Review: Couldn't finish it
Rating: 1 out of 5
Date: 02 23, 2013
First, a disclaimer:  Try as I might, I could not force myself to finish THE COMPLICATED EARL - A REGENCY ROMANCE. I gave up before a quarter of the way through the book, it was so painful to read.  Fortunately, this was an Amazon Prime Lending Library loan, rather than a purchase.The first major problem with this book is the complete lack of editing and proofreading.  The author clearly has no grasp of punctuation, and the constant misuse of commas where periods should be used and the lack of commas where commas should be used made the story much more difficult to read, as well as being annoying for the reader who understands and appreciates accurate punctuation.  Words were misused ("beau" instead of "beaux"; "your husband would soon be a widow" [instead of widower]; "Don't try and tell me that you do not have a line of men wanting you for their wives, hoping that you will pick one of them.") The book reads like a first draft, one badly in need of critique by an editor or an honest, insightful writers' group.Which brings up the other major problem I had with this book.  The author tells, instead of shows ... often for pages at a time.  Though occasionally the dialogue stood on its own, so to speak (and at those times was at its most enjoyable), most of the time the author surrounded the dialogue with wordy explanations of how the speaker was feeling and thinking, instead of letting the spoken words reveal how the characters felt.And though I don't claim to be an expert in the Regency period, I enjoy the genre and have read many of the best -- Jane Austen, Georgette Heyer, Carla Kelly, among others -- and this story didn't feel true to the era.  The manners and the manner of address were not as formal as they should have been among new acquaintances; and while I didn't notice anachronistic words, the usage was sometimes odd (i.e., "I hope you are ready to dance, I do not think you will have any spare time for anything else this evening."  Spare time for anything else? At a ball?  What else would she be doing at a ball?)I rated this book as one star because I think this author has some promise as a writer.  There were some brief enjoyable moments in the portion of the book I read, and I felt there was a story idea which, with editing and rewriting, could be interesting.  But this book needs a whole lot more work before it's worth even its 99-cent price.ADDENDUM:  I saw a subsequent review of this book which referred to "a few grammar errors and a few other minor errors," and I wanted to clarify my review.  There were many, many more than a few errors in the portion of the book I read (and I don't know why I shouldn't assume the balance of the book is the same).  I find it very helpful when reviewers note excessive punctuation/grammar/spelling errors or a "tell, not show" writing style.  That was how I meant this review to be taken.If those things don't matter to you, you may very well enjoy this book.