About the Book
Author: Jackie Killelea
Genre: Christian Historical Romance
Release date: May 13, 2025
A spinster with a tarnished reputation. An earl scarred from war. Can their convenient marriage withstand those aiming to steal everything they have?
Catherine Blynn resigned herself to a life without romantic love after a disastrous broken engagement. Although she’s always hoped to marry for affection, her father arranges for her to wed Loftus Cromwell, the broken Earl of Hardwicke. If she defies her parents, she risks her family's ruin.
Loftus Cromwell had no intention to marry for love, only for the sake of his estate. But If he fails to win the love of his spirited and unconventional betrothed, he risks his conniving brother claiming everything he holds dear.
As treachery unfolds within the manor's walls and a foe from Catherine’s past resurfaces, can Loftus and Catherine trust one another enough to unravel the truth before tragedy steals any chance of happiness?
In Arranged with the Earl, Loftus’ study of plants and flora is his foremost pastime, aside from his duties managing his estate and those that come along with being an earl. In his conservatory, there are a variety of different species of plants that he cares for but, would he actually have had these plants in his conservatory and would they have been able to feasibly grow there if he did?
Well, according to my research and a bit of wishful thinking…yes.
The thing is, Loftus has a few native plants in his conservatory and those certainly would have been able to grow there, given that they’ve pretty much just been brought inside from other counties in England. Loftus knows his home country and the landscape as well as how to care for those plants, already. The trickier plants to think upon are the exotics.
For instance, when showing Catherine the conservatory for the first time, he mentions Black Hellebore(Helleborus niger). How would he have come to own this? This plant is native to the mountains and woodlands of southern and central Europe, so we must assume that Loftus would’ve had it imported, or grown from seed. Still, would a woodland plant grow well enough to produce flowers in a conservatory setting?
Well, fortunately for Loftus, Black Hellebore actually grows fairly well in containers and does well in partial shade, so where he placed it in the conservatory was a prime location and it isn’t a stretch of the imagination to think that it produces blooms there.
With each plant I chose to be in the conservatory, I had to research if Loftus would reasonably have access to it and if it would grow under conservatory conditions–as well as during the season in which the book takes place. Of course you, as readers, will still need to use your imagination at some points. I’m sure Loftus would agree that ideas, like plants, need lots of water and space to grow.
I do so hope you enjoy Catherine and Loftus’ story in Arranged with the Earl!
Sincerely,
Jackie
To celebrate her tour, Jackie is giving away the grand prize of a $50 Amazon Gift Card!!
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My Thoughts:
I’m not entirely sure what I was expecting when I started this book, but it ended up being a bit different than whatever idea I had in my mind. I’m always intrigued by the marriage of convenience tropes, so I decided to give this story a try. While not one of my favorite books of the year, I did enjoy it and would be very interested in reading more of this author’s work.
I have to admit, when the story started out, I didn’t particularly like any of the characters. And it wasn’t that Catherine and Loftus were unlikable, I just didn’t connect with them right away. It took a few chapters and some layers added to their personalities for me to find a common ground with them. I did really appreciate that Catherine was so eager to get to know Loftus and to join him in his work. She didn’t shy away from her new home and embraced the new life thrust upon her. For his part, it took Loftus a little longer to trust Catherine after the way he’d been treated previously. I confess that I found his fixation on his scarring a little over-blown at times, but his reaction and the response of those around him was actually probably pretty accurate of the time period.
I also have to say that I found the mystery to be quite predictable and Catherine more than a bit naive about a few things. Despite that, I did find myself racing towards the end of the story, wanting to know if I was right or if there would be a twist to the ending. There wasn’t. But I did find the “how” quite interesting and I enjoyed the ending.
Overall, if you enjoy Regency romance and marriage of convenience stories, I would definitely recommend trying this one and seeing if it’s to your liking.
*I received this book through Celebrate Lit. I was not required to write a positive review and have not been compensated for it in any way. All opinions expressed are my own.
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The facts about the plants are interesting! I never even thought about how much research could go into every part of a book.
ReplyDeleteSounds fabulous
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