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A review by romancelibrary
In Bed with the Earl by Christi Caldwell
4.5
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
In Bed with the Earl kicks off Christi Caldwell's brand new series, The Lost Lords of London. This series does connect with a couple of her older series, but In Bed with the Earl is a true standalone. This series is connected to the Wicked Wallflowers series, when Connor Steele embarks on his investigation on the lost lords. The actual investigation leading to Malcolm's discovery is not recounted in this book because it happens in the Wicked Wallflowers series. Regardless, if you've never read Caldwell before, you can most definitely start here! With this latest book, Christi Caldwell wins infinite points for originality, which is unfortunately lacking in the historical romance genre nowadays.
The historical romance genre has a lot of self-made heroes who work their way up from the lowest of the lowest positions. In this book, Caldwell brings us all the way down to the sewers, which is a first for me! And I've been reading historical romance for over 10 years! Only Christi Caldwell could write a self-made hero who works his way in the sewers as a tosher, a sewer-hunter who scavenges in the sewers to look for lost valuables and then sells them to earn money. And he is sexy and vulnerable underneath all that hardness and gruffness, all the things we love in a romance hero. I mean...wow. Numerous historical romance authors, including Caldwell herself, have written heroes who lived on the streets, have been prisoners, and then worked their way up. But the sewers??? Not only did Caldwell outdo all the other historical romance authors, she even outdid herself!! Malcolm North is a tosher who claims a good portion of the London sewers as his own property for scavenging. As it turns out, Malcolm is the lost Earl of Maxwell and his life turns upside down when his identity is leaked to the press.
Christi Caldwell also brings us a self-made heroine in Verity Lovelace, who is the bastard daughter of an impoverished late Earl. Verity is not like the privileged aristocratic businesswomen wannabes who have saturated the historical romance genre. Verity started from the very bottom, sweeping the floors at the Londoner press office as a 12 year old girl, and she made her way up all the way to reporter. Unfortunately, her new boss is a misogynistic asshole who tries to kick Verity out of the profession. It gets to the point where Verity's article is stolen by a male reporter who also doesn't think that women belong in the world of journalism. But Verity is determined to fight for her position because she is the sole breadwinner in her family. This means that Verity has to find out more about the lost Earl of Maxwell, which leads her directly to Malcolm's sewers. Obviously, there are some things that Verity does that are not the most ethical, but honestly? It didn't bug me because Verity was in dire circumstances and she was forced to do what she could to continue providing for her younger sister.
The hero and heroine don't meet until 18% into the book. This would usually bug me because I prefer that the hero and heroine meet as soon as possible. But Caldwell knows what she's doing here. The first 20% of the book is dedicated to setting up the characters and their backgrounds so that you get a solid idea of who they were, who they are, and what their goals are. All of this is incredibly important and only serves to build the level of anticipation. I was basically salivating for Verity and Malcolm to finally meet and when they did, I was HOOKED and couldn't put down the damn book. They're forced into proximity for many reasons and PHEW, the chemistry!! It is there from the moment Malcolm catches Verity in his sewers.
There are many things happening here and there are even some plot twists that I didn't see coming. And these aren't just random plot twists. These are plot twists that actually make sense. The emotional development in the last third of the book is very well-written — it is a bit slow-paced to allow for deeper emotional intimacy between Malcolm and Verity. Throughout the book, you know what happened to Malcolm and you sort of get a sense of where his story fits in the plot overall, but there are pieces that are definitely missing. They are not only missing for you, the reader, but they are missing for Malcolm as well. It's only in the last third of the book that you finally get a firm grasp of Malcolm's entire story.
I really enjoyed this book and I cannot wait for more books in this series!! Next book is about Henry's sister, the hero from The Spitfire, which I am SO EXCITED for!!
P.S. Please, I need Giles's book lol. With the snobbish lady (Lady Denton?) that he teased. Please lol.
In Bed with the Earl kicks off Christi Caldwell's brand new series, The Lost Lords of London. This series does connect with a couple of her older series, but In Bed with the Earl is a true standalone. This series is connected to the Wicked Wallflowers series, when Connor Steele embarks on his investigation on the lost lords. The actual investigation leading to Malcolm's discovery is not recounted in this book because it happens in the Wicked Wallflowers series. Regardless, if you've never read Caldwell before, you can most definitely start here! With this latest book, Christi Caldwell wins infinite points for originality, which is unfortunately lacking in the historical romance genre nowadays.
The historical romance genre has a lot of self-made heroes who work their way up from the lowest of the lowest positions. In this book, Caldwell brings us all the way down to the sewers, which is a first for me! And I've been reading historical romance for over 10 years! Only Christi Caldwell could write a self-made hero who works his way in the sewers as a tosher, a sewer-hunter who scavenges in the sewers to look for lost valuables and then sells them to earn money. And he is sexy and vulnerable underneath all that hardness and gruffness, all the things we love in a romance hero. I mean...wow. Numerous historical romance authors, including Caldwell herself, have written heroes who lived on the streets, have been prisoners, and then worked their way up. But the sewers??? Not only did Caldwell outdo all the other historical romance authors, she even outdid herself!! Malcolm North is a tosher who claims a good portion of the London sewers as his own property for scavenging. As it turns out, Malcolm is the lost Earl of Maxwell and his life turns upside down when his identity is leaked to the press.
Christi Caldwell also brings us a self-made heroine in Verity Lovelace, who is the bastard daughter of an impoverished late Earl. Verity is not like the privileged aristocratic businesswomen wannabes who have saturated the historical romance genre. Verity started from the very bottom, sweeping the floors at the Londoner press office as a 12 year old girl, and she made her way up all the way to reporter. Unfortunately, her new boss is a misogynistic asshole who tries to kick Verity out of the profession. It gets to the point where Verity's article is stolen by a male reporter who also doesn't think that women belong in the world of journalism. But Verity is determined to fight for her position because she is the sole breadwinner in her family. This means that Verity has to find out more about the lost Earl of Maxwell, which leads her directly to Malcolm's sewers. Obviously, there are some things that Verity does that are not the most ethical, but honestly? It didn't bug me because Verity was in dire circumstances and she was forced to do what she could to continue providing for her younger sister.
The hero and heroine don't meet until 18% into the book. This would usually bug me because I prefer that the hero and heroine meet as soon as possible. But Caldwell knows what she's doing here. The first 20% of the book is dedicated to setting up the characters and their backgrounds so that you get a solid idea of who they were, who they are, and what their goals are. All of this is incredibly important and only serves to build the level of anticipation. I was basically salivating for Verity and Malcolm to finally meet and when they did, I was HOOKED and couldn't put down the damn book. They're forced into proximity for many reasons and PHEW, the chemistry!! It is there from the moment Malcolm catches Verity in his sewers.
There are many things happening here and there are even some plot twists that I didn't see coming. And these aren't just random plot twists. These are plot twists that actually make sense. The emotional development in the last third of the book is very well-written — it is a bit slow-paced to allow for deeper emotional intimacy between Malcolm and Verity. Throughout the book, you know what happened to Malcolm and you sort of get a sense of where his story fits in the plot overall, but there are pieces that are definitely missing. They are not only missing for you, the reader, but they are missing for Malcolm as well. It's only in the last third of the book that you finally get a firm grasp of Malcolm's entire story.
I really enjoyed this book and I cannot wait for more books in this series!! Next book is about Henry's sister, the hero from The Spitfire, which I am SO EXCITED for!!
P.S. Please, I need Giles's book lol. With the snobbish lady (Lady Denton?) that he teased. Please lol.