Member Reviews
I just really enjoyed this book. It was just really easy to get lost in this book. I will definitely be reading more by this author.
I’ve never yet been disappointed by a Christi Caldwell novel. And In Bed with the Earl is no exception.
What I’ve come to expect from a Christi Caldwell romance is a heroine who scrappily advocates for herself and her loved ones while making emotional jelly out of a lonely (and often grumpy) hero. There is always a sprinkle of melodrama and it’s ALWAYS high-voltage emotions.
I freaking love Christi Caldwell.
In Bed with the Earl is about Verity, a journalist who is literally willing to climb through the sewers of London to get the story that would save her family…and Malcolm, a long-lost Viscount turned “tosher” (a person who scavenges sewers for profit), and he’s all cold and emotionally scarred and so very in need a love from someone not afraid to blow up all his walls. I inhaled it.
Christi Caldwell is a perfect author to go to when the word and the news is weighing on you. Perfect, reliable, romance. She has several books available on Kindle Unlimited too so if you have a subscription you should definitely get on those! In Bed with the Earl comes out in March.
Thank you Netgalley and Montlake for the chance to read an advanced copy. I voluntarily read and reviewed this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I adored this book, it was really sweet and I loved both main characters, both seemed like really caring people. Verity's spunky, determined and courageous. Malcom didn't want to open up and be vulnerable, but he ended up having no choice when he met Verity.
The only thing that marred the book, to me, was the word "g*psy", mentioned twice in the book and which is considered to be racist terminology. (As some people do not know that, I decided to review the book in good faith that the author was not aware of it.)
4 stars
Another breathtaking read by Christi Caldwell as we follow the story of Malcolm and Verity. The characters are flawlessly developed in every way. Both Malcolm and Verity are fighters. They have determinedly built the best life they could out of the circumstances they were dealt. Malcolm is forever changed when Verity enters his life. He is loyal to the people in his life but hides behind a gruff exterior. Verity is able to bring out the best in him by being tenacious in her efforts. Forgiving those who have done him wrong and owning the family he has created all works to make him a better man. As he and Verity spend time together they find the love they have both been looking for while making the lives of many others better.
Although I’m always up for some harebrained storylines, this one doesn’t do it for me. Maybe it was the mentioning of some graphic sewer details straight from the start ... read while I was slightly hungover. Or maybe it was the notion that the conversations between the couple in the first half of the book didn’t feel like bickering but like actually fighting. It had a great meet cut with some amazing action scenes after that, but I was really struggling to get to that point in the book and was struggling to read on after that as the chemistry between them was not my kind ... too violent for me. I struggled on and was rewarded with some really cute scenes around 75% into the novel. I normally wouldn’t last this long ... but there are a few nice moments that keep it ticking along.
Excellent read! I love grabbing a book that will take you back and time and make you feel like a part of the story. This author did such a great job describing everything in detail so you can easily picture it all in your head. An easy read for those looking to fall back into the past for a couple hours.
Thanks NetGalley for the copy to read and share my opinion on.
In Bed with the Earl is everything I have wanted in a love story but didn't know it. The most imperfectly perfect characters tug at your heart strings in this tale of loss and love.
One of my favorite things about this book is the description of the characters. Verity is describes as a short, larger breast and wide hipped woman that is...gasp... thirty years old! Malcolm is described has having scars from his rough life and not quite classically handsome. yes, Yes, YES! I get so tired of the red haired, pale creamy complexion that floats like an angel wherever she goes and the man that is basically a Greek god come to life. I didn't realized how much I was craving real life characters till this book. Continuing to turn norms upside down, Verity is a bastard child of an Earl. She is a working woman who is very proud of the humble life she had made for herself and her sister. Bravo to Christi Caldwell for turning the typical Regency romance on its head!
I will admit it took me about a quarter of the way in to really get hooked to the story. I had no previous knowledge of a tosher and it took a bit of time to figure it all out. Once I was settled into who all the characters were... I was hooked!
Thank you to NetGalley and Montlake Romance for the advance copy. All opinions are my own.
This book reminds us that while it might be fun to read these stories, it couldn't have been very fun to live in the actual time (which is why I can not stand time travel stories that strand women in the past, where are the stories that bring a lady from that time and strand her in the present and watch her blossom with all the freedoms and opportunity she could have).
Love, love Christi Caldwell and when I received the book I was screaming in joy.
In this new series Lost Lords of London we are introduced to Malcolm his father was an Earl and both his parents died when he was very young. After their death little Malcolm was taken away from his home and taken to the bowels of london. It was so heartbreaking to read about his Life in the Sewers and how he trained himself to be a step ahead of all the danger.
Verity is born a bastard and has to take care of her younger sibling, while working as reporter for The Londoner. But because she is female she has to face hardships and needs a new good story that will keep her job, what is a better story then finding out who the lost Earl is?
I truly and enjoyed this book not only is it entertaining but full of secrets and adventure.
Still I enjoyed much of the book. This was my first Christi Caldwell and I will definitely try her again. This is the first book of the new series and is fine read as is. However, I've seen in many reviews that she has built a whole world of characters that appear throughout town. If you've read her prior books, I'm sure some characters will look familiar.
Verity has had to take care of herself for way too long. Born a bastard with a younger sibling to care for, she has held tenaciously onto her career as a reporter for The Londoner. However, all that is jeopardy only because of her sex. She needs not only a story, but the story that will keep her job, the story all of London wants to hear. Who is the lost Earl?
Taken from his home as a young child, Malcolm has blocked all of his memories of growing up. All he knows is the bowels of London. Having done anything to survive the dirty streets, alone, he has made a name for himself in the sewers. He has no interest in finding out his true past, or being forced back into the peerage.
I did enjoy Verity. I'm not going to lie though, I really don't like characters that are reporters. It's just this personal preference, and probably the stereotypes from movies/books of them invading privacy, being pushy, etc. Verity isn't like that, but it probably kept me from loving her as much as I should have. Shes a great character though. Very caring, gentle with her family and loved ones, but fights tooth and nail for what she believes in. I admired her ever so much in those beginning chapters where I was on the edge of my seat with what would happen. She was very brave.
Yet as the story goes on, I wanted her to be, well...more for Malcolm? Yes she talks to him, makes him feel safe enough to open up about his past, but I just felt like he needed more from her. More emotional attachment? She does quite a few things to him that I don't love and he falls more in love with her but I just didn't feel it as much as I should have.
Malcolm I just LOVED in the first half of the book. The first chapter sets up his kidnapping and it's just heartbreaking. Learning about his life in the sewers, what he's done to survive, witnessing him training his body to the breaking point so he can always be one step ahead of all the danger in his life...I drool for a hero like that. His situation was made all the more real to me because I recently finished the book Dirty Old London and had a much better imagining of what the underworld of London was like.
I was totally engaged the first 25% of the book. I didn't want to put it down. Which says even more for Miss Caldwell's writing because the characters weren't even together for much of it. Great character depth was built here with both of their backgrounds. Then the next 25% I was even more in love. Their scenes together were amazing. I was clearly seeing them, full bodied and detailed. But after that, something started losing me. It was like the characters started fading, losing their color. They were finally in closer proximity but the character growth seemed to stall for me. And I was waiting and waiting for that tension to come back and something to happen between them. And waiting. And waiting. 90% of the book waiting. And then when they finally have sex, it's after the heroine is injured and has a huge goose-egg on her head. Why is it always injured sex? Lol.
Still I enjoyed much of the book. This was my first Christi Caldwell and I will definitely try her again. This is the first book of the new series and is fine read as is. However, I've seen in many reviews that she has built a whole world of characters that appear throughout town. If you've read her prior books, I'm sure some characters will look familiar.
Thank you for allowing me to read this book and once again I was not disappointed. I absolutely loved Verity and Malcolm together. I loved Verity's relationships with Bram and Fowlers. I wish they would have gone more in depth about. Malcolm growing up and what happened after he was kidnapped. Overall I enjoyed this story tremendously.
I love regency romances - they are absolutely my guilty pleasure reading. In Bed with the Earl was everything I look for in historical fiction - a little romance, some intrigue, a stubborn main man (who eventually comes around at the end), and a strong leading lady who both lives by the terms of propriety but her thoughts are far more wanton.
In the end, this is a very sweet love story with a lot of twists and unexpected turns. And it’s a wild ride for Malcom and Verity and the reader, and it definitely had me hooked and kept me turning the page.
I received this book from netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
This review contains spoilers.
I have read a couple of books by Christy Caldwell, and really enjoyed them. This one however wan't my favorite. I really loved Malcolm. He was the son of an earl, who when his parents died was taken and made to live on the streets. He grew up being a Tosher, which from what i can gather is a person that looks for things in the sewers of London. He grew up hard, but still managed to make money, take in and protect other Toshers that have either grown to old, so be too injured to continue their jobs.
Verity however I just didn't really like. That might be more of a me problem though as i am not the biggest fan of when one of the main characters works at a newspaper.
I just didn't like Verity as a person, even knowing that a lot of the things she did was to keep a roof over her and her sisters head. She really likes being a reporter and I just didn't like the decisions she made throughout the whole story. I did like her a little more, closer to the end of the story when her and Malcolm start spending a lot of time together after they start pretending to be married.
Verity is about to loose her job as a journalist, she has one week to find Malcolm and write a story about the Lost Earl. It just seems like every decision she makes is solely for the sake of the story and in the process makes a lot of mistakes that just made me mad for Malcolm. Then at one point when she is actually fired from the paper, and after she goes to Malcolm to ask for his help. He tells her No. So Verity decides that since he has a bunch of empty houses she will just take her sister, and one servant and go live in one without telling anybody..
However it just so happens that Malcolm sent two of his people to that exact house for retirement, and when Verity is discovered some how it comes out that Malcolm and Verily are married? Like could she make the situation any worse..
I did like the beginning and ending alot better than the middle portions where Verity just kept making a fool of herself.
If you like Christy Caldwell, and when one of the main characters are reporters you might like this one. However I have discovered reporters in books are something Im just not a fan of.. I gave it 3 starts here, but its really more like 3.5..
I normally associate more steamy encounters with Ms Caldwell's stories. This had less than usual but was still an engrossing read. The inevitable road to love was really beautifully developed and felt very different from the usual hate to love genre. I really enjoyed it. Would reccomend this book without hesitation.
The story revolves around a young child who is stolen away and robbed of his birthright. He grows up in the slums and becomes a tosher. Time passes, he is an adult and his true identity comes to light. He rescues a young woman Verity and from here their lives becomes intertwined. There are people who do not want them to have a HEA and they work to this end. It is a nice story and a good read.
I didn't last more than 25% in the book, it wasn't my cup of tea. Sadly.
Could'nt connect with any of the characters and got somewhat confused here and there.
A start to a delightful new series—I love the mix of classes going on here, and the little nods to the previous series as well. Definitely a favorite.
After losing his parents to illness, the Earl of Maxwell (now known as Malcolm) is kidnapped from an orphanage due to a plot by nefarious relatives who have their sights set on the earldom. Presently, Malcolm has no memory of his previous life and has grown up on the streets of London as a tosher (a scavenger of the sewers of London). He has been quite successful and is shocked when he is approached by a London detective with the news that he is the missing Earl of Maxwell. Verity Lovelace is a by blow of an earl and has been working her way up in a newspaper office since the age of twelve. She has a new boss who wants her gone, so he tasks her with getting the dirt on the mysterious Earl of Maxwell who is unwilling to take his place in society. Verity is responsible for her younger sister and a nursemaid who has been with her family for years. Verity is desperate to succeed, so she heads to the sewers to find Malcolm.
This book had me hooked from the prologue. Malcolm and Verity are both products of their environment. While facing different challenges, their motives have been the same - survival. After growing up under the circumstances he did, Malcolm is uncaring and focused on protecting his territory, but after meeting Verity, one of the only people who dares challenge him, he begins to question his beliefs. Verity is an amazing heroine who is trying to make her way in the world of men. Many of her decisions are driven by desperation to keep a roof over her sisters head, so I always understood the motives for her actions. The challenges she faces in the workplace and the world will resonate with the women who read this book. I felt an instant connection to her character!
My one complaint about this book is that I really don’t feel like we ever got Malcolm’s full story. It’s doled out in bits and pieces and I feel like there were some disconnects along the way. That being said, you don’t need to have a big imagination to know that Malcolm’s life post kidnapping was tragic and horrible! Overall, I loved this book and I can’t wait to read the next in the series.
This was my first Christi Caldwell book and I very much enjoyed it. In Bed with the Earl is about a man Malcom who was sold by greedy family members who wanted his earldom when he was a young child. As an adult, a detective finds Malcom and tells him who he really is. Verity is a reporter trying desperately to hold onto her job under a boss who doesn’t think women belong in newspapers. She promises him an incredible story about the newly discovered “Lost Earl” to try to keep her position, but then, of course, she actually has to find the Earl and get a story.
The characters were written very compassionately, and I found my heart breaking for Malcom as he started remembering the happy childhood he had before being sold off. I also very much enjoyed Verity’s passion and fearlessness. The two had wonderful chemistry together and I liked their story a lot.
The only thing I disliked was that there were two instances of the slur “g*psy” in the book. It would be much better if they were replaced with Romani.
Caldwell is one of those authors who writes so many romances but the quality has yet to dip and this latest novel is no different.
This one has my absolute favorite trope! Fake marriage! They’re doing this because they have to! But then oh no here come the feelings! Love it.
The characters are sublime and everything I think most have come to adore from Caldwell’s characters. Loved this book to bits.