To Marry an Earl

By: Karen Thornell

Narrated by: Noah Wall

Katherine Cartwright knows through bitter experience that true love is fiction and trust should not be bestowed easily. Now, after two unsuccessful London Seasons, her atrocious father has decided to marry her off to the highest bidder to pay for his gambling debts, ridding himself of the daughter he never wanted. A profitable deal is struck, and Kate is packed off to the home of her betrothed, an earl she has never met. Or so she believes.

When James Fenwick, the new earl of Bowcott, learns that the girl he’s loved since childhood is being sold off like chattel, he’s determined to step in and save her. He makes an offer her father cannot refuse and insists on a proper engagement. But when Kate meets James again, her old friend cannot bring himself to admit it is him whom she is to marry. Soon, an intricate charade and a past that cannot be escaped jeopardize James’ chance at rekindling their friendship, to say nothing of winning Kate’s heart. Can love truly conquer all, or was this a match doomed from the start?

©2021 Karen Thornell (P)2021 Shadow Mountain

Love love LOVE

I don’t know how anyone could not be thrilled with this book. The character, tho many, were well thought out and the suspense was riveting. I can’t say more than this will be a re-read for sure!

A HEARTFELT ROMANCE

Ms Thornell's exceptional writing and Ms Wall's skilled narrations. A heartfelt romance years in the making surrounded by greed and desperation. Well performed leaving us wanting more.

Excellent story line

Clean romance. Perfect amount of mystery and drama. I loved the story line. Definitely recommend.

Kate's forgiveness even though he with held information from her

I love the mistory it held, and to find out that it was George's mother made it more interesting, I really liked how George himself was not bitter. it was well written.

Weak plot and weak characters

This book was competently written and narrated, but that’s where the praise ends.
The plot was meandering. It would pick up one forced conflict and drop another. The characters were so weak, ironic, considering the heroine spent the whole time talking about how weak her mother was. I could not believe how often the “misunderstanding trope” was used, where the problem could so easily be resolved if they just talked to each other like normal people. Instead it was, “Oh, then he must not want to be married to me,” or “Oh, then she must not want to be married to me.” There was so much lying and secret keeping for no reason whatsoever.
The villain was ridiculous. Their motives changed constantly. Their plan at the climax was so stupid, and yet, the weak characters actually let it happen when there were so many reasonable alternatives.
I wouldn’t waste a credit on this book.

Don’t waste a credit

I had to skip chapters and couldn’t stand either character. They were so weak with too much internal dialogue. He should have been more direct. She should have more of a backbone and refuse the arrangement at the outset. It was ludicrous! Why would she be concerned about her reputation and propriety for a man she hadn’t met yet- her intended? She should of run off and become a governess or at least make an attempt to get out of the situation. They were both kind but not too bright and the long circuitous conversations were silly. I wanted to scream “Get to the point!”. Their conversations in the beginning were not normal and the “pick one truth or secret” was ridiculous. The story could be cute if major revisions were done with more concise and directed dialogue. A big disappointment.

Interesting Premise, but not enough plot/drama

This book was sweet, but didn't have enough plot or snappy dialogue to carry it.

The actual situation everyone was in, what with threatening notes, second-chance romance, and people lying about their identities, was potentially enough to make a book, but it just never felt like anyone was at risk at all, either in their feelings or in terms of their safety. It felt like they were talking about deeper feelings of fear/affection/etc. but it never felt to me, as a listener, like anything was at risk, so something wasn't quite working with the communication of the angstier feelings.

Also, all the villains were off camera for almost the whole book, so we just had to trust the characters that they really were so bad.

There were some side characters who could have been really interesting m, but I feel like they didn't get enough dialogue to really develop them into memorable individuals. I liked them at their introduction, but they ended up fading out of my memory pretty quickly. I think sometimes books without a lot of plot can be really carried by good dialogue, but most of the dialogue in this book felt like it was moving plot forward, not like it was the point of the entertainment by itself.

One final thing. I was bothered by all the characters referring to something that happened 3 years ago as "so many years ago" and "all those years ago." I could by them using the phrase "back then" or something like that, but it really wasn't that long ago. That really took me out of the story.

If you like slower-paced, low angst, clean, cozy, and predictable you might like this book more than I did, but it just wasn't quite my cup of tea.