I enjoyed the story of Fiona, a quirky, talented, clumsy and determined young lady and Gray, a brooding ,stubborn and loyal Earl who come together under unusual circumstances and still manage to find each other. The storyline flowed and the only "sour" note was the villain in the story, as I just couldn't believe he would act that way. I liked the auxiliary characters, and look forward to their stories. Thank you NetGalley for letting me read and review this ARC.

Fiona is a wealthy young lady who needs to marry quickly. She is facing blackmail. Some unknown person is threatening to expose a story about her sister, Lily.

In order to get the needed money, Fiona proposes marriage to Gray. He is an earl who is in need of money. He is not in the market for marriage. His former fiancee dumped him when she found that he was in dire need of money.

Fiona is a talented artist, a loyal sister and friend and a brave young woman. She is willing to go against all rules of society to protect her sister and her family from scandal. She is intelligent with a good sense of humor and she is lovely.

Gray is a strong young man whose only family is his grandmother. He is extremely loving and loyal to her. He wants to restore their estate in order to create the same beauty that was there when she was young. He is intelligent, charming and has a good sense of humor. He is so determined to do good that he even does some of the estate's repairs with his own physical labor. He holds himself separate from the world except for his grandmother and his best friend.

He believes that if Fiona sees the true situation at his estate, she will be discouraged and abandon the idea of their marriage. He does not know the true reason she must quickly marry in order to get her dowry.

Both of these people are likable and well developed lead characters.

I loved the humor in the story. I really enjoyed getting to know Lily and their friend Sophie. Both of them will make good characters in their own stories.

The plot was a disappointment. There were too many disasters. I felt there were too many bad, bad events and situations. I got bogged down by too much angst and anxiety.

I enjoy mystery within a romance. I enjoy adventure and heroic actions. But, I want all that to fit into a plot which does not have bad things happening so frequently to nearly everyone.

This is a well written book. She has created a set of characters who drew me into the story. At the same time, I felt that those characters should not each find a life filled with sorrow.

I do like Ms Bennett's writing. I look forward to the next book in this series.

I received this book from the publisher through NetGalley. I am voluntarily writing this review and all opinions are completely my own.

This book was fantastic! I always love it when the female protagonist is gutsy from the get-go, and Fiona was definitely that. I admire her for pursuing what needed to be done to save her sister. My one pet peeve with this was one I have with many books. To make the plot work, the characters had to have a lack of communication. I personally prefer when characters actually talk things out and it's just circumstances preventing them from being together. Since this is only the first book in the series, I'm excited to see which side characters get to take the stage next!

Absolutely loved this book!
Romance, intrigue, a dashing lord and a woman who knows her mind - what more can one ask for in a romance!

Perfect for the weekend,

I am not going to go into my entire spiel about how much I love historical romances. Because you all have heard it before and I don’t want to bore you. I will say that I was becoming bored with historical romances. As well written as some might be, they all seemed to follow 1 of 2 formats. You have the plucky heroine who gets in over her head and the alpha male hero rescues her. Or, the hero is tortured over something that happened in his past and the heroine heals him. While First Earl I See Tonight does have a tortured hero, that is the only part of the plot that was predictable.

First Earl I See Tonight is about Fiona Hartley. Fiona had received a note from a blackmailer demanding money by a certain date. If he/she didn’t receive that money, an article would be published in a prominent newspaper about her younger sister, Lily. The blackmailer claimed to have evidence that Lily was the illegitimate daughter of a well-known madame. If that came out, Lily would be shunned by the ton and her chances for a good marriage would be over. Desperate to avoid that, Fiona writes a note to the Earl of Ravenport, asking him to marry her and outlining why they would have a good union. Gray, having been dumped by his fiancée, is amused and shocked by the note. Determined to scare her off, he invites her to his crumbling country manor house, The Fortress. Instead of scaring her off, it charms Fiona. Gray realizes that there is so much more to Fiona than what he thought. But he cannot love. A traumatic event when he was a child had forced him to seal that part of him off. Can he open up and let Fiona into his heart? And will Fiona find out who the blackmailer is? Can she trust Gray enough to let him know what-is going on? Will she have to let true love go to protect her sister’s reputation? Read the book.

I loved the cover of First Earl I See Tonight. It encompassed everything that was going on in the book, except the blackmail. The model looked exactly as I thought Fiona would look. I loved that The Fortress was in the background. And the diary was there, along with Fiona’s deceased mother’s necklace. Loved it!!!!

I loved Fiona. For a girl of her time, she was very forward. I mean, she wrote to Gray, asking him to marry her. That is unheard of for her era. Girls did not do that. And it was so freaking refreshing and new!! I had menioned above that I was getting bored with reading historical romances. This book pulled me back from the edge of not reading them. I loved her argument for making her case and her reaction to Gray asking if she was with child. I laughed out loud at that. Fiona was not graceful either. I mean, she met Gray by falling into the orchestra playing at a party. She was also loyal to her family. She would do anything to keep Lily’s parentage out of the papers and save her from becoming shunned. Her only fault was that she should have told Gray sooner than she did about the blackmailer.

I liked Gray. I will admit, I did laugh when I read his response to Fiona’s request. I would have noped the heck out of there. Burned the note and not looked back. But, he was intrigued by it. Which is why he visited her at her home and questioned her the way he did. Which was hilarious because of Fiona’s responses. I liked his plan to scare her into not wanting to marry him by inviting her to The Fortress. That blew up in his face, big time. It was her way of seeing the beauty in everything that sent him down that slippery slope to love. Because he kept his emotions shuttered, I wasn’t sure about his feelings for Fiona until they had sex. What cemented it for me was when he read that sweet but awful poem at the ball. While it was bad, it was so sweet. I cried when he told Fiona about his family and why he felt he couldn’t love. I wasn’t expecting what he told her. I was sobbing because, man, he was only 11. Which is my son’s age. He was a baby. Being exposed to that broke my heart for him.

I have had issues in romances where there is zero romance. That there is no build-up to the sexual relationship. Whelp had no issues with that here!! Gray and Fiona had a friendship that evolved into a relationship before they fell in love. Loved it. It made the sex scenes so much more juicer to read knowing that.

Let’s talk about sexual tension. OMG, it was insane. All Gray had to do was look at Fiona and bam, it was there. I did like that the author did attempt to hold them off from having sex. She had them do everything but sex. But, it was meant to be and it was fantastic. They were like bunnies. In a cottage, In a lake, In a closet (I sound like Dr. Seuss…lol). I did wonder how people didn’t know what was going on.

I was surprised at who the blackmailer was. It was a twist that I didn’t see coming. But, what I also didn’t see coming was that person threatening Gray. Which set off a series of events that made me both mad and sad. What also made me mad were the reasons why this person decided to blackmail Fiona. Man, talk about petty. I did like that Gray ended up getting the last word in, though. “My hero” did go through my head.

The end of the book was fantastic. All the storylines were ended in a way that satisfied me as a reader. I cannot wait to read book 2.

What I liked about First Earl I See Tonight:

Fiona
Gray
The storyline
What I disliked about First Earl I See Tonight:

Fiona not telling Gray about the blackmailer
Why the blackmailer chose Fiona
What happened to Gray when he was a child
I gave First Earl I See Tonight a 4-star rating. This was a well written, humorous book was an engaging storyline. I connected with the characters. I did not like who the blackmailer ended up being and that person’s reason for choosing Fiona.

I would give First Earl I See Tonight an Adult rating. There is explicit sex. There is mild violence. There is no language. I would recommend that no one under the age of 21 read this book.

I would reread First Earl I See Tonight. I would also recommend this book to family and friends.

I would like to thank St. Martin’s Press, St. Martin’s Paperbacks and NetGalley for allowing me to read and review First Earl I See Tonight.

All opinions stated in this review of First Earl I See Tonight are mine.

**I chose to leave this review after reading an advance reader copy**

Overall I enjoyed reading this, the first I've read of Anna Bennet's work.
Here we have a determined heroine, who is very protective of her family. She decides to tackle the blackmailer on her own to not only protect her adopted sister, but also her father with his weak heart. A few times changes in her father's behavior are mentioned - he's hardly at home with his family - but there is no further development or explanation along those lines. The step-mother seems at times loving, yet on occasion a bit beastly. I did wonder if she is the cause of the father's avoidance. Maybe that will be explained in Lily's story.
Gray has some emotional baggage from his dead parents. He'll do anything for his grandmother, who eyes gleam when she hears 3 young misses will come to visit..

I received an e-ARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
I enjoy historical romance and enjoyed Bennett's Wallflower series. Anna Bennett's new series, Debutante Diaries, starts with Fiona determined to protect her younger sister, Lily, from a scandal not of her making. I enjoyed getting to know the characters and how they came about discovering in each other a completeness. I look forward to reading Lily's story. I give this a 3.5 of 5 stars.

I love the stories with cantankerous, grumpy earls (or other peers) where the earl realizes that he cannot keep up his moodiness but succumbs to love even if he is being pulled by a headstrong, family loving, compassionate woman. This story is just a fun read. There are laughing moments, poignant moments and a mystery. I must say I did not totally figure out the villain until close to the end. Both Gray and Fiona are likeable characters that had me cheering for them – was a little worried at the end. A great story.

First Earl I See Tonight has a brave, strong, independent heroine, Fiona, proposing marriage to a recently jilted earl. I love that one of the reasons she proposes marriage to him in particular is that she knows he will not hurt her. Fiona chose David Gray, Earl of Ravenport, because she needs her dowry money fast. Fiona saw something in him that his former fiance did not – his kind heart.

Gray believes he cannot love, is incapable of it. Whereas, Fiona grew up in a loving home, Gray grew up with parents who did not even like each other. He had his grandmother and best friend, Kirby, to help make his life not quite so miserable. Now he was to return his grandmother’s kindness by bringing her former home back to at least part of its former beauty before she loses her eyesight.

Gray believe he can run Fiona off by taking her to his country home, the Fortress. It is pretty much falling apart. The Fortress was too much for his former fiance. She broke their engagement partly because of it and partly because he is short of funds. But, Gray’s heart begins the melting process at the house party as he spends time with Fiona.

Back to the reason Fiona needs to marry quickly is to protect her sister’s parentage from being exposed by a blackmailer. Fiona and Lily have always know they were not true sisters; that Lily is adopted, but neither of them knew Lily’s real mother. The blackmailer does and he wants a lot of money to keep it quiet.

I loved the intrigue in the charming romance. I love that Gray learned to love and trust what he saw in Fiona. He believed in her. That love sent them on the way to their HEA. I am looking forward to Lily's romance!

This was a new author to me, and I was very impressed! I very much enjoyed the story of Fiona and Gray and look forward to reading the rest of this series.

Fiona is being blackmailed regarding a family secret and decides she will use her dowry money to pay off the blackmailer, but she needs to find a husband first. She decides she will marry Gray as she knows he is a kind man who is in desperate need of funds.

Having recently been jilted, Gray is not in the marrying mood so decides he will try to put Fiona off by having a house party at his dilapidated manor house. Of course, this does not go to plan.

I found the characters great in this book and the story is interesting. I found the twist somewhat far fetched but it didn't put me off. It was a nice, light hearted read.

I received this from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. This is book 1 in a new series called the Debutante Diaries. This was a fun read. I enjoyed it a lot and couldn’t but it down. The story was well done and the romance was enjoyable. I am looking for more in the series.

I've enjoyed other books by Ms. Bennett, but this one was just ok. It started out great although a bit far-fetched. Ms. Fiona Hartley is being blackmailed and she needs to marry in order to access her dowry money. She proposes marriage to David Gray, Earl of Ravenport, who is in desperate need of funds to restore his family seat. This certainly was a different way to start a regency romance, but I wonder why the blackmailer did not blackmail her father who is a wealthy tradesman?

I liked Gray a lot. His desire to restore The Fortress for his grandmother was a sweet gesture. Gray's back story is dark and only the slightly clumsy Fiona seems to soothe some of that darkness for him. I loved that Fiona is not just a wealthy heiress, but a talented artist in her own right. Some of the dialogue between these two is quite entertaining, but can you fall in love with someone in two short weeks?

I did figure out who the villain was although some of his actions were over the top and didn't make sense at the end. In any case, there are some enjoyable parts to this book although there were some things that didn't click with me.

Fiona Hartley doesn't fit in with the ton. Her family comes from trade and that isn't acceptable. She loves her Family and when a blackmailer threatens to release a horrible secret she needs to find a protector. She turns to Gray the Earl of Ravenport. She propose to him because she knows he needs money like she needs to protect her family. Gray is horrified and intrigued. What follows is a "will they or won't they" back and forth at a house party at Gray's dilapidated estate. Lots of fun ensues on the way to happily ever after.
I received this book from Net Galley for an honest review.

In First Earl I See Tonight, David is an earl who is in need of money to help repair his crumbling estate. Fiona is an heiress who is in need of a husband so that she can access her inheritance to help pay off a blackmailer. Solution seems pretty obvious but we soon find out that David can be a bit stubborn but thankfully, so can Fiona. David repeatedly tries to fend off Fiona but she is quite persistent. I liked that Fiona was a strong female character. It was a light and enjoyable read.

I requested this title through Netgalley because the title made me smile.
There are things I didn't like in there but overall, I really enjoyed this novel.

What I didn't like was the villain and the plot revolving around him, blackmail and all that. This person was a caricature, plain and simple. The pretext for both heroes to meet was very, very light : who would blackmail a girl who depends on her parents and has no money instead of blackmailing said parents, who can afford to pay ? And when she's about to be able to pay, the blackmailer forbids her to do so ? Because of a loyalty he feels toward someone he thinks so very little about ? Nah, not believable.

Once that is said, the good part : that was the main couple itself. They had chemistry, they were believable together, they didn't fall in love instantly, they had personality, they were so very likeable. They often made me smile and I rooted for them in spite of what I said above - which means a lot, because I hate unbelievable plots !

I had a real fun time with them and am looking forward to reading the next book which will be released next year.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher for an honest review.

I enjoyed reading this book but found many holes in the plot that kept gnawing away at me.
I liked the main characters. The relationship that was forged seemed to be genuine by the end. However, Fiona did not fit into the historical time period. She seemed like a modern day girl. She knew what she wanted, she said what she wanted and she did what she wanted. This goes against the stereotypes of the day. The other major problem I had was with the villain. The whole set up came out of nowhere, and did not flow with the rest of the story.

That is definitely one of the better historical romances I read in a long time. I went into this book blind and didn't expect much, because of how many times I was disappointed before. But this time I was pleasantly surprised.
I didn't expect to find such a fast paced story with witty, charming and strong characters. It is a rarity for me to like so many characters in one book, but I did and it made the book even more enjoyable.
There were so many times I laughed out loud and for once I didn't have to roll my eyes in annoyance of the decisions, that the characters made.
Can't wait to read more books by Anna Bennett.

“Sometimes love is measured in altogether different ways—like shared secrets, understanding smiles and reassuring touches…”

The Earl of Ravenport, known by his friends and family as Gray, is a powerful Earl and future Count, but in name only. Unfortunately, his coffers are all but empty, and his family estate is crumbling down around him. His goal is to bring The Fortress back to its original grand splendor for his grandmother’s sake, and his reputation be damned.

Fiona Hartley’s family is rich as Midas, but since they have earned their money rather than been born with a title, they are not easily accepted among The Ton. Fiona loves her family more than anything, and when she receives a blackmail note demanding money or a dark family secret will be revealed to all, Fiona will stop at nothing to pay off the blackmailer. Desperate for funds, Fiona pens a letter to the Earl of Ravenport propositioning him to a marriage of convenience. This will allow Fiona to gain access to her dowry to pay off the blackmailer, and give Gray the much needed funds to repair his estate.

Gray can’t believe the boldness behind Fiona’s proposal. Vowing to never love or be loved, he invites The Hartley’s and his closest friends to a house party at his estate in hopes of scaring her away. As the days go by, he’s slowly realizing that there is so much more to Fiona, and she may just well be the one to melt his frozen heart.

First Earl I See Tonight is the first book I’ve read by Anna Bennett, and I absolutely loved it! Once I started, the pages flew by and I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend to lovers of historical romance, and look forward to reading more from this author!

Fairly typical historical romance with feisty heroine and dark brooding hero. Love as always conquers all. Liked the characters.

2.5 Stars

When trying a new-to-me author, I try to keep an open mind, but I had some difficulty in doing that with this one. The problem is that this ARC came to me after a series of disappointing ARCs for new-to-me, established authors, so I was leery. I had my defenses in place for another disappointing sampling of a new-to-me author. Then it started chipping away at those defenses. While it took a little for me to get into the writing — it felt somewhat clunky and wordy at first, it did start to flow well after the first chapter or two. It wasn’t going to take a place amongst my favorites, but it was very readable. The MCs were likable and their romance was enjoyable (there was a particularly yummy scene in a rowboat). I was rooting for them and found several parts sweet and compelling. Fiona was a resourceful and endearing heroine, and Gray was a grumpy yet attractive hero. They were both honorable, which I appreciated.

So, what went wrong? The choice in villain. I am so mad about this still! And not only was the choice upsetting to me, but the villain was much worse was than expected. Instead of lessening the blow, the author chose to amping up the volume. The joke was on me. I let my guard down while this plot twist snuck past and set a bomb. There was very little build up for it, and it essentially ruined the read for me. Sweet gestures by the hero at the end the book were nice, but at that point it all just felt contrived and convoluted.

*I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.