daniellesalwaysreading's review against another edition
1.0
I want romance novels to either have good men or men who start out bad, learn a lesson, and fix themselves. If you also like that, this is not the book for you. This is just a rehashing of the terrible, sexist romance novels of old, except with two men. Red flags everywhere: dub con, no consideration of partners feelings, temper tantrums, use of power and privilege to ignore partner's wants and needs. That was all on top of a contrived plot.
katiemulcahy122's review
DNF at 38% because this would be a 2 star at best if I finished. It's so fast-paced that I could easily finish, but there is no point.
Maybe if it was dual POV and not just Sebastian it would be more interesting, but as it is, it's boring instalove. And apparently it's set in Elizabethan times, but unless you care for a shit ton of descriptions of clothing, that doesn't really add anything.
Maybe if it was dual POV and not just Sebastian it would be more interesting, but as it is, it's boring instalove. And apparently it's set in Elizabethan times, but unless you care for a shit ton of descriptions of clothing, that doesn't really add anything.
crtsjffrsn's review
3.0
Sebastian Hewel has made his career playing the female heroines on the Elizabethan stage. But when his cousin shows up to ask for his help taking on a similar role, he is unsure if it is worth the risk. Sebastian's sister, Bronwyn, has run off and eloped, leaving her arranged marriage to Lord Crofton in the balance. If Sebastian were to take her place, even just for a short while, he could likely pay off his father's debts and restore the Hewel family name. But when he reluctantly agrees, he is surprised when Lord Crofton--Anthony--recognizes him from his time on the stage. The two enter a mutually agreeable arrangement. But with Anthony's past as a philanderer, is Sebastian risking more than just his head if he gets caught? And would that be worse than a broken heart?
elfflame's review
emotional
hopeful
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
bookcraft's review
3.0
There are a few bumps some rough edges to the prose, as well as a few factual inaccuracies (or possibly more than a few; I'm no expert on Elizabethan England) and I'm not especially a fan of plots driven by possessive jealousy, but overall it was entertaining.
I'm more than okay with the existence of a cast of supporting characters who are accepting of Sebastian and Anthony's relationship, whether or not that was likely realistic for the times, primarily because there's far too much homophobia in the real world and I don't want heaping helpings of it in my escapist fiction.
I'm more than okay with the existence of a cast of supporting characters who are accepting of Sebastian and Anthony's relationship, whether or not that was likely realistic for the times, primarily because there's far too much homophobia in the real world and I don't want heaping helpings of it in my escapist fiction.
dreamerfreak's review
4.0
What a delightful book. My word, this story had me from start to finish! When dear Sebastian is talked into posing as his sister for his sister's wedding, things are off to a bad start. When his husband-to-be immediately recognizes him as the actor he saw the night before, things go from bad to worse... or so Sebastian thinks. Sebastian and Anthony soon come to an understanding, but neither of them counted on emotions getting involved. Their relationship is an elaborate dance, due to both the time period and their farce marriage, and it's a delight to watch. I fell for these boys just as hard as they fell for each other, cheered them through their misunderstandings, and I can't wait to see what other adventures they're going to get into.
janetted's review
3.0
A fun, spirited romance full of delightful complications. Sebastian is a talented actor in the role of a lifetime - playing his sister, the newly married wife of Earl Crofton. Naturally it gets messy when the boundaries are blurred and his heart gets involved. I'm very much
looking forward to reading the sequel!
looking forward to reading the sequel!
suze_1624's review
4.0
I had been looking forward to this one and it didn't disappoint.
I enjoyed the setting information - the dress information, the theatres, the gambling dens etc.
The premise of a Sebastian 'playing' the role of his sister I took with apinch of salt and enjoyed the tale - especially when Bronwyn was actually there, how did people not see a difference even if they are twins.
The story was really one of Anthony coming to terms with loving Sebastian. So quite a fun read, one I found enjoyable and read in one day.
I enjoyed the setting information - the dress information, the theatres, the gambling dens etc.
The premise of a Sebastian 'playing' the role of his sister I took with apinch of salt and enjoyed the tale - especially when Bronwyn was actually there, how did people not see a difference even if they are twins.
The story was really one of Anthony coming to terms with loving Sebastian. So quite a fun read, one I found enjoyable and read in one day.
katlinmorris's review
2.0
I have beef with the Gay Romance genre. I’m saying this before reviewing “The Actor and the Earl” because I feel it’s important. I desperately crave historical fiction with some good LGBTQ representation but there is very little of it. So I turned to historical Gay Romance but I think I’m done with them for good. This is not just because I feel uncomfortable with the way a lot of straight female authors seem to sexualise being gay in these novels but also because these books usually lack any kind of coherent interesting storyline to back the romance up. Maybe I just picked the wrong books, who knows, but I’ve tried a few historical Gay Romances and I found that they’re usually not worth the paper they’re printed on. I don’t think I need to be this harsh to “The Actor and the Earl” though. It’s a cute book. It really is. It’s sugary sweet. But it’s also kind of bad.
MUCH ADO ABOUT LITERALLY NOTHING
Elizabethan England and early modern theatre are two of my historical obsessions thanks to YA author Mary Hooper. I read her books set in late Tudor and Restoration England as a young teenager and they made me want to know more about the 1500s and 1600s in England and about Elizabethan theatre. That’s why I picked up “The Actor and the Earl” in the first place. When I used to read Gay Romance I usually went for time periods I loved. Sadly I was disappointed quite often and this book was no exception to that rule.
The plot is simple enough: Sebastian Hewel is an actor in Elizabethan England and usually plays leading ladies since women aren’t allowed to be actresses. When his twin sister Bronwyn refuses to marry Anthony Redbourn, Earl of Crofton, and suddenly the family name and fortune are jeopardised Sebastian steps in, pretends to be Bronwyn and goes through with the marriage, risking a death sentence should he be discovered. I love the idea behind this book. Quite a lot to be honest. I never could resist a good comedy of errors and since Shakespeare wrote a lot of these the plot fit the time period quite well. This book promised to be fun, light hearted and romantic. The problem is that it wasn’t.
“The Actor and the Earl” makes you slug through a lot of petty drama that will make you roll your eyes at how childish the characters are without any sort of comic relief to keep you entertained. It takes itself way too serious which is quite frankly ridiculous. There really isn’t any plot either. Sebastian marries Anthony and spends a lot of time obsessing about being discovered only to find out that Anthony already knows he’s the twin brother and doesn’t mind. Then they have sex a few times, quarrel about the most ridiculous things and then kinda sorta have to stop Anthony’s friends from finding out that Sebastian is a man during a dinner party. Okay. There is no tension or any kind of central conflict, stuff just happens and then other stuff happens and then Anthony and Sebastian fight some more only to tearfully reunite a few pages later and do it all over again.
THE MERRY WIFE OF CROFTON
The thing is, Sebastian and Anthony are actually somewhat cute together. Somewhat. Anthony is a moody sap most of the time but he’s a good guy which surprised me. He really cares about Sebastian and even though there are about a gazillion stupid misunderstandings about Anthony seeing other men and women, it always comes out that he in fact doesn’t because he takes his marriage to Sebastian seriously. I liked this but I wish the romance hadn’t been so bland. It’s instant love all the way for these too. Sebastian goes from only reluctantly agreeing to marry Anthony to falling head over heels for him in the matter of hours and why Anthony falls in love with little nineteen year old Sebastian nobody knows.
Cohen tries to emulate your usual romance plot with all the fighting, misunderstandings and making up but her characters just aren’t interesting enough, the conflicts are silly and often seem childish so it just doesn’t work. When I read Romance, I want to read about interesting, flawed people falling in love against all obstacles. This doesn’t happen here. The romance is bland because both Sebastian and Anthony are bland and two dimensional. There were some cute bits but I don’t want just cute from Romance. It’s not enough.
The sex… well, it was there. I’m not a big fan of sex scenes unless they’re really well written but even I could tell that the sex in “The Actor and the Earl” was sub par. It was tame. Not in the sense that it was all vanilla because there’s nothing wrong with that. It was tame in the sense that it was boring and not written very well. One time the magic happened in an office chair and I’m still not sure how Sebastian and Anthony pulled off that anatomically challenging position. My biggest problem with the sex and the romance was that the author kept putting Sebastian and Anthony into these neat little boxes that real people never fit into. Anthony was the manly man, Sebastian was meek and small and “female” and they never got to break free from these stereotypes. Their relationship didn’t feel authentic in any way and they didn't feel authentic as characters either.
TWO GENTLEMEN OF QUESTIONABLE HISTORICAL DETAIL
My biggest problem with “The Actor and the Earl” was the historical setting. It was so badly done. This is set in the 1500s but it reads like Cohen didn’t research the era at all. She mentions Good Queen Beth now and then, she throws in Shakespeare but the rest is either so vaguely described it could be any time period or it's just plain wrong. Sebastian putting on Bronwyn’s clothes for the first time was a ride for every fashion historian. It’s not that hard to research Elizabethan fashion, come on. This book is only about 200 pages long so it's not like there wasn't space for some well researched details about Sebastian's new wardrobe or the way the setting looks.
There is barely any historical detail at all. Sebastian works at a theatre but the theatre is barely described, we don't find out how plays were prepared and performed in the Elizabethan age and we learn exactly nothing about Elizabethan theatre and society at all. Then it’s off to Anthony’s mansion which is also not described. This could have been any historical era really and it just felt so uninspired and shallow. All I wanted was some detail. What do the rooms look like? What is it like being an actor in the 1500s? How does this society actually work? What other playwrights are there besides Shakespeare? We just don't find out. It's like Cohen figured mentioning old William and Queen Elizabeth now and then was enough and there was no need for more detail. But there was. This setting felt empty. It felt hollow.
Everything about “The Actor and the Earl” is highly mediocre or even worse. I don’t know how much effort Cohen put into this book but it reads like she just started writing without doing much research or plotting or anything else. It seems carelessly done which is disappointing, especially since it could have been so much more. Just a little more research, just a little more work on the characters and plot and we could have had something very nice. But either Cohen didn't want this book to be more or she couldn't make it more, I don't know. Either way it's a letdown. Not just because this novel is kind of bad but because the story had potential. You can kind of imagine what this book could have been with a bit more work.
ALL'S WELL THAT PRETENDS TO BE WELL
My last point of criticism is the treatment of homophobia in this book. Dreamspinner Press stands for wholesome gay romance with happy endings and this book does have a disclaimer that historically accurate stigma might be minimised or ignored. Don’t get me wrong, I think that’s fine. I’m all for wholesome LGBTQ historical fiction. I still hated how it was done in “The Actor and the Earl” though. The whole point of the plot is that Sebastian will be executed if someone finds out he’s a man and has married another man under false pretences. This is literally the only kind of tension this book manages to evoke: You’re rooting for Sebastian and you're hoping he will get away with it. But then characters start to find out and none of them are shocked or threaten to tell on our two lovebirds. Everything is totally fine with the Earl being married to a man.
If the only real conflict your book has is driven by homophobia then why the hell would you make every single character that figures out Sebastian is a man be totally cool with their relationship? Either your Elizabethan society is homophobic or it isn’t. You need to decide. Because making the whole plot of this book about Sebastian being scared of being found out and executed and then having each and every character who finds out support him is shite. Sorry, it’s shite. That’s not how you build tension, that’s how you kill a plot. What even was the purpose of this whole angsty storyline when nobody cared anyway? As I’ve said, I’m all for LGBTQ lovers in historical romance working around their society’s obstacles and finding their happily ever after. But just pretending like Elizabethan society wasn’t homophobic whilst at the same time making the whole plot revolve around Elizabethan society being homophobic doesn’t make any sense at all.
Overall “The Earl and the Actor” was cute. I did like Sebastian well enough despite his blandness and his sister Bronwyn was a decent character. She has some edge where most of these characters are kind of just there. But that’s all. It’s quite a quick read at approximately 200 pages and it has some nice happy scenes. If you don’t care about historical detail and just want a little feel-good read that’s not very demanding, maybe go for it. But you’ve been warned. The romance is superficial and boring, the historical detail is nonexistent and there isn’t much plot to speak of either. All in all “The Actor and the Earl” was mediocre at best even though the premise was interesting. This leaves me a little bitter because I really want books like this one – just way more fleshed out. This could have been great with three dimensional characters, an interesting conflict and way more historical detail. But it just wasn’t there.
I'm giving this book two points because it had its charming moments and I did like Sebastian as a main character. My gut feeling tells me that it doesn't really deserve the second point but in the end "The Actor and the Earl" doesn't really do anything wrong. It just doesn't do anything period. It's not daring or interesting or funny or romantic. It's a book that I have read. It was okay. But okay just isn't enough. So there we go.
MUCH ADO ABOUT LITERALLY NOTHING
Elizabethan England and early modern theatre are two of my historical obsessions thanks to YA author Mary Hooper. I read her books set in late Tudor and Restoration England as a young teenager and they made me want to know more about the 1500s and 1600s in England and about Elizabethan theatre. That’s why I picked up “The Actor and the Earl” in the first place. When I used to read Gay Romance I usually went for time periods I loved. Sadly I was disappointed quite often and this book was no exception to that rule.
The plot is simple enough: Sebastian Hewel is an actor in Elizabethan England and usually plays leading ladies since women aren’t allowed to be actresses. When his twin sister Bronwyn refuses to marry Anthony Redbourn, Earl of Crofton, and suddenly the family name and fortune are jeopardised Sebastian steps in, pretends to be Bronwyn and goes through with the marriage, risking a death sentence should he be discovered. I love the idea behind this book. Quite a lot to be honest. I never could resist a good comedy of errors and since Shakespeare wrote a lot of these the plot fit the time period quite well. This book promised to be fun, light hearted and romantic. The problem is that it wasn’t.
“The Actor and the Earl” makes you slug through a lot of petty drama that will make you roll your eyes at how childish the characters are without any sort of comic relief to keep you entertained. It takes itself way too serious which is quite frankly ridiculous. There really isn’t any plot either. Sebastian marries Anthony and spends a lot of time obsessing about being discovered only to find out that Anthony already knows he’s the twin brother and doesn’t mind. Then they have sex a few times, quarrel about the most ridiculous things and then kinda sorta have to stop Anthony’s friends from finding out that Sebastian is a man during a dinner party. Okay. There is no tension or any kind of central conflict, stuff just happens and then other stuff happens and then Anthony and Sebastian fight some more only to tearfully reunite a few pages later and do it all over again.
THE MERRY WIFE OF CROFTON
The thing is, Sebastian and Anthony are actually somewhat cute together. Somewhat. Anthony is a moody sap most of the time but he’s a good guy which surprised me. He really cares about Sebastian and even though there are about a gazillion stupid misunderstandings about Anthony seeing other men and women, it always comes out that he in fact doesn’t because he takes his marriage to Sebastian seriously. I liked this but I wish the romance hadn’t been so bland. It’s instant love all the way for these too. Sebastian goes from only reluctantly agreeing to marry Anthony to falling head over heels for him in the matter of hours and why Anthony falls in love with little nineteen year old Sebastian nobody knows.
Cohen tries to emulate your usual romance plot with all the fighting, misunderstandings and making up but her characters just aren’t interesting enough, the conflicts are silly and often seem childish so it just doesn’t work. When I read Romance, I want to read about interesting, flawed people falling in love against all obstacles. This doesn’t happen here. The romance is bland because both Sebastian and Anthony are bland and two dimensional. There were some cute bits but I don’t want just cute from Romance. It’s not enough.
The sex… well, it was there. I’m not a big fan of sex scenes unless they’re really well written but even I could tell that the sex in “The Actor and the Earl” was sub par. It was tame. Not in the sense that it was all vanilla because there’s nothing wrong with that. It was tame in the sense that it was boring and not written very well. One time the magic happened in an office chair and I’m still not sure how Sebastian and Anthony pulled off that anatomically challenging position. My biggest problem with the sex and the romance was that the author kept putting Sebastian and Anthony into these neat little boxes that real people never fit into. Anthony was the manly man, Sebastian was meek and small and “female” and they never got to break free from these stereotypes. Their relationship didn’t feel authentic in any way and they didn't feel authentic as characters either.
TWO GENTLEMEN OF QUESTIONABLE HISTORICAL DETAIL
My biggest problem with “The Actor and the Earl” was the historical setting. It was so badly done. This is set in the 1500s but it reads like Cohen didn’t research the era at all. She mentions Good Queen Beth now and then, she throws in Shakespeare but the rest is either so vaguely described it could be any time period or it's just plain wrong. Sebastian putting on Bronwyn’s clothes for the first time was a ride for every fashion historian. It’s not that hard to research Elizabethan fashion, come on. This book is only about 200 pages long so it's not like there wasn't space for some well researched details about Sebastian's new wardrobe or the way the setting looks.
There is barely any historical detail at all. Sebastian works at a theatre but the theatre is barely described, we don't find out how plays were prepared and performed in the Elizabethan age and we learn exactly nothing about Elizabethan theatre and society at all. Then it’s off to Anthony’s mansion which is also not described. This could have been any historical era really and it just felt so uninspired and shallow. All I wanted was some detail. What do the rooms look like? What is it like being an actor in the 1500s? How does this society actually work? What other playwrights are there besides Shakespeare? We just don't find out. It's like Cohen figured mentioning old William and Queen Elizabeth now and then was enough and there was no need for more detail. But there was. This setting felt empty. It felt hollow.
Everything about “The Actor and the Earl” is highly mediocre or even worse. I don’t know how much effort Cohen put into this book but it reads like she just started writing without doing much research or plotting or anything else. It seems carelessly done which is disappointing, especially since it could have been so much more. Just a little more research, just a little more work on the characters and plot and we could have had something very nice. But either Cohen didn't want this book to be more or she couldn't make it more, I don't know. Either way it's a letdown. Not just because this novel is kind of bad but because the story had potential. You can kind of imagine what this book could have been with a bit more work.
ALL'S WELL THAT PRETENDS TO BE WELL
My last point of criticism is the treatment of homophobia in this book. Dreamspinner Press stands for wholesome gay romance with happy endings and this book does have a disclaimer that historically accurate stigma might be minimised or ignored. Don’t get me wrong, I think that’s fine. I’m all for wholesome LGBTQ historical fiction. I still hated how it was done in “The Actor and the Earl” though. The whole point of the plot is that Sebastian will be executed if someone finds out he’s a man and has married another man under false pretences. This is literally the only kind of tension this book manages to evoke: You’re rooting for Sebastian and you're hoping he will get away with it. But then characters start to find out and none of them are shocked or threaten to tell on our two lovebirds. Everything is totally fine with the Earl being married to a man.
If the only real conflict your book has is driven by homophobia then why the hell would you make every single character that figures out Sebastian is a man be totally cool with their relationship? Either your Elizabethan society is homophobic or it isn’t. You need to decide. Because making the whole plot of this book about Sebastian being scared of being found out and executed and then having each and every character who finds out support him is shite. Sorry, it’s shite. That’s not how you build tension, that’s how you kill a plot. What even was the purpose of this whole angsty storyline when nobody cared anyway? As I’ve said, I’m all for LGBTQ lovers in historical romance working around their society’s obstacles and finding their happily ever after. But just pretending like Elizabethan society wasn’t homophobic whilst at the same time making the whole plot revolve around Elizabethan society being homophobic doesn’t make any sense at all.
Overall “The Earl and the Actor” was cute. I did like Sebastian well enough despite his blandness and his sister Bronwyn was a decent character. She has some edge where most of these characters are kind of just there. But that’s all. It’s quite a quick read at approximately 200 pages and it has some nice happy scenes. If you don’t care about historical detail and just want a little feel-good read that’s not very demanding, maybe go for it. But you’ve been warned. The romance is superficial and boring, the historical detail is nonexistent and there isn’t much plot to speak of either. All in all “The Actor and the Earl” was mediocre at best even though the premise was interesting. This leaves me a little bitter because I really want books like this one – just way more fleshed out. This could have been great with three dimensional characters, an interesting conflict and way more historical detail. But it just wasn’t there.
I'm giving this book two points because it had its charming moments and I did like Sebastian as a main character. My gut feeling tells me that it doesn't really deserve the second point but in the end "The Actor and the Earl" doesn't really do anything wrong. It just doesn't do anything period. It's not daring or interesting or funny or romantic. It's a book that I have read. It was okay. But okay just isn't enough. So there we go.