Print Length: 321 pages
Publisher: Harriet Caves (November 23, 2022)
From Goodreads.com: Lady Ellen is a Diamond of the first water, sister to the Duke of Grant and she must always follow a strict list of dos and don'ts. But most important of all, she is fed up with her suffocating life.
As her brother pushes all her suitors away, Ellen ends up being the laughingstock of the Ton. Until she stumbles upon the rakish Earl of Ridlington and he has the gall to ensure that he fulfills the very first item on her list: Never kiss a rake.
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My Rating: 1 star out of 5
This was the book that just didn't end. And sadly, even with that, I felt like there was no real depth to anything that was going on, nor was there any realism for the time.
To begin with, Gerard and Ellen are constantly doing things that would absolutely not be allowed without absolutely ruining her reputation. One thing that comes immediately to mind is when they wandered around London unchaperoned at night (including going into a pub for a drink). The author claims that the "cover of night" kept them safe and that people were free to be themselves after dark, which may be true, but it was also forbidden during that time period. They would have been spotted, recognized, and forced to marry. There is no other way around it. Also, in my opinion, even though Ellen's friend Marjorie was considering her "radical" for her thinking that men and women should be equal, she too knew how society worked. I found it unbelievable that she would just allow Gerard and Ellen to go off on their own, considering she had been the one with Ellen up until that point.
I will say I enjoyed Andrew and Marjorie's banter a lot. Still, there was nothing to indicate the extent of their relationship, so while I enjoyed the twist involving them, I didn't find that to be particularly believable either.
And while I enjoyed Gerard's Grandmother, The Dowager Countess of Bath, I couldn't stand Andrew and Ellen's mother, The Duchess of Grant. If anyone ever was a candidate for Bedlam, it would be that woman. I get it, she was supposed to be the villain and the impediment to the happiness of the main characters, but this woman was just too much. Nothing her children did was ever good enough for her; in fact, when Ellen finally started standing up for herself, she was not only scolded for having thoughts of her own but she was also belittled. And for reasons that were never made clear (other than her "radical thinking"), she also hated Marjorie. This woman was so bitter and stuck in her hatred that she died without making amends to her children or accepting their marriages (even though with Ellen especially, she pushed for marriage until Ellen told her who she was marrying).
It was at this point that I thought that I was done, but no, there was still apparently chapters of diagloug, and other bullshit to be read. But a this point I had checked out. Our main characters were together and I didn't need to know anything other than that.
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An Earl to Save the Diamond is available on Amazon.com
(for free if you subscribe to Kindle Unlimited)
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