In Bed with the Earl by Christi Caldwell | ARC Review

Series: Lost Lords of London, #1
Tropes & Traits: fake relationship; tortured hero; slow burn; hidden identity
Publication Date: 03.17.20
Genre/Setting: Historical; Regency; London, England
Rating: 4 stars

Reporter Verity Lovelace will do whatever it takes to keep her position with The Londoner, even venture into London's sewers. She's determined to unravel the mystery every aristocrat is interested in: the whereabouts of the lost heir to the Earl of Maxwell. She's shocked to find the man, Malcom North, in those very sewers, having made a comfortable life for himself as a scavenger and with no intention of openly assuming his title. But when Verity betrays him and publishes his story in a futile, last ditch effort to save her job, she's unprepared for the consequences.

After being kidnapped after his parents' deaths when he was just a boy, Malcom is haunted by memories of a different life, snippets he casually ignores as he focuses on maintaining his rule over the sewers. He's livid at being exposed as the Earl of Maxwell and bombarded with fortune hunting fathers seeking marriage for their daughters and old enemies seeking to exploit any weakness they perceive in him. He knows Verity is responsible for revealing his secrets and as if that betrayal weren't enough, he soon learns that she's squatting in his Grosvenor Square townhouse, allowing everyone to make the assumption that she's his wife. Though he's livid, Malcom can see the advantage in no longer being pursued as a marriagable bachelor, so he demands that Verity keep up the ruse of being his wife. The forced proximity soon has sparks of more than just anger flying between them, even as it becomes clear that someone is out to ruin any chance they have of building a happy future together.

It took me quite awhile to get into this book, mostly because I did not like Verity at all; she didn't grow on me until the very end of the book and even then I only just did tolerate her. While she may have had altruistic motives in wanting to care for her [ridiculously sheltered] younger sister, I still cannot condone Verity's total self-absorption. She gave no care or even a fleeting thought for Marcus' suffering or how her actions might hurt him or anyone else. She also struck me as shockingly naive and very bitter and hateful towards all men and especially unfairly so towards Marcus after he saved her from a dangerous situation and showed extreme patience with her. I'm just so over reading these supposedly strong, independent, heavily feminist heroines who believe they're owed something by the hero because he has means, even when they don't know or care to learn his story or what he may be doing with those means, or consider that he may already be helping others with them. The entitlement has got to stop. Eventually Verity did realize the depths of what she'd done, but it was very nearly too late for me.

Nonetheless, I did enjoy the story and found it to be well-written and with a very different premise and I liked how all the elements tied together in the end. I look forward very much to reading the next book.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.


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