Last Night With The Earl is the second book in Kelly Bowen’s current series. I think I’ve read all of Bowen’s books and enjoyed them all. This one is a little different from her other books, since there isn’t any real suspense subplot. Last Night With The Earl fully focuses on the relationship between Eli and Rose, and I think it works very well. I love to see the two of them grow and come to a relationship that’s right for them. The setting of the school is interesting and it was nice to see some characters from other books appear. Looking forward to the next instalment in this series.

Eli returns home to claim his title after his father's death, but he is a changed man. War has disfigured his face and changed his point of view on life. Willing to live a life in solitude, he's surprised to find his estate let out to the only woman he ever loved.

Rose, an artist, is resigned to live life on the fringe of society after the way her former fiance` skewered her in society. She uses art to help people overcome obstacles and see beauty within themselves, but she doesn't follow her own advice.

Thrown together, they work together to create a place for families left destitute from the war and for veterans in need to have homes and jobs. They fight the passion between them, but secrets of the past threaten to keep them apart.

Will they find a way to face the past, learn to trust, and find love before it's too late?

Fabulous story I highly recommend.

**received a copy on NetGalley**

What a revelation! Kelly Bowen is a new author for me, but what a happy discovery! Such a distinctive voice and original take on the genre, she really stands out as far as I'm concerned.

As regency romances go, this was quite gritty, deeply moving and sensual, and not at all the type of lighthearted romance filled with witty repartee that I've come to expect. Emotions run very deep here. Luckily, we get a wonderfully satisfying happily-ever-after, made even more so because of all the characters have overcome to finally get there.

I loved how the author incorporated issues that are actually still (or even more) relevant today in a way, like the government's (and the public's) treatment of veterans and their families, PTSD, anxiety disorders, survivor's guilt, the industrial revolution...

This is an incredibly emotional story and both Rose and Eli touched me deeply. I adored Rose for pushing Eli so hard, though my heart nearly broke for him on several occasions, but when the time comes for turnabout is fair play... it turns out that Rose needs to deal with some issues herself too.

The secondary characters are very well-written and compelling in their own right.

This was an absolutely wonderful find! I can't wait to read more by this author.

Eli Dawes returns to his family home after being away in France for over seven years. He was presumed dead, but was in fact recovering from a disfiguring injury during the Napoleonic Wars. His injury and how it was incurred haunt him, and he has no wish to rejoin the society he once revelled in.

But, he finds is home is inhabited by a school of young ladies learning to paint under the tutelage of one Lady Rose Hayward, the woman his now dead best friend was supposed to marry. The woman Eli has wanted for years.

Embarrassed by his injury and his past and baffled by the hostile and cold reception from Rose, Eli must figure out how to live when all he wanted was to be dead.

For Rose, Eli is just as responsible as her dead fiancee for the scandalous publication published before they went to war. The publication that left her and other young ladies ruined for society. Now she hopes to help women see their true beauty by painting them in all their glory, no matter their age, their handicaps, their scars.

But as she learns Eli was not in fact responsible and is appalled he wans't able to do anything, she finds herself falling for the wounded Earl and wants nothing but to help him find his way back to society in a meaningful way. Too bad if she does, she can never join him at his side.

A lovely tale that is quite feminist and handles difficult subjects with a wonderful touch. Both Eli and Rose have inner mental health struggles that are rarely seen in historical (or handled as well). Great to see them find their HEA.

I received a free copy in exchange for a fair review.

Kelly Bowen has become a favorite author for me. “Last Night With the Earl” has what I like for in a regency novel; interesting characters, just enough angst, plenty of romance and enough historical background to add to the plot. Eli and Rose had some history together and their relationship and support of each other added to the story. A strong 4.5 stars.

I had a difficult time getting into this book. I’m not sure why, as I typically love Kelly’s Bowen’s work. She is an excellent writer, and this book is well written. It just didn’t click for me.

This was my first ever historical romance - and it did not disappoint! 

I had no idea what to expect, but this book had everything I needed. Both characters in this story, Eli and Rose, are wounded in different ways and they have to come to terms with that. 

The characters were great - Eli Dawes returns home from the war after having been presumed dead. He's disfigured and not ready to face the world he left behind. He meets Rose - the woman he's been harboring a crush on for years. Rose, however, is not excited to see Eli - to her, he's the jerk who helped her ex fiancé betray her. 

Despite all of this the story sizzles, there's an underlying tension and their chemistry is amazing. I enjoyed the two chacters - Eli was brooding, yet romantic, Rose strong headed and so smart, and I enjoyed the writing. 

Thank you to NetGalley and Forever for the eARC.

This is a fun and sexy historical romance. A quick read that will not disappoint. I look forward to reading more from Kelly Bowen.

Last Night with the Earl (The Devils of Dover, #2)
by Kelly Bowen

A definite buy and read book.
Your either going to love this one or hate it. Personally, I enjoyed it completely. It has darkness and light , love and passion and some little glimpses of romance... reason for four instead of five stars. Each book by this author has just gotten better and better. This story has elements of real life and hurts and warmth and even illogical moves by humans. But all wrapped up together it made an intriguing read that keeps you turning the pages. The author is one that is very talented in her story telling in words. I will just keep looking for and expecting more in the future. This is an enjoyable read with layers. I was given this ARC via NetGalley. All opinions expressed here are my own. Buy and enjoy this book. Regards, Anna

In Last Night With the Earl by Kelly Bowen, a scarred and wounded war hero gets a second chance at love with a woman who was ruined by a major society scandal. Eli Dawes, the Earl of Rivers, is long presumed dead after the battle of Waterloo. When he finally returns to his house — in the dead of the night, naturally — he finds a woman in his bedroom. But not just any woman.

Rose Hayward was once betrothed to his best friend — a source of much anguish, angst and scandal. Now she's teaching art at her family's prestigious school for young ladies — and painting erotic portraits on the side. The last thing she needs to is to fall in love with an earl and return to a society that scorned her. But Rose and Eli are uniquely suited to challenge each other to overcome the scars — both visible and hidden — that keep them from their happy ending. Days and nights together convince them that time may not heal all wounds, but love definitely makes a difference.

I thoroughly enjoyed this historical romance with its damaged hero and heroine both striving to overcome difficult pasts. The chemistry between Eli and Rose kept me eagerly turning the pages, and I will look forward to reading more from this author.

Last Night with the Earl is heartwarming. Bowen delivers a romance wrapped in pain and passion. As this story unravels the heartache and lies, a sweet happy ending emerges. I loved Rose! She is such a strong and bold heroine. She never fears facing the truth or confronting her past. I felt at times ,Eli, had the tendency to feel overly sorry for himself and wasn't deserving of Rose. But then, all he had to endure in the war, justified his bouts of self-doubt, and added depth to their love story. This was a wonderful historical romance and I can't wait to read the next story in The Devils of Dover series.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about where romance fiction “fits” in the scheme of things literary. I’m tired of arguments either defending the genre or condemning it, discussing its relevance or irrelevance … blah blah blah. Not that these discussions aren’t relevant, they are to those who partake and more power to them. I do enjoy listening “in” to the Twitter debates, etc. But I have been asking why I persist in reading romance when the world around me makes the romance’s domestic world focus feel irrelevant. I think we read romance of any ilk, paranormal, historical, contemporary, conservative to radical in its perspective, because it’s utopian (minus the satire; there is nothing Thomas More would recognize in the genre). End of thought bubble.

The latest “utopian” romance I read was Kelly Bowen’s Last Night With the Earl, depicting the love and closeness of Napoleonic War veteran, Eli Dawes, the eponymous “Earl” of Rivers, and artist Rose Hayward. Like many romance couples, Eli and Rose are “broken” and their relationship, as it plays out, works towards achieving their healing and wholeness. As a narrative, it succeeded and failed in depicting their story.

Before Eli and Rose can heal individually, they must heal the rift of their relationship. Before Eli and his band of dissipated, privileged rakes had their feathers ripped out at Waterloo, they ran amok in London society. Eli’s best friend, Anthony Gibson, son of Viscount Crestwood, was engaged to Rose. RIP Anthony. During their engagement, however, Anthony cheated on Rose and publicly humiliated her and other women by publishing sexual caricatures of them. As a result, Rose left the ton and retreated to Dover where she teachers art at her family’s Haverhall School for Young Ladies, young ladies too broken in mind or body in some way and who deviate from society’s conventional expectations. In short, Rose is a loosely-termed feminist, using a proto-form of art therapy to prove to the unloved and unloveable they are beautiful and worthy. The Dover-set branch of the school is housed in the rented space of Eli’s estate, Avondale. The novel opens as Eli arrives at Avondale, long thought dead at Waterloo, to reclaim his title and fortune after years of physical recovery in France.

Eli’s brokenness is immediately apparent: one half of his beautiful angel-face and upper body were blasted away. All he wants to do now is hide and fulfill his duties to his title. Eli’s physical reappearance prefigures his emotional resurrection. But there’s the angry Rose to contend with first. Rose, though she and Eli shared a friendship in the past, assumed that Eli was part of Anthony’s cruelty. The novel, therefore, opens with a certain pride on Eli’s part, manifested in his shame over his physical appearance and a load of prejudice on Rose’s. Because Rose is caustic but kind and interested in bringing out beauty where social convention doesn’t recognize it, she softens towards Eli and teaches him that his former beautiful face is not what makes him beautiful. She helps him “see” his worth and Eli is then able to take his responsible, rightful place in his community by working towards helping returning veterans.

Rose’s brokenness is internal and involves her social humiliation at Anthony’s hands. As Rose and Eli reestablish their friendship, fall in love, become lovers, they grow in strength and bravery. This is the crux of the romance’s utopian “lesson”: we are made whole when we love and are loved. I thought Eli’s healing, realizing love, and finding purpose, felt like a complete narrative. I thought Rose’s, on the other hand, somewhat truncated. As a result, the romance fell into two halves: the first, Eli’s, strongly developped; the weaker second, focussed on their feels and the healing of Rose’s fears, more sketchily developped. In the end, I couldn’t quite make up my mind whether there was too much story to be told, or not enough. Moreover, I think Bowen’s romance will be accused of imposing modern, feminist sensibilities on historical characters: Rose is a feminist, with her ideas about what constitutes beauty and Eli’s careful characterization as a man who is respectful and considerate about Rose’s agency. Maybe Bowen may be criticized for wallpapering, but I think it’s the natural ethos of a utopian genre to do so. Though Last Night With the Earl isn’t perfect, it’s worth reading. With Miss Austen, I’d say it offers “real comfort,” Emma. (It’s followed by a Grace Burrowes Christmas novella, which I didn’t read and can’t comment on. Okay, I read the ending, for a little further HEA-shot, and it was pretty good.)

Kelly Bowen’s Last Night With the Earl is published by Forever Books. It was released on Sept. 25th and may be found at your preferred vendors. I received an e-galley from Forever, via Netgalley.

***ARC was provided to me for a fair and honest review***

Overall rating: 4/5 A lovely story of self acceptance and true love

Heroine (Rose): 4/5 Rose sees the beautiful in everyone and as an artist she strives to show them what she sees. And while she pushes those around her to become their best selves she has her own hangups that she’s reluctant to overcome.

Hero (Eli Dawes): 5/5 Half of his face was ruined in war, and for this pretty boy of the ton it was a major reason he’s been in hiding for the last 5 years instead of claiming his seat as Earl of Rivers.

Plot: 3/5 the first half is very loosely a beauty and the beast story where a once attractive high ranking member of elite society gets their looks taken away and find self acceptance with the help of a pretty girl. The second half is the same story again but now with a once confident Rose having social anxiety due to a past trauma.

Personal Review: I really liked the push and pull dynamic between Rose and Eli as they try to push the other to be the best version of themselves.

The plot could have worked a bit better if both of them were accepting themselves and overcoming their respective frears in congruence instead of one at a time. It made the story repetitive especially if read as quickly as I did (in one day).

The characters were well written and their respective fears were valid given their respective traumatic incidents. Both were broken in some way and needed someone to show them how to pick up the pieces and continue on to have a happy life.

The backstory of the love triangle was brought on a bit slower than i would have liked, it’s like the reader is one step behind in the initial conversations because the characters knew each other in the past and the reader is being thrust into the conversation now. All the necessary information is eventually brought out and everything makes sense in the end, it just made it a bit harder to jump into the story when the pair are talking and the reader doesn’t know them yet.

A historical romances that could have been enjoyable. Unfortunately, it was so heavy handed in its “moral teaching” that it quickly became a nuisance. The female could be a considered a strong female lead. However, her progressive nature, while commendable from our generation’s standpoint, would actually make her a pariah of the time. On a whole, she felt unrealistic. Not only that but her personality was grating. What originally comes off as open mindedness quickly turns too much as it’s shove down our throats every time the character speaks. At a certain point, the reader just wants to chuck the book while yelling “we get it, you’re better than everyone else!”

The hero isn’t much better as he rarely leaves his pity party and has poor coping mechanisms. He clearly hasn’t come to terms with what has happened to him, having a difficult time coping with it all, and the heroine essentially tells him to “get over it” multiple times. For all her open mindedness, she is unnecessary hard on him. But that could be because she believes the worst in him over a situation she didn’t even bother to ask him about. In the end, he felt like a caricature of the broken brooding hero.

Despite everything, the author has talent as she was able to pull more emotion from me than any of books in recent history. Even though I didn’t like the characters or the storyline, the author was able to make it all believable.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book - the first I've read from this author. The characters are enlightened, and well rounded. The snappy banter, coupled with with the Hero/Heroine's journey to heal, makes for a well paced, engaging read. I look forward to reading more from Kelly Bowen.

This series is getting better and better.The author is very talented and you are getting hooked immediately to the story.This is a story of love, courage, bravery, and tenacity during the American Civil War .My heart was aching and I was emotional.This author can write amazing stories.

Last Night with the Earl is the second book in the Devils of Dover series and brings us the story of Rose and Eli. Eli Dawes has returned from the war, long after being thought dead. His injuries are both emotional and physical, though he has used the physical injuries as a reason to hide. Rose Hayward is the friend from Eli's rogue days, once engaged to his best friend, Anthony, and the woman who secretly holds his heart. Eli eventually must find his way home and when he tries to sneak into his own remote mansion, he finds Rose, her family and a school for girls firmly ensconced in the place he planned to continue life as a recluse. I have not read the first Devils of Dover book, and find this one works well as a standalone. The additional characters come and go enough to lead me to want to read the first (A Duke in the Night) and look forward to what comes next. Rose is a wonderful heroine: strong, intelligent, the perfect amount of sass, and willing to both push Eli and eventually, herself. Eli is a wounded hero, but his honor is not broken. Bowen does not drag out his melancholy and surly attitude so long that the reader become impatient with him, only long enough to feel his pain and be sympathetic. The heat level is just right, it never feel gratuitous and is perfectly sexy. The road to happy ever after is well paced and perfectly plausible, no unnecessary misunderstandings or mysteries along the way. I loved everything about this book and look forward to reading more by Kelly Bowen.

I received this book from netgalley.com in exchange for an honest review.
I loved the characters in this book, they were very relatable and likable. The plot moved quickly and I loved seeing the characters overcome what society has defined them and find love with each other.

Last Night With the Earl is the second book in Kelly Bowen’s The Devils of Dover series of Regency-era historical romance novels. I was very excited about the opportunity to read this book because I enjoyed A Duke in the Night, which was the first book in the series.

Rose’s sister was Clara was the heroine of A Duke in the Night. Rose is happy for her sister, but she is perfectly happy to remain at Haverhall School, giving art lessons to young ladies and taking on commissions for personal portraits. However, her plans for a predictable future change when a man from her past quite literally tumbles into the house.

Eli Dawes has not been seen for years, and is presumed to have died during the Battle of Waterloo. He has been hiding on the Continent for a number of years, but his father’s death compels him to return and reluctantly claim the title he has inherited.

Eli was always kind to Rose, but his best friend was once engaged to her, and did something unforgiveable when he left for the war. This feckless young man must have known that he would die, and therefore had no problem unleashing a massive scandal.

In Rose’s opinion, Eli is tainted by association. He feels compelled to prove to Rose that he had nothing to do with his friend’s misdeeds, and he has the opportunity to act upon the attraction he has always felt for Rose. But he feels unworthy of the title he has inherited, and certainly unworthy when it comes to deserving love.

This was an amazing book. There’s quite a bit of angst from both the hero and heroine as they come to terms with their past. I thought that it was an interesting choice to give Rose anxiety issues as a result of the scandal her ex-fiancé created. It’s certainly not something seen very often in the genre, and it made her a stronger character. Despite the more somber tone, there were moments of levity as well- mostly involving the elderly aunties who live at the school.

I would absolutely recommend Last Night With the Earl. I think it functions well enough as a standalone, so readers don’t have to read A Duke in the Night first, although also a good book. Bowen is quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. As I’ve mentioned, this is the second book that I’ve read by her, but she’s quickly becoming one of my favorite authors. I see that the next book will feature Clara and Rose’s brother Hayward, but it is not coming out until 2019. Alas, I am going to have to read her earlier books while I wait to find out what it going to happen next in the series!

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book.