Nice Earls Do by Susanna Craig

This Regency romance novella is the prequel to new series, Goode's Guide to Misconduct. It provides the background to the setting up of Goode's Guide.

Kit, Lord Stallbridge, a bachelor, has to set up a nursery for his brother’s orphaned children, so his housekeeper contacts Mrs Goode, of the “Guide to Housekeeping” for advice. Tabetha, the pseudo Mrs Goode, widowed after twenty unhappy years of marriage, arrives at Kit’s estate with her male secretary, Oliver, in order to oversee the nursery renovations. She is shocked to find that Kit is an old friend, the man she would have married had her father not forced her to marry nasty Lord Manwaring.

The novella is too short to establish any depth of character for Kit, Tabetha and Oliver or to give more than an inkling of their back stories, but all three are kind, generous people who deserve a happy ending. A cheerful, angst-free read.

Thank you to Net Galley for this ARC. ( )

Nice Earls Do by Susanna Craig
Prequel novella, 0.5, to the upcoming series, Goode’s Guide to Misconduct. Historical romance novella.
Beth agrees to pose as Mrs Goode, a decorator, to help her step-son keep his identity a secret from the publisher and public. Neither expected that Lord Bennett is her childhood friend and lost love. He knows Beth couldn’t care less about drapery and furniture

An adorable second chance romance for the couple that didn’t have a choice in their youth. Their situations are very different now and their love is still alive. Oliver is so sweet and obviously knows his craft.
This romance series sounds promising with a bit of humor. Maybe a bit of a take away from the mysterious writer of Bridgerton fame, with a nicer intent and slant from the writing perspective. I look forward to trying this new upcoming series.

I received a copy of this from NetGalley. ( )

Nice Earls Do by Susanna Craig
Goode’s Guide to Misconduct #

This second chance for happiness twenty years later is a quick read that sees to deserving people find a future together that should provide the happiness they both deserve.

What I liked:
* Kit: the son of a steward, inherited an earldom that required his attention the past few years, loved one woman and lost her to a man with a title, expecting his niece and nephew who have been orphaned
* Tabetha/Beth: unhappily married for over twenty years, stepmother, widow, bored, agrees to play a part to help her stepson and in so doing meets up with Kit again after over twenty years
* Oliver: Tabetha’s stepson, author of popular book, unconventional, Viscount, intriguing and would like to see more of him
* Isabella and Luca: Kit’s niece and nephew
* The happy ending with introduction to the series that will follow

What I didn’t like:
* Who and what I was meant not to like
* Thinking about how difficult it must have been to be expected to marry for position rather than for love

Did I enjoy this book? Yes
Would I read more in this series? Definitely

Thank you to NetGalley and Kensington-Zebra for the ARC – This is my honest review.

4-5 Stars ( )

Barbara’s rating: 3.7 of 5
Series: Goode’s Guide to Misconduct #0.5
Publication Date: 12/27/22
Period: Regency
Number of Pages: 91 (Novella)

This short novella provided a nice set-up for the series by explaining how the magazine comes to exist and also the infrastructure behind it. I really liked the characters because they were interesting and were people I would have liked to know in real life. I’ll be really interested to see what role Oliver will play in the future because, to me, he is the most interesting character in the book.

Remember, this is a short book whose main purpose is to set up the rest of the series and to provide us with a bit of romance. I just couldn’t give it a full 4 or 5-star rating because it just wasn’t long enough for the romance to be believable. The two main characters Tabetha and Kit, grew up together as children and each regarded the other with affection but never told the other. Tabetha and Kit were from two different worlds and would never have been allowed to have a life together.

Twenty years later, Tabetha is a widow and Kit has never married but has unexpectedly inherited a title. To me, that has all of the makings of a grand romance. However, since it is a novella, it loses a good deal of that. For instance – though the two of them had never declared their feelings for each other when they were younger – and they haven’t seen each other in over twenty years – they are madly in love and betrothed in less than twenty-four hours. I’m sorry – I love romance, but if I hadn’t seen somebody in over twenty years, I’d want to know more about the sort of person they’d become and the things they’d done in their life before I decided to become betrothed to them. So, for me, the romance was a bit too quick.

Still, it was a very nice read with a good setup for the series.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. ( )