Even an earl needs his ride-or-dies, and Archibald Fielding-Burton, the Earl of Harcourt, counts himself lucky to have two. Archie (the jock), Simon (the nerd), and Effie (the goth) have been BFFs since their school days, and their annual trip holds a sacred spot in their calendars. This year, Archie is especially eager to get away—until an urgent letter arrives from an old family friend, begging him to help prevent a ruinous scandal. Archie’s childhood pal Olive Morgan must be rescued from an ill-fated elopement—and her sister Clementine must be rescued from rescuing Olive. Suddenly, the trip has become earls-plus-girls.

This… complicates matters. The fully grown Clementine, while as frank and refreshing as Archie remembers, is also different from the wild, windswept girl he knew. This Clem is complex and surprising—and adamantly opposed to marriage. Which, for reasons Archie dare not examine too closely, he finds increasingly vexing.

Then Clem makes him an indecent and quite delightful proposal, asking him to show her the pleasures of the marriage bed before she settles into spinsterhood. And what kind of gentleman would he be to refuse a lady?

2.5 stars

This book was mediocre but still a fun, entertaining read. I’ve definitely read better Regency Romances.

This is a case where the story is light on the plot and focuses more on the characters, but it could’ve been improved with a bit more focus on the plot. I was very bored with this story and had to force myself to push through it. It took me about a month to read it because it wasn’t keeping my attention very well.

I think the first thing that was a turnoff was the writing style. It felt very repetitive, and some phrases were just too silly for me; some scenes didn’t make sense because they lacked explanation and detail, and some descriptions were just too drawn out. Sometimes, it took too many words to get a simple point across to the reader. Some of the content also felt too modern for a historical romance. Plus, the chapters were incredibly long – way, way too long in my opinion. I had a lot of problems with the writing and wouldn’t consider this top-tier, professional writing. It could’ve used a good editor (ie. when Clem pulled back from hugging Olive when she found her at the hotel, but it never told us that they were hugging; missing other details and told after the fact).

As for the story, there are plenty of funny scenes and comedy dispersed throughout the chapters. It was full of light-hearted fun. I was really engaged in the first quarter of the book, but then it went downhill for me. The middle stalled out and became very boring, and then the ending was lackluster. By the time I got to the end, I just didn’t care anymore and wanted it to be over.

The three main guys were an interesting trio. These characters were quirky, charismatic, and likable; however, at times, I didn’t feel their chemistry together. It was a bit consistent. It also felt like the guys acted more like how girls would act together and not manly men of the era. They felt soft, too emotional, and easily persuaded by each other, like girlfriends would be together. They didn’t feel like strong, masculine men, as I would’ve preferred. However, they cared for each other in huge ways. I liked the camaraderie between them and how they created this tradition of taking an Earl’s trip each summer.  

But then this year, their annual trip was altered when a pair of sisters entered the story. They are both sassy, strong-willed, and independent women, but I found them irritating for the majority of the book. One of the sisters is a vegetarian, and that seemed to play a large part of her identity, which became boring and repetitive. She is also a feminist and anti-marriage. These modern concepts made the story feel disjointed for the time period it was supposed to be in. It didn’t feel like it fit in this historical fiction book at all. It felt forced and more like political/activist propaganda, which I didn’t like at all. This was probably my biggest turnoff of the book. 

There is a slow burn, friends-to-lovers romance in this story. It was a decent romance, but I wanted more from it. I wanted to go deeper, and we didn’t. There are also a couple of spicy scenes, which I didn’t care for because I prefer closed-door romances. It’s not super graphic, but it was enough to make me feel uncomfortable reading it. I would rate it at least PG-13. 

I couldn’t really connect to any of the characters, and the plot was so boring. I also didn’t care for the writing style, so this author may not be for me. I don’t know if I’ll read another book by her. Unfortunately, this one just didn’t work too well for me. It was just okay. It did make me laugh, and there were parts I enjoyed, but it also induced a lot of eye-rolling and confusion due to the poor writing. I don’t know if I recommend it, but if it sounds interesting to you, maybe give it a try. You may have better luck with it than I did.