My Best Friend’s Earl (Bluestocking Booksellers, 2)
When a good friend begs for help to break off her engagement, bookseller Constance Martin reluctantly agrees. Since she is determined to avoid a boring life herself, she readily sympathizes with Althea’s desperation to escape an arranged marriage agreement to a man as committed to a life of order and duty as is Oliver Vincent, the Earl of Southwyn. Needless to say, the plan soon goes awry. Though they seem ill-suited, Constance and Oliver discover a mutual physical attraction which intensifies as they get to know each other better and learn to appreciate their finer qualities – like care for others, animals included.
This is a variant on the enemies-to-lovers trope, and it is conducted in the comic romance mode. Though lively, the humour drifts towards parody at times, but serious issues are raised: paternal bullying, insensitivity of the upper classes, and ADHD.
To Oliver, Constance is ‘chaos incarnate’, albeit an experience he unexpectedly grows to enjoy; but in her author’s note Bennett reveals that her heroine’s symptoms are based upon her own as well as upon research. They include anxiety, impulsiveness, eating disorders, and a hatred of routines among others. Illuminating. Recommended.
