Reviews

Meet the Earl at Midnight by Gina Conkle

thisboricuareader's review against another edition

challenging emotional hopeful medium-paced

4.0

A Historical Beauty and the Beast retelling. 

Thought it was a cute Beauty and the Beast retelling. I loved the way the whole story played out and liked the narrator. It was very cute. 

Thank you NetGalley for the audio-arc version of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

herzundseeleleserin's review

slow-paced

• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

woolyllamareads's review

lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

happilyruined's review

emotional lighthearted slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.25

2.25/5. (Re)releases 10/6/23. This is a review of the audiobook, narrated by Marian Hussey.

Vibes: Beauty and the Beast, nerdy hero, a surprisingly experienced heroine, forced marriage.

When Lydia is taken to meet the reclusive Earl of Greenwich, Edward, she doesn't understand that her stepfather and brother have put themselves in debt to the earl. The only payment he wants? A wife to give him an heir. Although she doesn't intend to go through with the marriage, Lydia accompanies the earl to his estate, where she quickly discovers that there is much more to him--and his plan for the future--than meet the eye. If she marries him, he plans on giving her relative freedom within a short amount of time; but once she actually gets to know Edward as a person, will she want it?

Here's the thing. Gina Conkle is a solid writer, I love Beauty and the Beast, there are some unique takes on the character beats here, and the leads have chemistry. So why didn't this work for me?

Well--pacing is everything.

Quick Takes:

--I want to point out the things I found unique about this book, which was originally published nearly a decade ago. Lydia is a fun, confident heroine who isn't a rebellious renegade type, but also isn't at all missish. She's not a virgin, and there isn't some particularly tragic backstory to all that. She just wanted to get with a guy and he turned out to be a douchebag. But she had fun before that! She's described as a "hoyden" a little too often, and at times she can be a bit too perky, but overall, I found her likable and I appreciated that she wasn't just this sweet girl who existed purely to soothe Edward's tormented soul.

And despite Edward being one of those heroes who has this super beautiful one side of his face and a super scarred other side, he kind of defies a lot of the stereotypes there. Yes, he avoids society; but he's not nearly as tortured about the scars as you would expect, and a lot of his character arc revolves around him being like. Obsessed with plants. And worms. Did this always work for me? Uh, well, no, but I appreciated the creativity.

--Edward and Lydia do have chemistry, and there is an immediate sexual tension between them that is boosted by the fact that she knows what sex is and does in fact like it. She's not afraid of her own sexuality, or his for that matter, and that was a really nice change of pace.  And like I said, the writing is good, which makes it easy to get engaged from the start. The issue is that the early engagement and momentum is totally lost, because...

--The pacing of this book is really off, and I have to think that a different editorial hand would have perhaps tightened it up. I was kind of shocked when I realized how little had happened at the 50% mark, because you really do begin so strongly. I was excited about the beginning. Like, I thought these two were going to GET DOWN to the business pretty quickly, based off the immediate sparks and innuendo.

What begins the slowdown is the fact that Lydia tells Edward she's not a virgin, which he isn't super bad about, the bar is underground, but... He does insist that they wait a month before getting married in order for him to ensure that she's not carrying another man's child. Which is not an unheard of trope in historicals, I've seen it before. 

However, here it doesn't make sense for a couple reasons. For one thing, when the book begins Edward is going to basically dip for a long journey in three months, and the journey is long and dangerous and family trauma and so on, and as such he wants to basically leave a wife behind, pregnant with his heir. Already, this is kind of a flimsy plan because, as the book acknowledges, that is not a lot of time to get someone pregnant. Also, it might not even be a boy. Hell, it might not even be born alive. But whatever, I can wave that away.

But if the need for an heir--which is more about satisfying familial legacy obligations than Edward's own personal desires for an heir--is so great, and he is willing to have Lydia stay at his estate for the month prior to the marriage anyway... Why not just go ahead. Does the child have to be HIS? I mean, who could really prove anything? Additionally, why does he have to wait a month? Just wait until her next period, which will probably come sooner. (This is a tactic used to great effect in Elizabeth Lowell's Untamed, where the hero is like ready to GO as soon as she's had her period, and if that worked for Medieval Times McGee, I don't know why it couldn't work for Georgian Botanist Earl.) I mean, it's not foolproof, but it's pretty good and will give you some extra time to try. Sort of. Not really sure how that lines up with fertile windows, but honestly! I don't think local Georgian Botanist Earl does either!

--And after this one big obstacle to our leads at least knowing each other carnally (I mean, I'm not saying they have to be IN LOVE early in the story, but at least getting somewhere) occurs, there are then a million little broken moments. Oops, his mom walked. Whoops, here's his housekeeper. Oh no, here's an Issue. It just killed the excitement I had and made me really, really frustrated.

I'm all for obstacles to lovers being together, but this felt like obstacles to basic progress, and that just hurts a romance, always.

--To be clear, I would say that if you love love love a slow burn, this may work for you. I found the degree of slow burn contrived. However, I won't deny that the sexual tension in this novel was well done, and those who throw down for a slow burn above all else may really like this. I'll admit: if I'd known how slowly this burned ahead of time, I wouldn't have requested it, because slow burns are pretty hit or miss for me and prolonged slow burns often don't work for me at all.

--That said, on an audiobook note, Marian Hussey is a very good narrator. I've heard her narrate books before, and she does a very good job of differentiating male voices in a pleasing way--voicing the opposite gender well is always tough, so I appreciate that.

The Sex:

There is one sex scene. It's solid, but it is very late in the story, and you don't really have much physical buildup to it. Furthermore, because this sex scene happens so late in the story and so much hinges on these two consummating the relationship, you then have a total rush to the finish line of the entire romance arc, physicality aside.

Ultimately, I just felt like this was a great start that totally wasted its own potential. Which kind of annoyed me more than a book that was bad from the start would. I'm not against trying other works by Gina Conkle because she clearly has the ability to write romance, but I do think I'll need to read some reviews first to ensure that the pacing quickens.

Thanks to Netgalley and NYLA for providing me with this audiobook. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

sabregirl's review

3.0

------ review to come ----------

kittykornerlibrarian's review

2.0

I read it but I didn't love this one. I can't remember why, because I had to wait to enter a review. I don't think I would read this author again.

lassarina's review

3.0

This was a moderately charming story of two very stubborn people finding their way to a good arrangement out of a bad beginning. I sort of felt like Lydia's secret was built up to be bigger than it ended up being, and in some ways I felt their issues were resolved too easily, but it was still fun to read and very delightful chemistry.

chelsea_jack's review

4.0

This book borrowed a few motifs from Beauty and the Beast, but it really didn't need to because it's a delight all on its own.

I loved that Lydia, the heroine, is not only lower class, and uneducated (though intelligent!), but also not the virgin bride that Edward assumed he was getting.

I feared that her being trapped into the marriage agreement would spoil the book for me, and that Edward's bluntness would be too offensive to overcome, but it all came together into a beautiful romance.

I expected more of a physical element in this romance, but instead we get a lot of foreplay leading up to... well... you know.

I'm intrigued by the cast of characters that surrounded these two, and I'll keep my eyes peeled for the next in the series - which is the best compliment I can give a book, really.

See this and other reviews at ToEachTheirOwnReviews.com

Received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

goaskalix's review

3.0

3.5 Stars

Not entirely sure what I felt about this one. I'm intrigued enough to read another one, yet at the same time I didn't really connect with it. The writing is at once overly verbose and quite hurried, jumping from one scene to another without an explanation of the time lapse.

Interesting nonetheless, and who doesn't like a surly, scarred lord?

haewilya's review

1.0

I liked that it was a Beauty and the Beast retelling (sort of) but I didn't like the execution. It seems the events were jumping from one to another without clear transition. The characters does the same. The heroine seems to be angry in one chapter then abruptly became head over heels the next page.