Alivia Fleur's Reviews > Earl of My Dreams

Consent is Hot

There’s nothing like a story that takes an established trope and breathes a breath of fresh air into it. Earl of my Dreams treads a well-known trope through the field of histroms. Noble needs heir. To get heir, noble needs wife. Noble goes looking for wife.
*Cue shenanigans*

James Halloran, Earl of Dearborn, needs a wife, and at a house party, he sets his sights on the lovely Olivia. Olivia is pretty, charming, and properly brought up, but that is not why James is interested in her. What draws James to Olivia is the fact that he is not attracted to her. He wants a wife who will do all the right things that an earl's wife should do, but James wants no part in love.

When Sophie Everett hears that James has taken an interest in her beloved cousin for all the wrong reasons, she sets out to thwart him.

This story provided such a delightful, fresh and interesting twist on a familiar trope. I loved the shifting nature of the forced proximity between these two. At first knocking heads, then working in collusion, then trying to help each other, each change in the nature of their relationship altered the power balance between them. Stories are always about power, and with a subtle nudge, Sinclair beautifully shifts it first one way, then the other.
And the intimate scenes were just gorgeous. Inexperienced Sophie meets her lover with gentle, assertive questioning, resulting in a portrayal of consensual intimacy where they grow into this new aspect of their releationship as equals.
I love, love, loved this story. Just everything about it, and I cannot wait to read what Sinclair produces next.