A Review By: Amelia
Don’t hate/judge me for this but, yes, this is a review for a
romance novel. And yes, I know, I know, romance novels are far from the best
literature available, but sometimes one just needs a light read that can just
be picked up and breezed through in a few days, and for me, a random romance
novel fits that niche. Sometimes the books only just pass as being readable,
but other times (wonderful, magical, and completely unexpected times) I find a
romance novel that’s good! Shocked? You should be–because I, myself, always am!
The romance novel that managed to capture my attention is Enticing the Earl by Nicole Byrd. The
premise of this book is one that’s been done many times before: a beautiful,
childless widow forms a romantic attachment with an aristocrat that has a
scandalous background for the purpose of redeeming a lost family heirloom. In
the last year alone there have probably been a hundred romance novels with this
exact plot, but Enticing the Earl also
throws in a rousing mystery concerning a sunken ship, possible family betrayals,
and the dangers of the opium trade.
Nicole Byrd is a prominent historical romance fiction writer
who has studied English history for many years. She’s written two historical
romance series: The Sinclair Family Saga
and The Applegate Sisters (Enticing the Earl is the final book of The Applegate Sisters series). She’s
also written magazine articles, children’s books, and has published a few young
adult novels under the pseudonym of Jennifer Cole.
There are two main characters of the piece (makes sense
since it’s a romance novel). Marcus Sutton is the male lead and is a rather
scandalous Earl who is very intelligent, albeit a little cold and intimidating,
and is rumoured to spend his time with less than reputable women. Lauryn Harris
is the female lead and a grieving widow who selflessly offers herself as the
Earl’s mistress in order to retrieve the deed to her father-in-laws estate
(which he, of course, lost while gambling with the Earl). The two of them start
from rather low and stereotypical beginnings but they actually manage to grow
into well-rounded characters that you cheer for. Sure their relationship starts
on nothing more than sex but it quickly develops into a mutual and respectful relationship:
surprising or what?
Even the secondary characters all fit in very nicely with
their surroundings. There’s an ex-lover of Marcus’ that hopes to get him back
but (surprisingly) doesn’t sink to any cruel or unusual tricks in order to do
it and actually ends up becoming something of a friend to Lauryn. Then there’s
Marcus’ younger brother Carter who slacks off and blows all his money on
gambling and drinks, but he’s a sincere man and does try (even if he fails most
of the time) to impress his older brother. They’re sweet, genuine characters
and add life and texture to a novel that so easily could have been so flat and
boring.
Like all good historical romance novels, Enticing the Earl takes place in England in the
19th century. Alright, alright, I’m sure there’s lots of other
places where a good historical romance can take place, but a vast majority of
them (and you have to agree with me here) take place in England in the
18th–19th century. I guess that’s just where all the sexy
times happen, right? Will all the tiny buttons to undo, corsets to unweave,
horse drawn carriages, country manors, and social constructs/female
modesty/family honour etc etc, I guess sexy times in the 1800s are just better.
Of all the romance novels I’ve ever casually picked up Enticing the Earl is in the top five.
It’s a clever book–a book that’s more than the sum of its parts: its parts
being sex, 1800s England,
and more sex. Of course, the sex becomes something like a second thought as
Marcus and Lauryn become fuller, more satisfyingly human characters and the
mysteries surrounding Marcus’ sunken ship lead to some dangerous situations and
possible family drama. All in all, what’s not to like?
My final thoughts on Enticing
the Earl are that it’s a good romance novel. The history was solid, as were
the plot and characters. Honestly, I think what makes this book so good is that
it’s a romance novel where the romance is a second thought to the plot. The sex
scenes felt like they were just tacked in afterwards and I really liked how
that made it more than your regular trashy/light/fluffy (whatever adjective you
want to insert there) romance novel. I can’t speak for the rest of the books in
The Applegate Sisters series, but Enticing the Earl is a solid novel
whether you like romance or not.
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