Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Reckless
    Reckless
    Reckless
    Audiobook10 hours

    Reckless

    Written by Anne Stuart

    Narrated by Susan Ericksen

    3.5/5

    ()

    About this audiobook

    Adrian Alistair Rohan lost his faith, and now, a dedicated member of the depraved Heavenly Host, he loses himself in his only pleasure: the seduction and debauchery of beautiful women. Rich, charming, and devastatingly skilled in the arts of love, he never fails in his conquests...until Charlotte Spenser.

    Charlotte is facing a desolate, passionless future, none of which matters to Adrian, who imagines her a toy until better prey arrives. But beneath her drab exterior, Charlotte is a woman as enchanting as she is brilliant, and, lured into Adrian's world, she soon becomes the seducer and he the seduced.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateMar 9, 2011
    ISBN9781452671017
    Reckless
    Author

    Anne Stuart

    Anne Stuart loves Japanese rock and roll, wearable art, Spike, her two kids, Clairefontaine paper, quilting, her delicious husband of thirty-four years, fellow writers, her three cats, telling stories and living in Vermont. She’s not too crazy about politics and diets and a winter that never ends, but then, life’s always a trade-off. Visit her at www.Anne-Stuart.com.

    More audiobooks from Anne Stuart

    Related to Reckless

    Titles in the series (5)

    View More
    View More

    Related audiobooks

    Historical Fiction For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Reaching OUT

      Jan 17, 2024

      Reaching OUT
      6 min read

    • Article

      Love And The LAND GIRL

      May 26, 2021

      Love And The LAND GIRL
      9 min read

    • Article

      Helen

      Jun 5, 2023

      She was a friend of my family—the Carlins, as I have chosen to call them. She and my father met in the fifties through the editor of the architecture magazine where she began her career. My father had taken her out a few times. They were never lovers

      30 min read

    • Article

      O Fortuna, Velut Luna

      Sep 15, 2018

      What is Miss Treece’s trouble, according to a popular notion? The man A has failed to show up. Arousing herself at the restaurant, she fixes her lipstick when her solo supper concludes and takes herself down the stairs situated behind the bar. There,

      3 min read

    • Article

      Left To Lose

      Jul 10, 2022

      Around the time she gives up her name, it starts to feel like this entire revolution isn’t worth it anymore. The world is probably lucky that Kelian—she still remembers Kelian, in spite of everything—is there to pick up the pieces, the way he always

      11 min read

    • Article

      Let’s Play Dead

      Mar 3, 2020

      There was a man, let’s call him Henry VIII. There was his wife, let’s call her Anne B. Let’s give them a castle and make it nice. Let’s give her many boy babies but make them dead. Let’s give him a fussy way of being. Let’s make her smart and sneaky,

      17 min read

    • Article

      Storytime

      Jun 14, 2023

      The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry, HarperCollins 1940, curly-haired, freckled Flora, five, wakes on a blanket. She’s alone in “Whisperwood” – the secret place sister Hazel, 14, taught her to trust: “ … an invisible place and if you

      1 min read

    • Article

      Sexual Tension

      Jun 5, 2023

      Sexual Tension
      13 min read

    • Article

      Lucy Sweet Is On The Verge

      Apr 25, 2022

      When you tell people you’re from Hull, a look passes across their faces for a fleeting moment, as if someone has left an unidentifiable smell in their en suite. It’s not disgust, exactly. It’s more like they’re politely trying to hide their confusion

      2 min read

    • Article

      Excerpt: 'The Last Thing You Surrender'

      Feb 10, 2019

      In this abridged excerpt from "The Last Thing You Surrender" by columnist Leonard Pitts, Jr., elements of the all-black 761st Tank Battalion make a grisly discovery and Pvt. Luther Hayes, whose parents were murdered before his eyes by a white mob whe

      3 min read

    • Article

      Suspicious Minds

      Apr 7, 2022

      Suspicious Minds
      5 min read

    • Article

      Hotel ROMEO

      Oct 13, 2021

      Hotel ROMEO
      8 min read

    • Article

      Grandma Ruth’s UP Truck Stop

      May 10, 2021

      Rachel’s last semester at the University of Michigan would have been easy if not for the news that reached her six weeks before her final exams. It wasn’t a phone call—the phone lines were still down from the most recent blizzard to hit Paradise, she

      28 min read

    • Article

      Freedom

      Aug 6, 2020

      Freedom
      7 min read

    • Article

      Towns Like Ours

      May 3, 2018

      Towns Like Ours
      9 min read

    • Article

      It's Crying Time

      Nov 15, 2023

      I was about 13, on a sofa in front of the television on a wet Saturday afternoon. I was carelessly able to do that once – sigh. I was watching a black-and-white film. Or maybe the TV was black-and-white – probably. It was a story about a nanny caring

      4 min read

    • Article

      Books Of The Month

      Apr 21, 2023

      By Stig Abell Bequeathed an isolated farmhouse “somewhere in one of those anonymous rural counties in the middle of England”, Jake Jackson, formerly of the Met, seizes the opportunity for a fresh start after the demise of his marriage. The villagers

      2 min read

    • Article

      Paranormal Cold Case Investigating History’s Most Spine-chilling Encounters

      Jun 10, 2022

      “Do you believe in ghosts?” I ask. “No,” comes Laura’s firm and immediate reply. “But have you seen one?” I press. “Yes,” she says. “And the ghost I think I saw was my friend. My best friend.” People often ask me which of my cases has sent the bigges

      2 min read

    • Article

      A tender THREAD

      Jan 5, 2022

      A tender THREAD
      9 min read

    • Article

      Knock Me Off My Pedestal!

      Dec 14, 2022

      Knock Me Off My Pedestal!
      3 min read

    • Article

      A Lost Prayer

      Feb 2, 2023

      A Lost Prayer
      10 min read

    • Article

      The Invitation

      Aug 21, 2023

      York, October 1644 Before I’ve even mustered the courage to knock, the door to the townhouse flings open. I drop my hand. “It is me, John Falmouth,” I say and wince at how loud my voice carries into the night. My greeting falters when I look up and n

      6 min read

    • Article

      Australia Reads At Home

      May 18, 2020

      Australia Reads At Home
      7 min read

    • Article

      STEPPING Out

      Feb 26, 2020

      STEPPING Out
      10 min read

    • Article

      Every CLOUD

      Aug 31, 2022

      Every CLOUD
      6 min read

    • Article

      Echo

      Jan 10, 2024

      Once, during a depressive episode, Stanley cut out thirteen small paper stars and taped them to the ceiling of his cluttered bedroom. They were made from the construction paper left over from his youth, stored away in a basket on a shelf in the basem

      14 min read

    • Article

      Paranormal Cold Case Investigating History’s Most Spine-chilling Encounters

      Jun 10, 2022

      “Do you believe in ghosts?” I ask. “No,” comes Laura’s firm and immediate reply. “But have you seen one?” I press. “Yes,” she says. “And the ghost I think I saw was my friend. My best friend.” People often ask me which of my cases has sent the bigges

      2 min read

    • Article

      Plus ONE

      Sep 14, 2021

      Plus ONE
      6 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Reckless

    3.5/5

    111 ratings8 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

    • 4/5
      Reckless is the second book in the House of Rohan series. I just gobbled up the first book of the series. And Reckless features the son of Rohan and Elinor…Adrian. Now the first book does take place in Paris, but the family has moved to England. I first want to mention how fantastic this book is. I don’t know why I took so long to get to book two, but Adrian’s book was wonderful. I will say that this author’s writing style is unique from most Victorian era authors….it definitely has a higher level of steam and more sensual.Our delightful story begins with the setting of a house party in the countryside where the group of Heavenly Hosts meet. Now we were first introduced to the depravity and focus of sexual encounters in the first book. Our heroine, Charlotte, has been captivated by Adrian Rohan for years. But her cousin is attending the Heavenly Hosts party, and Charlotte is curious. She doesn’t necessarily want to participate but she wants to observe. When she arrives to the party however, her cousin Lina soon leaves her to her own devices when she is called away. Charlotte ends up wandering the grounds and caught up in a passionate two nights with Adrian of all men. He teaches her the pleasures of sex and she finds passion and desire. But even though they never plan on seeing each other again, fate has a way of getting in the way of best laid plans and love they neither of them expected to find. “You’ve been pinning for him these last three years, God knows why. Admittedly he’s gorgeous, but you’re hardly the type to be overset by simple beauty. Why?” Because he has sad eyes, she could have said. Because he tries so very hard to be bad, to be mean, to be cruel, and all you have to do is look past the studied ennui to see a hurt little boy trying to emerge. And yes, because he’s bloody gorgeous.”We also are introduced into a secondary love story, involving Charlotte’s cousin Lina and the local Vicar Simon. I was really intrigued with this set up. Lina had a really rough marriage and had bitter feelings toward Vicars. One of her closest friends is dying and Simon is being a bit too involved in her business. Sparks fly between these two. Simon doesn’t approve of Lina’s lifestyle in seekig sex everywhere she can find it even though he knows that she hates it and doesn’t find pleasure in intimacy. But she begins to feel desire for the first time in her life with a man so opposite from herself. “You’d be better served if you gave me a moment to regain my self-control and let me remove my boots. It’s the least a gentleman can do.” “And you’re such a gentleman.” “Not with you, love. But I’m trying.”These two stories were simply fantastic, and I was drawn completely into this book. I love the writing style of Anne Stuart, they just pull me in and the narrator for this series is SUPERB. Susan Erickson really brings this book to life and I love the way she narrates the sensuality and the vibrant emotions that speaks to the listener. I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I picked up Reckless. I didn’t realize it was a different setting since I really liked the Parisian setting. However, this isn’t your average Victorian Era romance and Anne Stuart just adds such energy to her books and Reckless is no exception. I really had a blast with this book even if the heroine drove me nuts up the wall. She gets a bit violent against the hero (slapping him) when she is being a hypocrite in a certain situation. So I don’t approve of heroines slapping heroes….yes Adrian is a rake but she didn’t have much cause in slapping him. So whenever I see this in a romance it really drives me crazy and probably is the only aspect of the story that I didn’t like and keeps the story from being a five star rating.However, despite some of the heroines actions, I understand why she does it in some ways. She isn’t ready for the emotions that Adrian brings out in her including the desire she is feeling for him or the fact that she is loving having sex with Adrian. There is such a focus of being shamed by sex in society in this time period, so she really has to face up to some tough things for herself. We see such a close bond that Adrian and Charlotte have together. Even though Adrian isn’t the type to settle down and Charlotte knows it. When she suspects that she is pregnant despite the precuations that they take to prevent it, she doesn’t want to tell him at first. Of course, it hard to hide it from him and then the plot takes a new twist with Adrian’s cousin Etienne. Now Etienne is the most depraved human you can know and what a villain he was. From the beginning we see how truly evil his character is.I will say that I found Charlotte and Adrian and Lina and Simon’s stories were simply wonderful. I love how they just seem to work together and these stories just flow in and out of each other. I was really imressed with how this book was written and once again I have fallen madly in love with another book by Anne Stuart. This series is one I can’t wait to read more of, Reckless was vibrant and unique and packed with sensuality that makes the reader melt! A STORY TO DELIGHT IN
    • 3/5
      OK story. too long. male domination.
    • 1/5
      I very rarely give single star ratings, but I quickly went from unimpressed to a continual, active dislike. lol. I've enjoyed some previous books from this author decently, but this was honestly kind of miserable to get through. I was just already far enough in by the time I gave up hope of things turning around that I stubbornly stuck it out anyway.
      The heroine lies to everyone, including herself, absolutely constantly! And the hero is a manipulative ass and hardly shows a desirable trait throughout the entire book. And they're both kind of dim-witted. It was a lot. Additionally, the heroine was incredibly naive, which I don't always hold against a character, but she was also overly self assured and reckless, and, combined with the hero's "worldly" rakishness, it created a sketchy predator/prey dynamic. She's attracted to his looks, and he's intrigued by her denied interest, and even by the end they hardly know any more of each other than that! 90% of the book is just the two of them in a battle of wills, broken up with some seduction, (some of which is 'forced seduction' by the way. There are definite consent issues, fair warning). The plot is a sizeable stretch, there's a lack of almost anything romantic (with the two of them never just in accord with each other or admiring something beyond appearance or sexual skill, until the very end of the book), and there's an obvious and cheap villain thrown in. The seduction overall felt a bit icky to me with her constantly spouting how much she loathed him and sometimes making threats or actually struggling, while he felt entitled to her body and ruining her just because it would amuse him to have her and because he could. (I also dislike in general when heroines put up a fight when inside they secretly want things to continue as well. The very notion seems like it's trying to validate rapists or something. 'She said "no. stop." but I knew better than her what she really wanted!' Ew).

      And side note, this didn't contribute to my rating, but was still noteable. I'm not usually a stickler for anachronisms, they're usually just referencing a play a decade before it was written or something and pretty harmless, but in this book an invalid teases that he's not considering suicide yet by saying he's not ready to 'stick his fork in the wall'. Which is a reference to purposeful electrocution by sticking metal into an electrical wall outlet, something which wouldn't be possible because electrical homes wouldn't exist for another 100 years. So unless they're time travelers it would be a preposterous thing to say with no understood meaning of any kind. This is not a new author self publishing all on their own, she's been writing historicals for 50 years and must have a team of people reading these before they go to print. I'm surprised none of them thought to question this.
    • 4/5
      I read this book before though I never marked it on Goodreads. I'm on a historical romance binge and grabbed a copy of this to read. Reading parts of this book made me uncomfortable, though in terms of the setting there was nothing inappropriate. It's based on the Hellfire Club which was an 18th-century scene of depravities enjoyed by nobles. The story is the trope of a rake who falls for the bluestocking who only intends to view the goings-on for 'scientific research' purpose, intending to remain a spinster virgin. The villain is suitably villainous, the hero is heroic, and the heroine is spunky. There's a nice secondary romance as a counterpoint. I think the book manages to surpass its tropes and ends up as a good romance.
    • 2/5
      What can I say about a book where I enjoyed the secondary romance (between the courtesan and the parson) better than the lead?
    • 4/5
      I liked it but it just didn't quite convince me of the growing love rather than lust that the two main characters had for each other. The two were well drawn, Charlotte Spenser, considered a spinster by all, who fancied Adrian Rohan from afar, who is brought to a decadent orgy by her best friend, with whom she lives and ends up having a couple of days of lustful sex with Adrian.Adrian who is a rake and convinced that there will be no settling down for him. Fancied her but never thought that he would be able to satisfy himself with her until opportunity presented itself.I must admit that I was more interested and more convinced by Lina and Simon's romance.Readable, interesting but didn't wow me.
    • 4/5
      While "Reckless" was unable to unseat "Ruthless" as my favorite Anne Stuart, it contained more of the technical brilliance and gothic entertainment I have come to expect from this author. Normally I would object to a series jumping generations and cheating me out of details about my old, familiar favorites, but the characters introduced in "Ruthless" were able to win my attention away from their predecessors. Charlotte and Adrian are compelling protagonists that, once again, take familiar romance novel tropes to a whole new level. There was one teapot hurling scene that will forever be one of my favorites, and finishing "Reckless" has made me anxious to move on to "Breathless."
    • 4/5
      Reckless (book 2 - due out in August) is different and I wondered if I should wait a while before I read it and maybe I should have. It is a different book, about Rohan and Elinor's son, Adrian and it is set in England in 1804. Adrian isn't quite a wicked or delicious as Rohan - whereas most of my enjoyment of Ruthless came from Rohan, Reckless was enjoyable in an entirely different way and I 'shared' my love with both protagonists. The dialogue between Charlotte and Adrian was delightful, sharp, biting and double edged. I liked that it wasn't the same book with different leads and a different name. I liked that it took place over a shorter time frame. Also, because Adrian wasn't quite as wicked as Rohan had been, I didn't have any trouble with the the ending at all so it was a more consistent read for me in that respect. (But I still liked Rohan better) There is a secondary romance in Reckless that could have been a book in itself and I was a bit disapointed not to have more of it. I was really interested in Evangelina and Simon's story. Also, there were a couple of questions I had about how the family got back to England and a new title that the original Rohan had picked up that didn't seem to be answered and which bothered me a little - because I'm like that. I gave Reckless a B . Really good, but not quite as good at Ruthless.