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A review by halffast
The Earl's Mistress by Liz Carlyle
3.0
Gently bred lady falls on hard times and decides to become the mistress of an earl, who struggles to protect her from poverty, her scheming family, and—most of all—himself.
This storyline was way more interesting than "girl becomes mistress and then guy proposes." Without giving too much away, she's only his mistress for a night, but they continue a friendship/quasi-relationship that would definitely raise eyebrows back then because of the class difference. Isabella was my favorite kind of strong-yet-vulnerable heroine, though she didn't have much overall character development. Anthony had to put in a lot more work emotionally to be a fitting partner for Isabella, who didn't let him off easy (she slaps him twice when he's being especially dick-ish). I skimmed the later sex scenes, which were BDSM heavy (many reviews call this a 50 Shades ripoff) and felt awkward for some reason. The story has a large cast of children, but their antics are cute and not overwhelming. My favorite part is when the characters vacation to a country home in the second half of the book and a lot of the scenes have a 'slice of life' feel as they casually romp around the countryside and dine together. This book is part of a series but works fine as a standalone.
This storyline was way more interesting than "girl becomes mistress and then guy proposes." Without giving too much away, she's only his mistress for a night, but they continue a friendship/quasi-relationship that would definitely raise eyebrows back then because of the class difference. Isabella was my favorite kind of strong-yet-vulnerable heroine, though she didn't have much overall character development. Anthony had to put in a lot more work emotionally to be a fitting partner for Isabella, who didn't let him off easy (she slaps him twice when he's being especially dick-ish). I skimmed the later sex scenes, which were BDSM heavy (many reviews call this a 50 Shades ripoff) and felt awkward for some reason. The story has a large cast of children, but their antics are cute and not overwhelming. My favorite part is when the characters vacation to a country home in the second half of the book and a lot of the scenes have a 'slice of life' feel as they casually romp around the countryside and dine together. This book is part of a series but works fine as a standalone.