Someone to Watch Over Me by Lisa Kleypas | Audio Review

Series: Bow Street Runners, #1
Traits & Tropes: amnesia; law enforcement hero
Publication Date: 05.01.99
Genre/Setting: Historical; London, England
Heat Level: 3/5
Rating: 3/5
Narration Rating: 3/5

As quite possibly the most successful runner Bow Street has ever seen, Grant Morgan is an extremely wealthy and eligible bachelor.  When he’s called out late one night to investigate the body of a drowning victim, he’s shocked to recognize her as the notorious courtesan, Vivien Duvall.  Even more surprising is the fact that she is somehow still alive, but since she has no memory and no idea of who might wish her harm, Grant brings her to recover in his own home where he can protect her himself.

Vivien believes Grant when he claims she is his mistress even though she can’t reconcile the idea with the vague notions she has of her true self.  The injuries she’s sustained make it clear that someone tried to kill her, and she has little choice but to trust Grant given the precariousness of her situation.  Grant continues to delve into Vivien’s life to find out who might want to hurt her and the two begin to fall for each other, all the while trying to stay ahead of the determined would-be murderer.

I love Bow Street Runner heroes and was so looking forward to this book, figuring that factor plus an amnesia trope would be a slam dunk.  Somehow, this one fell a bit flat for me.  I loved the plot twists here and the ending was satisfying, but I didn’t much care for the main characters.  Grant was a rather tragic figure, having never really experienced love and having no idea what to do with his feelings, so that was charming, but he wasn’t the most likeable at first and definitely had to grow on me.  Though I will say, given the circumstances, Grant’s behavior was rather understandable.  Our heroine here also had to grow on me and her flighty behavior towards the end was just rather maddening.  Overall, this wasn’t bad, but it did take awhile for me to get through the audiobook because it just wasn’t holding my attention, although this could be partly because I really did not like the narrator.  Despite that this one was just ok for me; I will continue the series at some point.