The Widow's Kiss

By: Jane Feather

Narrated by: Jenny Sterlin

Length: 16 hrs and 15 mins

Publisher's summary

Jane Feather, New York Times best-selling author, takes listeners back in time to King Henry VIII’s court in The Widow’s Kiss. With over four million copies of her novels in print, she is an accomplished author of historical romances.

Lady Guinevere Mallory has been married four times in 12 years, and each of her husbands has died mysteriously. Adept in the laws of property, she has secured the land of each of her late spouses, vastly increasing her personal wealth. After the death of her fourth husband, this trend raises some eyebrows at the royal court, and Hugh of Beaucaire is sent to investigate these puzzling events. When they meet, passion envelops them both, but he is forced to wonder, will he be the next victim of this bewitching beauty?

Jane Feather has also written The Least Likely Bride. Jenny Sterlin’s seductive narration will have listeners ensnared in this tantalizing web of passion and deception.

©2001 Jane Feather (P)2002 Recorded Books, LLC

Widows Kiss

Generally, the story was fine, it had similar tropes to many historical tales, but was well put together. Specifically, I always have trouble when the heroine forgives the Hero too easily. I want her to make him suffer! 😜

My main comment is about the narrator. She was wonderful! She sounds remarkably similar to my favorite, Davina Porter, who reads the Outlander books by Diana Gabaldon. I had to double check to make sure the narrator hadn’t been mis-credited, lol.

Slow, depressing, irritating, then interesting

I felt like the beginning was very slow and took forever to get to the point of the trial. It was very irritating when she would jump in the bed with the enemy knowing that enemy is the one that's responsible for taking away the livelyhood of her daughters and the stealing of her lands. It was so irritating. If I'm going to die, at your expense, then you're not getting the ice cream and cake and eating it too! Plus I don't like extended sex scenes. I had to skip over them. But after the trial it gets better. Don't get me wrong though because there are very interesting scenes in the story, especially after the trial. Also the narrator was great with the different voices. If you can get pass the (historically correct but irritating) marriage contract then it's great from there. It helps you to see how frustrating it was for women back then. I would recommend this book though.

Not bad, but veeerryyy ssslllooowwww narration.

I’m honestly not certain why, but though I enjoyed this book I spent a good portion annoyed. I looked forward to reading it for the most part. I guess maybe because the narration was so stinking slow. I had to speed it up to 1.10 and eventually went ahead and moved it up to 1.15 and at that point was when I really started to enjoy the book the most. I totally thought that the characters were great I loved the maternal and paternal sides of both the main characters and I loved all of the children. It’s not often that we read a book where the children are such a main part of the story. The characters all had loyalty and honor and it was nice to read. I have to admit that if I knew somebody who had four husband’s that have all died, I would be pretty judgy on the how and why.
All in all a decent read. I will look for the two following in this series on the sale rack.

Splendid!

What else can be said about this book other than it is so much more than a book. It is a story! A masterpiece of the blending of author and narrator! The details carefully crafted with subtle nuances of character allowed JS to weave a splendid narration, and I am finding this is one story to listen to again and again!

Very entertaining!

Where does The Widow's Kiss rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

The Widow's Kiss is one of my all time favorites. The story is interesting and the characters come alive within the story.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Many of the characters make this story entertaining but I literally laughed out loud over the youngest daughter's character from the beginning to the end of this story.

What about Jenny Sterlin’s performance did you like?

Jenny Sterlin's performance was well done. She was able to portray each of the characters, both male and female in a credible way.

Good story, narrator did a great job. Enjoyable

If you could sum up The Widow's Kiss in three words, what would they be?

Unique. Enjoyable.

Any additional comments?

The story was compelling and the performance very good. I became frustrated with the heroine. It felt one sided and she never learned her lesson about the cost of arrogance and pride. Loved the hero and the children. Great historical setting.

Well Done!!

This story was very well done, a great start to a new series. The narrator is great!! Really great!!!! Her portrayal of all the characters, male, female, young and old, was awesome. Her characterization of Pippa, the young lass, is particularly enticing and, to some degree, I thought this young lady stole the whole show!

But, of course, there is so much more to this beautifully written historical fiction. Boy, do I wish I could meet a dashing Lord Hue. Wow, what a guy, what a guy! The love scenes in this book (usually graphic sex scenes nowadays in most fiction and to me relentlessly graphic and boring, boring, boring) are artfully and tastefully executed here and fit in well within the story itself.

Overall, an excellent listen and well worth the listening time involved. There are two more books in this series, both of which are offered in Audible Escape (yay!! ☺️) and I plan to go on to the next one to see how this fascinating story continues to unfold.

just 1 word Irritating

started out with high expectations Lady Guinevere Mallory married 4 husbands and they died all mysteriously it peak my interest only to get a slow real slow plot going no where the lady Guinevere starts sleeping with the investigator Hugh I stop listening when Hugh lied for her the only thing save this book is the children but I am in no hurry to read/listen to more from this series I like some of the voices the narrator uses but she reads so slow I lost interest