The Paid Companion

Bianca Amato's narration is the icing on the cake of this engaging offering from an icon of historical romance. When Arthur Lancaster, the Earl of St. Merryn and one of London's most eligible but aloof bachelors, finds himself jilted and in need of a wife, he turns to an agency to find a suitable candidate. At the same time, he's investigating the murder of his favorite uncle. Beautiful Elenora Lodge seems to fit the bill, but the road to romance can be bumpy--most entertainingly so for the listener. Amato delivers accents for members of all social strata, and her ability to provide exacting nuances for each voice seems limitless. The versatile Amato's narration is great fun. A.C.P. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

April 12, 2004
With 41 bestsellers to her credit, Jayne Ann Krentz (aka Quick) still approaches a new project as if novel writing were a just-discovered pleasure she can't wait to share. This late Regency romance offers her signature goodies. Elenora Lodge loses the manor to which she was born and thus becomes the eponymous paid companion. She is, of course, plucky, intellectual, democratic, lovely and unabashedly eager to surrender her virginity to the right man: "Sensation whipped through her; a glorious, heady, dizzying whirlpool of passion. She knew that if she did not explore these thrilling emotions with him she would carry the regret with her for the rest of her life." The source of the whirlpool is Arthur Lancaster, earl of St. Merryn, cranky, quirky, decent to the death, with a sizable fortune and lusty nature to match. Although a happy ending is never in doubt, a murder mystery is threaded through the love story, allowing the besotted couple to sleuth in dark alleyways between tumbles in bed. Quick draws on Regency fascination with science to inform villainous madman Parker, who styles himself "England's second Newton" and terrorizes Elenora with a precursor of the laser. Masked balls, upper-class gambling, women who manage their own affairs and marry for love: if this is familiar territory, it still satisfies. And when Arthur proposes, readers will be right there with Elenora: "The most delicious sense of joy unfurled within her." Agent, Stephen Ayelrod.

Sensible, logical Arthur, the Earl of St. Merryn, has decided to find a wife by seeking a companion through an employment agency. He finds Elenora Lodge, a feisty woman who speaks her mind and is anything but suitable. St. Merryn is also seeking the man who murdered his uncle. So he and Elenora take up the search for the truth about the crime and about each another. Michael Page puts his talents to the test as Quick's characters move from upper-crust realms to the gritty streets of London. Page's broad accents and soft British inflections grace the characters as St. Merryn and Lodge pursue evil and each other. M.B.K. (c) AudioFile 2005, Portland, Maine