He showed her his scars and, in return, he let her pretend that she had none…Esther Nott, daughter of the Duke of Aishling, has dedicated herself to a life of charity rather than marriage. Having witnessed people’s capacity for deceit, she hides behind the walls she has built around herself to protect her virtue from dishonourable intentions.Allan Blaksley’s past as a soldier has left its marks … past as a soldier has left its marks on both his body and soul. With a long scar across his back that he considers hideous, the broken Earl of Wiltshire is constantly reminded of his failures.
But despite their personal obstacles, both Esther and Allan manage to enter each other’s hearts…
Until a mysterious woman suddenly appears claiming that Allan is the father of her child. Unbeknownst to them, even though the woman’s motives seem purely greedy and materialistic, she will be proved to be only a puppet.
A puppet carrying out someone else’s well-planned scheme…
*If you like a realistic yet steamy depiction of the Regency and Victorian era, then Lusting for the Broken Earl is the novel for you.
This is Olivia’s 6th novel, a historical Regency romance novel of 80,000 words (around 400 pages). No cheating, no cliffhangers, and a strong happily ever after.
Pick up “Lusting for the Broken Earl” today to discover Olivia’s amazing new story!
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This book is a mainly clean Regency novel with some steam at the end on the wedding night. I struggled a bit with this story because it seemed to repeat itself often with not much interaction between the two main characters. As for the Earl being “broken”, that really never became an issue! I just feel like this was not the usual Olivia Bennet novel and found it very stilted and lacking of her usual style. Saying that, I will still give it a 4 star review because I did enjoy the main plot of the story.
Esther Nott, daughter of the Duke of Aishling, and Allan Blaksley, Earl of Wiltshire, have a very shaky start when she discovers he’s a soldier come back from the war (she says they have too many problems when they come back from war) and he’s attracted to both Esther and Bridget, the nurse who attended him after he was wounded in the war. Then there’s also Harry, Allan’s cousin, who is in love with Esther and is jealous of Allan, and plots to cause trouble between them.
I did love how Julia, the little 5 year old orphan girl that Esther has been attached to since birth, also got her HEA:) So, as I said at the start, I was a bit disappointed at the writing but it was still a good story.
I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving an honest review.
Unfortunately, “Lusting for the Broken Earl” was not one of Olivia Bennet’s better books. I think the only good thing I can say about it is that it was an improvement on her previous book, but only because I was actually able to finish it. I wouldn’t say that it was particularly well-written or memorable, but at least the plot (mostly) made sense and the main characters didn’t consistently come across as TSTL.
My biggest complaint about this book is that the vast majority of it was filler that had nothing to do with advancing the plot, mainly in the form of needless description and exposition. Examples include multiple lengthy descriptions of the characters’ homes, their clothing, and getting dressed for various social events. The characters also seemed to have variations on the exact same conversations over and over again, which was very repetitious. All of this combined to make the story drag, and frankly the first half of the book was pretty boring as a result.
Also, the central relationship between main characters Allan and Esther was not developed well at all IMO, which made this book very disappointing as a romance. Personally, I do not find it to be very romantic when the “hero” hasn’t even settled on which woman he wants to court by the time the book is halfway over, and that is exactly what happened here as Allan was still agonizing between Esther and another woman from his past. Further, there was basically zero relationship development between Allan and Esther. It seemed like one minute Esther was refusing to even consider Allan as a potential husband because he might be “damaged” from the war, but then the next minute she was telling her sisters that she was head over heels in love with him. I could not figure out how she could possibly have fallen in love with him so quickly, especially when they had only met on three or four occasions and shared about 15 minutes of conversation in total.
In addition, it may be a minor annoyance in the grand scheme of things, but I was incredibly bothered by all of the times servants announced people as they walked into rooms. Yes, there would have been some announcing during that time period, but I would think it was more of a convention when one first arrived at a social event like a ball or dinner party, not just upon entering a room at home or visiting family. However, at one point in this book, Allan’s cousin Edward walks out of the drawing room in his own home and literally says that he’ll be right back. When he returns about two minutes later, the footman announces him to the other family members who had remained behind. Why on earth would that have been necessary? It all seemed so ridiculous and excessive to me. Perhaps it was just another example of the filler I noted earlier in my review.
Overall, there was so much unnecessary filler and repetition in this story that it could have been shortened into a novella and still told the exact same story. It still may have been kind of boring with such a lackluster “romance” at the center of it, but at least it would have been a lot less frustrating to read.
*ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
Lady Esther Nott was the eldest daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Aishling and did charity work with orphans. She was not yet interested in marriage and her parents were not pressuring her to get married. Her middle sister Lady Mary was marrying Edward, the Duke of Daftwood. His younger brother Lord Harry was infatuated with Lady Esther trying to spend all of his time with her. Alan the Earl of Wiltshire was Edwards’s cousin and was going to be at the wedding. Alan had been in the Army and inviting at Waterloo been seriously injured nearly dying, and he was suffering from flashbacks of the months it took for him to heal and the battle itself. He met Lady Esther at the wedding and felt drawn to her during the conversation between them he suddenly felt like he had offended her but did not know how he had done this. To find out what happens between the lady and the two gentlemen you have to read the book. It’s a good book…
Allan, the Earl of Wiltshire, has returned from wore with emotional and physical scars. He is very self-conscious of his scars, but has gotten lonely and wants to find a wife. Esther Nott dedicates herself to help children at orphanages. They meet each other at their cousins wedding but they had several obstacles to get through before they have their HEA. The book has romance, suspense, mistrust and jealousy. It was well paced and a good book.
Lusting for the Broken Earl is an unpredictable story that holds the reader’s attention throughout. Because of his scars and nightmares about the war, Allan believes no one will want to marry him. Esther is the somewhat spoiled daughter of a duke. She is not sure she wants to marry. She has a kind heart and likes helping at the orphanage. When they meet, Allan and Esther like each other and feel comfortable with each other. They should be a perfect match, but jealousy and betrayal by those who want to keep them apart cause mistrust and create obstacles that seem insurmountable. Esther is more than disappointed when she believes Allan has fathered a child out of wedlock. She is ready to give up on their chance for love. Allan and Esther are wonderful people, but how can they prove themselves to each other? Their story is an interesting one. I recommend it.
I received an ARC of this book. I voluntarily reviewed it and the comments are my own.
This is a gentle romance that had some dramatic moments in it. Jealousy, betrayal, longing, unrequited love, anger, deprecation and love. Allen, the Earl of Wiltshire is emotionally stronger than he thinks. He feels the chance to marry will elude him because of his shame. He suffered physically from the war. He feels the scar left behind will put fear into any woman who sees it. He also suffers from some PTSD usually nightmares. Other than that he is financially successful and has an excellent reputation. His only family is his two cousins, Edward, the Duke of Daftwood and Edward’s brother Harry. The down and dirty version of the plot was that Harry and Allen were enamored by the same woman. Lady Esther Nott, daughter of the Duke of Aishling. Harry went below the belt to break Esther and Allen up. He made several attempts to ruin and shame Allen’s reputation. No one knew it was Harry behind the verbal and malicious falsehoods against Allen. At one point one of Harry’s scheme worked and Esther distanced herself from Allen. But when the truth was revealed their courting continued. Still no one knew who was behind these verbal assaults. I enjoyed Esther’s character. She was dedicated to ensuring the safety of orphans. This was her only goal in life even more important than marriage. That is until she met Allen. Esther is a determined young woman who will go the extra mile for the orphans and those that care for them. Esther had an emotional connection with one very special child Julia. All of a sudden, the orphanage is being closed down and she was told the staff and children were being reassigned throughout the city. No one would give her any information about the location of one of the staff members Sophia or little Julia. Esther tried many avenues to discover any information but they did not work out. Esther received an anonymous tip that lead her to Sophia who was sick and dying. Sophia informed her of what devious disgusting perverse plans Mr. Smith had for the children. But she did not know where Julia was. It was her brother-in-law Edward and Allen who picked up the cause. Harry was still a threat to Allen. At every available turn Harry would lash out at Allen with lies to convince Esther not to marry him. This is a very good read and is a page turner. The only drawback was the description of Esther’s bodily reaction to being near Allen. I feel it needed a more sensitive and a more tasteful touch. Other than that, I do recommend this book.