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A review by accidentalrambler
The Earl of London by Louise Bay
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.