Anthony

I’ll admit, I approached *Anthony* with skepticism. After two seasons of the Netflix adaptation softening his edges, I worried the audiobook would deliver another brooding-but-bland aristocrat. Instead, Clotilde Seille’s narration handed me a masterclass in how to voice a hero who’s *actively* working against his own happiness—and somehow make you root for him anyway. Her Anthony isn’t just a deep-voiced rake; he’s a man teetering on the edge of self-sabotage, his clipped tones betraying the effort it takes to maintain his emotional armor. When he snaps at Kate, Seille’s delivery is so precise you can *hear* the moment he regrets it—yet he doubles down anyway. It’s maddening. It’s brilliant. The story’s pacing is where things get interesting. The first act drags slightly—Quinn lingers a beat too long on Anthony’s internal whining about duty vs. desire—but once Kate enters the fray, the audiobook *sings*. Their verbal duels are electric, with Seille nailing the timing of Kate’s cutting rejoinders (her “*You*, sir, are insufferable” had me rewinding twice). My one critique? The secondary romance plotline feels tacked on, its resolution rushed compared to the meticulous unraveling of Anthony’s defenses. And while Seille’s accent work is generally strong, her male voices occasionally blur together in group scenes. But these are quibbles. The real triumph is how the audiobook turns Anthony’s emotional growth into something *earned*—no grand gestures, just quiet moments where Seille’s delivery lets you hear the cracks in his facade. If you love romance that balances humor with genuine stakes (and a hero who deserves every ounce of his comeuppance), this is your audiobook. Just maybe don’t listen to it in public—you *will* laugh out loud at the wrong moments.