When a political rival falsely places an announcement of William's engagement in the paper, he's left with a dilemma. If he cries off, he'll humiliate Charlotte and ruin his own reputation. But how can he move forward with a betrothal to a woman he's never met? As he gets to know Charlotte, though, he realizes they're perfectly matched., But his rival isn't done scheming against him, and doesn't care who his ambition destroys.

This book is delightful. I love the author's writing style. The banter between Charlotte and William is witty and endearing. The plot is brisk and never boring. A wonderful debut!

Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

Not the Kind of Earl You Marry by Kate Pembrooke

Wallflower and Bluestocking Charlotte Hurst is just trying to have a normal breakfast with her brother when William Atherton, Earl of Norwood bursts in to demand how an announcement of their marriage has appeared in the papers. Charlotte is just as shocked as William, especially since they've never actually met. William comes up with a great idea to keep their false engagement going to determine who has been playing with his life. However, soon William and Charlotte are fighting their feelings for each other and the person who has it out for William.

This book is the first in a new series. It was wonderful! Kate Pembrooke has a refreshing voice and I loved every minute of this story. I cannot wait for the next book in this series!

*I was provided an ARC from Netgalley and the publisher for my honest review

Not the Kind of Earl you Marry

Thank you to NetGalley and Read Forever Pub for the advanced copies of this fun regency romance.

William, the Earl of Norwood, is shocked to find an announcement of his betrothal to an unknown, new in town Lady Charlotte, an unlikely match. After going to accuse Charlotte and her brother of planting the false story and realizing it may have been an attempt to thwart his political aspirations he suggest they continue in a fake engagement to let the gossip die down to protect both her reputation and his.

While Charlotte is not impressed by William and does not fail to tell him at every turn, she goes along with the plan. Their back and forth jabs and banter give this a bit of an enemies to lovers vibe as well. They are both smart and witty characters. They correspond in a series of notes which I found a really fun way to see their relationship play out along with outings to be witnessed by the ton. Through William she meets Serena and begins to help with plans to help war widows and finds she has help to give and more of a purpose as a bluestocking.

All in all this was a great debut author with a few of my favorite tropes. Historical romance is not something I read a lot of but this one hit the mark and the romance occurred very organically for me.

If you are a fan of regency romance, I highly recommend picking this one up. I’m very much looking forward to reading Serena’s story next!

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Not The Kind Of Earl You Marry is a decadent romance with passion and heart. The plot unfolds effortlessly. The story is written with love and care. This is a fantastic start to a new series.

Miss Charlotte Hurst is a wallflower and a bluestocking, happy in her quiet life. William Atherton, Earl of Norwood, is a politician with passion and is a darling of the ton. These two couldn’t be more different and would probably have never met if a false engagement announcement hadn’t hit the papers.

I love both William and Charlotte’s characters. William had integrity and fire. Charlotte knew her mind and thought she had the reigns on her feelings. These were rich, complicated characters brought to life effortlessly and beautifully. The couple’s connection starts with a fight, the passion igniting at the first encounter. The couple were night and day different, yet complemented each other perfectly. Their attraction was scorching. Their kisses melted the page. The couple’s fragile journey to love is a beautiful thing to witness.

The plot grabbed my attention on page one. The couple’s confrontation was a brilliant and perfect way to start the story. There were enough politics to keep it interesting without getting boring. The central theme is opposites can attract and complement each other. The secondary characters were interesting, and I am looking forward to reading their stories.

Not The Kind Of Earl You Marry is the first book in The Unconventional Ladies Of Mayfair series. It was a stunning start to a new series. The plot had just the right amount of cantankerous characters and a riveting story. The book is an excellent jumping-off point to a series that has the potential of being phenomenal.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advance copy of this book through Netgalley and the publisher. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Not the Kind of Earl You Marry is a perfectly pleasant slow burn romance with a fake engagement, bad first impressions, and witty repartee. When an engagement between William, Earl of Norwood, and Miss Charlotte Hurst is announced in the newspaper, both parties are shocked, especially as they have never met. It seems to be a plot to create scandal around Norwood that will harm his political aspirations. Since both would be harmed by the gossip if the truth got out, they enter into a temporary engagement-of-convenience that obviously gets wildly out of hand. I found the romantic plot to be light and sweet. It largely rests on quick comebacks and stolen kisses, only heading to the bedroom right near the end.

The major issue I had with the story was the political aspect, which features heavily in the plot with Norwood's often-mentioned parliamentary excellence as a rising star politician. He's a Tory in 1817, and while I'm not an expert on this aspect of history, I had my suspicions. There were some hints in the text that stoked the fire of my concern. First, "radical bluestocking" Charlotte's feminist remarks about how women lack any legal rights or financial independence in marriage are met with personal support from Norwood but the political belief that rights can only be slowly added over time at the legal level. Next, Charlotte's aristocratic charitable work to support war widows is remarked by Norwood to be more effective than a government program (yes, you're right, Honorable Lord Know-It-All, donation campaigns and hand-me-downs are far superior to systemic, structural change and rights for all, my bad). Plus, I did some research, and Prime Minister Liverpool's government, the very circle Norwood supposedly shone in, was responsible for the reduction of personal rights including freedom of speech, press, and assembly in the face of public unrest about food shortages and economic hardship. I realize there's a lot more nuance to go into here, but it's not a good look overall. This basically ruined Norwood's do-gooder, moral-high-ground characterization for me and limited my ability to enjoy the romantic story on its own merits. It's an always relevant reminder that everything is political, even a romance novel.

Not the Kind of Earl You Marry
Book 1 in The Unconventional Ladies of Mayfair
Rating: 5 stars
Thank you to the publisher for the ARC given through NetGalley for review. All opinions are my own.

Not the Kind of Earl You Marry was a lovely story about two people who are brought together for the wrong reasons and end up falling in love.
Charlotte and William are forced to pretend to be betrothed when someone announces their engagement in the paper. They have never met each other before William barges into her house to get the truth about who made the announcement. Neither one of them made the announcement, but due to his political standing and her reputation they decide to carry on as a couple in love for a period of time.
These two were so sweet and cute together. They had many tender moments and William won my heart when he gave his nephews horse rides on his back in the middle of his sisters house. I loved how William was all in to make it real and official but Charlotte had her doubts due to her social standing, especially without knowing who was responsible for posting their engagement in the paper.
I highly recommend it! I look forwards to reading more of this series!

Fake engagement with the best start of it ever, I just loved loved this plot. William aka Earl of Norwood has a shock of his life when his enemy puts an engagement post in the time to Charlotte who he has never meet and is a wallflower. To be honest the author had me at scene one- I just lol - could wait to see what would happen with these two after that. William finds he is wanting to take away the pretend more and more as he spends time with her, but she is not so sure. Its very one sided until the end but still could feel the chemistry and draw to each other.

Great add in to the historical parts but not over powering, loved the details. Loved the plot, flow of it all, super super slow burn with some steam at the end and great start to a series! I can't wait for more of this!

4.5 stars
3 steam

This book is fantastic! It is unique, romantic, full of twists, intriguing, and so much more! Whenever I picked up "Not the Kind of Earl You Marry", I was whisked back in time to the Regency Era, and went on quite the journey with this story.

This is the first book in Kate Pembrooke's "The Unconventional Ladies of Mayfair" series, and I hope there will be many more! Her writing style is incredibly visceral, and I can only imagine the amount of research Ms. Pembrooke must have done, as each element of this story feels authentic to the time period. From the smallest of details to larger moments, I was immersed in the world of the story from the first page to the last.

Who would possibly put a fake engagement announcement in the newspaper? When William first reads about his engagement to Charlotte, he immediately confronts her. However, Charlotte is just as surprised as William is, and neither knows who started this. Soon, the two enter into what starts as a short-term romance to avoid scandal. After spending more time together, will this fake romance become something more? You will just need to read to find out.

(Possible Spoilers)
Reading about these two growing closer and closer was incredible. Both William and Charlotte grow throughout the book, and they truly bring out the best in one another. Their letters to each other are so full of witty moments and banter, and they are truly meant for each other.

If you enjoy Regency Romance, I highly recommend this book! It kept me turning the pages to see what would happen next, and I found myself not wanting to put this book down! I hope we see many of these characters in future books as well.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Forever (Grand Central Publishing) for the ARC of this book, and to Forever for sending me a finished copy as well, I am eagerly awaiting the next books in the series! All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

Insightful, intelligent enemies-to-lovers romance

William and Charlotte are fire and ice together! He's as arrogant as an earl can be, and she's more than determined to chart her own course through life regardless of the dictates of society. When someone spreads a rumor that they're engaged, she wants absolutely nothing to do with him but he wants to deflect the scandal by pretending that they really are engaged.

I loved how reluctant Charlotte was to partake in this charade, and how she made William work for every single concession. He's certainly not used to women who don't throw themselves at him so to say he's intrigued by the one woman who outright refuses him - repeatedly - is a gross understatement, and it provides ample opportunity for him to think about what he really wants in life and in a partner.

I loved the beautiful attention to detail, the vibrant world-building, and the fascinating, multi-dimensional characters. William and Charlotte's friendship with Serena brought depth to all three characters and I'm really looking forward to reading the next book in this series that focuses on Serena. William and Charlotte's smarmy enemy is eventually put in his place, paving the way for a very sweet and very satisfying HEA. I highly recommend this story for anyone who loves period romances. I voluntarily reviewed an ARC of this book.

A new series by author Kate Pembrook. Set in the early 1800’s - London. A fun story with lots of great characters.

✔️Sexy Earl
✔️Bluestocking Lady
✔️Fake betrothal to avoid rumors
✔️Slow Burn as feelings develop
✔️Some blackmail
✔️A HEA

Loved it!! Can’t wait to read the next book!!
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

There was something a little bit off-putting in the opening pages of this book, but I loved the banter and chemistry between Charlotte and William so much that I just... kept reading. And gosh, am I so glad I did!

There were some parts that seemed really jarring to me, as someone who reads a lot of Regency-set historical romance - mostly so many of the characters referring to each other by their Christian names right off the bat. My knowledge of Regency England is admittedly gleaned mostly from reading (a lot of) romance novels, but that's such a big historical inaccuracy.

Still, I'm glad I pushed past my discomfort because the romance between Charlotte and William is just SO GOOD. Their banter and barbs are just... *swoon*. They begin their relationship on rather poor terms, and then are immediately tossed into a fake relationship situation (which is one of my favorite tropes).

I also really love the friendships Charlotte develops with Serena and William's sisters. I found myself checking to see if this is the first in the series (it is) because I wanted to read Libby and Lydia's stories!

I could tell, at times, that this was Kate Pembrooke's debut novel. The pacing was off in a few places, and the point of view shifted suddenly in the middle of a scene a couple of times. There was something not quite polished about some of the "true culprit" plot elements. I also REALLY didn't like Charlotte's plan of seduction, it just felt really icky... Still, this was a very enjoyable read, and whatever qualms I had about the historical inconsistencies were far overshadowed but what a fun and flirty read it was. I'm excited to read more from Kate Pembrooke and see how she grows as a writer in her next novel!

This is the first book in The Unconventional Ladies of Mayfair. I can't wait for the next book, which is Serena and Lord Townshend (aka Charles, but nobody is overly familiar with him in this book so I didn't remember his first name!)

I think this is a pretty standard regency romance. We have a false claim of betrothal in a paper. This means our main characters who do not know each other must pretend to be betrothed so not to tarnish anyone's reputation. William with political ambitions and Miss Hurst who is a bookish practically on the shelf recluse to society. I felt the relationship was a bit instant with a pretend engagement for two that have not met prior. Still it was a fun trope and the relationship did develop to be more with some fun moments. I do wish there had been more banter and shenanigans. I did feel the mystery of who put in the false betrothal was on the back burner for awhile, and the resolve felt a little too quick. I enjoyed the book overall.

Charlotte and William are forced to get engages due to underhanded dealings of a political rival.

✔️ the story has some unique qualities - for example the reason they are forced into an engagement
✔️ at the beginning of the story, Charlotte and William send each other some letters which were quite entertaining- I wish they had kept that up
✖️ Charlotte’s insistence that the engagement had to be fake and her reasoning was - meh - she really had no reason

Generally I enjoyed the story and would read he second book in the series.

Will the scheme which brought them together kept them apart …

Recently there have been a rise of new historical romance authors, which I can only praise as it is easier for me to follow up them than going backward in a long already established writer’s books list. And with a new author, a new style and a new insight.
And Kate Pembrooke debut novel does not disappoint, her writing is witty, elaborated and speaks to every historical romance lovers.
Straight to the point, the opening chapter lands the main characters in the core of the subject. Tricked by some vile unknown, they must decide their course of action as to give credence to the conundrum they find themselves embroiled into or part way and suffer the fallout effects.
Charlotte would preferably choose the latter as playacting the devoted betrothed to the man who hurled himself into her dining room ranting about her deceiving self.
Plus her memory of her finishing school years left her with a bitter taste about navigating the muddy waters of the ton when you are quite a nobody in their eyes.
William realized too late he was throwing misguided accusations to the wrong person, so smoothing the feathers of said person back might be a more difficult task than he would have expected. As an imprint he did leave, not the right one.
Both are very likable characters, Charlotte is no missish miss, but she just knows where she comes from and crossing path again with the ton’s peer is not her chosen call. She likes calm and quiet, not the agitated meddling the ton’s love to bath in. Yet while she had been put off by her first meeting with William, he quickly demonstrates he is a fair and caring fellow as they share the same taste for quips. William is no rake, he only wants to improve the lives of those left with nothing after having done their duty to their country. And if it is by entering the arena of politic, so be it. Why when a scandal threatens his potential position, he only sees a fake engagement as a way out without too much damage. Plus his non-prospect bride is much more than he anticipated, fun, witty and no nonsense girl.
They fall fast for the other but hold back as Charlotte struggles to envision herself having her life uprooted, while William has less qualms but respects her will.
One of the most amusing part was their back and forth communications through messages between their households, it was engaging and charming.
I just felt the ending might have needed to be more exploited and developed.
4.5 stars

𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗮𝗺 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹 onscreen lovemaking scenes.

I have been granted an advance copy by the author, here is my true and unbiased opinion.

It's such a sweet book!!!! (I do not mean closed-door sweet, just FYI)
The book of course talks about the fake engagement plot but some more of my favorite romance tropes in the book are:
Slow burn
sort of enemies to lovers
Not much known in society/Bluestocking heroine
Class difference
Rain scene! (This is the fave).

William almost accuses Charlotte that she has trapped him in marriage without ever meeting him. Charlotte sets him straight. Even if she wanted to be married he would be the last person on the earth.
And that's how they meet. It's really a fun chapter. The politically involved Earl must preserve his position and campaign while he also doesn't want Charlotte to suffer the consequences of the morning post announcement announcing their betrothal to the town.

While Charlotte is a sensible head, once she starts to know William, how he is considerate (mostly thanks to 3 sisters keeping him in line) and also progressive in terms of how he cares for reforms as well as his nephews, she is losing her practical side of arguments of why can't she agree to the betrothal to be turned into a real one.
He gives her driving lessons. That's my fave too! It is such a detailed and stomach fluttering event where she becomes aware of him first and then of course the lessons continue. I loved the slow portrayal of their attraction (but then, I love slow burn!). And then Charlotte's yearning is palpable when she decides she must jilt the earl for his own good. You know, in books when heroes do it, I call them dunderheads while reading (it must happen but still lol) but when heroines do it, I simply empathize. (Yes, yes, I know how it sounds :-D ) So I had a good laugh as well as sympathy with her.

The book reminded me of the younger times of my life, the slow first thrumming of attraction, (not just physical) but also the emotional pull towards another person cause of his virtues and how he treats others. Very very nicely laid out. The banter is good. William is as his friend Serena calls him the 'too goody' guy to losen up but when he does..... ummmm. I got goosebumps when the poor guy was trying everything to steal a kiss alone with Charlotte!

And the rain scene is where it culminates. I can not resist a rain romance. I just can't. This is the ultimate

I had never read a book by this author before and I'm a big fan of historical romance so when I read the synopsis I thought it sounded like a good one to try. And it was. A pretty sweet and easy read. My general feeling about it is that it was fine. The characters were fine. It was all just fine. For readers that don't read this genre at the volume I do it might be better than fine, but since I read hundreds of historical romances a year, this one didn't add anything particularly new or noteworthy. It was good and a breazey read, probably not terribly memorable as everything was just nice and easy.

Ohhh the opening scene in this one!!!! I was hooked right away. William, our hero, just comes into the room, rudely interrupts breakfast, and goes off on everyone. He is blaming people for who knows what. It turns out an ad has appeared in the paper that he is engaged to Charlotte. He actually thinks she may have been the origin--I mean, all the girls are after him, right? OMG we already are pulling for our heroine to knock him right upside the head, which she does, verbally. He's the last man she would ever marry. We know he must be brought to his knees...better position for groveling. So, we begin the fake fiancé trope,. It's a familiar idea, but this story is fresh and amazing. I just loved watching them go from fake to realizing they have something special in each other. Add in the mystery of who was it who set this up in the first place... and you have a winner! Grab a glass and enjoy!

I love this type of romance but I couldn’t get into it. Maybe it’s because of all the binge reading I did with all the Bridgerton craze but maybe I’ll try again another time!

When the morning paper announces his engagement to a woman he's never met, William Atherton, the Earl of Norwood, is rightfully confused. Confused and more than a little pissed off. Filled with righteous anger, he calls upon the chit, a one Charlotte Hurst, to give her a piece of his mind and to inform her that her ill-thought out marriage trap will not work.

He makes an utter cake of himself.

To his chagrin, he finds that not only did Charlotte not publish the announcement but that she is as much a victim of this announcement as he is. And that while she has considerably more to lose, she informs him that she wouldn't marry him if he were the last eligible man on earth. Shocked and now more than a little intrigued, William proposes a solution: go through with the engagement for a time and then have Charlotte publicly jilt him to save face. Because while the scandal of this false announcement might cost him a coveted and competitive posting in the Prime Minister's government, it could cost Charlotte her whole future.

It's the perfect solution. Assuming one doesn't fall in love in the process.

--

Okay... you all know me. You know that Fake-Dating-Becomes-Real is one of my favorite tropes in like the history of forever. It's right up there with Time Travel, Enemies-to-Lovers, and The-Big-One-Keeps-The Small-One-From-Murdering-People. I have a lot of favorite tropes. LOL So this book, with the whole Fake Dating as well a hint of Enemies-to-Lovers is seriously right up my alley. And this Debut novel by Kate Pembrooke scratched my itch quite nicely.

Charlotte is definitely the shy, retiring kind of wallflower with a hint of steel underneath. She's not comfortable with small talk. She's nervous in large crowds. She's much more interested in books than the weather. And she desperately wants to do something with her life. She has no interest in landing a titled husband just for the sake of landing a titled husband. She wants love, mutual affection, and she's not willing to settle. She's an interesting character--a little naive at times. a little prudish at others-- she is most definitely a product of her time. She doesn't consider herself the kind of woman an ambitious Earl like William would want to marry and that forms the basis for much of their conflict.

As for William, he's also a bit of a prude... but in the "he's part of the establishment" kind of way. Part of his arc is understanding that he does need to unbend for things to improve between him and Charlotte as well as sorting out his priorities. Part of me really likes that his arc features the potential sacrifice of something he really wants in order to both do the right thing and also to get the girl. It's something that generally the woman has to be the one making the sacrifice instead of the man. So I liked that. But... another part of me doesn't like it. I think that there should be solutions that form a compromise. I'm weird like that. I do like that William is very willing to apologize when he is wrong. It's refreshing to see that honestly. But I didn't love his jealousy and possessiveness. I did like that during the first sex scene that there was very good consent and there was a lot of implied consent in the earlier kisses. This is important, y'all.

The Side characters are fun and actually really offered good advice and were generally stand up characters... well rounded even if they were clearly not going to get their own book later -- like some of William's sisters. The antagonist of the book needed more depth, though. They were very over the top in an almost melodramatic kind of way. They were also introduced way too late in the book as an actual character and not an idea.

Plot-wise, it took me a little bit understand why the announcement would be a big deal. I knew right off that Charlotte could just jilt him and be done with it. And while it was eventually explained the rationale, It didn't land for me immediately. I also didn't love a few other things that happened in this book. There's a very large TSTL moment which does have a VERY good lampshade hung on it, but the fall out from it is very predictable. I also felt that the ending was rushed. In fact the pacing was a bit off for the beginning of the book. While I totally loved the adorable epistolary banter in the beginning, I do think that a few scenes early on could be cut while some of the later scenes in the book felt rushed and missing components. This is why this book isn't a five star from me.

As a note something I didn't love but am not dinging the book for are the few anachronisms that slipped through (Giving someone "An Out" is from 1919 and "Being square" with someone... as in settled up isn't from 1868 and is an Americanism), some very weird punctuation choice, and a few missing scene breaks which turn into headhops. My hope is that these mistakes are limited to the ARC I read and are not in the final product. But in case they are, I am noting them in this review.

In all, this was a very good debut novel that did a good job of setting up the world and introducing us to future characters. I am definitely interested in reading Serena and Charles' book when it is available.

Because I liked this book despite a few missteps this gets:

Four stars

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley

Not the Kind of Earl You Marry begins with William interrupting Charlotte and her brother at the breakfast table alarmed by the fact an announcement has appeared in the papers announcing their betrothal despite never having been introduced. As William is deeply involved in parliament he cannot have scandal attached to his name so the pair decide to go along with the engagement. Of course this is a romance so they fall in love along the way.

I liked both William and Charlotte immensely. Charlotte is a bluestocking and William embraces that fully. I loved the sweet little moment of their courtship like William giving Charlotte his copy of Waverly and letting her drive his curricle. I also loved that instead of the standard “fake engagement” trope this book played it out as “engaged for now.” I particularly loved that William’s sisters insisted on treating Charlotte like any other future sister in law and wouldn’t take her “it’s fake” excuses to not fully participate.

This book has a much lower heat level than I’m used to in historical romances. I was actually worried that it was a clean romance when I was down to 40 pages left and there had only been a couple kisses, but it turned out just be a slow burn. That being said, I do think that William and Charlotte were attracted to each other and in love by the end of the book.

Thank you to NetGally and Forever for the ebook ARC and Forever and Grand Central Publishing for the gifted review copy.