Brave New Earl

By: Jane Ashford

Narrated by: Rosalyn Landor

Length: 9 hrs and 36 mins

Publisher's Summary

First in a new Regency romance series featuring noble gentlemen and the ladies who help them love again. 

Widower Benjamin Romilly, earl of Furness, lives a melancholy life. The loss of his wife in childbirth four years before has robbed him of all happiness. He can barely look at his son, who resembles his mother so strongly and is a constant reminder of her loss. 

But Jean Saunders, a relative of Benjamin's late wife, erupts into the grief-stricken household to restore order and take Benjamin's son away. From all Jean has heard, she assumes he won't care - but she doesn't know how wrong she is. 

As they come together to raise Geoffrey right, their budding attraction is undeniable. And when a nosy neighbor gets in their way, Jean has to face her darkest fears before all is made right.

©2018 Jane LeCompte (P)2018 Recorded Books

Fantastic story and narration

I can't say enough about Rosalyn Landor. I even mention her in reviews where she is not the narrator. This is another great performance. She does so much with the voice of the little boy, that I can feel everything he is going through just by the way that RL changes the tone .
The story is great and shows how 2 mature adults with communication and patience can come together. I believed that this was about learning to love someone, and not just 2 beautiful people lusting after each other. It has compassion and understanding on the part of all the characters. The reader can tell that all of them are coming together to become a family ...very touching and powerful.

10 of 12 people found this review helpful

Disappointed

Setting: Somerset, England
Genre: historical romance
Unsure of the date ~ Regency era or thereabouts.
Miss Jean Saunders erupts into the life of Benjamin Romily, the Earl of Furness, demanding to take his 5 year old son away. Benjamin has spent the past 5 years sitting in his study, staring at the portrait of his wife who died in childbirth. The boy, Geoffrey, is wild and unmanageable and it is difficult to keep nursery staff. Unbeknownst to Benjamin (at least until Jean arrives) Geoffrey’s current caregiver is a drifter named Tom. Jean’s arrival makes Benjamin see that he has been neglecting his son, and that relationship develops at the same time as the connection between the protagonists.
I thought this book would never end. Seriously. It could have been edited down by at least a couple of hours by taking out all the empty rumination and long-winded descriptions. Stylistically, this book was more than disappointing. The narrative was confused by there being multiple points of view. I’m not talking just the alternating h/H you usually find in romance novels. Aside from the 2 protagonists, there was also the POV of Benjamin’s uncle, the Earl of Macklin (spelling?), Macklin’s valet, Jean’s lady’s maid, and the kid. That many points of view isn’t just sloppy, it’s lazy work. Surely limiting the POVs would have provided a tighter, more enjoyable story.
The premise of this story is interesting, but the plot itself is thin, and the characters are one dimensional. It isn’t a good sign when the secondary characters are more interesting than the protagonists.
The fact that this was narrated by Rosalyn Landor is probably the only reason I kept listening. That, and I spent a credit on it.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

the brat

If my 5 year old behaved as Jeffery in this story he would not be able to sit down for a month.

3 of 7 people found this review helpful