Splendid
Written by Julia Quinn
Narrated by Lucy Rayner
4/5
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About this audiobook
Based on the phenomenal growth of Quinn's popularity, and her four-week stint on the New York Times bestseller list with Romancing Mr Bridgerton, it's the perfect time to revisit Ms Quinn's 'splendid' storytelling.
American heiress Emma Dunster has always been fun-loving and independent with no wish to settle into marriage. She plans to enjoy her Season in London in more unconventional ways than husband-hunting. But this time Emma's high-jinks lead her into dangerous temptation...
Alexander Ridgely, the Duke of Ashbourne, is a notorious rake who carefully avoids the risk of love...until he plants one reckless kiss on the sensuous lips of this high-spirited innocent...and condemns himself to delicious torment. Little does he know that his passion has touched the very soul of the lovely enchantress...and committed them both to a lifetime of splendid ecstasy.
Julia Quinn
#1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn began writing one month after graduating from college and, aside from a brief stint in medical school, she has been tapping away at her keyboard ever since. Her novels have been translated into 43 languages and are beloved the world over. A graduate of Harvard and Radcliffe Colleges, she lives with her family in the Pacific Northwest. Look for BRIDGERTON, based on her popular series of novels about the Bridgerton family, on Netflix.
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Reviews for Splendid
626 ratings37 reviews
What our readers think
Readers find this title to be a mixed bag. Some reviewers enjoyed the book, praising the slow burn romance and the spunky personality of the protagonist. However, many reviewers had issues with the narrator, finding her voice annoying and her character voices embarrassing. Some reviewers also criticized the cliche writing and the unlikable male character. Overall, the book is considered enjoyable by some, but the narration and certain aspects of the story received negative feedback.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Great story, awful narration distracting from the story which was great
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5The male character was completely unlikable. When he's first introduced, he seemed very predatory. His whole story line is about being misogynistic and finding a woman who wasn't as bad as the rest...
Glad JQ's story telling improved over time1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I actually liked the book. I absolutely couldn’t stand the narrator. Her male voices were totally embarrassing. The Hero is a bit arrogant but he is a duke, after all. Heroine is fun and American, of course. She is allowed to be a good manager. The best part is that the H and H become friends for months before they fall in love. So unusual and pleasant for there to be a nice slow burn in a regency romance. Worth a read!!
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Very enjoyable book - I would absolutely read this again and loved the spunky personality of Emma. She stood up for herself and Alex respected her for it. I save 5 stars for my top tier most loved books - otherwise it would be a 5 star review :-)
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A charming novel, Alex and Emma, a typical historical romance, yet managed to remain fresh.Are the various Quinn's related? I've just read an historical novel by Ella Quinn...We have all got used to the modern sensibility that Julia Quinn has brought to the historical novel since Bridgerton. Now that I'm used to it, after my initial shock! I love that she has revived the historical romance for me.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5This has been my least favorite Julia Quinn book. The male character Alex was a horrible human, very manipulative, arrogant and predatory. He was constantly correcting and basically parenting his love interest Emma and coaxing her to do things she was uncomfortable with. Emma was naive to the point of stupidity and completely unbelievable. Sorry, but this read was incredibly disappointing and I literally could not listen to any more after 24 chapters.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5It was a beautiful read and i can't to read the next one!
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Nice, light and easy to read story. Great for long winter nights.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Loved this book! First I’ve read of this author but will be looking for others books by her
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fun easy listening. Romance and olden day intrigue. Loved it
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I really wanted to like the characters, but I found myself rolling my eyes at the cliche writing. They could have been so much better!! Emma who is feisty and just speaks her mind is suddenly plunged into not being able to eat around Alex....puhhhlease!! Then when she dissolved into a mess because he touched her there... whatever...lol.
The narrator. WOW! I'm still on the fence about her. She had a way of bringing some of the females to an incredible heightened sense of snobbery filled with female hysterics... making it impossible for this reader not to despise their screeching!
Futher, there were several "big words" that was completely overused to the point of being eye-rolling annoying!
Below are some synonyms for the overused words. I'm not trying to be hateful...I'm really not, but the constant overuse of these "big words" really does take away from the author's talented writing and it's something I have noticed in several of her books and it really makes me wish the editors were doing their jobs better.
Sardonic: cynical, salty, contemptuous, scornful
Solicitous: involved, thoughtful,attentive, considerate
Surreptitiously: covert, secret, stealthy, clandestine - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5this is her first real standalone novel- not including the skinny harlequins. so there was some stuff in it that was just like she was checking off a list- oh headstrong female, kidnap, rake, huge misunderstanding, rushed wedding,etc. granted there is a formula to historical romances but since i read the smitth-smythes series first by quinn and then the bridgertons this story was not a typical Quinn romance. it had the witty banter but unfortunately it also had extra annoying stuff like a kidnapping and a huge misunderstanding that was not very believable in its intensity. but whatevs, most of it i thoroughly liked.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unexpected and entertaining.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5aaaaahhhhh! it was amazing! 10/10 highly recommend ? i personally listed to it on 2x speed (like i normally do) but every time i tried to switch it to 1x/regular speed it sounded so slow, i don’t know if that’s just because i am so used to it at 2x speed or if the speaking was actually slower than normal so just a little heads up but the book itself was so good! I especially love that this was a longer listen compared to most other regency era romance books i normally listen to :) Also the *somewhat spoiler* kidnapping at the end!! it was so exciting and really grabbed my interest so definitely give this audiobook a listen! ?
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This is the debt novel by this author and I enjoyed reading it. Good romance with a feisty heroine.Back Cover Blurb:There are two things everyone knows about Alexander Ridgely. One, he's the Duke of Ashbourne. And two, he has no plans to marry anytime soon.....That is until a redheaded American throws herself in front of a carriage to save his young nephew's life. She's eveything Alex never thought a woman could be - smart and funny, principled and brave. But she's a servant, completely unsuitable for a highborn duke - unless, perhaps, she's not quite what she seems.....American heiress Emma Dunster might be surrounded by Englishmen, but that doesn't mean she intends to marry one - even if she has agreed to participate in one London Season. When she slipped out of her cousins' home, dressed as a kitchen maid, all she wanted was one last taste of anonymity before her debut. She never dreamed she'd find herself in the arms of a dangerously handsome duke.....or that he'd be quite so upset when he discovered her true identity. But true love tends to blossom just when one least expects it, and passion can melt even the most stubborn of hearts.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Very much an early book. The narrator not appealing also.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5For one of her first novels, I really did enjoy it! The narrators voice at the beginning is a little hard to listen to, and I have young daughters who are high pitched. However, her voice tones down quite a bit after the first chapter or so, so hang in there if it bothers you.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5I’ll be honest; I didn’t get past the first 15 minutes. The woman who read the book had such an annoying cadence to her voice that I could no longer listen. My 2 stars are for the audio not the plot. The only reason she has 2 and not 1 Star is that her rendition of a Boston young lady wasn’t insulting. So many people try a Boston accent that makes me, a New Englander, cringe. This narrator did this, at least, well.
I will read the text rather than listen then update my review. - Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5boring. i listened for 45 min and felt i had been punished enough. story is flat and the reader is like listening to snow white or minnie mouse. love quinn but i cant make myself finish this book
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Shrieky narrator on the audio book, and creeptastic behavior from our hero means I didn’t listen to more than an hour of it before I gave up. Early work is early. Love the more recent work.
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Man. I thoroughly enjoyed some of Quinn's later books, so I was very pleased to start this one. The male lead was spoiled and cocky and not super considerate from the start, but I'm willing to allow for plenty of character growth. The thing is, he instead got worse! Like, truly, egotistical, misogynistic, controlling, manhandling, petty, patronizing, has a bad temper... he is not an appealing person! And the female lead regresses as well, becoming more naive and bratty! Even the supporting characters make some really shocking "misjudgments" to put it kindly, which reflect very poorly on their character. I had to look up the book to see how it could be so entirely different from the others I had read by Quinn. It helped some, seeing that it was her first book. But honestly, I almost stopped reading it, repeatedly, throughout the entire last half of the book, (which seemed to go on forever) and which is unheard of for me! (I'm no quitter! ;) ) I don't think I'll bother trying to stomach the rest of this particular series. Good news is she has improved greatly I guess! =/
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5To say that Julia Quinn's writing skill improved after writing this, her first publication, would be a spectacular understatement. The story was mostly really enjoyable though and the writing improved (if not enough) about halfway in. Maybe she got a better editor? I so liked Alex and Emma, and that saved this from being unreadable. The dialogue though... GAH! It is unbelievably terrible, stunningly clumsy. Every scene is overwrought and peppered with 20th century idioms. I kept waiting for someone to describe something as "groovy" or tell me not to squeeze the CharminBottom line, fun characters, decent storyline, subpar writing adds up to a 2.5.
- Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Picked this one up as I was looking forward to some non-Bridgerton work. Unfortunately . . . I found the hero unlikeable and cliché; the heroine was refreshingly non-English, but one can only read about her hair color so many times, you see. And quite frankly, the writing is rough.
Redeeming factors are the snippets of humor and the reappearance of a plot within the last part of the book. Not unreadable, but would prefer not to read again. 2 / 5. - Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Can def tell this is the author's first book. Just read "Ten Things I Love About You" and can (gladly) tell the maturation of Julia Quinn. In bits and parts I could feel the beginnings of the usual Julia Quinn humor emerging, i.e. Bridgerton series.
Surface writing, not connected, and because of this I was never able to get into the story. It has all the cliché characters described in the first three chapters, plucky American girl, shy cousin, and the Duke. Now I can usually read about these characters all day long but it needs to feel fresh and the characters have to suck me in. This story read very general.
Book felt like it was written by an inspired romance fan. You know, when after you read an incredible romance book that stole you from your life for a couple hours and then after the magic of that story dies down you start to create a story in your mind and think 'I should write this!'. Level 1 writing.
The main characters Emma and Alex never endeared themselves to me and frequently were annoying. Emma was so 'gosh darn stubborn' and always leaping before she looked and Alex was incredibly autocratic and so angry at times with Emma that he could just "throttle her"! All the supporting characters were well written just very vanilla. The baddie Viscount Woodside was the only one who was interesting and he wasn't even in the story very much.
The Big Misunderstanding was lame-o; infact the whole story was filled with predictability. I don't even know if I will remember this story a week from now. Like I said before, obvious this was Julia Quinn's first book and I am so happy she has refined her skills since then.
So anyway, eek I found this story boring at times! This book did come out in 1995 so maybe it was a first of it's kind, humorous and amorous in the regency period, and that is why people rank it high on romance book lists. I however, have read much better. In fact I would recommend Olivia Parker's book, which I absolutely loved, "At the Bride Hunt Ball" #1 in Bride Hunt series (also loved the 2nd in the series) instead of Splendid. It has a Duke and a spunky gal (alas not American) and was way more humorous and amorous to me (it was a keeper!).
D - Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book was not my favourite from Julia Quinn. I believe I read that this was her first novel, which you can tell by the writing in the beginning. I felt she jumped from person to person and then a sort of narrative type writing. It got better throughout the novel, or perhaps I just got used to it. The story itself was good. However I think she should have wrapped it up around 83% of the way in. I don't think she needed the last "event" that took place. Or if it was needed, I would have preferred it to happen before she gave the characters their "happily ever after." But this is just my opinion.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Julia Quinn's first novel shines brightly. Much better than many first novels out there, IMO. Thank goodness for us, she didn't finish the M.D., although I'm sure she would have been successful in whatever she decided to do.
Loved the heroine, her extended family, and the plot. Quinn's humor, style, and sense of adventure are all there.
Hero was just ok...Dude, seriously? Who goes around kissing random ladies with concussions in carriages?? Took me a while to like him. Read the Bridgerton or Smythe-Smith heros first! - Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Emma reminds me a little of Scarlett O'Hara, and Alex of Rhett Butler, they're one of my favorite characters and couples throughout history. There are of course a lot of differences, Emma has more moral part of her personality and Alex is more aggressive. But as for the story in hand, I liked it, a lot. I loved the scene when Emma pretends to be a maid and quote Shakespeare books title so Belle would know she is there to save her.
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This historical romance got off to a good start, had an exciting finish and a nice development of the relationship but it moved slow in the middle with the common plot of a hero who is never getting married. I skimmed the second half. Disguised as a maid, heiress Emma saves a boy who is nephew of Alex, the Duke of Ashbourne.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I really loved this book! Emma is a real spitfire and it is easy to see why Alex would fall for her!
Wonderful writing and really engaging characters!! I love a good regency read! - Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5If I hadn't read a lot of Julia Quinn before I got this book, I might not be tempted to read anymore. In her defense, this is her first book, and it's quite obvious she hasn't come into her voice yet. The book is disorganized, filled with anachronism, and undeniably silly in places. Emma is the quintessential Mary Sue - with the red hair and violet eyes to prove it. However, being such a fan of Julia Quinn's, I can't make myself give it less than two stars, if only because of the pleasure I got from comparing it to her later works, and discovering how very far she has come.