Beguiling the Beauty by Sherry Thomas Series: Fitzhugh Trilogy #1
Published by Berkley Sensation on May 1, 2012
Genres: Historical Romance, Regency Era, Nautical
Narrator: Jenny Sterlin
Length: 8 Hours and 32 Mins
Pages: 281
Format: Audiobook
ISBN: 0425246965
When the Duke of Lexington meets the mysterious Baroness von Seidlitz-Hardenberg on a transatlantic liner, he is fascinated. She’s exactly what he’s been searching for—a beautiful woman who interests and entices him. He falls hard and fast—and soon proposes marriage. And then she disappears without a trace…
For in reality, the “baroness” is Venetia Easterbrook—a proper young widow who had her own vengeful reasons for instigating an affair with the duke. But the plan has backfired. Venetia has fallen in love with the man she despised—and there’s no telling what might happen when she is finally unmasked…
I have been meaning to read this series for the longest time and I just knew that I needed to try her out and so I decided to grab up Beguiling The Beauty through the Audible Romance Package which is the first book in her Fitshugh Trilogy. I will admit that first off, if I had known about the narrator I might have just grabbed this book from my local library, since I know they have it in print because it took 50% of the book before I starting to grow accustomed to the narrator and eventually like it. I am not sure what it was about her, its not like she had a bad voice or anything, but she just didn’t “pull” me into the story like most narrators do for me. So it was a bit lacking in that area and is the main reason why this book doesn’t reach a five star rating.
When the Duke of Lexington first sees Venetia Easterbrook, he is fascinated and is almost obsessed with Veneteia. She is the most beautiful woman of the Ton and seems to be in a loving marriage and knows he can never have her but will love her from a distance. The years pass, and Venetia becomes a widow twice over with two husbands and Christian wonders what happened to the mysterious woman who has held his heart for ten years. Venetia hasn’t had the easiest ten years of her life, or the luckiest with the men she married. The first being self absorbed and committed suicide while leaving her with a mountain of debts and blaming her for a childless marriage. Then her second husband she had a marriage of friendship and affection but her husband was gay. Now she is a widow and is fascinated with history especially those of animals and naturalist.
While exploring the America’s with her family, she goes to a seminar where Christian, the Duke of Lexington and talks about the beauty of a woman and mentions her and her marriage situation and not in the best light. So Venetia, with the encouragement of her sisters comes up with a plan of revenge. That she will make Christian fall in love with her and then she will break his heart. But soon Venetia realizes her plan to hurt Christian in the way that he hurt her…..may just be disastrous for Venetia because she is falling in love with Christian and she dreads the day when he will come to hate her.
Now onto the story…this book was pretty wonderful to read and boy it had so much depth and detail and Sherry Thomas KNOWS her history and you can tell once you start reading this that MORE regency romances need to be written like this one here. It had such vitality to it that snatches up the readers attention and you can’t help but become intrigued by the story and the setting and these characters that tug at your heart strings. I was very impressed with the writing style of Sherry Thomas because we see what how much she really puts into this story and it almost had a feel of a older style romance and I am so grateful that Sherry Thomas writes in this way because too many recent regency style romances just are not enough “pizazz” for me to enjoy anymore but “Beguiling The Beauty” was superbly written and delivers in all the right areas for a historical romance.
I was very intrigued by the set up of this story and even though revenge plots aren’t always my favorite trope to read in a romance, it really works for this book. I was pulled into this story where we see the heroine and hero come together in a unqiue scenario and fall in love with each other and find a way to get past the secrets and misunderstandings and find a love worth fighting for. From their sensual meet ups on the voyage back to England, to the letters that Christian writes to Venetia and the way that Venetia practically stalks Christian and meets up with him dancing in his arms or talking artifacts just to be close to him. We see how much they deserve a chance to find some happiness together and their road back to each other is unconventional but worth the fighting and tension to make it happen and boy the ending was so endearingly sweet.
Overall I found Beguiling The Beauty to be a stunning story that delivers a sweeping tale of desire, adventure and the test of true love!! INSPIRED AND DETAILED!
About Sherry Thomas
Because actual world domination is too much trouble, USA Today-bestselling author Sherry Thomas decided that her goal is life is to write every kind of book she enjoys reading. Thus far she has published romance, fantasy, mystery, and a wuxia-inspired duology. Her books regularly receive starred reviews and best-of-the-year honors from trade publications, including such outlets as the New York Times and National Public Radio. She is also a two-time winner of Romance Writers of America’s prestigious RITA® Award.
And by the way, English is her second language.
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