Earl Crush by Alexandra Vasti Published by St. Martin's Publishing Group on January 21, 2025
Genres: Fiction / Romance / Historical / Regency, Fiction / Romance / Romantic Comedy
Pages: 304
Format: eBook
Source: Library
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USA Today bestselling author Alexandra Vasti returns with another hot, hilarious Regency romp about a reclusive earl and the wallflower-turned-radical-pamphleteer who turns his life upside down.
For three years, wallflower heiress Lydia Hope-Wallace has anonymously penned seditious pamphlets—and for almost as long, she’s corresponded with the reclusive Earl of Strathrannoch. When Arthur’s latest letter reveals his dire financial straits, Lydia sets out for Scotland to offer him the only salvation she can think of: a marriage of convenience. To, um, herself.
But the real earl has no idea who she is. When a bewitching stranger offers him her hand in marriage, Arthur Baird is stunned. And when he learns that his traitorous brother has been writing to her under Arthur’s name, he’s bloody furious. He’s content to live alone in his moldering castle, and he has no desire for a radical wife. (Or at least, he shouldn’t.)
But Arthur is desperate to track down his brother, who’s become dangerously entangled in British espionage, and he needs Lydia’s help. What he doesn’t need? The attraction that burns hotter each moment they spend together. As Lydia slips past his defenses and his brother’s mysterious past becomes a very present threat, Arthur will have to risk everything to keep her safe—even his heart.
Cinnamon roll MMC and neurodivergent coded FMC go on a wild road trip that includes zebras, espionage, and a fake marriage in this romp-ish novel.
When Lydia Hope Wallace, decided wallflower, wealthy heiress, and seditious pamphleteer show up on the Earl’s doorstep, the Earl, Arthur is befuddled. She is there to propose, and he is just trying to keep his menagerie in their pens and safe the family castle. Quickly, they deduce years of love letters were actually exchanged between Lydia and Arthur’s brother. Yet Arthur can’t deny his immediate attraction for the curvy redhead.
This was a fun, fast paced read with witty banter, hilarious scenes, and some mystery. There are also great supporting characters that keep this rollercoaster of a ride going, although we are also treated to some spicy scenes as our MCs enter into a fake marriage and have to endure one bed a couple of times.
I found that despite some flaws in research (July in 1816 was decidedly not a sweaty one, for example) there was enough of the sensibility of the era to feel emerged — but in more of a Bridgerton than 1995 P & P way. In other words, Regency Readers expect a book that has a more modern cadence, is sex-positive, and has rom-coms levels of ridiculous.
This was part of a series, but worked great as a standalone.
There is intimacy on the page, some mature subject matter, and some violence.
Overall, I recommend for readers wanting something fun and fast paced who don’t mind on page intimacy and a writer that plays fast and loose with the era.
