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A review by una_macchia
To Wed a Wicked Earl by Olivia Parker
1.0
I love a well-executed miscommunication/misunderstanding romance plot and this is very much not that book. I can overlook some anachronisms and modern language for a good story but I didn't find that here. The protagonists manage to be both one-dimensional and weirdly inconsistent; I can't see why either of them would fall in love and I don't believe that they did.
Edit to add more thorough complaints: the basic premise of a rake secretly being in love with his wallflower friend who's in love with another man appealed to me, but it actually doesn't make sense the way it plays out. At the beginning of the book we're told that Rothbury has been in love with Charlotte for years, but they actually aren't friends yet and in fact they barely know each other. His impression of her seems to be that she (a) is shy and (b) is a bit dim. Which is true, but I can't see why he finds her so appealing - as far as I can tell there weren't any really meaningful moments between them until the story starts. So why does he love her? I don't know. Meanwhile, Charlotte has had a hero-worship crush on Rothbury's friend Tristan for years after he did something kind for her and her mother, but realizes during the opening scene that he isn't the man she thought he was. This set up has the potential for an interesting parallel, with Charlotte falling out of love with someone because he's not the ideal she projected onto him and Rothbury realizing he didn't know Charlotte as well as thought and falling in love with her real self. That doesn't happen. These characters only have hidden shallows, so even though we're told they've become friends and they're thrown together in some truly eyeroll-worthy scenarios we don't actually see them getting to know each other on a deeper level.
In fact, the more I think about the plot, the less sense it makes. Why did Rothbury make no attempt at courting Charlotte during the previous six years they've known each other if he's had feelings for her for that long? Yes, her parents disapprove of him because of his reputation, but he could have tried to improve that. And yes, he can tell she's into Tristan, but he also knows that Tristan doesn't return her love and has no interest in settling down. Yet he just gives up immediately. Why is timid wallflower Charlotte, who's been raised by her very proper mother and strict religious father, suddenly sneaking into a bachelor's house at midnight? Why would Rothbury ever think tricking a woman into pretending to be his fiancee is a good idea, and why would he expect that any of the female guests at a marquess' ball wouldn't understand any French? Why does Charlotte's mother immediately change her mind about Rothbury when Charlotte tells her he's gay, totally accept it, and assume he loves fashion and interior decorating even though (a) this is England in the early 1800s, sodomy is a serious crime (b) he has an extensive and very heterosexual reputation with women and (c) those are modern stereotypes not Regency era ones? Why did we need a random last-minute kidnapping attempt? I don't know. Sometimes an author can absolutely sell me on a character's bad/stupid/self-destructive/cringe-worthy decisions because those characters are well-developed and feel like real people. Rothbury and Charlotte are just inane cardboard cutouts.
Edit to add more thorough complaints: the basic premise of a rake secretly being in love with his wallflower friend who's in love with another man appealed to me, but it actually doesn't make sense the way it plays out. At the beginning of the book we're told that Rothbury has been in love with Charlotte for years, but they actually aren't friends yet and in fact they barely know each other. His impression of her seems to be that she (a) is shy and (b) is a bit dim. Which is true, but I can't see why he finds her so appealing - as far as I can tell there weren't any really meaningful moments between them until the story starts. So why does he love her? I don't know. Meanwhile, Charlotte has had a hero-worship crush on Rothbury's friend Tristan for years after he did something kind for her and her mother, but realizes during the opening scene that he isn't the man she thought he was. This set up has the potential for an interesting parallel, with Charlotte falling out of love with someone because he's not the ideal she projected onto him and Rothbury realizing he didn't know Charlotte as well as thought and falling in love with her real self. That doesn't happen. These characters only have hidden shallows, so even though we're told they've become friends and they're thrown together in some truly eyeroll-worthy scenarios we don't actually see them getting to know each other on a deeper level.
In fact, the more I think about the plot, the less sense it makes. Why did Rothbury make no attempt at courting Charlotte during the previous six years they've known each other if he's had feelings for her for that long? Yes, her parents disapprove of him because of his reputation, but he could have tried to improve that. And yes, he can tell she's into Tristan, but he also knows that Tristan doesn't return her love and has no interest in settling down. Yet he just gives up immediately. Why is timid wallflower Charlotte, who's been raised by her very proper mother and strict religious father, suddenly sneaking into a bachelor's house at midnight? Why would Rothbury ever think tricking a woman into pretending to be his fiancee is a good idea, and why would he expect that any of the female guests at a marquess' ball wouldn't understand any French? Why does Charlotte's mother immediately change her mind about Rothbury when Charlotte tells her he's gay, totally accept it, and assume he loves fashion and interior decorating even though (a) this is England in the early 1800s, sodomy is a serious crime (b) he has an extensive and very heterosexual reputation with women and (c) those are modern stereotypes not Regency era ones? Why did we need a random last-minute kidnapping attempt? I don't know. Sometimes an author can absolutely sell me on a character's bad/stupid/self-destructive/cringe-worthy decisions because those characters are well-developed and feel like real people. Rothbury and Charlotte are just inane cardboard cutouts.