Meet the Earl at Midnight by Gina Conkle

Narrated by Marian Hussey

Meet the Earl at Midnight has been on my radar since its release this past May. Historical romance has been my first love and this novel, with its recommendation from Grace Burrowes on the cover and its Phantom of the Opera reference on the back, seemed very intriguing and most definitely up my alley.  So call me giddy when I was given the opportunity to review it in audio.

Lydia Montgomery, along with her stepfather, arrive after midnight at the Blue Cockerel to rescue her (perpetually) troublesome stepbrother. However, it is not her stepbrother she meets but the mysterious Edward, Earl of Greenwich, known in the ton as “the Phantom Earl”. He informs her that she has been offered up in recompense for debts incurred by her stepfather and stepbrother. And not just a few debts – apparently the two men have embezzled hundreds of pounds from the Earl’s shipping company. If their actions are made public, they will all be ruined. Lydia doesn’t worry for herself but for her mother who would never recover from the devastating loss. With their marriage and the promise of an heir, however, the Earl promises to forgive the debt and protect Lydia’s mother from scandal.

Although he is scarred and secretive, Lydia discovers Edward is not the beast society has made him out to be. He’s passionate and witty and even shares some of her intellectual interests. What’s more, Edward listens to her when she talks. Despite their opposite social backgrounds, Lydia thinks that marrying him may not be so bad after all; maybe he will be the one man who can truly understand her.

How to describe the joys I experienced with this book… and the despair. This book should have been tailor made for me – a troubled and misunderstood hero and an independent heroine who runs circles around him. However, after that entertaining opening, this book fell into a pit of hot mess. There were parts of the book I enjoyed; they were just eclipsed by the frustrating and silly bits of the majority of it.

The first of my issues involved the main characters, Lydia and Edward. For all her apparent intelligence, she came across as naive. She is told by her crappy stepfather – whom she admits isn’t the best of people – that only she can rescue her stepbrother and she didn’t ask any questions?! She just did what she was told and thought nothing else of the weird circumstances.

Really? Then when she does find out why she’s there, she gives in with a token protest and then gets into a carriage with a man she doesn’t know and who apparently has a suspicious past. Really? That doesn’t play for me at all. I know the book mentions she is from common stock and not as well-educated but you can’t tell me some things aren’t just common sense. It’s not until Lydia has been ensconced at Edward’s home for a bit that she starts to have questions about Edward. So in order to find out more about the man who is to be her husband, she riffles through his personal papers. Again, where was her sense?

And Lydia claims she’s marrying Edward to protect her mother but she doesn’t seem to take into consideration just how bad her mother will feel when Lydia up and disappears. For someone “sacrificing” herself for the betterment of her mother, she didn’t appear to think much about said mother after she got to Edward’s country house.

And then there is Edward. Such a learned man, yet he assumes all the women in his life suffer from female histrionics when they dare argue with him. He can’t see that his mother or wife has legitimate concerns over his actions; no, they are just hysterical and need to calm down! I swear the words “female hysterics” had to have been mentioned at least seven times. (I almost bought the eBook so I could highlight and count the exact number of times he said the words.)

Which leads me into another problem I had with this book – the many unresolved issues left at the end. What happened to Lydia’s mother after she went to stay with this Sarah person? Why didn’t she come and live with Lydia? What about Lydia’s stepfather and stepbrother? Did Lord Greenwich just let them escape without any consequences? And what about Miss Mayhew? What happened to her after she left Greenwich Park? We were told she was all alone yet she is going to go to London and survive? Seriously – I felt like I had more questions at the end than I did in the beginning!

The saving grace of the book? Marian Hussey. Her narration was the only reason I was able to finish the book. She was very good at pulling me into the story. From the first words she uttered, I only heard her words and nothing else. She reminded me a lot of Ashford McNab and her performances of the earlier Maiden Lane series by Elizabeth Hoyt. Hussey’s vowels were well-rounded and clearly pronounced, making it possible to distinctly hear every word spoken. I never had a moment, even with lower class, male accents, where I had to rewind to hear what had been previously said.  Even in multi-voiced conversations, Hussey clearly defined and captured all of the characters.

Would I read another book by Conkle? Maybe. Miss Mayhew’s story is next and, as I had many questions about what happened to her, my curiosity may get the better of me. I will say I’m not likely to listen to that book in audio. Despite Hussey’s wonderful performance (and it was a really, really good one!), I think the narration only emphasized the issues I had with the characters instead of diminishing them. I do know I will be looking for more titles narrated by Hussey and for any upcoming releases with her name on them. I do believe I’ve added a new narrator to my auto-buy list!

Diana

Narration:  B+

Book Content:  C-

Steam Factor:  Glad I had my ear buds in

Violence:  None

Genre:  European Historical

Publisher:  Gina Conkle

Meet the Earl at Midnight was provided to AudioGals for review.