Unraveling the Earl by Lynne BarronMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Unraveling the Earl is the third book in the Idyllwild series, yet it works perfectly fine as a standalone novel.
As a standalone novel is how I read it. It’s my second Lynne Barron book – my first being Taming Beauty – and I found no troubles suggesting I would do well to read the prior books in the series. That is not to say I have no wish to read them – having finished this book, I’m certainly interested in the prior books in the series – merely that you do not need to read them to understand this one.
Having now read two Lynne Barron books, I believe I can easily recognise her exact style of storytelling. I do not mean this in a bad way, not at all. Rather, it’s a promise of what you will receive when you pick up one of her books. You’re guaranteed a great historical fiction; you’re guaranteed complex multidimensional characters; you’re guaranteed twists and turns. In short, you’re assured of a great read.
Unraveling the Earl is a very different kind of story to Taming Beauty, my only other Lynne Barron book, yet I found myself enjoying it just as much. Perhaps a bit more, if I’m honest. I’ll admit that it took me a while to get into the story – I was constantly looking for answers and explanations, curious as to the whys of events – but once everything fell into place and became clear, I found I could not put the book down. I was working my way through it at a rapid pace, needing to see how everything played out. I’ll admit that I saw a few things coming, but as a whole it was filled with wonderful surprises.
We have romance and revenge. We have passion and desire. We have drama and mystery. We have questionable motives and questionable characters. Basically, we have all we need to be pulled into the story, everything necessary to leave you well and truly engrossed in the events playing out.
As with Taming Beauty, though, I think my favourite aspect was the characters. Despite the story being wonderful, I found the characters were what really made it come alive. They were both wonderful, and I really enjoyed watching their interactions. Slowly, as the book progresses, we find out more and more about the characters. Information is drip fed to us, with bites and pieces being given at just the right moment to ensure shock. Both characters are complex, with a past, unique personalities, their own stories to tell, all coming together to make them very real characters. The way they complement each other, their personalities playing off each other, is wonderful. Honestly, the characters are so strong in this one.
Overall, it was another great Lynne Barron read. The storyline was gripping, the characters were wonderful, and the book came together so well.
As a final note, I would like to thank Aurora Publicity for allowing me to read this in exchange for a review: I had a lot of fun with this one, and will certainly be looking at more of the author’s work in the future.
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