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hanghuhn's review against another edition
emotional
lighthearted
relaxing
fast-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
3.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Sexual content
Minor: Death of parent and Pregnancy
thatbooknerd__'s review against another edition
4.0
This is the first book by Louise Bay that I have read and it wont be my last. She has a way with words, a good way that is. She pulls you into the story so easily with her writing style and words.
This is a emiemies to lovers feel good romance story. Which I love to read. I loved all of the characters. The story was fun, sexy with a lot of romance with some very hot sex scenes. There was a few misunderstandings but they got sorted out eventually.
This story reminded me of Bridget Jones movies a bit at the start with how Logan and Darcy met. Darcy being clumpsy and getting covered in mud.
I loved Darcy, she's this strong, confident and independent woman. She doesn't take shit from anyone espcially not Logan Steele. She's also very caring and passionaite about things.
Logan Steele is everything you would want in a man. He's confident, sexy, and very career driven.
He's definatley charming both in work and his personal life.
These two characters went together perfectly. Logan would've never been happy with someone that doesn't challenge him and that's exactly what Darcy does.
I really enjoyed the chemistry between them, you could just feel it between them.
The story is definatley one you just want to curl up and keep reading.
The book is wrapped up at the end, no cliffhangers, just a nice HEA that everyone can love.
Louise Bay is a author I will continue to read.
This is a emiemies to lovers feel good romance story. Which I love to read. I loved all of the characters. The story was fun, sexy with a lot of romance with some very hot sex scenes. There was a few misunderstandings but they got sorted out eventually.
This story reminded me of Bridget Jones movies a bit at the start with how Logan and Darcy met. Darcy being clumpsy and getting covered in mud.
I loved Darcy, she's this strong, confident and independent woman. She doesn't take shit from anyone espcially not Logan Steele. She's also very caring and passionaite about things.
Logan Steele is everything you would want in a man. He's confident, sexy, and very career driven.
He's definatley charming both in work and his personal life.
These two characters went together perfectly. Logan would've never been happy with someone that doesn't challenge him and that's exactly what Darcy does.
I really enjoyed the chemistry between them, you could just feel it between them.
The story is definatley one you just want to curl up and keep reading.
The book is wrapped up at the end, no cliffhangers, just a nice HEA that everyone can love.
Louise Bay is a author I will continue to read.
lauraanne9's review against another edition
4.0
***ARC Provided by the Author***
Logan is rich, and used to getting what he wants, and used to being able to buy the things he wants. He buys estates, shows up in helicopters, and makes sure he has the finest things in life.
Darcy has family money, and she is used to being respected in her home village, and also feels responsible for the people in the town, and for the quality of life in the town.
There's an instant connection and attraction between them...until Darcy realizes that Logan is trying to develop a portion of the estate he just bought...and will ruin the quiet feel of the town. And, then the connection no longer matters to her, as he is threatening her town.
The attraction they have for one another was tangible and it jumped off the page. This was an enemies to lovers, but it started with an attraction, so it made it feel a little more like a couple who had a connection and needed to figure out if the connection was stronger than their cross purposes.
That, really, is what romance is about. Many couples meet and life happens and the relationship ends as it is not able to be sustained. In the relationships that last, those challenges are bumps in the road that are worth working out. Watching Darcy and Logan realize that they wanted to work it out, and that their connection was strong enough, was a lot of fun and I enjoyed this title.
I recommend this book.
Logan is rich, and used to getting what he wants, and used to being able to buy the things he wants. He buys estates, shows up in helicopters, and makes sure he has the finest things in life.
Darcy has family money, and she is used to being respected in her home village, and also feels responsible for the people in the town, and for the quality of life in the town.
There's an instant connection and attraction between them...until Darcy realizes that Logan is trying to develop a portion of the estate he just bought...and will ruin the quiet feel of the town. And, then the connection no longer matters to her, as he is threatening her town.
The attraction they have for one another was tangible and it jumped off the page. This was an enemies to lovers, but it started with an attraction, so it made it feel a little more like a couple who had a connection and needed to figure out if the connection was stronger than their cross purposes.
That, really, is what romance is about. Many couples meet and life happens and the relationship ends as it is not able to be sustained. In the relationships that last, those challenges are bumps in the road that are worth working out. Watching Darcy and Logan realize that they wanted to work it out, and that their connection was strong enough, was a lot of fun and I enjoyed this title.
I recommend this book.
christinel's review against another edition
3.0
A solid entry from Louise Bay, whose smart characters and interesting settings continue to satisfy. This one concerns an Englishwoman living in the countryside and trying to run her family's estate in keeping with tradition, and a new neighbour who at first seems very nouveau rich with his helicopter and ideas about development but turns out to have old ties to the area too. Although I get a lot of pleasure from these books, I did have some moments of hesitation or discomfort during this one. The hero was a little more alpha than I wanted him to be. I didn't mind that he had a lot of sex before meeting the heroine but I did mind that he didn't really treat the women he had sex with as individual people. I am also starting to feel a little guilty about the glorification of wealth and privilege in these books, and felt it especially here with the emphasis on inherited money. I actually wanted the book to go deeper into some of the interesting conflicts that came up early on: what is the right balance between bringing new money into a community and preserving tradition? What does it mean if a man insists you give up all control in the bedroom and you kind of like it (I don't think I would, by the way)? And what do privileged people owe their community? Having said that, I can't deny that I deeply enjoy the vicarious thrill ride of falling in love alongside these characters.
emjayae149's review
5.0
THE EARL OF LONDON by Louise Bay has a bit of everything I enjoy in a romance; there’s the sweet, the sexy, the downright hot along with a good dose of humour and a touch of drama.
When Logan Steele meets Darcy Westbury, things don’t go smoothly. While there’s an attraction between them it appears that loving thy neighbour will not be part of the plan when they find themselves on opposing sides of a land development application.
I thoroughly enjoyed Logan and Darcy’s story. They kept each other on their toes and the banter between them is both fun and insightful. They openly admit to wanting something more in their lives and while there are many similarities between them, there are just as many differences. I liked the time they spent together, getting to know one another; they were building a solid relationship foundation.
When Logan and Darcy were spinning their wheels, it was a lot of fun reading the extreme matchmaking efforts of the villagers. Sure, they were a tad pushy at times, but their intentions were genuine and sweet.
The Earl of London really does tick all the romance book boxes: the setting, the characters, the story and the happy ever after. Highly recommended.
When Logan Steele meets Darcy Westbury, things don’t go smoothly. While there’s an attraction between them it appears that loving thy neighbour will not be part of the plan when they find themselves on opposing sides of a land development application.
I thoroughly enjoyed Logan and Darcy’s story. They kept each other on their toes and the banter between them is both fun and insightful. They openly admit to wanting something more in their lives and while there are many similarities between them, there are just as many differences. I liked the time they spent together, getting to know one another; they were building a solid relationship foundation.
When Logan and Darcy were spinning their wheels, it was a lot of fun reading the extreme matchmaking efforts of the villagers. Sure, they were a tad pushy at times, but their intentions were genuine and sweet.
The Earl of London really does tick all the romance book boxes: the setting, the characters, the story and the happy ever after. Highly recommended.
debrafalasco's review
5.0
The first Louise Bay book I read was the British Knight and I LOVED it. I, of course, then had to go and read the rest - Park Avenue Prince, Duke of Manhattan, King of Wallstreet, etc. I waited for Darcy's story and was not disappointed! Logan Steele was amazing and the humor and conversation between the two was lively and fun. Highly recommend this!
accidentalrambler's review
1.0
I should start by saying that so far I've more or less liked all the books by Louise Bay that I've read.
But the same really cannot be said about this one. More than that, I don't remember the last time reading something made me so anxious and pretty much physically ill.
Why, you ask? Because of stuff like this -
(ladies and gentlemen, meet Logan aka Earl of Jackasses)
"I liked high-powered female executives who crawled across the room to earn my dick in their mouth."
"Stay where you are, on your knees-it suits you."
"Nothing better than a female hedge fund manager who oversaw assets of hundreds of mlns of euros and was used to putting men in their place letting me do whatever I wanted to her."
"...keep doing what you're told and you'll get plenty of my cock"
"...when we're fucking, I'm in charge. There's no room for debate. Nothing's up for discussion. You will do what I say, when I say it, how I say it."
"This is my body while we are together like this. You don't get to cover it up. It's mine to inspect, to worship, to use, to fuck. You've given it to me."
So yeah, this is Logan. He's "the alpha male" who just loves control and powerful independent women but what he really loves is degrading those powerful women because, and I can only assume, it's the only way HE can feel powerful.
Darcy, Ryder's sister (from "Duke of Manhattan"), is one of such powerful women. She's not exactly Logan's type though - sure, she is independent and headstrong but at the same time, she's not a sophisticated city girl with a body sculpted by regular visits to the gym, something that Logan mentions quite a few times. Still, she manages to capture Logan's attention, exactly because she is just SO DIFFERENT from all these other women who love crawling to get some of Logan's D.
Look, I might be harsher than I should be perhaps, but one trope that I think is really overplayed is this idea that if a woman is high-powered, successful, driven and in full control of her everyday/professional life, then ALL she dreams about is to be "put in her place" / dominated in bed. Like, I know this is something that does happen and there is NOTHING wrong with it, but I'm just saying it's been used so many times, it feels like a "go-to" sex fantasy for romance writers and it starts to sounds more like Psychology 101 and gross simplification of something that is in fact very layered area - sexual fantasies and why we like what we like in bed.
But I'm getting slightly off-topic. The thing is, despite this concept being overused, I truly wouldn't have problem with it if Logan was written differently and by differently, I mean better. Because there is being dominating and there is being degrading and the quotes I shared above make it clear to me which category he falls into. Plus, I don't care if you're into BDSM or just "controlling" in bed - saying shit like "no room for debate when we have sex" is a huge NO-NO for me. At least make sure to have a freaking safe word!!!
What's more frustrating is that it could've been a good book. So much potential for an engaging enemies-to-lovers story. Despite his disgusting comments, Logan is written as pretty thoughtful and caring and someone who could've been likeable. Unfortunately, he ends up as a poor excuse for an alpha male - in my opinion, that's just not how you write one. A true alpha male wouldn't feel the need to degrade women with his dismissive behaviour and comments like "stay on your knees where you belong".
Anyway, the male character wasn't the only problem with this book. When it comes to romance part, it just wasn't there? I didn't feel the connection between the characters at all. One second they were "living in the moment", next they were all in and then all out after a pregnancy scare. Although they had some conversations that fell into "getting to know each other" category and were supposed to feel meaningful, overall it fell flat.
This is the first book of this author that I'm so disappointed with. It certainly wasn't worth the nerves and stress I went through when reading it, but once I hit halfway mark, there was no turning back, at least according to my stupid stubborn brain. Anyway, I might delve into next Louise Bay novel but I know I will proceed with caution from now on.
But the same really cannot be said about this one. More than that, I don't remember the last time reading something made me so anxious and pretty much physically ill.
Why, you ask? Because of stuff like this -
(ladies and gentlemen, meet Logan aka Earl of Jackasses)
"I liked high-powered female executives who crawled across the room to earn my dick in their mouth."
"Stay where you are, on your knees-it suits you."
"Nothing better than a female hedge fund manager who oversaw assets of hundreds of mlns of euros and was used to putting men in their place letting me do whatever I wanted to her."
"...keep doing what you're told and you'll get plenty of my cock"
"...when we're fucking, I'm in charge. There's no room for debate. Nothing's up for discussion. You will do what I say, when I say it, how I say it."
"This is my body while we are together like this. You don't get to cover it up. It's mine to inspect, to worship, to use, to fuck. You've given it to me."
So yeah, this is Logan. He's "the alpha male" who just loves control and powerful independent women but what he really loves is degrading those powerful women because, and I can only assume, it's the only way HE can feel powerful.
Darcy, Ryder's sister (from "Duke of Manhattan"), is one of such powerful women. She's not exactly Logan's type though - sure, she is independent and headstrong but at the same time, she's not a sophisticated city girl with a body sculpted by regular visits to the gym, something that Logan mentions quite a few times. Still, she manages to capture Logan's attention, exactly because she is just SO DIFFERENT from all these other women who love crawling to get some of Logan's D.
Look, I might be harsher than I should be perhaps, but one trope that I think is really overplayed is this idea that if a woman is high-powered, successful, driven and in full control of her everyday/professional life, then ALL she dreams about is to be "put in her place" / dominated in bed. Like, I know this is something that does happen and there is NOTHING wrong with it, but I'm just saying it's been used so many times, it feels like a "go-to" sex fantasy for romance writers and it starts to sounds more like Psychology 101 and gross simplification of something that is in fact very layered area - sexual fantasies and why we like what we like in bed.
But I'm getting slightly off-topic. The thing is, despite this concept being overused, I truly wouldn't have problem with it if Logan was written differently and by differently, I mean better. Because there is being dominating and there is being degrading and the quotes I shared above make it clear to me which category he falls into. Plus, I don't care if you're into BDSM or just "controlling" in bed - saying shit like "no room for debate when we have sex" is a huge NO-NO for me. At least make sure to have a freaking safe word!!!
What's more frustrating is that it could've been a good book. So much potential for an engaging enemies-to-lovers story. Despite his disgusting comments, Logan is written as pretty thoughtful and caring and someone who could've been likeable. Unfortunately, he ends up as a poor excuse for an alpha male - in my opinion, that's just not how you write one. A true alpha male wouldn't feel the need to degrade women with his dismissive behaviour and comments like "stay on your knees where you belong".
Anyway, the male character wasn't the only problem with this book. When it comes to romance part, it just wasn't there? I didn't feel the connection between the characters at all. One second they were "living in the moment", next they were all in and then all out after a pregnancy scare. Although they had some conversations that fell into "getting to know each other" category and were supposed to feel meaningful, overall it fell flat.
This is the first book of this author that I'm so disappointed with. It certainly wasn't worth the nerves and stress I went through when reading it, but once I hit halfway mark, there was no turning back, at least according to my stupid stubborn brain. Anyway, I might delve into next Louise Bay novel but I know I will proceed with caution from now on.
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