A review by sydapel
West End Earl by Bethany Bennett

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

3.5

Reading an entire book in one day feels good when it feels like life is coming at me from all directions. Okay, let's start with the things I liked. What the author does really well is allow you to see the characters through each other's eyes, which I feel is the best way to make their relationship believable and also for me to fall for them. I loved the dynamic between our MCs, and Ophelia is up there with my favorite historical romance heroines. Due to the way she's lived her adult life, she crosses this interesting line between genders and often holds herself in a dominant position alongside Cal. However, this gets into my issue with the book, which is mainly that I wished we could have sacrificed all the different external conflicts and allowed the story to dive into Ophelia's gender and furthermore, Cal's sexuality. Having a bisexual hero and a gender non conforming heroine would have been SO. COOL. and it was sacrificed for messy issues that were frustrating and didn't really add to character development.  
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