Cover Image: Curled Up With an Earl

Curled Up With an Earl

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Member Reviews

This is a tough one for me to rate. On the one hand, I enjoyed myself reading it, but on the other, I don't think this had much overall impact on me.

There were aspects that I really enjoyed. I liked the secret identity aspect which is a trope that I love. I liked that the hero was capable of passably being a footman and a stable worker, but also a nobleman. The hero was great and I loved their relationship development that we got, despite it being very slow and without much burn.

I think I just wanted more of something. Maybe more exciting plot or more passion? Everything just felt like it was paced to where I didn't feel much excitement. The murder mystery had almost no legs under it because we knew the murderer so early on. And the big bad villain had no mystery about him, he was exactly what we saw. The romance similarly felt slow paced and kind of trodding. I would have liked more conflict at any given point. Something to make it more interesting or high stakes.

Overall, I enjoyed the whole reading experience, but I don't think this will be memorable for me. I can pretty confidently say that too because I enjoyed the first book in this series a lot, I think more so during the reading experience, but now I can't remember anything specific at all or even tell you the plot.

After I got used to the narrator's voice, I really enjoyed it. I think the Scottish brogue was great, but the heroine's voice was a bit annoying.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

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While listening to this, my phone stopped working. Once I received my new phone and downloaded the Netgalley app I lost all my downloaded audiobooks. I was unable to finish.

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I liked this audiobook very much. I love the science presence in this story. I just didn't understand fully why William would risk his life to be a spy when he was part of the ton. I thought Lucy was a match for William. I loved how she stood up for the things she wanted and didn't settle

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Will and Lucy have met before at a ball but now Will is at her home as a spy to help uncover a murder within the ranks of the science society. Lucy is an excellent botanist and does so much to help her father, a famous one- including taking care of their garden full of poisonous plants. We have chemistry with these two as they have to figure out a couple mysteries - threats- a horrible man with his eye on Lucy- plants- and good old London society.
I loved this one so much! Lucy is a lady after my heart with her nerdy plant loving self! Love this series so much

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I listened to this novel via audiobook and I was kicking my feet the whole time. I don't usually gravitate toward historical romance books, but this book has changed my ways. I found myself enjoying this story so much. It is so much more than a love story. There is mystery, death, poisoning, lying, and plenty of steam. The tropes are secret rich guy, religious trauma, LGBTQ inclusion, fake dating, and secret rendezvous.
The ending had me on the edge of my seat! I loved this book and I think if you don't read historical romance often or at all, this is a perfect book to read.

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While I love historical romance, I find with audiobooks narration can really make it or break it for me. Ultimately, this book wasn’t a match for me.

Thank you to NetGalley and to the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review.

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Sasha Higgins narrates Amy Rose Bennett’s Curled Up With an Earl, The Byronic Book Club #2 in dual POV. Attending balls doesn’t interest Miss Lucy Bertram in the slightest. Instead, she’s happiest reading Gothic romance novels and writing scientific articles. However, Lucy must take drastic action when her father, Sir Oswald, an eccentric botanist, tries to force her to marry a boring, controlling industrialist to save the family from poverty. She plans to search for her disowned brother, Monty, in St. Giles’s cutthroat rookeries, trusting he will support her rejection of her father’s plans.

A covert agent for the Crown on the hunt for a ruthless killer attempting to destroy the Linnean Society, William Lockhart, the Earl of Kyle, poses as a groom in Sir Oswald’s home to discover the evidence Scotland Yard needs. Because Sir Oswald’s a botanical poisons expert, he’s their prime suspect. Will doesn’t plan to be undercover for long, but he’s unprepared for how distracting he finds Lucy. Lucy and Will find themselves drawn to each other. As they give in to the temptation to spend more time together, an unexpected, intense passion awakens between them that neither can—nor wants to—deny or resist. Growing closer, they share confidences, and dark secrets are uncovered. Will a murderer who wants to conceal his identity ruin Lucy and Will’s happy-ever-after?

Higgins’ vibrant and dynamic voice and narration perfectly fit Lucy, Will, and the secondary characters. She creates distinct voices for the characters with accents appropriate to them and London in the mid-1800s, using tone, pacing, dialects, emotion, language, and intonation that differentiates the characters and reveals their personalities, feelings, quirks, and states of mind. Her British accent and voice are just right for Lucy and suit her personality and eccentricities, especially her language usage. Further, Higgins’ Scottish accents are well done, and she deftly and seamlessly shifts between British and Scottish accents for Will. Her narration for Will, and the other male characters, is so excellent that it sounds like there could also be a male narrator. She wonderfully expresses Lucy and Will’s longing, desire, and passion for each other. Higgins uses her full vocal range to express/portray their intimacy, chemistry, moods, and sensations experienced during the novel’s intimate scenes. Higgins’ narration wonderfully balances the novel’s varied tones—humorous, intimate, intensely emotional, suspenseful, sizzling hot, lighthearted, suspenseful, and gothic—while keeping the story progressing steadily.

Excellently complimenting Bennett’s lighthearted, suspenseful, gothic, introspective, and lively narrative style and use of language, Higgins brilliantly brings Bennett’s delightful novel and fascinating characters to life, particularly her heroine and hero. Bennett’s charming story, deft worldbuilding, and complex, relatable, and fallible characters sucked me into the story. Her colorful description makes her characters and story come alive in your mind. I love Bennet’s development and evolution of Will and Lucy’s connection relationship through chemistry-filled, sweet, sexy, steamy, humorous, colorful, and intensely emotional interactions and love scenes. I love how deeply drawn to each other Lucy and Will are from their initial encounters and how they become friends with an intense attraction that sneaks up on them. Their love scenes are emotional, intimate, sexy, and steamy and contribute to developing their connection and evolving their characters and Bennett’s multilayered story.

Bennett develops her characters through witty, snarky, humorous banter and interactions. Of course, Will and Lucy’s interactions include sweet, sexy, and flirtatious banter. A scientist, Lucy is an eccentric, scholarly, romantic, practical, and analytical heroine who yearns for independence and to travel and follow her dreams. She believes she must remain unmarried to achieve her goals and is perfectly happy about it. A Scotland Yard detective in the Queen’s Army, Will is a spy, an Earl, and a clansman estranged from his uncle. As things intensify with the search for the murderer, Lucy and Will enter a courtship of convenience to keep her safe. Lucy offers him belonging, accepting him for who he is, while he helps her to start thinking about the possibility of a life where she can have love and independence and pursue her dreams.

The book has a bit of a gothic romance feel, which is a nice touch since Lucy loves Gothic romances. Bennett’s historical romance is a fast-paced, quick captivating read with fine pacing. She nicely balances the novel’s romance and angst with the suspense and mystery elements. Curled Up With an Earl is a humorous, sexy, steamy, sweet, romantic, and suspenseful audio listen recommended for fans of historical romance, heroes who fall fast and hard for the heroine, and intelligent and quirky heroines.

Advanced listening copy provided by Dreamscape Audio via Netgalley for review.

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Yikes, the audio narrator again I could not stand. It really made me dislike the books and I was just annoyed the whole time. She sounds like a high pitch grandma and I cannot envision my heroines like that.

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Really enjoyed this cute, kind of cozy romance. I enjoyed the characters and the writing of the time period quite a bit!

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This is the second book in The Byronic Book Club series, a Regency Romance. I love this series! Lucy and William are both interesting characters. The storyline is sweet, and entertaining, filled with mystery, action, and drama. I liked the slow burn romance, the flirt, the little suspense, and the beautiful romance. Sasha Higgins did an excellent job bringing this story to life. I enjoyed it. I highly recommend this series. I received a copy of this book through NetGalley, a Dreamscape Media Audio production, for an honest review.

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This one was fun! We have Lucy who is trying to stay afloat in the circumstances her father has put her in. Her brother is also missing after a fight with their father and she is on the hunt to find him, as her father has made a business deal with a despicable man who believes anything that isn’t from the bible or follow the strict guidelines of society. And she believes her brother will help her fight a marriage match with him. as she is searching for him she runs into a man in the street and they have a funny encounter and much to Lucy demise he is a new groom at her household. And as she gets to know him she turns to him for his help to find her brother but will our groom is holding his own secret and he is not as he seems he is really an earl who is a spy for the government and looking into a murder and as the search goes on him and Lucy really help each other! I thought Lucy was so funny she had a way of swearing and it was so funny! Will was also Scottish and I loved the way the narrator did his Scottish accident I could of listen to him talk dirty to her in that accent for ever! Haha I thought this was super progressive for a historical romance too and moved a long fast! I enjoy this authors work and can’t wait to read more of it!

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This was a great follow up to the firset book and I really enjoyed it and the two lead characters. can't wait for the next one

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I love this Amy Rose Bennett series of literary-minded young ladies, all of whom are well aware they are enough as they are without a partner.

This historical romance starts with an earl posing as a stable boy to get access to a family he is investigating for criminal activities. Resident Lucy is determined to continue her science career and assisting in her father's research, rather than marry some unsupportive barbaric man. Espionage, mystery, romance, and revelations ensue. This was a quick fun read, and I look forward to more in this series.

I always enjoy Sasha Higgins narration!

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I love that this was a romance and a mystery all wrapped up in one. The romance was steamy and great. The mystery was intriguing and fun. I love that Will supports Lucy's career goals. Her dreams are as important as his dreams. I did not realize this was the second so I am running to grab the first one! Thank you to NetGalley and Dreamscape Media for the audio arc in exchange for my honest review.

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This was an enjoyable sequel in the Byronic Book Club series. Artemis Jones' friend Lucy Bertram is back in this installment. Lucy has never been amenable to marriage. She dreams of travelling to pursue her research and continuing to work in the scientific field, which she has done to this point at the side of her father. Suddenly, her father has an interest in marrying her off to Sir Oswald, a man she does not particularly like or suit with. Lucy decides to find out how she can prevent being married off to an odious man like that. In that she falls for the Earl of Kyle, who has been posing as a groom in her father's stables. Eventually the Earl reveals his identity and the uncover the mysteries they have been trying to decipher. Overall, its a lively book with a good amount of spice. The narrator does an excellent job.

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Curled Up With an Earl was a delight. Amy Rose Bennett is a new-to-me author that I'll be looking for in the future. There was enough humor in the story to keep the slower parts interesting, and enough heat to melt my ear buds. There was also plenty of action and mystery. I enjoyed listening to narrator Sasha Higgins. Her voice was perfect for the main female character, Lucy Bertram.

Lucy Bertram is the daughter of Sir Oswald, a baronet, whose interest in botany, and specifically poisonous botany, has taken him to distant lands in search of the most poisonous plants in existence. Unfortunately, her father's avocation doesn't pay their bills and their household is sliding into bankruptcy. Her father's solution is for Lucy to marry into wealth, but the man he pushes her to allow to court her is so awful, she can barely stand to be in the same room with him. Finding her brother seems her only hope, but she needs help to do that. Can their new groom protect her if she ventures into London's slums?

Will Armstrong is living a lie. He's an earl, next in line to a dukedom, and he has taken a position working in the stables of Sir Oswald. He's there as a spy to look for a murderer. A member of the peerage was murdered using an obscure poison that Sir Oswald is known to possess. Conducting his investigation is hampered, though, when Lucy keeps finding him as he searches the house. Their attraction to each other is nearly instant, but to Lucy, the difference in their stations seems to great. However, since she has no intention of ever marrying, she's willing to overlook his lowly status. Can they find the killer before he strikes a third time (especially when concentrating on each other is so much more fun?)

I liked the story, and the mystery. Readers of historical romance who like plenty of heat will enjoy this one.

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Will and Lucy were perfect for each other! Love the slow burn and sexy scenes!

Cue melting heart and swooning!

Such a cute story from a new to me author that I will be reading again soon!

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This is my first Amy Rose Bennett and I am an instant fan!

This was a fun, unique story with a swoony romance and it was a great time. I enjoyed the narrators performance of this one and it made for a wonderful reading experience.

I loved that Will was an undercover groom and when their feelings begin it seems impossible for them both. I also loved that the heroine didn't think she wanted to be married until she met the right man. Because that is a real struggle for us all.

I also think that the subterfuge didn't go on too long which made for low angst. The communication was wonderful and the spice was just the right amount.

I did find myself able to put it down and not overly needing to pick it back up immediately and that's the reason for my rating, but I had a great time over all and I would recommend it.

4 stars
2.5 on the spice scale

CW: religious zealot, homophobia

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Thank you Netgalley and Dreamscape Media for the advanced copy in exchange for a review!

This book was a solid 3.75⭐️. I’ll preface my review of Lucy’s story with the fact that I loved Artemis’s story.

Lucy felt very meek to me and I prefer strong female characters. I wish the MMC would’ve gotten Lucy involved in the plot of the story much quicker. It took about 50% for her to get involved with the investigation and while I understand why, I wasn’t enjoying the story until after she was involved.

Lucy is smart, but also not a very strong willed character. She relied on men to save her: her brother from a marriage she didn’t want, Will from that as well. But when she was involved in the investigation, she flourished.

I enjoyed Lucy and Will’s romance. But what kept me reading was to find out the results of the investigation on the murders and threats.

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Curled Up With an Earl
by Amy Rose Bennett
Narrated by Sasha Higgins

I received a digital copy of this audiobook from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the second book in Amy Rose Bennetts Byronic Book Club series. I would say you could read this as a stand alone. There’s no cliff hanger however I recommend starting at the beginning of the series. The first book really sets up the situations of the 3 friends and without knowing the back story of the first couple when they’re referenced in this book you may be slightly confused.

Once again we have the fantastic narrator Sasha Higgins. She’s really just perfect for this type of heroine - blue stocking, unassuming, genuine, a little awkward.

Our heroine was very relatable. She’s attempting to scrape along on a shoe string budget managing a household to the best of her ability, looking after her father who’s growing stranger with age and worrying about her absent brother. She never loses faith or love for her brother or father. Which is nice to see often in these plots a person will give up on a loved one and then have a tearful “I was so wrong” reunion when they find out the true story.

Loved our hero. First of all - smoke show large male. Competent, not afraid to get his hands dirty and able to see past the heroines awkwardness to all of her awesomeness and also appreciate the awkwardness. He is pretending to be far below his actual social standing which just makes their instant attraction and her appreciation for him all the more sweet.

Not only is this a romance but there is also mystery, intrigue and spying. This is an open door romance with an HEA. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next book. This one was enjoyable and not to be missed.
5/5

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