This was an enjoyable historical romance novel that is filled with intriguing characters and a captivating plot. It was a great escape read.
Many thanks to SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca and to NetGalley for providing me with a galley in exchange for my honest opinion.

A great addition to this series. An endearing romance with a mystery side plot that kept me glued to the pages.

I didn’t love this as much as book 1, but this was overall a really solid low angst romance with a bit of mystery/suspense thrown in. I appreciated that the hidden identity plot didn’t last too long and was resolved quickly (yay clear communication!). This also had the perfect amount of steam. Looking forward to the next book in this series!

**thank you NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc in exchange for an honest review**

This is the second installment of The Byronic Book Club series. Lucy first appeared in book 1, and I was excited to read her story when this came out. She's a botanist and helps her father write his papers, but is sadly not recognized for her work. She is shy around most people with the exception of her family and friends and is perfectly happy keeping to herself and helping her father. But the family finances are suffering and her father encourages her to marry to help out. Lucy's father is an expert in poisonous plants, William is an undercover agent sent to Lucy's home as a groom to investigate her father who is suspected to be involved in murders and threats of men from the Linnean Society. Lucy and William are instantly attracted to one another, and he feels so strongly for her, he confesses to his true identity. Danger, intrigue and suspense kept me engaged and turning the pages to find out what happens next. I enjoyed the story and look forward to reading the next installment.
I received a complimentary copy from Netgalley and am voluntarily leaving my review.

Bennett writes such sweet heroes! Big cinnamon rolls, honorable, bold, smart, supportive of their women and so very hot! And Will is one of the best! I really loved this book with a bluestocking heroine who’s shy, but not afraid to speak up for herself, to pull her nose out of her books to live her life as she sees fit. I liked the mystery plot as well and I loved the steamy scenes between the main characters. A very enjoyable book!
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This romance is told in third person and follows both Lucy and Will as she looks for ways to reject a wealthy suitor while studying botany and he looks for a murderer. I enjoyed the historical setting and both main characters though I found their internal monologues to be tedious and the narrative was often repetitious. While I found Lucy’s version of cursing to be cute in the beginning, it became quickly annoying. I did find the mystery aspects of the story to be enjoyable.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for a copy provided for an honest review.

Regency Romance which has mystery and romance. Lucy Bertram, unrecognized botanist scientist due to her gender. Enter William Lockhart – undercover spy and Earl of Kyle looking for a poisoner who murdered a peer member. Suspects include Lucy’s dad and possibly Lucy herself. Many themes touched upon in this story – gender, working class vs society, men vs women, family expectations, relationships, and responsibility. I like Lucy independent nature and Will’s willingness not to make snap judgements. This book started off exciting and kept it going thru out the whole story. As you read this book, time flies. I did like the interaction between Will and Lucy. It was a good HEA. While it tied up loose ends, I felt it needed a little more. It is 2nd book in the series of The Byronic Book Club. I have not read the 1st in the series but this book can be read as a standalone. I will look forward to reading next in series as I go back and read the 1st in this series.

**I received this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

I was introduced to this author with book 1 of this series. I greatly enjoyed it, and book 2 did not disappoint. Although not historically accurate, I love how powerful, independent, and smart her heroines are. Miss Lucy Bertram weighed her options and made decisions with her mind as well as her heart. She was truly an expert in her field too. William Lockhart, the Earl of Kyle, was her perfect match. He was impressed and proud of her mind. There was some adventure and mystery and a lot of steamy chemistry. This is not a clean read. I enjoyed the premise and the execution. I recommend unless the lack of historical accuracy will bother you. Looking forward to the next book in the series!

I really adore this author and her wonderful historical romances! This is the second in the series but can be read as a stand alone. Lucy is our heroine. She’s not titled, likes poisonous plants, and is a spinster. Lucy helps her father with is work. They don’t have much money. William, Early or Kyle, is an agent who works undercover. He’s trying to find their person who murdered someone and is sending threat notes to Darwin. Will goes to work at Lucy’s house to see if her father is involved with these notes and threats. When Lucy meets Will, she has instant chemistry. These two have a good build up before they can’t seem to fight it anymore…..and Will must decided to share his truth with Lucy in hope to find the person who sent poison to Darwin before it’s too late! I really enjoyed this book! The mystery, adventure, and steaminess! I think Lucy and Will are well matched too! I can’t wait for Jane’s book next!

Curled Up with an Earl is a great book to curl up with when wanting just the right mix of romance, spice, intrigue and mystery.

Interesting characters and a plot that was well paced. I was entertained cover to cover. This book balanced the romance and character building well with the murder mystery plot, while touching on hardships of some marginalized people of the time period (people still fighting for rights today).

For all the deeper plot points, there was still a lightness to the story and to the characters. I really loved Lucy, the spinster botanist, and Will, the groom who's really an agent/spy for the Crown. I'd love a side story on brother Monty and his happily ever after!

Trope: spinster, bluestocking, spy, character in disguise

Content Warnings: murders, religious zealots, hate crimes

Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. Thoughts and opinions are my own and freely given.

I loved the previous book in this series and was eager to get back into it.

I really liked Lucy and Will. They're both good, smart, and loyal people with an instant intrigue and chemistry. I did enjoy reading them move around each other while learning who they were. There were loads of honest conversations and sweet moments and I'm definitely here for both of those.

Plot wise, there were a lot of moving pieces and yet it felt like nothing was happening at the same time. The poison aspect was interesting (but not captivating) and I found myself skimming some of the longer passages of inner monologues. However, the last couple of chapters were fantastic and made up for a lot of the meh-ness I was feeling.

Overall, these characters are what kept me reading. Yes, I did like it, but something kept me from loving it and I don't think this will be a story that sticks with me.

**Huge thanks to the publisher for providing the digital arc free of charge**

2 out of 5 stars. The writing in this book, similarly to book one in the series, was too much of telling and not enough of showing. It just felt a bit bland, in my opinion. Also: this is just a very personal judgment but... if someone in the novel is going to be Scottish, please don't write every word as the accent sounds aloud. It makes the accent seem choppy which is the opposite intention, but that's usually what ends up happening.

The second book in the Byronic Book Club series. Miss Lucy Bertram and covert agent for the Crown, William Lockhart, the Earl of Kyle's story. There is suspense, murder, intrigue, villains, twists, turns and romance. I found the story to be well written with a very good storyline that captured my interest until the end. I received a copy of this book from NetGalley and am voluntarily leaving a review.

After reading the excerpt for this novel at the end of the first one, I was really excited to read it. The first half was truly great, but the second half was a little lacking cohesion and direction, and the storyline with the father was disappointing; there’s no way he was putting his daughter in that much risk, so cruelly, but all along he was ok with Monty and didn’t want her to marry Thorne? And he thanked her for all of her work on his papers and that’s supposed to suffice? It would have been much more effective for him to not be a good man in bad circumstances, but a careless man in bad circumstances . That really took the tension out of the novel for me. I wish Lucy was more into solving the mystery as well. I’m still interested in Jane’s story.

I really enjoyed Lucy and William's story! It was fun watching these two find their way to one another!!

While reading this one all I could think of was this dark chocolate bar with hot pepper that I adore. This was a sweet romance with just the right amount of spice. The sweet definitely outweighed the spice, the writing was good enough that I would read this author again, may give the first book in the series a try. Tropes in the story: secret identity/spy, murder/blackmail

This is the second book in the Byronic Bookclub series and it was a wonderful addition. I really enjoyed this one.
Lucy is smart and resourceful.
Will is a perfect gentleman.
She is trying to avoid marrying the man her father is pushing her toward.
He is working undercover trying to catch a murderer. All while falling for each other.
Curled Up with an Earl is a beautiful and compelling story from beginning to end. I can't wait for the next book in the series.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are my own.

"Ever since we first met, I've imagined what it would be like to be in your arms, to feel your lips upon mine. I'm twenty-eight years old. A shy and oft-times awkward spinster with singular scientific interests, and I've...I've never been kissed. Not once. In fact, I never thought I would ever want to be kissed. But then I met you and...and I do want this. Very much."
Will and Lucy are meant to be together.
A spinster and a spy who is an Earl.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher and NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion of this book which I read and reviewed voluntarily.

The best thing about Amy Rose Bennett is her heroines! They are such strong and compelling characters that you can't help but fall in love with them! I am so happy I read this one! Can't wait for the next one in the series!

Lucy Bertram is a shy botanist who is attracted to Will, the new groom at her family’s estate (or is he…?). Will is actually an undercover agent for the crown investigating her father as a potential murder suspect.

We were off to a bit of a slow start to the beginning of the book, but once the story got going it had me hooked. The mystery plot line added intrigue and I was drawn into the story, wondering what has happened to Lucy’s brother Monty and who is poisoning prominent members of the Linnean Society.

This was such a fun and cozy read. Will and Lucy’s romance was sweet, low angst, but still very steamy. Will was a very swoony and sweet hero and gave us some excellent dirty talk. I loved the buildup of the relationship with Lucy, where they were both able to be their true selves with each other. I really liked that Will wanted Lucy as she is, without any need to change who she is as a person. And Lucy sees and accepts Will for who he truly is, through the masks of his undercover work.

Overall this was a really fun and steamy story that I would definitely recommend to other readers. I’ll be picking up more from Amy Rose Bennett in the future!

Read and reviewed this Advanced Reader Copy from NetGalley.