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A review by corsetreads
Bed Me, Earl by Felicity Niven
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Bed Me, Earl is the third installment of Felicity’s Bed Me series and after a lot of thought (in the last few hours since I finished this book) I would say that yes, this is my favorite so far. Which is a wild statement because everyone probably already knows how much the other two books wrecked me.
This book focuses on Phineas, the care-free, uncomplicated friend of our previous male protagonists and Caro: reclusive younger sister of MY MAN Edmund. Caro has some pretty sad reasons for why she has been sequestered away in the country all these years and when Phineas (the object of her fantasies since she was 17) shows up at her house, she decides to take a chance and ask him to bed her just the once -just to know what it’s like.
Of course, Phineas is not content with just once and the rest of the book revolves around Phineas being the most down any one has ever been for another person ever and it’s glorious. Phineas is obsessed with Caro. But not in the possessive “I will ruin her life to make her mine” way that we know (and also love) from heroes like Kleypas’ Harry Rutledge or Tom Severin. Phineas Edge is more like “I will ruin MY life to make her *happy*” and this was a trope I didn’t know I needed in my life.
Caro is restrained and reserved and secretive and always keeps a part of herself just out of reach from Phineas and he’s made it his mission in life to get her to love him. It was so beautiful to see an almost gender-swapped version of the brooding, tortured hero and the “please love me” sunshine heroine. Phineas is all sunshine and he desperately wants Caro to love him. And Caro is the grump, she’s sad and she’s lonely and she’s got walls a mile high but it’s ok because PHINEAS LOVES TALL THINGS!
Do I have to tell you how steamy this book is? It’s Felicity Niven; I think we should all know what we’re signing up for by now. But I will say that the sex is central to their relationship and sometimes the only way Caro can communicate all the complicated things she’s feeling and doesn’t have words for. And Phineas, well, he has a lot of words…
Felicity is just such a good storyteller. Every thread is picked up and wrapped up. Everytime I’m reading and think “it would be cool if this happened next”, two pages later, Felicity is doing it. It’s so wonderful to pick up a book and be so satisfied with everything that happens; to put said book down really believing in the characters’ happily ever after not just because they’ve overcome the outside forces keeping them from one another and they finally got married and had an epilogue baby; but because we got to see some real growth in the characters that makes me believe they’ll be ok.
Caro’s never going to be an open book, but I believe she will always let Phineas in -because he won’t go away until she does! And that’s beautiful.
*****
I received an advanced copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.
This book focuses on Phineas, the care-free, uncomplicated friend of our previous male protagonists and Caro: reclusive younger sister of MY MAN Edmund. Caro has some pretty sad reasons for why she has been sequestered away in the country all these years and when Phineas (the object of her fantasies since she was 17) shows up at her house, she decides to take a chance and ask him to bed her just the once -just to know what it’s like.
Of course, Phineas is not content with just once and the rest of the book revolves around Phineas being the most down any one has ever been for another person ever and it’s glorious. Phineas is obsessed with Caro. But not in the possessive “I will ruin her life to make her mine” way that we know (and also love) from heroes like Kleypas’ Harry Rutledge or Tom Severin. Phineas Edge is more like “I will ruin MY life to make her *happy*” and this was a trope I didn’t know I needed in my life.
Caro is restrained and reserved and secretive and always keeps a part of herself just out of reach from Phineas and he’s made it his mission in life to get her to love him. It was so beautiful to see an almost gender-swapped version of the brooding, tortured hero and the “please love me” sunshine heroine. Phineas is all sunshine and he desperately wants Caro to love him. And Caro is the grump, she’s sad and she’s lonely and she’s got walls a mile high but it’s ok because PHINEAS LOVES TALL THINGS!
Do I have to tell you how steamy this book is? It’s Felicity Niven; I think we should all know what we’re signing up for by now. But I will say that the sex is central to their relationship and sometimes the only way Caro can communicate all the complicated things she’s feeling and doesn’t have words for. And Phineas, well, he has a lot of words…
Felicity is just such a good storyteller. Every thread is picked up and wrapped up. Everytime I’m reading and think “it would be cool if this happened next”, two pages later, Felicity is doing it. It’s so wonderful to pick up a book and be so satisfied with everything that happens; to put said book down really believing in the characters’ happily ever after not just because they’ve overcome the outside forces keeping them from one another and they finally got married and had an epilogue baby; but because we got to see some real growth in the characters that makes me believe they’ll be ok.
Caro’s never going to be an open book, but I believe she will always let Phineas in -because he won’t go away until she does! And that’s beautiful.
*****
I received an advanced copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review.