Review: The Earl Next Door

The Earl Next Door by Amelia Grey
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I have to admit I was kind of disappointed with Amelia Grey's "The Earl Next Door." The premise was very interesting and I expected to love the book based on that alone, but in the end, there were a few too many things that bothered me for one reason or another. For example, some of the language seemed too modern to me, such as an acquaintance being described as "into" something rather than "interested in" it. There were also sentences and, in a few cases, entire paragraphs that didn't make any sense at all, but since I read an ARC, I would hope that those issues will be cleaned up prior to publication.

There were a few other things that didn't make sense to me, such as the location of the girls' school founded by Adeline and her friends. Early in the book, it is explained that the school's location in London's St. James neighborhood was chosen specifically because it was away from the ton's homes in Mayfair. Somehow, though, it manages to be right next door to an earl's house, with the earl's aunt and one of his aunt's friends also living on the same street. That seems like an awful lot of members of the ton in the neighborhood to me!

It also bothered me that Adeline and her friends called Lyon by his first name from the very beginning. They did not have a prior acquaintance with him, and even if they had, it was improper. Forms of address were among the most basic rules of etiquette that they all should have been taught from early childhood, so this seems like a major oversight, especially given how concerned all of the ladies were about propriety because they were representing the school in society.

Overall, this story was kind of boring and predictable, but the characters were all fairly likeable, so I still plan to give the next book in the series a try. Hopefully I will find it a bit more enjoyable than this one.

*ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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