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A review by rjordan19
I Kissed an Earl by Julie Anne Long
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Reread October 2023
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (I think this time for me it was a 4 – during my initial read through I rated it a 5 so I’m going to keep it as that on the ratings)
Readability: 3.5 rounded to 📖📖📖📖 - I really struggled with the slowness of the beginning.
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥 (There’s 4 scenes but 2 are close together and I combined)
Humor: Yes
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine (I felt like it was more the heroine’s POV)
When mains are first on page together: Pretty much first page
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: No
Format: listened to an audiobook from the library (Hoopla)
Should I read in order?
Ideally, yes? Pennyroyal Green features mains from two feuding families and has a bit of mystery running through them all about Lyon Redmond’s disappearance which really takes off in this book. Though, I think if you didn’t mind some prior events and characters mentioned, you could pick this one up alone (when I first read this one, I read it alone and really enjoyed it!)
Basic plot:
Violet is bored with society and longs for her missing brother, Lyon. When the opportunity comes to steal aboard a ship, Violet takes it to find her brother and prove his innocence.
Give this a try if you want:
- Regency
- ship setting with a road trip feel
- English/American hero (English born, American raised) and English heroine pairing
- Captain hero – he’s been sailing for 20 years
- hero has dimples!
- Earl hero
- bit of opposites attract – Violet is more of a society butterfly, emotional and a bit vain while Asher is quiet, steady and strong. He keeps his emotions under lock and key
- slow burn
- medium steam – 4 full scenes but two were close together so I combined them
Ages:
- Hero is 32, didn’t catch heroine but would guess early to mid 20s?
First line:
He looks like a bored lion lounging amidst a flock of geese.
My thoughts:
So, I did really like this one! But not as much as my initial read a few years ago. I really struggled with the slowness this time around, even though I was expecting it. Maybe because I knew it was going to be like that I turned it into a thing in my head, I don’t know 😂
I adored Violet. Even though she’s a bit of a society snob, I just fell in love with her. She’s bored and a bit dramatic for attention...but with Asher I feel like they were really perfect for each other. He calms her, she shakes him out his shell. It really is a perfect opposites attract between them.
I didn’t quite love Asher as much in this go around. Maybe he was just a bit too quiet for me? A bit too reserved. Though when he does show his emotion, it’s so rewarding. It really grabbed my heart during the scenes he feared for her safety – the storm and the pirates.
I did have a fun time reading this one. It’s my favorite of the series so far.
Quotes Any typos/mistakes are my own
But still, he didn’t blink. As though he wouldn’t dream of wasting a second on blinking, when he could be looking at her instead.
---
He brought a fingertip to her lips, slowly enough to allow her to turn her head if she so chose. She watched it riveted, her eyes nearly crossing at the bridge of her nose. He wasn’t coy. He wasn’t a green lad. He intended to touch her.
“Don’t toy with me, Miss Redmond.” His finger landed on her lips and as though it had found the road home, reverently trembling a little, followed the line of them.
Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.
- racism – there is language by side characters using words like ‘Indian’ and ‘savage’ to describe Indigenous Americans and the American bred hero
- some Romani stereotypes (flirtatious) as well as the word ‘gypsy’ used (not negatively for the characters in the setting)
- at the beginning of the book there’s mention of the hero visiting brothels and having a mistress
- brief mention of the hero wanting to buy a plantation (a free one – he’s against slavery)
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:
Safe sex: I don’t believe so
76% - 🔥kisses, fingering for her
She wanted it, as much as she feared it. He knew, and something shifted that knee infinitesimally closer and pleasure burned through her like that whiskey.
“Where do you want me to touch you?” his demanded, voice low and taut
Everywhere.
86% - 🔥thank god you’re alive sex
This time something at the very core of him, something never before stirred was found and blissfully incinerated. He groaned. Need wracked him. He shook with it, with a force of desire for this woman, only this woman.
89% - oral for her, followed by missionary – this is quite close to the prior scene and with how long you wait for it, it really feels like one longer scene
”Will the crew be wondering where you are?”
“The crew knows where I am. They assume I’m comforting you.”
93% - 🔥missionary with her legs over his shoulders and pinning her hands back
His lips impatiently found hers, which welcomed him, as his hands impatiently pushed up her nightdress. Waited while it snagged on her chin. Pulled it off with an oath and flung it to the ground as though it attacked him first.
100% - kiss
Original Review - February 2019
I ended up totally loving this book. I give 4.5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The beginning was rather slow. In fact it was a good 200 pages until things started picking up (you won’t get a kiss until after the 200 page mark either.) The tension to me wasn’t really strong, and yes I would have preferred more in the beginning of the book. Once ‘The Potato Incident’ happened, it all started getting much better 😉Yet the writing to me was so good. I feel like Julie Anne Long has a unique writing style. It just felt like I was being wrapped in poetry, I just loved it. So it wasn’t boring to me, although I can see how some people might find it so. Something about her writing reminded me of Sarah Maclean, just so detailed and rich, the way things are explained just suck you in. I found a lot of that in Sarah Macleans Wicked and the Wallflower and I know people felt that book was slow.
Once the tension cracked between them it was so amazing. You know when a book just squeezes your heart? Your heart is burning for the characters in the story. The kisses and sex were so amazing and rich in detail, exactly like I love them.
The problem of the story (the hero and heroine are both hunting the heroines brother for very different reasons) drives along the plot but the two of them are together for the whole book and it is about their relationship.
There was some humor in the book I just adored and found quite witty and delicious. It’s not your laugh out loud ridiculousness of Julia Quinn or Tessa Dare, it’s more subtle and something I absolutely love in my books.
This is book 4 in a series. It’s my first by this author. I would 100% try basically all of her other books at this point to get those feels again.😍
My complaints are rather small, the lack of full tension in the beginning of the book, the ending felt rather quick and I would have preferred more time spent on their reunion and of course I want an epilogue.
Overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (I think this time for me it was a 4 – during my initial read through I rated it a 5 so I’m going to keep it as that on the ratings)
Readability: 3.5 rounded to 📖📖📖📖 - I really struggled with the slowness of the beginning.
Feels: 🦋🦋🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡⚡
Romance: 💞💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋💋
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑🍑🍑
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥 (There’s 4 scenes but 2 are close together and I combined)
Humor: Yes
Perspective: Third person from both the hero and heroine (I felt like it was more the heroine’s POV)
When mains are first on page together: Pretty much first page
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: No
Format: listened to an audiobook from the library (Hoopla)
Should I read in order?
Ideally, yes? Pennyroyal Green features mains from two feuding families and has a bit of mystery running through them all about Lyon Redmond’s disappearance which really takes off in this book. Though, I think if you didn’t mind some prior events and characters mentioned, you could pick this one up alone (when I first read this one, I read it alone and really enjoyed it!)
Basic plot:
Violet is bored with society and longs for her missing brother, Lyon. When the opportunity comes to steal aboard a ship, Violet takes it to find her brother and prove his innocence.
Give this a try if you want:
- Regency
- ship setting with a road trip feel
- English/American hero (English born, American raised) and English heroine pairing
- Captain hero – he’s been sailing for 20 years
- hero has dimples!
- Earl hero
- bit of opposites attract – Violet is more of a society butterfly, emotional and a bit vain while Asher is quiet, steady and strong. He keeps his emotions under lock and key
- slow burn
- medium steam – 4 full scenes but two were close together so I combined them
Ages:
- Hero is 32, didn’t catch heroine but would guess early to mid 20s?
First line:
He looks like a bored lion lounging amidst a flock of geese.
My thoughts:
So, I did really like this one! But not as much as my initial read a few years ago. I really struggled with the slowness this time around, even though I was expecting it. Maybe because I knew it was going to be like that I turned it into a thing in my head, I don’t know 😂
I adored Violet. Even though she’s a bit of a society snob, I just fell in love with her. She’s bored and a bit dramatic for attention...but with Asher I feel like they were really perfect for each other. He calms her, she shakes him out his shell. It really is a perfect opposites attract between them.
I didn’t quite love Asher as much in this go around. Maybe he was just a bit too quiet for me? A bit too reserved. Though when he does show his emotion, it’s so rewarding. It really grabbed my heart during the scenes he feared for her safety – the storm and the pirates.
I did have a fun time reading this one. It’s my favorite of the series so far.
Quotes Any typos/mistakes are my own
But still, he didn’t blink. As though he wouldn’t dream of wasting a second on blinking, when he could be looking at her instead.
---
He brought a fingertip to her lips, slowly enough to allow her to turn her head if she so chose. She watched it riveted, her eyes nearly crossing at the bridge of her nose. He wasn’t coy. He wasn’t a green lad. He intended to touch her.
“Don’t toy with me, Miss Redmond.” His finger landed on her lips and as though it had found the road home, reverently trembling a little, followed the line of them.
Content warnings: These should be taken as a minimum of what to expect. It’s very possible I have missed some.
- racism – there is language by side characters using words like ‘Indian’ and ‘savage’ to describe Indigenous Americans and the American bred hero
- some Romani stereotypes (flirtatious) as well as the word ‘gypsy’ used (not negatively for the characters in the setting)
- at the beginning of the book there’s mention of the hero visiting brothels and having a mistress
- brief mention of the hero wanting to buy a plantation (a free one – he’s against slavery)
Locations of kisses/intimate scenes:
Safe sex:
76% - 🔥kisses, fingering for her
She wanted it, as much as she feared it. He knew, and something shifted that knee infinitesimally closer and pleasure burned through her like that whiskey.
“Where do you want me to touch you?” his demanded, voice low and taut
Everywhere.
86% - 🔥thank god you’re alive sex
This time something at the very core of him, something never before stirred was found and blissfully incinerated. He groaned. Need wracked him. He shook with it, with a force of desire for this woman, only this woman.
89% - oral for her, followed by missionary – this is quite close to the prior scene and with how long you wait for it, it really feels like one longer scene
”Will the crew be wondering where you are?”
“The crew knows where I am. They assume I’m comforting you.”
93% - 🔥missionary with her legs over his shoulders and pinning her hands back
His lips impatiently found hers, which welcomed him, as his hands impatiently pushed up her nightdress. Waited while it snagged on her chin. Pulled it off with an oath and flung it to the ground as though it attacked him first.
100% - kiss
Original Review - February 2019
I ended up totally loving this book. I give 4.5 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
The beginning was rather slow. In fact it was a good 200 pages until things started picking up (you won’t get a kiss until after the 200 page mark either.) The tension to me wasn’t really strong, and yes I would have preferred more in the beginning of the book. Once ‘The Potato Incident’ happened, it all started getting much better 😉Yet the writing to me was so good. I feel like Julie Anne Long has a unique writing style. It just felt like I was being wrapped in poetry, I just loved it. So it wasn’t boring to me, although I can see how some people might find it so. Something about her writing reminded me of Sarah Maclean, just so detailed and rich, the way things are explained just suck you in. I found a lot of that in Sarah Macleans Wicked and the Wallflower and I know people felt that book was slow.
Once the tension cracked between them it was so amazing. You know when a book just squeezes your heart? Your heart is burning for the characters in the story. The kisses and sex were so amazing and rich in detail, exactly like I love them.
The problem of the story (the hero and heroine are both hunting the heroines brother for very different reasons) drives along the plot but the two of them are together for the whole book and it is about their relationship.
There was some humor in the book I just adored and found quite witty and delicious. It’s not your laugh out loud ridiculousness of Julia Quinn or Tessa Dare, it’s more subtle and something I absolutely love in my books.
This is book 4 in a series. It’s my first by this author. I would 100% try basically all of her other books at this point to get those feels again.😍
My complaints are rather small, the lack of full tension in the beginning of the book, the ending felt rather quick and I would have preferred more time spent on their reunion and of course I want an epilogue.