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authorrubyduvall 's review for:

An Earl Like No Other by Wilma Counts
2.0

DNF 33%.

The writing was very dry. The romantic tension was next to nonexistent. Several times, a scene would pause for multiple pages to recall a conversation in the past (in too much detail, all of it dry and boring). I kept thinking to myself, "Why is this conversation here? It's not adding anything to the story and could be summarized in one paragraph."

One scene had the H/h meeting unexpectedly in the library at night, and the resulting conversation was so polite and bereft of desire that I wondered what the point of it was.

I began skimming, which is never a good sign. Then the H/h had their first kiss. I did a literal double-take because it was so out of nowhere. There's no buildup. The H/h are still just so polite. What is going on??

I feel this book would've greatly benefited from (another?) round of thorough developmental edits. Re-arrange conversations, cut the unnecessary detail, and dig deeper for more meaningful interactions (or at least more unspoken longing). The writing overall is competent, but the story itself was, in a word, boring. :(