Valerie Bowman

The Untamed Earl by Valerie Bowman is a 2016 St. Martin’s Press publication. I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher and Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This fifth installment in the ‘Playful Brides’ series got off to a stellar start and although I was reading several other books along with this one, I kept itching to get back into this story, until finally I succumbed and let it carry me away.

This story is all about Lady Alexandra Hobbs, who at age fifteen, show more feels as though she is standing in the shadow of her brother, and willowy sister, Lavinia. She makes a list of things she wishes to achieve in her life, and after a brief encounter with Lord Owen Monroe, she vows to marry him someday.

Years pass, and to her utter horror, she discovers her father intends to marry Lavinia to Lord Owen!! The catch? Owen will actually have to win her heart.

Owen’s father has given him an ultimatum- marry Lavinia or lose his allowance. Realizing the jig is up, Owen admits he’s had a good run, and will have to comply with his father’s wishes. How hard could it be to woo a young lady, considering his irresistible charm? Well, Owen has never met the ill- tempered Lavinia…

After seeing Owen struggle with her sister after making a few awkward attempts to charm her, Alex steps up and makes him a most unusual offer. She will help him win Lavinia over, if he will help her become more popular, by teaching her to be coy, to dance, and to flirt, and of course ward off unwanted advances if need be.

Desperate, and with time running out, Owen agrees to her plan….

This hilarious setup, along with whip smart dialogue, combined to make this one of the more delightful historical romances I’ve read recently. Alexandra steals the show, with her plotting, and scheming, and Lord Owen never seemed to suspect the clever trap being laid for him. Of course, the best laid plans often have their flaws, and despite help from Owen’s sister, the road to romance remained a very rocky one, with backfired plans and unforeseen circumstances, which lead to horrible misunderstandings.

This story is supposed to be inspired by the Shakespeare play – “The Taming of the Shrew”, and I can see many of those elements employed here. Middle ways through the story, however, the pace faltered a little bit, but quickly rebounded. Due to the screwball plot, the character development was perhaps a tad weak, but this delightful romance had me turning pages excitedly, holding my breath at times, laughing out loud, and thrilled with the way things eventually turned out.

Often times, historical romances with lighter tones, can bore me to tears, because the tend to lack substance, and because I usually crave a darker, edgier type of story, but this one was definitely an exception and I had a blast reading it and was thoroughly entertained by it. show less

The Accident Countess
1 Star

Unfortunately, this follow-up to the delightful first book, The Unexpected Duchess, is exceedingly disappointing. A retelling of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, it has none of the wit, humor or charm of the original piece.

***Warning: Rant and spoilers ahead***

To begin with, the book contains a trope that I despise - a heroine who lies constantly and consistently to the man she claims to love beyond measure. Unlike Wilde's play in which the absurd show more shenanigans of all of the characters are clearly farcical and meant as social criticism, Cass's actions are cruel and harmful. She not only deceives Julian about her identity for two-thirds of the book but actively encourages others to do so as well. Whether intended or not, her pretense hurts and humiliates him a great deal. Personally, he is far too forgiving in my opinion.

In addition, neither Julian nor Cass are particularly interesting characters, and they have very little chemistry. Julian has survived a near-death experience, yet seems to suffer no ill effects from his wounds either physically or psychologically. Cass is weak and insipid, allowing her parents, cousin, and friends to walk all over her. There is absolutely no spark or emotion in Julian and Cass's romance.

Finally, the writing is completely anachronistic. The dialogue, behavior, and demeanor of the various characters are so far from the norms of the Regency period that they make the setting irrelevant. This could have been set in 21st century New York, and the plot would have made more sense.

In sum, this book is an agony to read with the heroine constantly bemoaning the situation that her deceit has led to, and the reader forced to endure the constant tension of waiting for the other shoe to drop. To be honest, the only reason this was not a DNF is that it fits into the Seasonal Reading Challenge so perfectly. This book is not recommended for anyone who enjoys history, or romance or Oscar Wilde! show less

A delightful fairy floss romp!

Lady Alexander Hobbs (Alex) in fell in love with Lord Monroe when she was fifteen, just after she'd written her list of the things she wished to accomplish in her life.

'1. Become brave and daring like Thomas.
2. Become beautiful, willowy and poised like Lavina. Never stain my gowns with food, et cetera.
3. Have a come-out during which an exceedingly eligible gentleman asks me to dance, thereby making the affair a smashing success.
4. Marry my true love. Must be show more handsome, dashing, witty, kind and honrable. Name to be determined later.
Lord Owen Munroe.'

Now three years later at the ripe old age of 18 with her list not even begun, she's discovered that her father and Owen's have decided her true love, Lord Owen, is to marry her older sister, the perfect (and horribly spoilt) Lavina.
And that's when Alex decides to fight for her one true love, who has very little idea of her existence.
Enter stage right those three (now) grand ladies aka the Playful Brides' Lucy, Cassandra and Jane, (who cut a swathe through society with their high jinks as they pursued their true own true loves), and the situation becomes even more fraught. With Alex's natural inventiveness and these ladies' intervention things are far from dull, if not downright muddled.
Sister Lavina is so wonderfully and truly terrible that she's almost unbelievable. Will she ever change? Talk about the ugly older sister with a facade beautiful hiding inner demons! I don't see how, but perhaps Bowman might be able to bring about a miracle if ever she decides to write Lavina's story. Personally I think she should disappear into the mists of time.
Lots of wonderful stuff and nonsense dot the landscape of this true love's tale. A super read to while away an afternoon with.

A NetGalley ARC show less

I enjoyed this book. It is not often that I read historical romances anymore. Not because I don't like this genre as I used to read them all the time. With this book, I liked how I was easily able to form a connection with the characters and story. Meg is not the shy wallflower that you might expect from these types of books. She does not need a hero like Hart to save her. Yet, she is not so strong that she is immune to Hart's charms. Although, when it came to Hart, I like that he was not show more ignorant or pompous. He was kind.

However, Meg and Hart were not the only stars of this book. Hart's younger, sister, Sarah and Duchess Lucy Hunt were great as well. They helped provide entertainment. Lucy being older spoke her mind. She seemed to be not cut from the same cloth as the rest of high society. Sarah is Meg's best friend and confidant.

Than there is the chemistry between Meg and Hart. It was there and it was real. I like that they shared a history together of having kissed before that no one else knew about. They made a good couple. Easy reading. show less