The Footman

Written by Minerva Spencer and S.M. LaViolette

Narrated by Anne Flosnik

Lady Elinor wants nothing to do with love. Her arranged marriage-and one glorious but ill-fated kiss with a handsome footman-cured her of any romantic notions she'd ever entertained. Now a widow, all Elinor plans to do is rebuild her life-without a man in it. She certainly has no intention of falling for the charming and entirely too tempting American who seems so determined to win her favor . . .

Stephen Worth is no longer the impoverished footman who lost everything because of the impulsive actions of a reckless young lady. Having reinvented himself long ago, his sole focus now is revenge. He'll do whatever it takes to exact a pound of flesh from all who wronged him so long ago. And if that means ruining the lovely Elinor in the process? So be it.

But it's not long before Elinor finds herself drawn to Stephen despite her best intentions-and before Stephen starts to wonder if maybe a life with Elinor is worth more than his revenge. Can Stephen and Elinor overcome their painful pasts and take a second chance on love? Or is the cost of trust simply more than they're willing to pay?

Contains mature themes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tantor Media, Inc
• Release date: Dec 27, 2022
• ISBN: 9798765069325

Minerva Spencer

Minerva Spencer was born in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. She has lived in Canada, the US, Europe, Africa, and Mexico. After receiving her M.A. in Latin American History from The University of Houston she taught American History for five years before going to law school. She was a prosecutor and labor lawyer before purchasing a bed and breakfast in Taos, NM, where she lives with her husband and dozens of rescue animals.

Reviews for The Footman

[Susan Grunner · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This was an interesting concept, but the execution wasn't great. It has a lot of tropes I wasn't interested in. The biggest one is billionaire romance. He's so rich that literally nothing stands in his way. He literally pays someone 10k for some information. And he has so much power and influence. He's just entirely outsized. And yet he's still so micro focused on revenge, and the delivery of it to be humiliating. Just... Why? Why do this? And then there's the insta-love aspect. From both sides. Doesn't make any sense.

But it's the ending that most frustrates me. She makes all the wrong choices. All of them. And even when it works out, she continues to make all the wrong choices. And ultimately at the end, I was really hoping she WOULDN'T marry him. And instead we spend another couple hours watching as LaViolette tries to un-do an entire books worth of character building so she can make the worst choice: marry him. But why? She had such a good thing going. She's a countess, she can be a doctor and a mistress and rich and be looked up to.

This makes no sense. Such a disappointing ending. The book could have been saved.

Also, his character is entirely unredeemed. It doesn't matter how many good acts this man does to try to balance out the bad, he simply isn't a good person.

[claire · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed it but it went on for too long with the heroine not wanting to marry Stephen. Yes she was afraid and didn't trust men after her first marriage but she loved him and she knew that he was completely different to her first husband. But it went on and on.
The narrator of course didn't help, didn't like her much but better than the narrator of this authors previous books, Justine Eyre, can't bear her voice.