I'm a big fan of Julia Quinns later works (Agents of the Crown, Smyth-Smith Quartett and Bridgerton, of course), thus I wanted to read all her other novels, too. Her first Trilogy (Splendid, Dancing at Midnight and Minx) allready lets you get a glimpse of what makes her later works so much fun to read (or hear)... sparkling dialogs, interesting main characters (and endearing minor characters) and steaming hot love scenes... But it's the (at this point) long and repetitive pages in between that dim my enjoyment of this trilogy immensly. It takes the main characters very, very, very long to ponder on their respective reason for not being able to accept the others love ... and then they repeat it again. In the case of the audiobooks, matters get even worse due to the rather limited vocal abilities shown by the narrator. All the male characters have the same dull, fake deep sound, whereas all female characters (no matter what their temperament or age) get the same squeaky, high voice. This rather takes the steam out of any love scene or heated dialogue. Luckily, Julia Quinns writing improved a lot over time and thus I'll continue to read/hear her novels. But unlike with her later works, I'll gladly leave the Splendid-Trilogy be, with only having read/ heared it once.