Thank you to NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for giving me a free eARC of this book to read in exchange for my review!

Well this is another story I really wanted to like more than I did. Apparently it’s a take on a Shakespeare play, A Winter’s Tale, which I have not heard of or read before. Generally I really enjoy a lot of historicals, but this just really seemed to drag. The two protagonists refused to behave as adults and speak plainly. Is that a function of the time period? Is it a function of a lack of maturity – despite a 16 year gap between the time they were last together? Is it a function of too much “water under the bridge” so to speak or to much anger and bitterness? I never was able to figure it out. Instead of “fight or flight” responses, these two couldn’t decide whether to fight or f*ck. Despite their anger – well more Richard’s anger and Sherborne’s guilt, there was still something there between them. But they just couldn’t seem to clear the air. Their dance around each other and their lack of clarity in their conversations – always skirting, never dealing, with the past grew tiresome. It’s not a good sign when for me, the most engaging characters are a valet, a maid, a cousin and the menagerie of animals in a traveling circus.

It took me quite a while to get through this book, which is not a positive indicator. My overwhelming urge was to knock Richard and Sherborne’s heads together and hopefully knock some sense into them. Or else lock them in a room until they worked it out. Perhaps this back and forth works for others, but I just felt more and more frustrated that they would not address the elephant in the room. Again, perhaps the author was intending this to show that this was a sign of the times that these gentlemen lived in, but I did not enjoy the ride. For those who really like a tale where the protagonists spend a lot of time to get to the truth, this may be the story for you. As usual, YMMV.

I like how realistically the events of this story are handled. There's no instant-forgiveness or it-wasn't-that-bad for the events of the past, they are dealt with as the serious issue they are but grown past.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book, mainly because I'm not the biggest fan of second chance romances, but also become one of the love interests in this novel did a truely horrific and unforgivable thing: he outed his lover. Outing is still a deeply traumatic experience today but in the Regency period, queer people who be put to death for being queer (or 'sodomites'). But I was pleasantly surprised by how Greene managed to work around this and make me genuinely like Sherborne.

I found the romance between Richard and Sherborne quite realistic, especially as Richard has a lot of hate and anger towards Sherborne at the beginning of the book. But that definitely grows and changes as the novel progresses. I found that Sherborne matured quite realistically.

I also really liked Greene's writing style. Historical romances are my favourite genre and Greene really swept me into the story with her compelling writing.

Sweet and steamy, I really enjoyed this recency-era romance novel. I am a sucker for a surprise baby trope and a good second chance romance, so this hit several good spots for me.

2.5 stars

A second-chance love story that relies heavily on tropes with a cheesily gothic setting. For a short novel, the writing felt repetitive & needed to be tightened. The ending is decent though.

[What I liked:]

•This story has such a gothic feel in a Romantic, cheesy way (not actually creepy or dark). A crumbling castle on a stormy night, literal bats, an emotionally tortured hero who sleeps in a tower, you get the feel. The trope-y atmosphere was kinda fun as the backdrop to such a tragic story.

•Ahaha, you have to love how more & more guests keep getting stranded at this castle, last but not least of which is a literal circus!

•One strength of the romance here is the emphasis on Sherborne & Richard’s differences to their younger selves, how their love has the chance to be more mature & healthier now, rather than a simple return to where they left off. (Because such a simple return wouldn’t be realistically possible.)


[What I didn’t like as much:]

•The writing isn’t bad, but at times it gets a bit flowery and feels like it’s trying too hard to be wistful and tragic. The dialogue also at times leans towards the cheesy or the unnecessary.

•For a novella, the story felt repetitive & would benefit from tightening. Characters repeat each other’s statements. The same thoughts & feelings get rehashed (internally & in conversation) over & over without any progress. I get that there were a lot of feelings to be resolved & it couldn’t be done in a single conversation, but if there had been a sense of movement or progress it would have helped the story feel less like it was going in circles.

CW: homophobia (including violence), infidelity

[I received an ARC ebook copy from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review. Thank you for the book!]

Sheborne, you have my heart and soul, and you deserve the world.

Richard... i felt/think he should be hurt more? it all started with him wanting to make Sherborne jealous, but it felt like he wasn't sorry about that? throughout, Sherborne kept being kind and a martyr and tbh more hurt in his pov.. adding on the last <spoiler> drowning </spoiler> scene after everything? yep it should have been Richard over Sheborne instead. it was a bit underwhelming.

Paulina, Hermione.. i wish they treated Sherborne more kindly. cmon, even Arturo was kinder even though he was mean. Beth Bitch, (it's her full name right?) yeah no she doesn't deserve that ending, she was selfish at the start and selfish at the end. instead of an explanation, she just.. had to??? cause more trouble.

there was alot..... of inner monologues. but it works. and i honestly DO NOT know how their winter works (i've never even experienced it once!) so all the winter scene was lost on me HAHA, i'm sad i'm not even able to picture it.

it was a good angtsy read to end off 2021 and i absolutely love this!

I typically love this author. This book has been on my highly anticipated list since I first read the synopsis. Unfortunately, in the end this is a miss for me. I enjoyed the characters but the story rolled out too slowly for me. I’ll not be sharing a review of this title outside NetGalley.

This is a super angsty twist of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale. Greene does an excellent job creating a seemingly impossible rift between the poet Sherborne and his once lover and friend Richard. The sexual tension crackles between these characters, but so does the anguish of their past.

When Sherborne sends for him, Richard returns to England (even though he could be imprisoned or worse if caught), but he is not happy about it. Once they are snowed in at Sherborne's castle, the real intrigue starts with the baby that was abandoned on his doorstep.

Greene weaves in some awesome allusions to The Winter's Tale (yes, even the famous stage direction!). Unlike her previous books, there is not a lot of threats of current danger and violence in this book.

If you like angsty, passionate gay historical romance, you should read this one.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher.

This is exactly what you would want to read as a light holiday book. I have read Annabelle's work before and I was very very impressed but the level of mastery in her stories. This was no different.

What I liked best about this book was the second chance romance. I am of the opinion that second chance romances should be angsty. After all, the point is that for some reason the relationship did not work out the first time and maybe even ended bitterly. Therefore, for me, there has to be angst. And that was the case with this book.

This isn’t necessarily your traditional cheerful Christmas romance, although it certainly takes place over the holiday season, but there is a lot of grief, loss, and misunderstanding etched into this story, and thus I really enjoyed it as a Christmas read that was not too cheerful, but still ends in the expected happily ever after fashion. There are times the characters are as melancholy as the grand rundown castle that the majority of the story takes place in, but in the end, the castle and the characters find their warmth and happiness as they should.

Overall I really enjoyed this read, and the characters in it. And I think I also picked a good week to read it in, one where I needed some hope and good things, but not too perfectly shiny and this story delivered.

4.5 stars! (out now!!!)

**Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.**

Pros
+ I could not put this book down! It broke my 2-mo reading slump.
+ Richard - exiled Earl who lives in Italy (stoic, buttoned-up, & proper)
+ Sherborne - infamous poet living in a crumbling English castle (witty, tortured artist who loves impropriety)
+ plot: After 16 years in exile from England, Richard receives a letter from Sherborne, his ex-lover, asking him to come to him as it is a matter of life and death. Despite his conflicted feelings, Richard leaves immediately for England, with only a false name, false traveling papers, and his manservant by his side. Upon arrival, it appears that the life at stake isn't Sherborne's, but a baby he found in the snow outside his remote castle. Sherborne asks Richard to help him rehome the baby with a relative who runs an orphanage... but everything is much more complicated than it seems.
+ One of the strongest aspects of this book is how their relationship changed, stumbled, and grew over their time spent together. Not only did the author directly address emotions and sex being impacted by trauma, but also how people can try and fail and try and succeed to move past things that have happened to them.
+ queer rep: gay MCs, gay side character, lesbian side characters
+ romance tropes: second-chance romance, misunderstanding then miscommunication (which I normally don't like but it worked for me in this one), hot-as-fuck mutual pining, delayed gratification
+ the mutual pining built up to steamy scenes that were off-the-charts
+ It happens in Nov/Dec right up to Christmas so this could totally count as a "Christmas Romance" read.

Neutral
+ There were a few too many happy-sappy chapters at the end for my liking. The entire novel had a certain gravitas due to their past and present difficulties, but the end was SO sugary. I wish the book had ended about 10-20 pages sooner. But, if you like a sugary HEA shown on-page, then this would totally work for you.

Cons
- The actor troupe. Why??? I think the story could have been fine/better even without it. For a bit of lightheartedness, I would have preferred more time spent with the child and the castle staff.

TW: public outing, exile, discrimination against an unmarried pregnant woman, rape (off-page)

Sherborne Clarke and Richard Ashbrook had an intense relationship while off at university, which came to an abrupt end when the infamous Sherborne’s correspondence ends up in the papers. Richard, who is in line to become an Earl, is self-exiled to Sicily. But all this information is told, not shown, as the story actually begins sixteen years later, when Sherborne sends Richard a letter saying he needs him to return for a matter of life and death.

I like second chance romances, and this definitely plays with that idea, but since we’re only told about the first time around, it’s hard to get too invested. Sherborne is keeping a secret, of course, in that he did write the letter that was used against Richard, but he did not release it to the press due to jealousy, as Richard assumed. Yet he doesn’t really seem to have pondered who actually did it in the past sixteen years.

Richard does go to Sherborne, in the dead of winter in England, but finds that Sherborne’s idea of “life and death” has to do with an infant left on his property. Richard’s cousin, Beth, is in charge of a charitable group that houses orphans, so while Sherborne does want help with the child, it’s actually the long awaited way to try to get Richard back. There’s a cycle of them getting together, then yet another misunderstanding pushing them apart, and since they’re stuck in the same building due to a winter storm, this gets rather tedious.

There is a comment by Sherborne, I believe, in which he says he feels like he’s trapped in a French farce, and while the ingredients are there, it doesn’t truly get to farce levels. Servants with secrets, aristocrats with secrets, all tangled together over Big Misunderstandings that would be resolved by people actually talking. Yet some of the characters would rather walk out without a word into the snow than talk.

I see from other reviews this is loosely based on Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale, but I’m not very familiar with the source. Perhaps some of the issues I have with the plot points are better explained if you already know about the source.

I really enjoyed Greene’s previous work, and will look forward to more, but this one just didn’t quite stick the landing for me.

ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

4.5 stars

I loved this m/m second chance historical romance so much I had to reread it less than two months after reading it the first time!

The story revolves around two past lovers whose story ended abruptly sixteen years earlier with a bad case of outing, forcing Richard to exile. While Richard has kept an epistolary relationship with his cousin Beth throughout the years, the only thing connecting him to England, it only takes one letter and a few words from Sherborne to have him run back, despite believing him to be the person who ruined him.

From the start I was hooked on the writing style and how intensely character and relationship-driven this story is. I don't believe in second chance romance in most cases, certainly not in real life and rarely in fiction, but here it was precisely that contrast between past and present that made the romance so good. I also don't often talk about sex scenes in my reviews, but here I think especially in those scenes it was beautiful to see how both characters had matured, that what worked for them in the past didn't necessarily work for them now, and seeing them find new ground for a relationship that they maybe hadn't been emotionally ready for in the past. I thought that was a really good exploration of how maybe one person isn't right for you in that moment, but they can be right for you at a different point of your life, especially when you're queer and you have to factor that into the equation.

The snowed-in trope makes this a perfect Christmas read if you don't mind romances that are a little bit more on the angsty side, and there's also plenty of fluff to make up for it. I personally could have done without the added plot with the actors, it just felt a little forced just to make it more Christmas-y and to have an excuse to cite Shakespeare, which I never really care about whenever I see it in books. But I still went and reread it because the relationship and its development was just too good, so I can only recommend this wholeheartedly!

I really struggled with the bear, and I’m still thinking about it lol

I think this story desperately needs an epilogue or a sequel. Desperately. It needs a bit more solid of an HEA.

Is it truly a historical romance if it doesn't have YEARNING? This is the perfect second chance romance for everyone who sees "enemies to lovers" and goes: "Why not enemies AND lovers?" I was absolutely living for the angst, and I loved the writing style, which is flowery while still being very readable.

Sixteen years ago, Richard Ashbrook’s life was ruined by his lover, Sherborne Clarke. In a fit of jealousy, Sherborne wrote a letter that exposed their relationship and, when it was published, Richard was forced into exile. He still manages his estate remotely, but he cannot show his face back in England and now lives in Sicily. Richard cannot forgive Sherborne, but he also knows that the connection between them can never fully be broken. A part of Richard will always be bound to Sherborne, whether he likes it or not. So when Richard receives a message from Sherborne about a “matter of life or death,” he travels back to Sherborne’s remote estate to help.

Sherborne was born into poverty, but somehow destiny smiled upon him and he found a benefactor who believed in his poetry and helped him get the education he needed to become a part of society. But Sherborne has always been a bit wild, a bit provocative, and fits in mostly by being entertaining. Just as Richard feels tied to Sherborne, Sherborne feels the bond in return. He has spent the last 16 years feeling like part of his life is missing, and so that is why he allowed Richard to believe it was Sherborne’s life on the line so he would come in person. In reality, Sherborne found an infant abandoned on his doorstep and he wants Richard to take the child to an orphanage his cousin, Beth, runs in London.

Richard is furious when he learns the truth about Sherborne’s message. Furious at Sherborne, and furious at himself for once again being pulled into Sherborne’s orbit. He is determined to leave for London as soon as he can, but the harsh weather makes traveling impossible. One extra day leads to another, as it seems despite Richard’s best efforts, the world is conspiring to keep him from leaving. And while the men have been at odds for years, the connection between them has never dwindled. The more time they spend together, the more impossible it is for Richard and Sherborne to ignore the need to be with one another. But Sherborne is hiding a secret, one that may both condemn him and redeem him in Richard’s eyes. Even as the men are finding themselves once again dreaming of a life together, their past may too easily tear it all apart.

A Winter’s Earl is an intense enemies-to-lovers story with a Shakespearean twist. So before I go too far, let me note that I had no idea this was loosely based on A Winter’s Tale, nor was I familiar at all with the play. So I came into this one totally cold from that sense and the story still worked fine for me. Having read a little about the play after the fact, I do see where there are some similar elements, so I assume readers who are familiar with that story would get a bit more out of this one, but I don’t think you will miss it if not. Sherborne is a poet, and the bard comes up quite a bit throughout the story, including the men quoting poetry to each other in a lead up to a sexy night together.

While this may be based on the play, the real focus of this story for me is the enemies-to-lovers element, as it is so strong and almost heartbreaking. We learn that Richard and Sherborne were lovers as young men in school and there was almost a brutal intensity to their relationship. The men had such a compulsion for one another, and when things went bad and Sherborne penned his letter exposing their relationship, everything just exploded. But despite Richard’s hatred for Sherborne, despite how the life he had been born to live was wrenched away, Richard can’t stop feeling connected to the man. Greene does such a wonderful job here really showing that bond, that intense need these men have for one another, so that even as they are separated by years and miles, I could believe they can’t stop thinking about each other. As the story continues, the men slowly begin to find their way back to each other, first through physical desire, and then through emotional connection. And by the time the book ends, it is clear that they have each found that happiness together they have long been missing.

The conflict here is based on Sherborne’s exposing Richard’s interest in men to the world, but we learn that there is more to this story than Richard knows. As readers we find out the truth of what happened pretty early on, and most of the plot relies on the fact that Sherborne doesn’t reveal it to Richard. So this is definitely a story that relies on lack of communication, and at times I found it frustrating to see so much riding on the failure to clear up a misunderstanding. Especially as there are a few times where Sherborne is about to speak up and something happens to prevent it. But I will say that I think Greene does a nice job making it clear why Sherborne chooses to keep the secret. It is very much in keeping with his character, as well as his feelings about both himself and Richard that he chooses not to reveal the full story. I also think the author nicely conveys the fact that as much as these men were drawn to one another in the past, that relationship was all fire with so little else. We see them frequently note the differences in their current relationship in the way they behave and relate to one another. It was clear to me that they needed this time to really grow so that they could build a healthy, strong relationship that could last rather than burn out.

The relationship is very much the focus of the story and there is not much else happening plot-wise. But we do get some other side elements going on, some that work better than others. Richard’s cousin, Beth, shows up, apparently (and coincidentally) nearby when she learns he is visiting Sherborne, then she too gets snowed in. There is also the bit about the baby, as well as the question of who left her on Sherborne’s doorstep (which I’ll admit, I figured out almost right away). And then we get a whole troop of actors who appear, complete with animals and a chained bear and yes, get snowbound too. On one hand, a story of this length needed more going on than just watching these men fall back together and finally have a much needed conversation. But at times this sort of felt like a lot thrown into a pot and stirred around without a lot of focus, particularly the troop of actors. I am not sure they added anything to the story at all other than an excuse to have them put on a Shakespearean play. Maybe had I read the original play, these various side elements would have felt more grounded, but as it was, some of it felt distracting, or at least needed more development.

Overall, however, I really enjoyed this story. I think where Greene is most successful is really showcasing this intense relationship between Sherborne and Richard. I could really feel the pull between them and I enjoyed seeing the way their dynamic grew into something much more real now, sixteen years later. If you enjoy enemies to lovers, and particularly if you are a fan of A Winter’s Tale or Shakespeare’s plays, I think this one is worth the read.

A lovely second chance romance at Christmas time among colorful characters and a stunning backdrop of a snow covered English countryside.

I went into this book for the second chance romance and the romance being between two men during the regency era. I got the romance part of the story but it was a almost difficult slow burn to read. Don't get me wrong, I love a slow burn romance but there was time for Richard and Sherborne to hash out what happened over a decade ago and they danced around it time and time again.

Once we did get some talking and contact between the men, they punch you hard with emotions and that was what I was waiting for. To feel all of the hurt, passion, lust and love these two have for one another.

The mystery of the infant was a twist I didn't see coming and the extra house guests got a bit tedious after the last ones showed up. I honestly just wanted more of Sherborne and Richard together but I am greedy with my romantic leads.

At the end of it, this was a good book and has me intrigues by the authors earlier works that I will be checking out.

At the end of it, this was a good book and has me intrigues by the authors earlier works that I will be checking out.

A mysterious letter claiming a “life and death” scenario brings Richard Ashbrook back to English soil after being exiled for for the past 10 years. This letter also happens to be written by the architect of his exile, the infamous poet and his former lover, Sherborne Clarke.

Upon arrival at Sherborne’s estate, he finds that the life in question is not his, but a newborn babe that had been left at his doorstep. Ashbrook is now tasked though the help of his cousin who facilitates a foundling home, to bring the babe to London.

This task is easier said than done the everything from the weather, to unexpected guests and misbehaving servants all get in the way of Ashbrook leaving the estate with the baby and his heart in tact!

This story was an extreme slow burn that had the chemistry between Ashbrook and Sherborne sizzling throughout. These two two had an obvious pull between them, but equal push as well due to their unsavoury shared past. I fund that the beginning dragged on and the book did not hit its stride until the 75% mark. I interest in these two characters and my desire for them to find an accord spurred me on to completion.

Overall, I was pleased with the ending, but I am left questioning if the story was too slow for my liking or if Annabelle Greene’s writing style is just not for my tastes.

A Winter’s Earl by Annabelle Greene was released November 9th, 2021.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from Harlequin, Carina Press through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

#AWintersEarl #AnnabelleGreene #NetGalley #pinkcowlandreads