The Earl Claims a Bride

author: Amelia Grey

It took me two tries to get into The Earl Takes a Bride by Amelia Grey which I suppose says something. It was one of those books that I enjoyed, but wasn’t particularly memorable either.

Miss Angelina Rule finds out that her father is deeply in debt and in order for him to avoid prison, she needs to marry Harrison, the new Earl of Thornwick. Problem is, Angelina might have feelings for Captain Maxwell, a solider she had a crush on, who has returned from India scarred and missing an eye.

Part of the reason I struggled with this book is that Grey gives us two potential heroes. We know Harrison is the real hero of the novel because of the set-up, but Captain Maxwell wasn’t a bad or unlikable dude. I love me a tragic wounded hero, so I would read the shit out of a book starring him.

There were a lot of additional plot elements too that didn’t really add to the main romance substantially. For example, Angelina is a talented artist and tries to secretly sell her paintings to save her dad. She also has a penchant for rescuing dogs. Lots of pet moppets here.

I liked the slow development of Angelina and Harrison’s romance, and I sympathized with her feeling conflicted about Captain Maxwell. The problem was the book felt slow and I wasn’t sure how invested I was in Harrison as a hero in general.

– Elyse

Historical: European, Romance

Mastered

author: Maya Banks

I always feel guilty when I can’t finish a book, but it happens.

At age twenty-three, Evangeline gives up her V-card to her most recent boyfriend, Eddie. However, he only saw her as a conquest and kicked her out of bed as soon as the deed was done. Evangeline’s roommates insist she get all dolled up, go to the hottest club that Eddie is known to frequent, and show him what he gave up. She does so, rather begrudgingly. Eddie is, of course, there and assaults Evangeline in the middle of the club. The club’s owner Drake intervenes and decides that HE MUST HAVE HER. Cue her receiving oral sex in his office.

The hero and heroine felt more like caricatures to me and not like real people at all. Evangeline is constantly bemoaning her appearance. How average she is and how she doesn’t fit in with the club’s rich and beautiful people. She actually tells Drake this once she meets him, to which he responds with the standard lines of “You don’t know how beautiful you are and every guy here wants to be with you, can’t you see that!”

However, what really brought out the DNF stamp was the hero. Following their foreplay in his office, he tells her that she’ll be picked up the next night. When she doesn’t show up because she has to work, Drake has his right-hand man collect her (Evangeline never told Drake where she worked since they interacted for all of maybe an hour). Once she gets to the club, she realizes she needs to text her roommates so they don’t worry.

And this is what Drake tells his crony:

Go assure Evangeline’s roommates that she is perfectly all right, but she won’t be coming home tonight, or any other night for that matter. Inform them that she’s moving in with me and will be in contact with them in the next day or two and will explain everything to them.

NOPE.

This sort of dynamic may work for many readers, and that’s cool, but it doesn’t work for me.

– Amanda

Erotica/Erotic Romance, Romance

Status Update

author: Annabeth Albert

Very brief summary: a quiet, closeted archeology professor inches from tenure at a Christian college agrees to give an exuberant, confident video game designer a ride home when said designer is abandoned at an RV park by his new boyfriend, and on the way they visit Bone Town.

This story had powerful internal conflict and protagonists who were extremely different from one another. Noah is closeted and has isolated himself personally and professionally. He grew up in a religious fundamental household and now works at a college that is equally so.  Adrian is a confident and mostly happy video game designer who is out and comfortable with who he is.

I liked that they were trapped together at one point in a snowstorm (WOOT!) and that the forced proximity of Noah’s RV as he drives Adrian home causes them to have to talk to each other. There are also cute dogs – Ulysses and Pixel – and Noah and Adrian’s shared love of their pets and of gaming draws them together in a way that bypasses all the boundaries Noah has built around himself.

I loved that consent was a near-constant presence between them. Adrian is unfailingly attentive to making sure that Noah agrees to anything they do, and those scenes revealed much about them both.

Noah struggles with his upbringing, his family, and the expectations of his employer, especially as he has to accept how much of his closeted life is due to his own unconscious actions. But once the conflict moved from “Will Noah accept himself and his desires?” to “What happens now that he has?” the dialogue and some of the scenes became treacly and over-sweet. Relatives who are described as harsh or cold are much warmer and forthcoming in conversations towards the end of the book – which I found hard to believe.

The conflict and distance the characters have to travel emotionally and geographically to make their relationship work kept me reading until the end, but there were several chapters I had to push myself through because of pacing, overly-sweet dialogue, or downright purple prose.

– SB Sarah

Contemporary Romance, LGBTQIA, Romance