A review by daleydale
The Earl and His Lady by Sally Britton
3.0
*Caution: This review contains very vague spoilers.*
The Earl and His Lady, by Sally Britton, is an overall enjoyable read, with likeable characters, a sweet romance, and a frank exploration of human grief. Unfortunately, it fell a bit short of being a truly interesting story for me, owing to a few drawbacks to its plot and in its storytelling.
Now, I’d like to preface this review by first saying that pure romance is not a genre I usually read. I prefer action with a side of romance, so perhaps I wasn’t the intended audience for this particular story. I also haven’t read the rest of the books in the Branches of Love series, or anything else by this author, so my experience of this book will most likely be different from many other readers.
That being said, I did find this book to be a satisfying read. I liked the characters, who were strong and sensible people, if they did seem to fall into the common tropes of a romance story. I especially enjoyed how Britton portrayed the two children in the novel; they were very cute, and I could see why people would dote on them.
I thought the romance was very sweet. It’s not the kind of romance that gets your heart all aflutter as you read it, but it’s a regency romance, which, I would imagine, is generally pretty tame. I did appreciate that the characters came together in a very natural way; the romance didn’t seem forced, or to come out of nowhere, which, for me, is always a plus.
One thing I didn’t much like about The Earl and His Lady, however, was the villain. His character was very contrived, and his actions predictable. I think Britton could have painted him to be even more evil, even more distasteful. I suppose from an 18th century Earl and Countess’ perspective his actions, in the one scene in which we met him, were deplorable, but it just didn’t seem like that big of a deal to me, so I didn’t see why we should really hate him, except that he was trying to take the boys away. A little more development into his character could have gone a long way into building this into a better story.
Because, since the villain was weak, the general plot was lacking, in my opinion. As I said, I like a story with a little more action, and this book certainly didn’t have it. Even the climax of the story was not very exciting. I thought it was well done, but without making me hate Mr. Macon first, I didn’t feel any true suspense in the moment.
The story was also very predictable, not only for the villain but also the romance. I wouldn’t have minded how predictable the romantic storyline was, if the novel had honestly just been a love story. The villain felt like an afterthought, which he may-well might have been.
I did, however, really like how the author handled grief, and how she explored how different people experience grief. I believe it was beautifully done, and I, as the reader, was able to understand what each character was going through, even the children.
Overall, I did enjoy this book. It’s a light, quick read, with a feel-good story and a believable premise. For general readers, this book may fall short of being a quality read, but fans of romance and historical fiction, especially regency romance, will likely enjoy this book far better than I did.
The Earl and His Lady, by Sally Britton, is an overall enjoyable read, with likeable characters, a sweet romance, and a frank exploration of human grief. Unfortunately, it fell a bit short of being a truly interesting story for me, owing to a few drawbacks to its plot and in its storytelling.
Now, I’d like to preface this review by first saying that pure romance is not a genre I usually read. I prefer action with a side of romance, so perhaps I wasn’t the intended audience for this particular story. I also haven’t read the rest of the books in the Branches of Love series, or anything else by this author, so my experience of this book will most likely be different from many other readers.
That being said, I did find this book to be a satisfying read. I liked the characters, who were strong and sensible people, if they did seem to fall into the common tropes of a romance story. I especially enjoyed how Britton portrayed the two children in the novel; they were very cute, and I could see why people would dote on them.
I thought the romance was very sweet. It’s not the kind of romance that gets your heart all aflutter as you read it, but it’s a regency romance, which, I would imagine, is generally pretty tame. I did appreciate that the characters came together in a very natural way; the romance didn’t seem forced, or to come out of nowhere, which, for me, is always a plus.
One thing I didn’t much like about The Earl and His Lady, however, was the villain. His character was very contrived, and his actions predictable. I think Britton could have painted him to be even more evil, even more distasteful. I suppose from an 18th century Earl and Countess’ perspective his actions, in the one scene in which we met him, were deplorable, but it just didn’t seem like that big of a deal to me, so I didn’t see why we should really hate him, except that he was trying to take the boys away. A little more development into his character could have gone a long way into building this into a better story.
Because, since the villain was weak, the general plot was lacking, in my opinion. As I said, I like a story with a little more action, and this book certainly didn’t have it. Even the climax of the story was not very exciting. I thought it was well done, but without making me hate Mr. Macon first, I didn’t feel any true suspense in the moment.
The story was also very predictable, not only for the villain but also the romance. I wouldn’t have minded how predictable the romantic storyline was, if the novel had honestly just been a love story. The villain felt like an afterthought, which he may-well might have been.
I did, however, really like how the author handled grief, and how she explored how different people experience grief. I believe it was beautifully done, and I, as the reader, was able to understand what each character was going through, even the children.
Overall, I did enjoy this book. It’s a light, quick read, with a feel-good story and a believable premise. For general readers, this book may fall short of being a quality read, but fans of romance and historical fiction, especially regency romance, will likely enjoy this book far better than I did.