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A review by amym84
West End Earl by Bethany Bennett
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
3.0
Ophelia Hardwick lost her twin brother in a terrible accident. Out of necessity, Ophelia assumed his identity in order to get away from their domineering and abusive uncle. For ten years now, Phee has been living under Adam's name and she only has until the end of the year before she can claim her inheritance then disappear to finally live as herself again.
For the past two years Phee has been living in London working as an assistant to the Earl of Carlyle. Cal relies on Phee (whom he of course knows as Adam) to help keep his investments running smoothly with the information he gathers from those that live more on the outskirts of society. When Adam is attacked on his way home, Cal is thrown when he learns his best friend is a woman.
Now, faced with knowing the truth, Cal and Phee begin to see each other in a new light, but Phee cannot give up Adam's persona until she gets her inheritance.
This book has me a bit stumped. I've taken a couple of days after finishing trying to find the right words to convey my feels about the book and but the truth is I'm finding it difficult to form the words to back up my thoughts. So please bear with me.
While I found the book to be engaging and while I was reading I was invested in the story, the idea of Cal pretty much instantaneously pivoting his feels for Phee from platonic friendship into romantic interest nearly gave me whiplash. I think I could have dealt with it a bit had there been some exploration of the origination of Cal's feelings - i.e. on some level was he attracted to Adam?
Bringing that potential aspect of Cal's character up, for a good portion of the story Phee is considered a man by every other character and while it certainly did happen at the time that there were men who loved other men, it was certainly not something that was openly talked about. It was literally a punishable offense. I almost felt like the story, while not making light of this aspect, was also very quick to smooth over any potential conflict that may arise.
You can pretty much say that exact thing for all other potential conflicts in the story. More than a few are introduced but none are really committed to. The story felt a bit one-note in that regard.
However, both Cal and Phee are such striking characters. They're loyalty for each other and for those around them knows no bounds. It's Cal's penchant for having to fix every one else's mistakes that pulls him into one of the aforementioned conflicts.
The scenes with Cal and Phee together just spark with chemistry. Their attraction to one another leaped off the page, and Bethany Bennett certainly gave them plenty of steam.
Overall I enjoyed the book, I just wish it would have really committed itself to one type of conflict and really run with it. I think this would have made it a more compelling read. Regardless, however, I'm very interested in the next book in the series which will follow Cal's sister Emma. Introduced in this book as a secondary character, she went from being a quasi-spoiled brat to a good friend of Phee's, and I'd like to see how her HEA goes.
*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
For the past two years Phee has been living in London working as an assistant to the Earl of Carlyle. Cal relies on Phee (whom he of course knows as Adam) to help keep his investments running smoothly with the information he gathers from those that live more on the outskirts of society. When Adam is attacked on his way home, Cal is thrown when he learns his best friend is a woman.
Now, faced with knowing the truth, Cal and Phee begin to see each other in a new light, but Phee cannot give up Adam's persona until she gets her inheritance.
This book has me a bit stumped. I've taken a couple of days after finishing trying to find the right words to convey my feels about the book and but the truth is I'm finding it difficult to form the words to back up my thoughts. So please bear with me.
While I found the book to be engaging and while I was reading I was invested in the story, the idea of Cal pretty much instantaneously pivoting his feels for Phee from platonic friendship into romantic interest nearly gave me whiplash. I think I could have dealt with it a bit had there been some exploration of the origination of Cal's feelings - i.e. on some level was he attracted to Adam?
Bringing that potential aspect of Cal's character up, for a good portion of the story Phee is considered a man by every other character and while it certainly did happen at the time that there were men who loved other men, it was certainly not something that was openly talked about. It was literally a punishable offense. I almost felt like the story, while not making light of this aspect, was also very quick to smooth over any potential conflict that may arise.
You can pretty much say that exact thing for all other potential conflicts in the story. More than a few are introduced but none are really committed to. The story felt a bit one-note in that regard.
However, both Cal and Phee are such striking characters. They're loyalty for each other and for those around them knows no bounds. It's Cal's penchant for having to fix every one else's mistakes that pulls him into one of the aforementioned conflicts.
The scenes with Cal and Phee together just spark with chemistry. Their attraction to one another leaped off the page, and Bethany Bennett certainly gave them plenty of steam.
Overall I enjoyed the book, I just wish it would have really committed itself to one type of conflict and really run with it. I think this would have made it a more compelling read. Regardless, however, I'm very interested in the next book in the series which will follow Cal's sister Emma. Introduced in this book as a secondary character, she went from being a quasi-spoiled brat to a good friend of Phee's, and I'd like to see how her HEA goes.
*ARC provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
Content Warnings
Minor: Child death, Violence, and Death of parent