Earl’s Trip

Thank you NetGalley and Kensington books for this advanced electronic copy of Earl’s Trip!

Fans of Bridgerton: I think you will enjoy this one! Three noble men take a yearly trip in September, but this year’s trip involves the Morgan sisters and saving them from societal ruin. There is a theme of found family throughout this story that I really love!

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3.5 Stars
This book was good, but in the end I was sort of underwhelmed by it. The set up was so good and there was a scene towards the beginning that made me wonder if we had another “Jessica Trent" of “Lord of Scoundrels” fame on our hands. However, for me the plot of the book moved very slowly, and the couple didn’t really come together until 3/4 of the way through the book. I did appreciate the way the author tackled some things I’ve never seen in a romance before (vegetarianism vs avid hunter) as well as addressing the bogus double standard of men vs women’s morality when engaging in a sexual relationship. One of those books that I liked it, but will not stay with me, I’ll have forgotten the entire plot in a week. Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-arc in exchange for my honest opinion.

The book was very slow to start, but once I was able to get into it I really enjoyed it. Getting to know the characters was by far the best part of the book. Holiday helped us really get to understand the characters and understand where they come from.

I need this to be a tv series right now!!! This reminded me so much of Bridgerton (in the best way possible)!

I loved this regency rom com. It's nice to see more modern writing regency like Jane Austen did. Because I don't care what anyone says Emma was the first rom com.

im begging on my hands and feet for you to give me the entire series right now. i need 10 books featuring these characters

(4.5 rounded up to 5)

Earls Trip by Jenny Holiday is a charming Regency romance with heart.

Every year, Archie and his two best friends take a trip together, which they call Earls Trip (even though only two of them are currently Earls). This year, however, Archie gets an urgent request from the father of his childhood best friend, Clementine, as she has run off to save her sister Olive, who had also run off with Clem's ex-fiancé.

I started this ebook during my camping weekend with friends and inhaled 81% of it in my hammock before finishing it the day I came home. It was so charming I kept finding myself smiling, and I felt like kicking my little feeties.

The Earl friend group is lovely! There's a nod on-page to "found family" and it really truly is. Archie himself is a wonderful cinnamon roll. I felt very seen in Clementine, who prefers to be outside in nature.

There are some heavier topics explored, namely Archie's mother who is suffering from dementia. This is shown on-page, so if that is a trigger for you please be aware.

I am so hype for the next book in this series, which is called Manic Pixie Dream Earl and follows another in the friend trio: Effie, a poet whose work is published in women's magazines under a pseudonym.

Tropes in this book include: slow burn, childhood friends to lovers

CW: parent with dementia, firearms (hunting)

I tried to give this book a shot, but I only got about 7% in before I had to stop. I was having a hard time liking the guy characters. I think I mostly had an issue with the fact the names were so similar to the Bridgerton series, and the fact that Archie’s mother is called the diamond of the first water. It felt almost like a knockoff version.

This was a fun read, but written too contemporary to fit the historical setting. I love emotionally intelligent characters and gentle, considerate male characters, but the main female character was so self absorbed and the whole story melded around her. She had no personal growth. It threw me out of the story so often that it took a long time to finish. It is possible to create inclusive, positive relationships in historical fiction romances. This did not quite hit the mark.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

A fun read after seeking some regency era romances that weren't cliche! This one was fun since it was intertwined with the Earl's Trip, making for some super fun scenes. Definitely recommend this one if you need something fun, but still want substance.

The concept of this book, being the titular “Earl’s Trip” into the countryside, seems playful initially, but it is executed extremely poorly. The dialogue is cringe-worthy and the writing is trite, with the writer’s attempts to make the novel trendy falling short and being extremely outlandish. Though the premise is promising, the writer’s attempts to make the novel trendy make me wish it was set in contemporary times, and ultimately I felt like my time was wasted.

Archie and his fellow earls go on an annual trip together and nothing is going to prevent Simon and Effie from making it possible to have Archie come along. Their plans are disrupted when childhood friends, Olive and Clementine, are on the cusp of scandal and their earls trip suddenly includes girls.
Absolutely a cover that got me right away! Jenny's books can be hit or miss for me and this was on the just okay side. I adored the premise, the characters are delightful, but it just seemed to drag on while reading. I think the sort of character information dump at the beginning made for a rough start and the book would have been more readable had it focused more on the main love interests rather than so much on the supporting cast. The ending was predictably lovely though and I'm always a fan of a feminist in this time period.
Thank you to Kensington Books and Netgalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

Somehow this is the first Jenny Holiday I've read, but it won't be the last. Earls' Trip was such a fun, creative twist on a regency histrom, and I really loved how the friendship between these four men is depicted and how meaningful it is in their lives. Plus, I love a road trip romance, and while friends to lovers isn't always my favorite trope, I thought it worked here.

A pleasant read with lots of contemporary humor. Not a lot of conflict, which sometimes makes it a bit slow, but it has such a satisfyingly romantic ending!

Jenny Holiday has written sweet romances and spicy romances and those books are always very enjoyable. So, I was intrigued when I heard she was writing a historical romance. And, friends, she can write the hell out of a historical romance, too! Earls Trip was too much fun and I enjoyed it so much. It’s out next week, April 23, so get those library holds and preorders in!

Here’s the book’s description:
Even an earl needs his ride-or-dies, and Archibald Fielding-Burton, the Earl of Harcourt, counts himself lucky to have two. Archie (the jock), Simon (the nerd), and Effie (the goth) have been BFFs since their school days, and their annual trip holds a sacred spot in their calendars. This year, Archie is especially eager to get away—until an urgent letter arrives from an old family friend, begging him to help prevent a ruinous scandal. Archie’s childhood pal Olive Morgan must be rescued from an ill-fated elopement—and her sister Clementine must be rescued from rescuing Olive. Suddenly the trip has become earls-plus-girls.
This . . . complicates matters. The fully grown Clementine, while as frank and refreshing as Archie remembers, is also different to the wild, windswept girl he knew. This Clem is complex and surprising—and adamantly opposed to marriage. Which, for reasons Archie dare not examine too closely, he finds increasingly vexing.
Then Clem makes him an indecent and quite delightful proposal, asking him to show her the pleasures of the marriage bed before she settles into spinsterhood. And what kind of gentleman would he be to refuse a lady?
I recognize that many books, TV shows, movies, etc are being created because of the “Bridgerton Effect” - that they (the powers that be who decide what to publish or create for screen) recognize there’s an appetite for stories that are as fun, frothy, and historical (ish) as the Bridgerton TV show. Earls Trip had a similar vibe as Bridgerton which I was totally into. Holiday paid attention to the historical elements she needed to but she wasn’t so strict about language or social norms. I find that authors sometimes force the language so much that it sounds…ridiculous. Holiday didn’t do that, thankfully!

I’m excited that this appears to be a series because I’m really looking forward to hanging out with all of these characters again. Holiday created a group of earls (well, two earls and a viscount) who were so delightful. I loved the ladies but the guys were the stars. Their friendship would be refreshing in a contemporary romance so to have it be the focus of a historical romance was a delight. They weren’t shy about their friendship and feelings for each other. Archie maybe mentioned that it wasn’t normal for them to be expressing those feelings a bit too often but it was nice to see how much they cared for each other, their found family. And they willingly embraced the ladies and brought them into the fold, too. Love!

Even though the main purpose of this novel was to be a fun romance, Holiday wove some more serious issues into the story as well. Some had to do with society of the time, such as how Clem (and all other women) were basically just things to be owned and ordered about by men, whether that was their father or their husband (because of course their life goal had to be marriage and marriage to a man - there was no other option). Others issues were more general and something contemporary readers can understand, such as Archie’s mother’s dementia. I felt everything was handled well and respectfully and added to the overall story in a really great way.

Earls Trip was such a fun read and I’m already missing the characters I met in Jenny Holiday’s latest novel. I can’t wait for the next book in the series and I think romance readers everywhere will also thoroughly enjoy this book!

*An egalley of this book was provided by the publisher, Kensington Books, via NetGalley in exchange for review consideration. All opinions are honest and my own.*

Th perfect historical romance!
I am OBSESSED🥰🥰🥰
I loved the FMC in this one. Usually I’m picky, but she was so delightful. As a fan of Bridgerton, I was engrossed in this one.

05/25/2024 || Earls Trip by Jenny Holiday || #EarlsTrip #NetGalley #HistoricalRomance #RomCom

Thank you NetGalley, Jenny Holiday, and Kensington Books | Kensington for making this e-ARC available!

Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author and myself.

All of my thoughts are my own~

Full 5 Stars!!

CW: terminal illness depicted on page and mentioned (dementia/memory loss: mom), neglectful parents depicted on page and mentioned, emotionally abusive parents mentioned, minor domestic violence mentioned, animal death mentioned, guns on page and mentioned, hunting on page

For full transparency college has been eating away at my leisurely time so I did not get to this lovely book before its publishing date, but this was the very much needed refresher for after my midterms and wrapping up my quarter to! One could say I had my very own Earls Trip 1821 in 2024!

For starters, I don't really read many cis, heterosexual novels, especially not many romantic books- but I love historical romance and I've been pleasantly surprised in the last handful of years of how many authors are really pulling out all the stops for their historical romances to stay within the guidelines of the eras they're writing, but with fun and woman's gaze centered views. Feminism? Unconventional but like so good for everyone?? Idk what to call it but if someone figures out exactly what is going on here (positive) please let me know!

On to the main bulk of the review: I loved every single character. Archie, Effie, and Simon (though I guess I will have to wait until his book to learn more about him) are darling, non toxic, aware of their feelings and comfortable with them type men who all have unique interests and different lifestyles but have stayed close companions for all these years because they love and adore one another. THANK YOU JENNY HOLIDAY.

Earls Trip starts off with the boys collecting each other to head off for one of their yearly trips together off to some countryside estate or another to just unwind and bond and spend time together. We quickly learn that Simon is quiet, reserved, and married to politics. Effie (somehow short for Edward), is the whimsical artist who sees the world for all it's beauty and cruelty and creates art (poems and writings) from it. Archie (fondly called Arch by Clem) is very responsible and very emotionally attached to his dearest friends and would defend them with his life if ever need be. We also learn that Archie's mother is suffering from memory loss (it seems like dementia but I am unsure) and how much this is affecting him emotionally and how desperately he needs this Earls Trip this year. His friends are endlessly supportive and do not so much as blink when they need to turn around to return something to Archie's house for his ailing mom. They also do not hesitate to talk with him about the subject and Archie acknowledges how sincere his friends are and is once again very moved by their unfailing support and love they have for him. All and all the boys are truly superb gentlemen and I desperately wish for men like this to exist. Thank yooooou.

Anyways, we meet the girls and sisters, Clementine (respectively called Clem by Archie and Clemmy by her sister) and Olive in a super bizzarro marriage/not marriage situation and slowly learn about them and why the girls are not as close as they guys over time.

Clem and Arch were best friends while kids growing up but seem to have lost touch over all these years. Due to the bizzare and strange reasons of them meeting up this fateful Earls Trip, they all end up on the trip together and friendships, and romance(s?) bloom out in the crumbling castle with the phallic shaped topiary. There is even a little turtle named Hermes in this lovely book.

The story is very much so friends to lovers and the endless successful and good communication, effective and empathetic listening everyone does for one another, THE CONSENT EVERYONE, the love, the friendships - both old and new, the story telling- truly the everything about this book had me giggling, gasping, and in tears because this book was just so wonderful. The characters were so real, tangible, and vulnerable in such a genuine way. I was floored how much I loved this!

Immediately I borrowed the audiobook from the library and wow - really great narration done if physically reading is not your thing.
I will deffo be buying a book and audio copy for myself (from Libro.FM) someday soon!

Jenny Holiday is typically my go-to for low angst, adventure-filled romances. I was excited to see her trying her hand at the regency subgenre. Unfortunately, this didn't quite hit the mark for me. I have enjoyed Holiday's past work much more.

My favorite part of this story was the friendships between the Earls and the development of the sister's relationship. I was never fully invested in the romance and found the main female character exhausting. I also felt like the meat of the story took ages to begin.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

I liked this book! After having finished the Bridgerton season three, I felt like this fit into Colin’s story. The writing had me laughing out loud and I wanted to join the boys on their trip!!

Each year Archibald and his two best friends take an annual trip - and whatever happens on Earls Trip stays on Earls Trip… usually. This year in particular, Archie is eager to get away. On their way out of a town, a messenger from an old friend of his father intercepts their carriage along with a letter.

Clementine Morgan and her sister Olive must be rescued from a ruinous scandal. The friends of course rescue them, and instead of returning the ladies home, the trip becomes earls plus girls.

Archie and Clem have not seen each other since their childhood days, and despite the ladies doing their best to stay out of the way of the earls trip - the two continue to find themselves drawn together, unchaperoned in an ancient castle.

Read if you like:
* friends to lovers
* witty banter
* laugh out loud moments

I really liked this book. The slow-burn rekindling of friendship to eventual lovers between Archie and Clem was so sweet and very well done. Seeing the two of the resist their attraction for so long, only to be totally besotted and unaware of their love for each other was fun. I also enjoyed the strong male friendships and hope that we get to see happily ever afters for both Effie and Simon.

If you’re in the mood for a light, fun, regency romcom - then you should pick this up!

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington Books for a free digital copy of this book. This is my honest review. Publication date: April 23, 2024.