The Lady by His Side cover art

The Lady by His Side

The Devil’s Brood Trilogy, Book 1

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The Lady by His Side

By: Stephanie Laurens
Narrated by: Matthew Brenher
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £17.99

Buy Now for £17.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Sebastian Cynster knows time is running out. If he doesn't choose a wife soon, his female relatives will line up to assist him. Yet the current debutantes do not appeal. Where is he to find the right lady to be his marchioness? Then Drake Varisey, eldest son of the Duke of Wolverstone, asks for Sebastian's aid.

Having assumed his father's mantle in protecting queen and country, Drake must go to Ireland in pursuit of a dangerous plot. But he's received an urgent missive from Lord Ennis, an Irish peer - Ennis has heard something Drake needs to know and insists Drake attend an upcoming house party at his Kent estate so he can reveal his information face-to-face.

Sebastian has assisted Drake before and, long ago, had a liaison with Lady Ennis. Drake insists Sebastian is just the man to be his surrogate at the house party - the guests will imagine all manner of possibilities and be blind to Sebastian's true purpose.

Unsurprisingly, Sebastian is reluctant, but Drake's need is real. And with only more debutantes on his horizon, Sebastian allows himself to be persuaded.

His first task is to inveigle Antonia Rawlings, a lady he has known all her life, to include him as her escort to the house party. Although he's seen little of Antonia in recent years, Sebastian is confident of gaining her support.

Eldest daughter of the Earl of Chillingworth, Antonia has abandoned the search for a husband and plans to use the week of the house party to decide what to do with her life. There has to be some purpose, some role, she can claim for her own.

Consequently, on hearing Sebastian's request and an explanation of what lies behind it, she seizes on the call to action. Suppressing her senses' idiotic reaction to Sebastian's nearness, she agrees to be his partner in intrigue.

But while joining the house party proves easy, the gathering is thrown into chaos when Lord Ennis is murdered - just before he was to speak with Sebastian. Worse, Ennis's last words, gasped to Sebastian, are "Gunpowder. Here."

Gunpowder? And here? Where?

With a killer continuing to stalk the halls, side by side Sebastian and Antonia search for answers, and all the while the childhood connection that has always existed between them strengthens and blooms into something so much more.

©2017 Stephanie Laurens (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Historical Romance Romantic Suspense Victorian Marriage Fiction Ireland Mystery Suspense
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Captain Jack's Woman cover art
The Promise in a Kiss cover art
Lady Osbaldestone’s Christmas Goose cover art
Where the Heart Leads cover art
The Lady's Command cover art
Confirmed Bachelors: Books 1-3 cover art
It Happened One Season cover art
Primrose and the Dreadful Duke cover art
The Untamed Bride cover art
Remember Love cover art
Into the Wilderness cover art
Son of a Duke cover art
A Wicked Gentleman cover art
Venus cover art
How to Forget a Duke cover art
The Scoundrel's Daughter cover art

What listeners say about The Lady by His Side

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    44
  • 4 Stars
    29
  • 3 Stars
    20
  • 2 Stars
    9
  • 1 Stars
    5
Performance
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    37
  • 4 Stars
    25
  • 3 Stars
    22
  • 2 Stars
    5
  • 1 Stars
    8
Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    44
  • 4 Stars
    23
  • 3 Stars
    15
  • 2 Stars
    8
  • 1 Stars
    8

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Continues in next audiobook - grrrrr!

There's a mystery which is to be solved in the next audiobook. I find that irritating.
The philosophical thoughts and strategic planning during the sex scenes are quite ridiculous given the scalding, incandescent heat etc. The mystery itself is fairly clever and the narrator does a good job.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

excellent writing

I totally enjoyed the su nect matters raised in this book. it had intrigue murder and love.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

So annoying it doesn’t conclude …

… with no idea what the next book is. Had there been a bit less soft porn the real story could have finished in this book.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Strange experience

This is a spy story set in Regency times. There is trouble brewing in Ireland and Sebastian is sent to try and find out what’s going on while ostensibly escorting Antonia, an old childhood friend, to a house party where information will be forthcoming.
The narrator read beautifully ( I was reminded of Alvar Lidell who used to read the BBC news during the Second World War) but his voice wasn’t really conducive to the steamy bits of the story.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Overly long

Took a long time to get to the point. I usually like romances where there’s a mystery underpinning the main two characters romance but this took forever even sped up! And the other house party guests seemed so underdeveloped, we barely know anything about them or invested in whether they are involved in the story or not. First time I’ve read anything by this author so maybe the characters appear in other books?

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Story

All of it it was very interesting one I will return to many times I’m sure

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Mediocre mild porn

Unbelievably monotone reader made for a good sleep! Lacks any sort of historical accuracy or atmosphere and the story is both predictable and unbelievable. However if you are looking for some equally unrealistic light pornographic scenes and can tolerate the rest then they go on in tedious detail for some time.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Slow and disconnected story, massive cliffhanger

The murder mystery, the political plot and the personal relationship and soft porn section all seem to have almost no connection to one another, and everything is drawn out and overlong. Perfect for when you are listening to it at bedtime because if you fall asleep you don’t miss too much.
My first book by the author and probably my last, sad to say, as I really like novels and mysteries in a regency setting. Started off well but then scenes seem to just repeat, the story did not move forward smoothly but in sudden leaps, with long stretches of mot much happening in between. The personal story finds an ending but the mystery ends on a cliffhanger which I dislike, after having invested so much time in a story.
Not my cup of tea.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    1 out of 5 stars

Awful!

The plot was kind of fun but I rolled my eyes SO many times at the tired clichéd language, esp re romance and the lead relationship. It felt engineered and stilted and didn’t work. The worst book I’ve listened to on Audible by a long way.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Very drawn out

I found it very hard to get to the end of this book, mainly because the narrator was so awful, plodding and lacking in any animation.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!