Reviews

The Earl's Mistress by Liz Carlyle

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halffast's review against another edition

3.0

Gently bred lady falls on hard times and decides to become the mistress of an earl, who struggles to protect her from poverty, her scheming family, and—most of all—himself.

This storyline was way more interesting than "girl becomes mistress and then guy proposes." Without giving too much away, she's only his mistress for a night, but they continue a friendship/quasi-relationship that would definitely raise eyebrows back then because of the class difference. Isabella was my favorite kind of strong-yet-vulnerable heroine, though she didn't have much overall character development. Anthony had to put in a lot more work emotionally to be a fitting partner for Isabella, who didn't let him off easy (she slaps him twice when he's being especially dick-ish). I skimmed the later sex scenes, which were BDSM heavy (many reviews call this a 50 Shades ripoff) and felt awkward for some reason. The story has a large cast of children, but their antics are cute and not overwhelming. My favorite part is when the characters vacation to a country home in the second half of the book and a lot of the scenes have a 'slice of life' feel as they casually romp around the countryside and dine together. This book is part of a series but works fine as a standalone.

una_macchia's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5 stars. I'll be honest, I wasn't expecting to like this: I actually thought it might be a hate-read. BDSM isn't really my thing, and in the few romances with a dominant hero and submissive heroine I've read, I've found that they just amplify the autocratic man/doormat martyr woman dynamic that annoys me in non-kinky romance. However, I thought the way Liz Carlyle handled the elements of control and power dynamics between the hero and heroine in bed vs in the rest of their lives, and how that interacts with Victorian gender roles, was actually pretty interesting. The heroine's submissive streak worked for me in a way that it hasn't in other books because she really isn't a doormat in the rest of her life - she hasn't ever had the chance to be. The hero's desire for control and subsequent relinquishing of it to the heroine wasn't explored as explicitly but it also made sense for his character. He's rather unpleasant to say the least when we first meet him, but he gets a lot of character development (no personality transplant, though) so I could buy the HEA.

I must say that I got distracted by how raspy the hero's voice was (as described - I wasn't listening to audio). Someone get this man a lozenge!

theblisstour's review against another edition

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4.0

I hadn't read [a:Liz Carlyle|21944|Liz Carlyle|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1215535084p2/21944.jpg] before, so I can't agree or disagree with the reviews that say this is a [unwelcome?] departure for her. I really like this book. I liked both of the main characters, Tony and Bella. They were complicated and proud, but most of all honest with each other. I believed the development of their relationship. Also, the kids had their own personalities, and they didn't annoy me as kids in historicals especially often to.

One issue though. Why did Tony keep saying he would use some kind of birth control but he never did? Not once! And Bella never stopped and said, hey I could get pregnant. Perhaps there is something we could do to prevent this.

Maybe another issue: I found the convoluted familial associations completely confusing. And the characters kept explaining to to make it clear. I don't understand how anyone is related to anyone else, although they all seem to be related to each other. Except oddly, the two little girls, Jemma and Georgie. Right? Still not sure.