The blurb by the publisher had me looking for mystery, danger, and ruin. These never developed to the degree I thought would justify the writing in the blurb, I kept waiting for more danger to the two of them. The future Earl of Maxwell is kidnapped as a child by family members who hate him, while turning into a tosher in the tunnels of London, the child turns himself into Malcolm North, the richest, most feared tosher of the bowels of London.
Then we have Verity Lovelace, another feminist protagonist who is not of this time period, an intrepid female reporter, who must get the lost Earl's story or lose her job to these male chauvinist! She has a younger sister, and lifelong nursemaid that she is responsible for.
The problem with the story for me was the repeptivtive accusations against the male population, without bringing in the resolution to who actually kidnapped the little boy!? Yes, we meet his cousin, who didn't kidnapped the little boy, where are the three ladies, his other cousins? Where is the man who attacks Verity twice? Why wasn't he brought to justice? This is an exceptional author! However, this story was slow, repetitive, contemporary, the only historical part of the story was the lesson on tochers; which in all honesty made me want to continually have a bath.
Disappointing! Thank you Netgalley!
carolintallahassee.com

Christy Caldwell is my current favorite historical romance author. Her stories do a wonderful job of showcasing the incredible wealth and poverty of the time.

I loved Verity’s loyalty and determination and Malcolm’s overall grumpiness. They are a pair that just don’t quiet fit with society and they are perfect for each other.

Overall another masterpiece by Christy Caldwell.

I absolutely loved this book! Loved, loved, loved, and did not want it to end!! I thought that the interplay, dialogue and romance between hero and heroine were perfectly suited to the characters as characters, to the time period, and to the story itself. But most of all, I loved the connection that I felt as a reader to these two characters. It was just the right amount of character development and plot build-up, as I progressed through the story, but, each time the scene and thoughts shifted from one character to another, I was right there. Suffering as well as rejoicing with Malcolm and Verity. I could feel their simultaneous pain as they were antagonists and, then, not. One of the best parts of the book is toward the middle, when both Malcolm and Verity are relaxing along the Serpentine in Hyde Park...and slowly hold hands. I felt like the book was one way before that moment and another way afterward. Brilliant work! Thank you! :)

I liked the premise of this book very much, a young boy, Percival, the Earl of Maxwell, is kidnapped by a servant after his parents die, His relatives have schemed to rob him of his inheritance and he runs away from his captors to become a tosher in the sewers of London. He makes a life for himself there, and gets rich by his own hard work, and acquires a set of friends and associates on the way. Fowler, who showed him the ropes, the huge Bram and the one handed Giles. Now called Malcolm North, he is finally found and restored to his rightful place, edging out his cousin Bolingbroke who acquired the earldom through his families dishonesties.

Verity is trying very hard to eke out a living and support her sister Lizzie and their maid Bertha. Baseborn daughters of a Lord themselves, they are destitute when their mother and then their father dies when Verity is 12. She goes out to work at a job he found for her at a newspaper office, and she has worked her way up to be a reporter. When the story about finding the lost heir she wrote is stolen by one of her male colleagues, Verity is furious but also desperate to keep her job. She agrees with the paper’s owner to get a story about North in order to keep the job.

When Verity descends into the sewers to find Malcolm, he is enraged and fascinated by her all at once, when he takes her home and lets her clean up, he gives her ammunition for her campaign to get a story. Eventually he insists that she pretend to be his wife, to stop him being besieged by fortune hunting parents seeking a match for their daughters, in return for this Verity will get a story about him, and then leave London.

However, things don’t quite go to plan, and the two are drawn inexorably together

Things I liked - Ms Caldwell is very good at creating believable relationships between hero’s and heroines. I totally believed they were falling for each other. I also liked the world we got to know about - and how toshers worked. I enjoyed the fact that we were reading about an older heroine, who was the baseborn protagonist. I also liked the depiction of women struggling for recognition in spaces like newspapers, dominated by men.

Things I struggled with: some of the language choices, and the writing in general were a bit irritating. I am sure they will be ironed out in the edit, but I struggle with the style and tone, and I don’t want to read another ‘mayhap’ ever again!. I also felt the book didn’t ever flow easily for me, I wasn’t invested in the story until well over halfway into the book.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and all opinions are my absolute own.

Also posted on goodreads

I love Christi Caldwell's books. She is one of my favorite authors. This story, even though the beginning of a new series, follows up on the book, "Courting Poppy Tidemore".
I struggled with getting into this book at first. I almost gave up on it. But I hate starting a book and not finishing it. I'm so very glad I did not give up.
The story picked up. You saw the relationship between the hero and the heroine start to develop and the chemistry start to build. I was now engrossed and couldn't put it down.
I'm giving this story 4 stars for the slow start.
I want to thank netgalley for the chance to review this book.

This is Verity Lovelace and Malcom North, the lost Earl of Maxwell’s story, first in the Lost Lords of London series; a standalone, happily ever after, no cheating, historical romance with sizzle.
Because of Christi Caldwell’s artistry with words, the characters are well rounded, compelling, strong and believable. I love the way the characters and storyline are developed, tortured, then resolved. After I finished the book, I wanted to reread it again. Bravo! Encore!
I received an electronic copy of this book through NetGalley for my honest opinion.

I wasn't the biggest fan of this story. I wasn't able to get into the book and honestly, I didn't finish the book. I didn't care about any of the characters and would have rather the story be about a scoundrel and a lady of status. I guess, I kind of wish the roles were reversed.

Man, this just wasn't for me. The plot felt messy. Also, the characters did not have believable chemistry, in my opinion.

In Bed With the Earl ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️


To solve a mystery that’s become the talk of the ton, no clues run too deep for willful reporter Verity Lovelace. Not even in the sewers of London. That’s precisely where she finds happily self-sufficient scavenger Malcom North, lost heir to the Earl of Maxwell. Now that Verity’s made him front-page news, what will he make of her?

Kidnapped as a child, with no memories of his well-heeled past, Malcom prefers the grimy spoils of the culverts to the gilded riches of society. Damn the feisty beauty who exposed the contented tosher to a parade of fortune-hunting matchmakers. How to keep them at bay? Verity must pretend to be his wife. She owes him.

The intimacy of this necessary arrangement—Verity and Malcom thrust together in close quarters—soon sparks an irresistible heat. But when the charade ends, the danger begins. Will love be enough to protect them from a treacherous plot devised to ruin them?

Wow, wow, wow! I really enjoyed this book. Both the main characters were strong but broken when the meet and manage to “rescue” each other through the storyline.

In Bed With the Earl is the 1st book in the Lost Lords of London Series, as such it reads well as a stand alone. I hope future books in the series are just as good.

I received this ARC for free in exchange for my honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. Thank you NetGalley, Christi Caldwel and Montlake Romance

Verity was a mixed character for me i both loved her wit and determination against sexism but i also disliked how reckless she is with others lives and her own. At some point being brave cant justify stupid actions.

Overall, after i got use to the old english i enjoyed this book i wish you could give half stars because it would rate it a 3.5

Highly recommend to those looking for a historical romance with imperfect humans :)

Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first novel from this author and I enjoyed seeing how she portrayed people struggling to deal with difficult circumstances. I really lovely story written with a good deal of depth and sensitivity.

Well this was a beautifully written Historical Romance. You have to read it very slowly though, as each sentence is packed with information. Set sometime in the late Regency, early Victorian era - no exact date is given. A couple of other characters from Ms Caldwell's previous books make an appearance.

Our Hero, Malcom, lost heir to an Earldom, works as a tosher in the sewers of London, after being kidnapped as a child and dumped on the streets of London. Verity, our heroine, is the bastard daughter of an Earl (who has since passed) and she and her sister live with their former nursemaid .They survive week to week, relying on the small amount of money she earns as a Journalist for a London gossip newspaper. She has to try and discover the secret of where the Earl of Maxwell (Malcolm) has been these last 20 years and write a piece for the paper on him, or she will lose her job. There is a lot of mention in this book about the rights of women, which seems to be the flavour of the month at the moment for Historicals.

There are uncomfortable scenes in the sewers (yuk) and the majority of the book is set in seven dials and the poor, smelly areas of London. Featuring heavily in the story are the men Malcolm met in the slums and they now form part of his household. The romance between our couple is very slow burn for almost 90% of the book and I felt their interaction and romance was nicely done. The steamy scenes were tasteful and quite believable and you felt the H/h's attraction. There's drama and witty dialogue and lots of anguish and sole searching. Also there are some light-hearted scenes between Verity, Bram and Fowler.

Now I will stress that I read an uncorrected proof, thanks to NetGalley and the publisher. There were a few grammar errors, a few words missing and some sentences that didn't make complete sense. That said, I assume all will be corrected by the publication date. NB - the word 'brainstorming' is 20th century. I was confused when the H/h were down in the dark sewers near the beginning of the story, because there was no mention of lanterns. Verity could see Malcolm clearly, including his eye and hair colour. Some paragraphs and sentences could have been expanded upon and added to, as I felt many scenes flitted a bit quickly and had too much information. I know I missed stuff, because of my fast reading and I had to remind myself to slow down, so I could have missed the mention of Lanterns.

I would highly recommend this book to HR lovers. Publication date is March 17, 2020 by Montlake Romance. I will probably borrow it via Kindle Unlimited after publication and re-read it. Once again, thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC.

In Bed With the Earl is my first Christy Caldwell and won't be my last.   Her tale of a lord stolen as a child, losing the memory of who he had been and becoming the Lord of London's underground has a good combination of engaging characters, intrigue, witty banter, and action.

Heroine Verity is a woman who is competing in a man's world of newspaper writing. Scooped by another writer, or outright stolen from, Verity has to go down into the sewers of London to find the lost Earl of Maxwell.  There she is rescued by Malcom North, the king of the scavengers.  Verity is tenacious, brave, and determined.  Her foe, Malcom, doesn't care about the world of the Ton.  He is perfectly happy to stay where he is and not claim the title that everyone keeps thrusting at him.  A man's man, Malcom is the perfect foil to the headstrong Verity.

The story moves along at a brisk pace with dashes of heat peppered throughout to keep things lively. The interplay between the leads swings from seduction to danger to hilarity as each position themselves to get what they want.   A good start to a new historical series.

Verity and Malcolm while not overly likable, were strong characters. Verity, a female reporter, in a time where females are considered "lesser", jumps at the chance to investigate Malcolm, the lost Earl of Maxwell. Having been sold as a child after his parents deaths, Malcolm has grown up in the streets as a sewer rat. Verity is charged with his location. We follow them as they enter a marriage of convenience all while Malcolm tries to assimilate into his new title and role as Earl.
While not all that I hoped it would be, all in all, I enjoyed this book and would recommend.
Thank you Christi Caldwell, Montlake Romance and NetGalley for allowing me an advance copy for my honest feedback.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it marks a great first book to a series about lost lords. Also, that cover is sooo beautiful. However wonderful I thought the characters are, however, there were some qualms about the writing that hindered my enjoyment of the story.

LIKES:
- I really loved the premise of this story! Malcom's background was absolutely riveting - he was sold as a child after his parents died of disease, and lived lifes on the streets. He eventually grew up to be a tosher - someone who digs up treasures in the sewers of London. This book honestly introduced me to a whole new profession in the regency era that I found SO. INTERSTING. Verity also had an intriguing background, as she grew up working as a reporter. While she had always done gossip articles, the sexism she experiences in her job has galvanized her to pick up an investigative article. The subject at hand? Malcom, the long lost Earl of Maxwell.
- I LOVED their interactions as well! Malcolm was instantly attracted to Verity's no-nonsense ways and stubbornness, while Verity was super interested in her subject at hand, as well as his mysterious background. Their chemistry was so palpable, and I loveddd how their characters grew while navigating London. Sigh. Sooo wonderful, and definitely romantic.

DISLIKES:
- A lot of suspension of belief was needed to enjoy this book. The first was Verity traveling down to the sewers to find Malcolm (like what??). She made some reckless decisions that were needed for the plot, but also got me side-eyeing. I feel like those plot points could have progressed easily without her making those decisions.
- Another suspension of belief part was the marriage of convenience that the characters go into. Like... a fake marriage in the regency era without actually getting married? The characters relied on gossip to spread the news, but wouldn't this have been easy to confirm somehow? I'm not an expert in marriage during this time, but given the proprieties (or, lack of in this book), it seemed really anachronistic. (While the whole premise was unrealistic, I still really enjoyed it. But at some point it strayed away from the feel of a historical romance, only using the background without the actual characterizations of the period.)
- Repetition in dialogue and actions.

Overall though, I tremendously enjoyed Malcolm and Verity as characters. When they finally got together and realized their love for each other (as the story uses hate-to-love), it was sooo satisfying to see, heehee. Would recommend for regular Historical Romance readers. Just... expect to be patient with the characters and suspend a lot of belief.

Thank you Netgalley and Montlake Romance for the review copy!

I received an ARC of "In Bed with the Earl" by Christi Caldwell from Netgalley. I was hooked from the very beginning. A young kidnapped Earl left at an orphanage, grows up as a tosher, a sewer hunter in St. Giles. Verity, an aspiring reporter, has her work plagiarized and is looked down upon as a female journalist. Today's gender equality problems are visualized for us and we see that it existed even back then. The back and forth banter between Victor and Verity is fabulous. I laughed, I giggled,I definitely shed a few tears over this beautiful and sensual story. What a fantastic job by Christi Caldwell taking her readers on this spectacular journey of finding and loving family.

Overall rating 3.5 stars

I was really excited for the start of this series. I have loved the Wicked Wallflower and couldn't want to find out more about these Lost Lords of London, however, this book was a bit of a disappointment. I was never able to fully connect to Verity and Malcolm. chemistry seemed to be lacking and I just wasn't invested into these two. I found myself more interested in the secondary characters and wanting their stories told.

I will say the last 25% of the was everything I love about this author writing and did make my read totally worth it.

The concept of a lost aristocrat learning his true roots is a great trope. So is a story with a spunky independent working class heroine. The difficulty with this book is that the hero and heroine of this story just don't connect together well. The are physical with each other. Dislike is apparent. And he's not such a great human being. Of course, this is due to his circumstance. I read through three chapters and had to stop.

Disappointed.

I just loved this wonderfully written book and couldn’t put it down! Although I’ve been reading regency romances for over 20 years, I have to say this one stuck out as being original - both in terms of the characters and the plot. It’s definitely the first time I’ve ever heard of a tosher, let alone read a book where the hero works in a sewer! The female lead is also non traditional, being a reporter in a time when this must have been unusual. I really enjoyed the way the author unveiled their pasts, and motivations, showing how it made them the flawed but inherently loveable characters we meet at the start of the story. There is so much emotional depth to this book that I defy anyone not to be moved by it. Yet this is also layered with sparkling repartee, sizzling chemistry and the gentle humour of the secondary characters. I’m very much looking forward to the next book in this series.

Thank you for the free review copy, NetGalley!
This was my first Christi Caldwell book. I loved the recipe (journalist! Love a gossip columnist/aspiring writer heroine, class and privilege, dark backstory, fun premise). But I wasn't a fan of the final result. The plotting was off (not a dark moment to be seen? Very little actual chemistry and tension. Convenient characterization/confusing motives). Transitions were awkward, and I didn't fall in love with the couple. Their declaration of love seemed out of the blue, not demonstrated by chapters of build-up.