My Fair Lord is a retelling of My Fair Lady with a unique spin .great characters a very enjoyable light hearted read Than you to Net Galley for my ARC

Florence Wakechild travels from New York to England, her father Clayton made his fortune manufacturing dye, he returns to London to visit his eldest daughter Cordelia, or Lady Griggs the Baroness of Goreswarth and her husband Tremlow. Despite their marriage being arranged, they have developed feelings for each other and Florence is delighted her sister is happy.

Florence doesn't understand why her father is in such a hurry to marry her off, he wants her to find a British aristocrat, many marry American heiresses to boost the family coffers and it costs a fortune to keep their, cold and drafty houses maintained. Her father hates being classed as being from ‘new money’ surely having one daughter married to a Baron is enough to improve his status and why can’t her father be content with that?

Florence comes up with a plan, she wants to train an ordinary working man to behave like a gentleman, to fool her father and prove that titles are meaningless and pointless. Her choice is Ned Blake, she met him in Liverpool, he's a private investigator and she’s sees no harm in her idea and starts giving Ned lessons. He has no trouble learning what cutlery to use, how to bow, surprisingly Ned's not a bad dancer and maybe being a pugilist has made him light on his feet?

I received a copy of My Fair Lord by Elisabeth Hobbes from HarperCollins UK and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Set in the gilded age, it’s the authors take on My Fair Lady, I really liked the characters in this story, Florence and her maid Dottie, Ned, Cordelia, Tremlow and waif Alfie.

A light and fun read and there's more to Ned than Florence thinks and he's keeping a secret, will he steal her heart and make her believe love isn’t a waste of time? Four stars from me, I have read and enjoyed the author’s previous novels Daughters of Paris and The Secret Agent and this narrative is very different to her other books.

This was very cute but I wouldn't say it was a retelling of My Fair Lady. Florence is the daughter of a wealthy American widow who believes his daughters should be married to an aristocrat. Florence doesn't want to get married and decides to convince her father that breeding isn't everything and she can teach any man to be a gentleman. Enter Ned Blake. I felt the characters were interesting. Florence is pig-headed and is great at jumping to conclusions. Ned is, of course, extremely handsome and a fast learner. I got a kick out of Florence's sister, Cordelia, who is married to Lord Griggs.

If you like a romance with good characters and a closed door kind of romance this is perfect.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK - One More Chapter for providing me with a digital copy.

This is a well-written romp with fun characters, and would probably have been a four stars read if it hadn't been for a twist - keeping it extremely vague since this is an arc review - that made the entire plot retroactively pointless, tied everything up with a neat little bow without the protagonists having to work for their HEA and also had some extremely unfortunate implications for the wider themes of the story (accidentally, I believe)

I would not be opposed to reading more from this author, since this was mostly a fun read, and I do recommend it if you're willing to shut your brain off while you read it.

A wager is made…..how will it play out????
I have to say the main characters were quite likeable.
Loved the slow burn romance.
The story had me smiling and chuckling out loud.
Thank you NetGalley, the publisher and author for the opportunity to read this book for my honest review. All opinions expressed are my own.

Thank you to Netgalley and Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thought and opinions are my own.

So when I first read the synopsis for this book and it was marked as a 'A Gilded Age Retelling of My Fair Lady' I was determined to get a copy. Growing up this has been one of my favourite films and Eliza Dolittle one of my most favourite characters. I have also read the Pygmalion Play where the intention is to show that a person's social status is dictated less by what you are, but by how you are perceived.

Having read the book I can confirm that this is not a re-telling of the story but more a loose interpretation of it. Had I not read this when I started to book I may have enjoyed it more, but I just kept comparing it to the original. I really wanted to love it but it just fell short for me.

Florence Wakefield's father wants her to marry into the British aristocracy. However Florence has other plans and sets her eyes on teaching her father a lesson. She will take on Ned Blake, and prove to her father than a noble birth or title does not make a man. She set to turning Ned into the perfect viscount.

The book was a little too clean for me, I just couldn't feel the chemistry between the two characters or romance. And Florence likes to preach about social issues a little much through the book, which felt a little too heavy for what I thought was going to be a light historical romance.

Whilst I liked the characters well enough, I just couldn't feel the chemistry between them. Maybe it is just a little too slow paced for my usual reading style.

My Fair Lord is an engaging romance set in the later 19th century.

Our two main characters meet in the first sentence, and their tale then takes us from Liverpool to New York. Elizabeth Wakechild is an outspoken young, wealthy American woman, determined against marrying a British titled lord with no money. Ned is somewhat of a mystery - a man who can move in quite exulted company but is also not out of place in a dockyard pub. Elizabeth's desire to show her father's determination that she marry into a title is based on little more than conceit, bringing them together. With the aid of Ned, Elizabeth intends to show her father that a man can be taught about manners and societal norms without having been born to them and sets about teaching him with forthright determination.

Both hot-headed, and with agendas of their own, the two but heads, but also remain determined to fulfil their respective bargains, no matter what, and even if it means travelling to New York. The narrative is split between the pair and moves at quite a brisk pace.

Ned and Elizabeth are both fun characters. Elizabeth is educated in the correct forms of address for every member of British society; Ned isn't, or at least, he pretends not to be. They fall in love with one another, which accounts for why they refuse to part ways, even if it might be better for them to do so, even though, as it stands, they could never be together.

I enjoyed the story. Elizabeth is perhaps the more-rounded character. Her secrets are freely shared with the reader, whereas Ned's aren't. This does allow for the ending to be quite unexpected.

This is sure to appeal to fans of historical romance of all time periods.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my review copy.

What a wonderful romance and perfectly addictive retelling of My Fair Lady! Fans of romance will be swept away to the gilded age. Highly recommend.

I received a free copy of this book. My review is voluntary and the opinions expressed are my own.

My Fair Lord is a thoroughly entertaining reimagining of My Fair Lady with a nice, though fairly predictable twist at the end. The story is set in the nineteenth century and begins in Liverpool, where Florence Wakechild meets Ned Blake, who is in need of her company in order to get away from two men who are seeking him. Florence, an American heiress, has been brought to England by her industrialist father who is determined to marry her to an aristocrat, thus elevating his family name in New York society. Florence wants none of it. She is very firmly of the opinion that she should be able to make her choice of husband based on love rather than being sold off to the highest bidder. After a second encounter with Ned, she devises a plan to fool her father into realising that aristocrats are no different to anybody else. Ned is to be “made” into a viscount and presented to her father. I liked Florence’s strict adherence to her book on etiquette and manners and the biddable way that Ned allowed her to train him. I fell in love a little with Ned myself. He’s clearly hiding something and not wishing to be found by somebody, but while looking over his shoulder, he’s also a thoroughly charming man. While I found Florence's father somewhat ridiculous in his awe of the English aristocracy, he didn't appear on the page often enough to really irk me. Her older sister Constance and Constance's husband n the other hand, were far more entertaining supporting characters. It was fun watching Florence and Ned fall in love. Their story was very readable and truly enjoyable.

“American Heiresses” was quite the trend beginning in the late 1800s. Rich young American women travelled to England to marry British nobility. A win-win for everyone: many of the English estates were run-down and desperately in need of cash, an abundance of American families had that cash. The money was “made” and not inherited, usually by businessmen and merchants, so the addition of a title to their family brought them prestige and respectability that their new money did not in the United States. So win-win all around, right? Well, maybe except for the young women that were forced by their fathers into marriages to anyone they could capture who had a big enough title. Florence Wakefield is one of those young women. Her father is obsessed with British aristocracy, in part because his late wife was part of it and shunned by her family, but mostly because he loves now being rich and wants to buy acceptability into the upper crust in America. Florence finds it cruel and humiliating and wonders why her father would put her through that, but he’s already managed to marry her sister off to a nobleman and nothing can stop him. He is a despicable man who only becomes more despicable as the story moves along.

Ned Blake is . . . let’s leave him a man of mystery for now. Seems a little shady, his job is a little odd, he seems very capable but at just what? He has regrets, resentments, secrets, is he hiding or running from something? Not sure, but there’s something about him – besides that devastatingly handsome face – that makes us want to find out.

Ned and Florence’s first meet is a hilarious scene that sets the stage for the rest of this excellent story. Serious undertones, maybe a smidge of attraction, a lot of questions and assumptions.

After their encounter Florence comes up with what she believes is a brilliant plan and the perfect answer to her predicament. She’ll hire Ned to pretend to be a nobleman, a viscount maybe. How hard can it be? Her brother-in-law is a Lord and she’ll just ask him if she has questions. After she’s fooled her father she’ll confess the deception and her father will immediately see that a title is meaningless. Probably most Englishmen, noble or not, including Ned, realize there is more to being a part of the aristocracy than a young American heiress can teach in a few weeks, and after witnessing more of her father’s shameless, fawning behavior it’s doubtful he’ll ever give up. But Florence is very determined and more than a little desperate, so the lessons begin.

And this wonderful story just takes off. Florence is solid in her certainty that she’ll pull this off. Ned is a very fast learner, at times even pointing things out to Florence that she hadn’t thought of. Their encounters are funny, tender, touching, infuriating. Is that little smidge of attraction between them growing? It can’t be. She knows nothing about him really; he knows more about . . . whatever it is he knows and we don’t know – yet.

It was so much fun watching this story unwind and unfold that more detail in a review would spoil the pleasure of reading it for yourself. It’s set in a time when rules and social mores were everything, for young women, married and unmarried, for first sons and not-first sons. It’s well-plotted with perfect pacing and interesting, intriguing, well-developed characters who make you smile, laugh or want to strangle them.

Thanks to author Elisabeth Hobbes and Harper Collins UK, One More Chapter for providing an advance copy of My Fair Lord. I had previously read Hobbes’ work; it was very different but equally engaging and satisfying. I guess a great writer is a great writer is a great writer. Just look up ‘Elisabeth Hobbes’ and start reading. I voluntarily leave this review; all opinions are my own.

I'm always here for a "My Fair Lady" retelling, though in this case "retelling" may be too strong a word. More like a very free reworking (though with some fun occasional shoutouts to the MFL song lyrics!). Still, it was an enjoyable story with good characters -- Twemlow in particular was straight out of Wodehouse and I loved him! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC and Rachel McMillan for the tip.

Fun romance

I truly enjoyed "My Fair Lord". What's not to like about a riff on Pygmalion/My Fair Lady! Our American heroine has been brought to England by her father to find an aristocratic husband. But the lady has other ideas! Very amusing and easy to read, good for a beach read as well as by the fireside.

Thank you to the publisher for lending me an e-arc via Netgalley. This review is optional and my own opinion.

My Fair Lady retelling....

This time, the twist is that Florence is taking Ned Blake, who she thinks is an ordinary dude she met in Liverpool into a posh lord. Florence is an American, whose father desperately wants to marry her off to a title. In a very modern act of rebellion, she attempts to fancy Ned up. There is an ironic twist in store for these two.
Recommend.
4.5

Thank you for the opportunity to read My Fair Lord. This was a good read. I thought at first I was in an Eliza Dolittle retelling, however, this was more mistaken identity or hidden identity story.

Thanks to NetGalley for a copy of this ebook and this is my freely given opinion.

I don't think this is quite a version of My Fair Lady so much as it is a hidden identity, differing social strata, miscommunication, American/Britain culture story.

Florence Wakechild is an unmarried American heiress brought to England by her wealthy industrialist father to seek out a title, to make aristocratic connections and boost his own status back in America. She is too independent minded and forthright in her mannerisms and speech to be a simpering, sweet debutante, and is not of a mind to bend to her father's ambition. Instead, she would rather keep her independence and work at his side in his business, and does not believe, as her father does, that a vaunted family history, bloodline, and title makes any man better than others. To this end, she comes up with a plan to make over a common man to play an aristocrat to fool her father, disproving his beliefs, in the hopes that he would reconsider selling her off in marriage to a title. A bit of flawed reasoning right from the beginning as Florence herself is quite obdurate about British courtesies and social norms herself, and decides to be the teacher in this endeavour based on a book she found. This becomes a wager between her and her brother in law, with her sister conspiring with them.

Before this, she had met a rather mysterious figure, Ned Blake, who used her to hide behind as he was escaping some nefarious figures. He turns out to be some kind of fixer, selling his services to individuals for whatever they need. In this case, it was recovering an heirloom ring for a wealthy businessman, lost by his profligate son, at the gaming tables of a brothel, before a scandal brews.

Regardless, Florence enjoyed the adventure of their alliance and intrigued by Ned, and when she comes up with her scheme, seeks him out as the common man to be made over. Ned agrees, not just because it is a job but it comes to light that there are things coming to head in his own life that he is seeking to escape, and time away from Liverpool at a country estate, and later travelling to America suits his purposes quite well.

There is a lot of mistaken communication between the two with Florence making a lot of assumptions and rash judgements, and Ned also hiding his true self from Florence, but also making assumptions that she is a title-seeking American Dollar princess as well. But as they spend time together, Ned comes to appreciate Florence and her rather independent-minded spirit and forthrightness.

As they grow closer though, they find themselves both facing what they were seeking to avoid. Mr Wakefield has arranged and signed a betrothal contract for Florence, and the past Ned is seeking to put off or avoid entirely finds him in America, and their ruse comes to light in a way that raises scandal and embarrassment to her family.

I rather liked the hidden identity and background story of Ned, and his character. But I found Florence and her father to be at times quite contradictory and hypocritical. Florence seemed quite prone to being overbearing in her expectations of Ned and others, and quite impulsive and judgmental, with some rather narrow views about people of her personal acquaintance, contrasting with her more liberal ideals of the working man and what should be done for society and the betterment of others. This makes her difficult to connect with and like as a character at times as she is prickly.

A clean Victorian era (American/British) romance with a different slant. An interesting story, and I feel that it was a bit unfinished how it ended, because it would have been interesting to have an epilogue about how Florence and Ned, two fish out of water characters, would have gotten on in their relationship in their new circumstances.

3.25 stars out of 5

I really enjoyed this story. It was my first to read by Elisabeth Hobbes, but she has written 30 others. The writing was seasoned, and I would definitely read more by the author.

This was much more than an inverse retelling of My Fair Lady. In fact, the first 40% or so of the story was before the idea even struck. There was also a mystery and some great secondary characters.

I liked both Miss Wakefield and Ned. Neither were perfect. They were human, but they both had some extraordinary qualities. I really enjoyed all their interactions and character growth. Ned was such a mystery I could not puzzle out until almost the end.

The book was clean. I would recommend to anyone who likes the Gilded Age setting, autistic spectrum characters, or clean HR. This was definitely my favorite book of February 2024.

This was an altogether charming read!

Reminiscient of The Duke and I, with a hoax to fool an unsuspecting father into believing an ordinary Englishman is a member of the aristocracy, this novel is witty, gripping and has that addictive chaste slow burn feel.

More than money is at risk when American heiress, Florence Wakefield, perusuades mysterious stranger, Ned Blake, to allow her to remake him as a viscount in a wager to convince her father his lofty values of lords and marriage are incorrect.

This has rather rekindled my love of a good historical story, and my only wish was a for a little bit more burn in the final pages. However, a lovely read taking inspiration from My Fair Lady.

📚 I will read anything Elisabth writes. So, I was very excited to devour this book. That I did!

🇺🇲 I adored Florence's character & all the traits that made her her. It's lovely to see Autistic representation in stories & Florence was a wonderful character. I loved her bluntness & also when she explained her anxieties.

📚 Ned & Florence's chemistry was perfect. I enjoyed their antics from beginning to end. Such a wonderful story & so easy to sink my teeth into.

🇺🇲 I loved everything about this story & will definitely be reading more of Elisabeth's books. I've read so many & never been disappointed.

📚 Highly highly recommended!

Kelly

I’m torn on how to rate this one. There were things I really liked about this book. I loved Florence and Ned—both individually and as a couple. I liked Florence’s sister and brother-in-law. But the book as a whole didn’t quite come together for me. The pacing in the middle—especially when they were on the ship—dragged. Certain plot points were dropped and never picked back up, while others came at the end, seemingly out of nowhere. For example, throughout the book we’ve shown and told that Florence's sister has a happy marriage, but at the end it’s suggested that isn’t true. The big reveal—which was pretty obvious—took too long. I would have liked to see what their lives look like afterwards, but instead we got the big reveal and a quick ending. I think this book had a lot of potential, but it didn’t realize it.

Thanks to the publisher for providing an eARC via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

I think there's a lot of potential and I enjoyed the romance/Pygmalion-like part. Unfortunately the heroine likes to preach about social issues and, even if I'm interested in social issues, it killed a bit the atmosphere of this light and entertaining historical romance.
3.5 upped to 4
Many thanks to the publisher for this ARC, all opinions are mine