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A review by nipomuki
First Earl I See Tonight: A Debutante Diaries Novel by Anna Bennett
3.0
This was part of the „free“ selection of romances in the new audiobook app I am trying out. I like this kind of „regency“ historical romance and was quite taken with the beginning of the book.
It is all very contrived, but this is common in the sub-genre. It has a marriage (proposal) of convenience, an impoverished Earl (with a cold heart and a dark backstory) and a rich heiress with an upstart (step)mother, a younger sister in peril, a house party and the expected entertainments, and of course a ball. So: all the tropes we expect, not badly done, but without the wonderful and original new twists I have come to expect from the likes of Courtney Milan or Tessa Dare...
I had some smallish problems that threw me out of the story, like the way the hero says „shit“ all the time, or how close „the fortress“ seems to be to London. Also I wanted more depth to some of the characters - the narrator did do a good job with them, though.
I felt it dragged a bit after a while and started to listen at a slightly faster speed.
What I really liked about the story was the way the heroine‘s love of and talent for sketching was incorporated, and that the hero did not lose faith in her when they got to the dark moment: he had many reasons not to, but he went on trusting her! That was lovely.
It is all very contrived, but this is common in the sub-genre. It has a marriage (proposal) of convenience, an impoverished Earl (with a cold heart and a dark backstory) and a rich heiress with an upstart (step)mother, a younger sister in peril, a house party and the expected entertainments, and of course a ball. So: all the tropes we expect, not badly done, but without the wonderful and original new twists I have come to expect from the likes of Courtney Milan or Tessa Dare...
I had some smallish problems that threw me out of the story, like the way the hero says „shit“ all the time, or how close „the fortress“ seems to be to London. Also I wanted more depth to some of the characters - the narrator did do a good job with them, though.
I felt it dragged a bit after a while and started to listen at a slightly faster speed.
What I really liked about the story was the way the heroine‘s love of and talent for sketching was incorporated, and that the hero did not lose faith in her when they got to the dark moment: he had many reasons not to, but he went on trusting her! That was lovely.