The Reclusive Earl

There were some inklings of a nice story. But the execution was terrible and made it tough to want to continue. The main characters’ personalities were extreme—Opal in her kindness and acceptance, Landon in his shyness, Warren in his desire for moral rightness. I mean, Landon hiding under his bed with his face hidden in his hands on their wedding night? There were errors and inconsistencies. At times the text showed Landon’s lisp and when he chose his words carefully. Then there were instances where he said words containing an “s” sound, but he didn’t lisp. I also found it strange that the author brought up so many times that Opal had a hard life before moving to London, but they barely mentioned any details about it.

I was pleasantly surprised after thinking that this book was going to be somewhat typical. Enjoyed the built up of the mystery, and that Landon’s confidence got better. Minor errors included, but still worth the read.

A grate book !!!!!!

Really unusual, for the genre. Surprising, in a very good way.

First off, the entire premise of the book is unique and I commend the author for originality. This is the first book I’ve read where one of the main characters has a speech impediment—especially the male character. It was touching to see the couple’s acceptance of one another turn into such a sweet and devoted love. However...my issue is with how the impediment was displayed. First off, Landon has trouble pronouncing words with the “S” sound in them—yet throughout the book it seems he only has an issue with words *spelled* with the letter “S” while other words that have an “S” sound in them aren’t an issue? Also, his resulting shyness from his impediment goes a little too far into pathetic for me. I think there is a way that it could have been written that would have maintained some of his dignity as an adult male, but instead he resorted to extremely childish behaviors like hiding under beds (???) and running out of rooms. Then to make matters worse, the first bedroom scene was extremely cringe-worthy as, again, his shyness was overplayed into near ineptness. I like how his confidence grew as the story progressed, but surely he could have started out a little less pathetic in certain aspects. As for Opal, she was written with a tragic backstory that was vaguely mentioned, but otherwise was annoyingly perfect. Every “fault” she struggled with was the result of how others treated her and not anything to do with herself on a personal level. She was essentially Landon’s “savior” and although he did rise to her aid by the end of the book, too much time was spent making him look pathetic and her look perfect. More balance would have been more believable. Then the bedroom scenes...I will admit that I usually read “clean” romances or skip the sex scenes, but I did read through some of their first encounter and wow it was cringe-worthy. I completely understand having an awkward first experience, and I get the intention of demonstrating that they are both virgins with no experience, but Opal did even know what a penis was?! That was too much for me—it took away any believability. The intriguing premise of the book was enough to make me finish reading it and I think there’s a really exceptional story idea buried in the overly simplistic writing style and unfortunate bedroom blunders. Overall, the characters share such a genuinely endearing love for one another and it’s nice to have most of the trouble come from outside the relationship instead of trauma and turmoil from within, like so often portrayed. I want to give this 4+ stars but I can’t bring myself to do it. With some re-writing this could be a genius book!

Seen reviews saying it was boring. I find most historic English romances boring. Surprisingly I thought this one wasn’t. The characters were sweet with a lot dialogue. I found it interesting and enjoyable.

This was a really good book, it’s very wholesome and sweet. I didn’t think it was too slow, when you skip pages you miss parts of the story line that are important. I feel like all of the characters felt real, as in they all had important flaws, his lisp, her past, etc. I didn’t really get the whole Warren and Iris money thing, straight over my head, but it seems like they have their own book, that I might have to read. The only ones who are kind of shallow are Guy and Warren. Warren only seemed to care that his sister was being treated well, (which is a legitimate concern) and Guy just felt like he was there for moral support. Otherwise I felt it was well written.

I am really not into this novelist, i read some of her books it’s almost the same talking about virgin boys. I want more from what i’m reading. Sorry to say, but My image of Landon in my mind’s eye is like the inexperienced 16 year old boy.. poor thing☹️

This is a very entertaining book. Ms. Nordin never fails to please.

I can’t even begin to describe how much I liked the two protagonists and their relationship. I was actually disappointed when the plot started taking attention away from them. I could have spent the whole book just reading about the two of them just being in love. The plot was also enjoyable, thoroughly wrapped up at the end, and interesting but pales in comparison to the romance, it just does. The characters are almost too lovable. To anyone who gets secondhand embarrassment badly, don’t worry, this book is so endearing and the characters are so lovable that I didn’t experience any cringe/secondhand embarrassment.