new one but he doesn’t usually choose his paramours from respectable ladies. Padua is beautiful and tall and fairly unaware of her charms. She is very intelligent and refreshingly honest – there is no coquettish game-playing with her. Ives toys with the thought of throwing away his scruples for to have Padua in his bed.

Padua is a teacher at a girls’ school but her position is quickly put at risk when the parent of a student becomes aware of her father’s status. Meanwhile, Ives becomes increasingly smitten and decides to investigate the matter of Padua’s father’s arrest, while at the same time trying to be something of a knight in shining armour for Padua.

Eventually, more details about the crime come out and the pair, now lovers (Padua refuses to be a mistress), further investigate and things become risky indeed.

Ms. Hunter did a good job of making the HEA look impossible for this pair – Padua is the daughter of a criminal; one who will likely hang for his crimes and Ives, through love for Padua has basically thrown away his career. Even being the brother of a duke is unlikely to help when he will earn the disfavour of the Regent. There is likely to be so much scandal attached to Padua’s name, it seems they must be destined to part ways.

Of course, it is a romance, and there is a HEA, but the author didn’t make it easy.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the Lulu Russell’s narration. There were some mispronounced words which were repeated often throughout the text and it was the audiobook equivalent of fingernails down a blackboard to me. Perhaps is PER not PRE and counterfeit sounds like counter-fit not counter-fate. Plus, “in his stead” does not refer to horses (it is not “steed”) and no British person ever says “ass” to mean “arse”. Ever.

Ms. Russell’s “hero voice” sounded to me a lot like Rosalyn Landor’s – which meant I didn’t like it but that LOADS of other people will.

There were times, particularly during the first half of the book, where Ms. Russell’s pitch went so high that it just about set the dogs off – and on the way up, it did not-fun things to my ears.

However, by the halfway point, I did find myself enjoying the story in spite of all this. This probably says more about the text than the narration, but at least she didn’t get in the way of it later on. Also, Ms. Russell’s female character voices were very good (apart from the occasional ultra-sonic pitch) and she does a solid Scottish accent.

The best thing in the narration was Ms. Russell’s portrayal of the bond between the brothers, Ives, Lance and Gareth. I liked the humour and affection she imbued in her tones when this trio were together. Even when they were bickering, their bond was obvious.

The story won me over in the end, but all things considered, I was probably better off with the digital book rather than the audio.

Kaetrin