How to Train Your Earl by Amelia Grey

A roguish earl must fight using his honor and not his sword to win his lady’s hand in How to Train Your Earl, the third book in the First Comes Love trilogy from bestseller Amelia Grey.

Brina Feld has settled into a life devoted to helping others since the sinking of the Salty Dove left her widowed. She has no need for a man in her contented life. But when the notorious and handsome Lord Blacknight returns and awakens her desires, her peace and serenity vanish. If she agrees to an alliance with him, she knows she will have to battle her heart to keep from being snared under his spell.

Zane, the Earl of Blacknight, was never supposed to inherit the earldom, so he didn’t much care to lead a respectable life before then. Fistfights, card games, and drinking are the order of the day. Now he’s determined to change his rakish ways and he knows the proper lady who can help him. There’s just one problem: He's already bet he’ll win her hand before the Season is over. With her resolve to out-scheme him, how can he show her that his love is true?

Don’t miss our reviews of the rest of the First Comes Love series!
For book one, The Earl Next Door, click HERE.
For book two, Gone With the Rogue, click HERE.

 

 

Book 3
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo
Paperback (US)
St. Martin’s Press

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆
How to Train Your Earl is the third installment in the First Comes Love series and can easily be read as a standalone with little to no confusion.

Brina is the widow of a hero, given the same respect and admiration as a man within society. Brina's charitable efforts and decorum have made her someone all look to as a good example, from the gutter to the cream of the crop. Brina is content in her life, happy to remain unmarried, as to remarry means to lose all of her independence and autonomy.

Zane unexpectedly became an earl, his entire family mourning while also fearful on whether or not Zane can be responsible enough to take good care of the family and its holdings. He's a gambler and a rake, refusing to follow the rules of polite society.

Zane needs a wife, one society respects, because he truly adores his family and wishes to make them proud, hopes to be a good earl and keep their family name respectable. Rake that he is, Zane traps Brina with a bet at White's, and that isn't something that puts him in the best light.

The angst and conflict: Brina may wish for some excitement here or there, but she is not willing to lose all her hard-earned independence, especially to a man she doesn't know, especially when he wants to marry her to satisfy a bet and his family. Then there is Zane, experiencing infatuation at first sight, willing to do anything to win Brina as his wife.

With a delightful balance of humor, romance, and banter, Zane and Brina dance around their attraction. Sweet, a little bit angsty, warm and fuzzy, How to Train Your Earl is sure to please Amelia Grey fans.

 

 

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author AMELIA GREY read her first romance book when she was thirteen and she's been a devoted reader of love stories ever since. Her awards include the Booksellers Best, Aspen Gold, and the Golden Quill. Writing as Gloria Dale Skinner, she won the coveted Romantic Times Award for Love and Laughter, and the prestigious Maggie Award. Her books have sold to many countries in Europe, Indonesia, Turkey, Russia, and Japan. Several of her books have also been featured in Doubleday and Rhapsody Book Clubs. Amelia is the author of more than twenty-five books, including the Heirs' Club trilogy and the Rakes of St. James series. She's been happily married to her high school sweetheart for over thirty-five years and she lives on the beautiful gulf coast of Northwest Florida.

Connect with Amelia

Facebook  ~  Instagram  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

 

 

 

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of How to Train Your Earl (First Comes Love #3) by Amelia Grey to read and review.

Gone with the Rogue by Amelia Grey

A powerful handsome rogue finally meets his match in Gone with the Rogue, the second book in the First Comes Love series from bestseller Amelia Grey.

She had an acceptable marriage of convenience. Now widowed, can this determined and beautiful mother find true and forever love?

The sinking of the Salty Dove took her husband’s life—but it didn’t drown Julia Fairbright’s courage to endure. She creates a proper life for herself and her young son. But now, the ton’s most notorious rogue is back, and how he makes Julia feel is anything but proper. She can’t deny the desires he awakens in her, even though she knows that the handsome devil will surely break her heart.

Garrett Stockton owns a successful shipping company and is rumored to have a woman on every continent and half-a-dozen in England. The truth, however, is that Garrett has but one mistress: the wide open sea. That is, until he meets Julia, whose spirit of independence matches his own. What begins as a flirtatious battle of wits turns far more passionate than either of them could have imagined. Suddenly, Garrett’s only desire is to sail into the sunset with Julia as his wife and young Chatwyn his son. But she won’t take his hand—how can he convince her that his love is real and his heart is hers?

Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆
Gone with the Rogue is the second installment in the First Comes Love series. It can be read independently of the series with little to no confusion as a standalone.

As the daughter-in-law of a duke, a widowed Julia Fairbright is left to raise her son without a father. Under the duke's protection, Julia struggles as her son is used as a leash to keep her under control. Imprisoned by society as a woman, trapped due to her circumstances, after many years, Julia is willing to do anything to gain some independence while keeping her son. An animal cornered.

Julia resonated deeply with me, her emotions were spot-on in the beginning, the eggshell walking, the hopelessness of being trapped in a way of life that she didn't want to lead, while feeling as if there was no way out.

In walks Garrett Stockton, the roguish charming shipping scoundrel. As a prominent business owner, he's always on the fringes, catching sight of Julia. Always getting what he wants, and he wants Julia. Instant attraction, instant need and want, leads to instant love.

As a reader, I'm more prone to believe in the romance if it's more on the slower-building side. If it's too instant, I have a hard time connecting. While a faster pace keeps me engaged while reading, the emotions don't necessarily ring true for me. I enjoyed both characters independently of one another, wanted them to find their happily ever afters with one another, the journey there left me wanting more, maybe wanting something else.

I was confused, because there were scenes where I adored the banter, but other times I felt a disconnect, as if reading different characters with the same names. Sometimes the characterization was rich and alive, other times it came off as one-dimensional, shallow, with forced interaction.

I enjoyed the story, but was confused by how sometimes it felt like I was reading a different book from one scene to the next. The vibe. The way Julia and Garrett interacted with one another and others around them.

A worthy addition to the series, I do look forward to more, and do recommend to fans of the author and historical romance.

Also Available in the First Comes Love Series

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

For reviews & more info, check out our The Earl Next Door post.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Amelia Grey read her first romance book when she was thirteen and she's been a devoted reader of love stories ever since. Her awards include the Booksellers Best, Aspen Gold, and the Golden Quill. Writing as Gloria Dale Skinner, she won the coveted Romantic Times Award for Love and Laughter, and the prestigious Maggie Award. Her books have sold to many countries in Europe, Indonesia, Turkey, Russia, and Japan. Several of her books have also been featured in Doubleday and Rhapsody Book Clubs. Amelia is the author of more than twenty-five books, including the Heirs' Club trilogy and the Rakes of St. James series. She's been happily married to her high school sweetheart for over thirty-five years and she lives on the beautiful gulf coast of Northwest Florida.

Connect with Amelia

Facebook  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Gone with the Rogue (First Comes Love #2) by Amelia Grey to read and review.

The Earl Next Door by Amelia Grey

What does a fiercely independent young widow really want? One determined suitor is about to find out...

When Adeline, Dowager Countess of Wake, learns of her husband’s sudden death, she realizes she’s free. At last, she can do, go, and be as she pleases. Finally, she can have the life she has always dreamed of. She doesn’t need, or want, to remarry. Especially not the supremely dashing future Marquis of Marksworth, who makes Adeline yearn for his desire...

Lord Lyonwood, son of a philandering marquis, will not be like his father. He wants to run his estates and watch them flourish—and find a wife who brings love to his life. When he meets spirited and self-reliant Adeline in a case of near-scandalous mistaken identity, Lyon feels he’s met his match. But Adeline isn’t interested in a marriage proposal. She will only accept becoming his lover—and Lyon finds it hard to refuse. Unless the fire of his passion can melt Adeline’s resolve...

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
B&N  ~  Google Play  ~  iTunes  ~  Kobo

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Erica – ☆☆☆☆
The Earl Next Door is the first in a brand-new series by Amelia Grey, which does an excellent job of introducing the characters while setting up future books.

Romance, especially historical romance is filled with novels featuring pretty young things, right on the cusp of womanhood, no longer a child yet not a full grown woman either, where they are easily manipulated by family, friends, and the hero – their only life purpose to get married, taught to lie, scheme, manipulate, and plot to get a husband. Those portrayed as the median age of the reader, are often times shown in a negative light. On a shelf by age 24, with the males always in their prime, no matter their ages. Generally, with a large age-gap, because the males had to sow their wild oats and grow up first.

Adeline is a different type of woman. Not shown as the on-the-shelf, out-of-date wallflower. While still young, she's a widow, and with that affords her respectability in her maturity. She knows how life works, because she's lived it, not because she's daydreamed and plotted about it with her mother and friends.

Adeline resonated with me as a heroine, because she wasn't impressionable, easily warped by the hero into who he wanted a wife to be. She was set in her ways, feisty and lively, but not in an over-the-top obnoxious fashion that is often used in this genre. While flawed, she accepts what she wants, and refuses to accept anything but what she sees for her future.

After losing her husband at sea, while there was no love lost between the two, Adeline uses her influence to open a school for girls who lost their guardians in a similar fashion, with her widow friends. Adeline and her new neighbor, Lyon, have a misunderstanding of a meet-cute, where he thinks she's doing something vastly different (don't want to spoil this, as it was cute yet infuriating yet hilarious).

Misunderstanding out of the way, Lyon is patient and kind, a man who also knows who and what he wants out of life, but is mature enough to coax it, not demand it. A bit of banter and tension, most of the time, the newly forming couple comes off as comfortable...

Adeline and Lyon did seem a bit boring, and I say that in a positive way, even if it doesn't sound like it. It was a more mature take on the mating dance and romance, where they were honest and didn't get in their own way. Readers who are looking for juvenile behaviors, while this brings excitement and keeps things angsty, the mature romance in The Earl Next Door is befitting of a widow and a grown man.

The main reason I didn't hand out a 5-star rating is the flow, the execution, and the meandering nature of too much inner monologue. Adeline and Lyon liked to explain their actions, reactions, and motivations, sometimes at ad nauseam. This affected the overall flow, making the novel feel longer than it was, slowing the pacing to a crawl, while pulling me from the storyline.

I look forward to future installments, intrigued by the stories for Adeline's widow friends. The premise of a series surrounding widows will have me coming back for more and more, looking for a more mature take on romance, especially in the Historical Romance genre. Highly recommend to fans of the author and the genre, and I can't wait to get my hands on more.

New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Amelia Grey read her first romance book when she was thirteen and she's been a devoted reader of love stories ever since. Her awards include the Booksellers Best, Aspen Gold, and the Golden Quill. Writing as Gloria Dale Skinner, she won the coveted Romantic Times Award for Love and Laughter, and the prestigious Maggie Award. Her books have sold to many countries in Europe, Indonesia, Turkey, Russia, and Japan. Several of her books have also been featured in Doubleday and Rhapsody Book Clubs. Amelia is the author of more than twenty-five books, including the Heirs' Club trilogy and the Rakes of St. James series. She's been happily married to her high school sweetheart for over thirty-five years and she lives on the beautiful gulf coast of Northwest Florida.

Connect with Amelia

Facebook  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Earl Next Door (First Comes Love #1) by Amelia Grey to read and review.