THE EARL NEXT DOOR

While opening a girls’ boarding school, a dowager countess is
mistaken for a lady of the night by her aristocratic neighbor, leading to
affinity and a scorching affair, but will love be able to overcome divergent
goals?

Adeline, the Dowager Countess of Wake, doesn’t exactly mourn her
husband, who went down on a ship. Their marriage was complicated, and
he’d bullied her when she couldn’t conceive. After befriending two fellow
widows of the wreck and learning of the dire straits of the crew’s families,
Adeline decides to start a boarding school for the daughters and sisters of
those men. The ideal property is next door to Lyon Marksworth, the Earl of
Lyonwood, whose aunt convinces him there’s a brothel moving in. When he enters
Adeline’s home uninvited to confront her, she has just tried on an intriguing
piece of lingerie that furthers his misconceptions. However, despite her
problematic attire, rather than cowing to him, she berates him for his
unacceptable behavior, and he is intrigued by the fiery countess who dresses
him down. Once the girls move in, Adeline and Lyon find themselves more and
more attracted to each other as they navigate students and lords behaving
badly, meddling family, and a neighbor with a spyglass. Lyon has waited his
whole life to find Adeline, and he wants to marry her, but she refuses:
“Because I’ve been a wife and found I’m not suited to marriage and have no
desire to entangle myself in it again.” She’s happy to be his discreet lover,
but he refuses, wanting more. The impasse may keep them apart. Author Grey’s
unconventional meet-cute, compelling series backbone, and authentic characters
move an interesting plot forward, but the not-completely-surprising surprise
ending undercuts the intensity of the central conflict.

An engaging series start with hints of secrets to unfurl in
subsequent books.