The Geek Girl and the Scandalous Earl by Gina Lamm
A fun, fluffy read! I enjoy reading Regency romances...I enjoy gaming and whatnot like the heroine...so why not give it a try? This book struck me as a "niche" kind of book - you see it, you relate to it, you pick it up and read it. Well...I would say that I relate to this book more than the average werewolf/vampire paranormal romance anyway. My only experience with time travel romance has really been Outlander so I thought I would benefit from expanding my repertoire on the genre.
So, why only two gnomes, you ask? Well...the book had "Insta-Love". I hate Insta-Love. It just kills the character interest for me. To see Jamie go from -I can't stand Mike...get me home!- to -omg I love Mike!- was a bit disappointing. A romance novel doesn't have to solely revolve around the romance for me to enjoy it...but I like there to be a developed tension and a steady resolution to said tension. When a character flips a switch and instantly decides they love the person they hated two paragraphs earlier...well, it just seems implausible and kicks me out of the storyline.
I also found the characters very predictable. I shall avoid posting spoilers, but I will say that I pegged the villain and various character twists very early on in the storyline. The only plot point I wasn't too sure about until I read it was whether or not the hero/heroine would stay in 1816 or go back to the modern day at the end of the story(surely that's not a spoiler? You would expect the hero/heroine to get together at the end of these kinds of romances..).
BUT...I would and will pick up the next book in the Geek Girls series. I think the premise is enjoyable and I think Lamm can develop some really fun characters throughout the series.