Earl of Hearts - Meara Platt

Earl of Hearts by Meara Platt
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I do really like Meara Platt's books. I'm particularly a fan of her Dark Garden series, although I do enjoy the Farthingale books too. I want to just mention this and the fact that I usually give her books (and have given this one) quite a high star review. There is something I need to mention though. If you read Regency novels for historical accuracy, then I would suggest that you give this one a wide berth. In all honesty, it's usually something that's key for me, but I enjoy these stories so much that I let most of it slide. They aren't really Regencies. Perhaps fantasy Regency or Western's that claim to be set in England? I'm not sure. I do know that there's lots of modern language, the Lords and Ladies in this book carry on as though they are not Lord's and Ladies (too many Earls, Dukes and the like with 'jobs' or working as spies). Then there are things like hickory smoke being mentioned when the book is set in the UK and the depiction of Scotland in this story was straight out of Disney. I feel a bit harsh saying this and I hope that it's not seen that way. I just think that it might be worth giving a fair warning so you know what to expect.
The romance in this book and the characters themselves are lovely. That, along with the writing style is what does it for me. Having heard all of the daughter's in the Farthingale family's stories, we are now onto people connected to them. I have to admit that I was a bit confused as to where this one fits in, in the timeline. Although, as the main series was written in reverse order, that's hardly surprising. I think that this may come between Lily and Dilly's stories. Lily is mentioned as living with her husband and Dilly's husband-to-be pops up but doesn't seem to be married. I'm not totally sure though.
There's plenty of action in this book, with Nicola and John on the run from her intended after he shows his true colours. Of course, Nicola has always been in love with her older brother's best friend John and he has been in love with her for as long as she's been a woman, rather than the annoying child he knew before. I always enjoy that kind of romantic connection and it worked well here.
There was one little thing that I wasn't keen on. He kept calling her 'Brat' as a pet name. Apart from the fact that I think it's a pretty horrible pet name (far too derogatory for lovers surely?) I do feel a little uncomfortable when a man refers to his lover as a child or childlike, especially when he knew her when she was a child, it's borderline creepy.
I think that I've perhaps been a little harsh here. Please don't let it put you off too much, I did really enjoy the book. I think that there may be a few more to come, perhaps Nicola's other siblings might get there turn as I'm sure it mentioned that there are quite a few of them! I'm looking forward to reading more and finding out who finds love next.

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