West End Earl by Bethany Bennett

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Wanting a little bit of a change of pace before getting to February, I wanted to pick up a historical romance. I had a few historicals on my headboard that I wanted to read soon and knew immediately I wanted to pick up West End Earl by Bethany Bennett. This is the second book in her Misfits of Mayfair series. I applied this to the Winter's Kiss 2nd board prompt starts with the letter W and the Heaving Bosom's 2022 Reading Embrace prompt St. Vincent would always.

Ophelia has been living as her twin brother Adam for the past 11 years. After their parents passed and they were sent to a distant uncle, Ophelia and Adam planned to run away. When they were leaving, Adam falls into a pond on the estate, cracks his head on a rock and passes away. To escape their Uncle, Fi takes her brother's place at school. Now, she is currently working with the Earl of Carlisle, Calvin. Not only does he employ her, but they have become great friends. In several months she will reach majority and have access to her inheritance. When Ophelia is attacked on the way home, Cal finally learns the truth about "Adam." When the attack turns out to be orchestrated by her uncle after taking out an insurance policy on Adam, things quickly escalate. Now that Cal knows Fi is a woman, he can't unsee her and the attraction between them quickly builds.

This was so good! I absolutely loved it, eve more than the first book Any Rogue Will Do. I was nervous how long Cal was going to think that Adam was a man, but even though it's been two years of friendship, we quickly see him figure out that Adam is actually Ophelia. The tension between them and way that Cal just wanted to take care of her in all ways was so great. I mean we've seen in both books that he really takes care of his friends, but when things turn romantic it just intensifies. This book also took some crazy turns that I wasn't expecting and I absolutely loved it. I love getting surprised by where Bethany took us and loved the way it played out.

We meet and see a lot of Emma, Cal's younger sister. While she was frustrating to me a lot of the book, we did get some good growth from her and I loved the way that she connected with Fi. Honestly, that's really the only thing that really bothered me, but seeing where it lead made it worth it. I just really loved the twists and turns. It just really made my reading experience even better and I can't wait for more.

I can't believe that this is only Bethany Bennett's second book and I am so hyped for her future career. The third book in the series is Emma's and comes out this May. I already have it preordered and am so ready to see what happens. I am loving that I have a new historical author to follow and that it's early enough in her career I can stay caught up on her backlist. If you are looking for a newer historical release, I can't recommend Bethany Bennett more. She's definitely a stand out of the new generation for me!

Have you read West End Earl?

Bookishly Yours,

Stasi🍎

STATISTICS: West End Earl, Bethany Bennett, 5-stars, 0 days, paperback, 377 pages, published in 2021, traditionally published