Lara Temple

Snowbound with the Earl

I have long been a fan of Ms Temple’s stories. She creates vividly engaging characters and writes wonderfully romantic love stories that never fail to bring me great pleasure and joy. Therefore, I was particularly interested to see how this would translate to the shorter novella form.

I loved Snowbound with the Earl. It reads and feels like a whole novel. The story arc is perfect and there is so much background detailing in addition to the Christmas setting that the novella is a richly rewarding read.

There is enough back story to make Bella and Nicholas’s romance believable. They had crossed swords prior to the beginning of the novella. It is an “enemy to lovers” trope and comes to vivid life in Ms Temple’s hands. I really enjoyed their verbal sparring as they worked out what was happening to them. Their characters are pitch perfect with just the right amount of emotional depth and sensuality to balance their acute brains and quick tongues.

As always with this author’s work, the supporting characters are finely drawn and round out the story. I particularly enjoyed Nicholas’s mother and his young niece. I also felt sorry for poor Rupert who makes an appearance in Ms Temple’s excellent forthcoming novel: The Wrong Way to Catch a Rake. I would like to see him get his own story, if only to see how he excapes the clutches of his disagreeable mama.

This story perfectly captures the warmth and sentiment of the Christmas season and leaves this reader with a glow of satisfaction and joy.

Thank you to the author for a free copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.… (mehr)

Ms Temple is such a talented writer: her novels just get better and better. I really loved this story with its wonderful characters, glorious setting and heartfelt romance.

The vibrant backdrop is one of the aspects of the novel that I enjoyed most. The scenes at the hidden restaurant were so vivid. Not only are the meals described so enticingly but it is also a joy to see Phoebe enjoying the new tastes and textures of Venetian cuisine. Food is such a sensual pleasure, and the act of eating and drinking together made it easier for barriers to drop, for Phoebe and Dominic to get to know each other better and for attraction to develop into desire.

There is a wonderfully described football match where the physicality of the game and his tactical brilliance allows Dominic to shine and Phoebe sees a different side of his nature. It was so beautifully written that I could almost feel the sweat pouring down him and hear the pounding feet as the game ebbed and flowed.

Above all, I loved how Venice itself is a prominent character. All those sunny passageways, the canals, the gondolas, the ancient palazzos, intricate architecture with handy balconies, cool marble, hidden gardens and the spectacular light come to life and serve as an eloquent counterpoint to the twists and turns of Dominic and Phoebe's story.

For a relatively short novel, so much ground is covered with depth and detail. I really enjoyed the espionage element with its concomitant secrecy, dissimulation and subterfuge. At a time of flux in the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, diplomacy in Europe was at a tricky point as government officials moved between major cities for the various congresses and summits. The premise of the plot is therefore entirely feasible and provides so many opportunities for the author to showcase her skills in plotting and character development.

One of Ms Temple’s greatest strengths is in creating compelling, warm, and relatable characters that propel the story with such verve and intensity that I cannot help but be totally invested in both the plot and the romance. Phoebe and Dominic are so interesting. Though differing in some respects, they have both had difficult and lonely childhoods, characterised by lack of parental love and they both have severe trust issues. However, they have both forged purposeful lives for themselves and while Phoebe is content with her hard-won sense of usefulness and achievement, Dominic has an emptiness inside that his work for the Crown barely touches. However, when they come together, they truly are two halves of a whole. At every level they meet each other’s needs, even if they cannot or will not acknowledge it. The reader quickly realises how right for each other they are, and the joy is in watching them discover it for themselves.

Their appreciation for each other’s intelligence and their sparkling dialogue brought echoes of Benedict and Beatrice or Petruchio and Katherine. Phoebe and Dominic lead each other a merry dance, the chemistry between them is sizzling hot and very sexy. My favourite part of the romance is the way Dominic falls so hard for Phoebe. Having never been in love, he is in uncharted territory, and it terrifies him and yet his honesty, humour, desperation, sensitivity and tenderness just melted my heart. I also love Phoebe's determination to do the job she loves and the way she resists her feelings ...until she can't.

I don't want to give any spoilers so I will just say that the denouement was terrific and the epilogue simply perfect. It was such a joyous, triumphant and satisfying read. There is so much depth and richness - I haven't even mentioned the wonderful cast of supporting characters - Milly, Pietro, Marcus and even Mrs Bannister. I just loved it and know I will reread it often and whenever I need a dose of life-affirming, heart stopping, sexy romance.

Thank you to the author for a free copy for an honest review.… (mehr)

This is a wonderful story. I thoroughly enjoyed it and know I will read it again and again. It concerns the love story of two exquisitely drawn characters who leap off the page fully formed and stay in the mind long after the book has ended.

Genevieve Maitland is a woman out of her time. She is intelligent, intellectual and has all the skills of a born leader. However, these attributes were not required of a woman in Regency England. As the sister of a widowed Countess, she is living as a companion to the Countess's mother in law, and on the charity of the new Earl, Kit Carrington, who up until this moment has preferred sailing the seven seas to claiming his heritage. She knew Kit some years previously when he was one of the more respected captains serving under her grandfather, General Maitland, in the Spanish wars. Genevieve is disappointed and annoyed that Kit seems to be shirking his responsibilities to his family and his widowed step-mother in particular.

Kit Carrington has returned to England to support his young stepsister at her wedding and is keen to get back to his ship "The Hesperus" and return to his life of trade and adventure. He finds Genevieve efficiently managing his grandmother's household, pulling strings and working hard to find prospective husbands for her sister and for Kit's stepmother. He is somewhat affronted! However, he finds himself, reluctantly, physically attracted to Genevieve.

What follows their first meeting is an exhilarating, witty and entrancing courtship dance that reminded me a little of Beatrice and Benedict and Petruchio and Katherina. The verbal sparring, the advance and retreat, the misunderstanding and reconciliations all come together in a glorious whole that makes my heart sing.

I loved watching Kit as he falls in love with Genevieve. He is gorgeous, uber-sexy and has an engaging compulsion towards self reflection. He fights his attraction at first, dismissing it as just lust but the more he learns about Genevieve, the more he admires her intelligence, her stoicism, her efforts to secure the best future she can for those she cares for. As he comes to understand the difficulties she lives with on a daily basis and as he discovers each new facet of her character his heart becomes increasingly engaged until he realises with some shock that he is in love with her.

As much as I fell in love with Kit, it was Genevieve who spoke to me most. How hard it must have been to hide her intelligence and intellectual pursuits. How difficult it must have been to sublimate her leadership skills into organising family matters when, had she been born male, she could have made her mark in the world as a leader in her own right. How hard it must have been to rely on the charity of others as an indigent relation and to have to scheme for a way to make a life for herself. And yet Genevieve is loving, compassionate and honest in the way reacts to Kit and the effect he has on her.

There is a very cinematic quality to the book. Scenes on the dance floor, theatre, beach and The Hesperus are very vivid and serve to highlight and enhance the different stages of their romance. A host of supporting characters are brought to life with a delicate touch and each has a vital role to play in emphasising aspects of the protagonists' characters and motivations. I particularly enjoyed the imperious Dowager Countess in all her horror and had a sneaking sympathy for Julian, Kit's kind but ineffectual cousin.

All in all, this is a gorgeous book: a social commentary with depth, a witty, romantic and sexy love story with wonderfully vivid characters. I just loved it.… (mehr)