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The Earl's Wet Nurse
The Earl of Sefton is delighted when he sees the midwife approaching bearing a tiny bundle. Within moments of being introduced to his new son, his world is shattered by the news that his wife did not survive the birth. Thorne, a man used to commanding regiments, puts his emotions aside to deal with providing for his newborn son. His first concern—one made known to the entire household by his heir’s fully functioning lungs—is to secure a wet nurse.
Catherine had met and married her seafaring officer within days of meeting him. She had been selling jams and jellies for her church on market day when Thomas swept her off her feet. She fell wildly in love and when he proposed she was delighted to finally be free of her aunt. When Thomas shipped out two weeks after marrying her, he promised to return. Four months later it was confirmed that all hands were lost at sea. It was at about that time she could not deny her swelling belly.
Told by the midwife attending her that her child was stillborn, Catherine is beside herself with grief. Now, all alone, with nowhere to turn, she has no choice but to accept the position of wet nurse when it is offered.
The earl’s entire household is charmed by Catherine, and well pleased that she is able to bring peace and quiet as well as joy back to the manor. As Catherine and Thorne grieve for their spouses and tend to the young heir’s needs, the three of them begin to bond. They take walks, share meals, and read books together. They laugh again, which neither thought they would ever do . . . and they become friends. Then they kiss, and one night, when he discovers her self-pleasuring, they become much more.
It is a magical time on the coast of England. Southport is a bustling harbor on the cusp of wondrous things, and Sefton Manor and its inhabitants are about to embrace it all. Electricity is coming, social reform is around the corner, the flapper era from America is being greeted dockside and infusing exhilaration to the war weary, and Lady Chatterley’s Lover is the talk of London. But soon there’s a mystery to unravel and secrets that beg telling.
Catherine had met and married her seafaring officer within days of meeting him. She had been selling jams and jellies for her church on market day when Thomas swept her off her feet. She fell wildly in love and when he proposed she was delighted to finally be free of her aunt. When Thomas shipped out two weeks after marrying her, he promised to return. Four months later it was confirmed that all hands were lost at sea. It was at about that time she could not deny her swelling belly.
Told by the midwife attending her that her child was stillborn, Catherine is beside herself with grief. Now, all alone, with nowhere to turn, she has no choice but to accept the position of wet nurse when it is offered.
The earl’s entire household is charmed by Catherine, and well pleased that she is able to bring peace and quiet as well as joy back to the manor. As Catherine and Thorne grieve for their spouses and tend to the young heir’s needs, the three of them begin to bond. They take walks, share meals, and read books together. They laugh again, which neither thought they would ever do . . . and they become friends. Then they kiss, and one night, when he discovers her self-pleasuring, they become much more.
It is a magical time on the coast of England. Southport is a bustling harbor on the cusp of wondrous things, and Sefton Manor and its inhabitants are about to embrace it all. Electricity is coming, social reform is around the corner, the flapper era from America is being greeted dockside and infusing exhilaration to the war weary, and Lady Chatterley’s Lover is the talk of London. But soon there’s a mystery to unravel and secrets that beg telling.
290 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 4, 2014
13 people are currently reading
44 people want to read
About the author
Jacqueline DeGroot
30 books13 followersJacqueline DeGroot lives at Sunset Beach, NC with her husband Bill. She has two grown sons, one in New York and one living locally, and her daughter Kimberly lives in Wilmington. She stays active in her small beach community, especially in Sea Trail Plantation where she’s lived for almost 15 years. She loves to ride bikes with her friends, cook elaborate dinners, decorate lavish cakes, do aerobics and take long walks on the beach. Her love for the Brunswick Islands is apparent in all her books and she’s very happy to live in a place where so many wonderful people continue encouraging her to write.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 30, 2025
I'm not sure what made me try this, the few reviews who sounded pleasantly surprised or the blurb because the atrocious title and awful cover certainly doesn't help sway a reader. Spoiler Alert: The story is just as mediocre if not even worse. I'm not sure where exactly there was a great story about grieving considering this was riddled with typos, inconsistencies, flat world building with characters who acted like paper cut outs with very little depth or emotional range. This is supposedly a HR but words like "penis" "vagina" and "ass" are used and the very brief sex scenes are mechanical and awkward (at times even anatomically confusing). The purple prose was also purpling. The hero goes from having deep brown eyes to ice blue eyes and the heroine's carpet doesn't match her drapes. 😶
I was expecting to get a story about 2 grieving people growing close and bonding over the baby the heroine is wet nurse to. Instead you get a bunch of endless exposition and secondary silly conversations from the household staff gossiping that drags out the story. There's a lot of robotic telling that felt stilted. This happened, then he did this, then he did that, etc. This author isn't a great storyteller. And the hero Thorne the supposed "grieving" Earl who lost his wife during child birth mere weeks ago suddenly grinning like a loon and grabbing the heroine up and sucking on her neck whispering "you're a naughty naughty girl. I love naughty girls!" and flipping her dress up wanting to fuck her........ O_o *record scratch* WHAT?! Sir, what the fuck was that? I love a surprise moment of passion but that literally came out of NOWHERE. The whole tone and dialogue was insanely creepy instead of angsty or passionate. The author doesn't set up her scenes well or build up any kind of momentum nor give any character development. That scene gave me serious whiplash and pretty much made this weird book nosedive. The sex scenes weren't even steamy or out there or taboo like you would expect given that title, it's just the overall writing that's the cringiest part. These two don't emote anything other than raised eyebrows or laughing, that's it. The heroine Catherine is supposed to be a grieving widow who loved her husband deeply and also lost her child during birth, yet she's all open arms, open legs and giggling and swooning over her boss who is being a creep for no reason. It made no sense. I was looking for something sweet and different. This was neither. Also This whole story is silly and not even fun. Jacqueline DeBroot needs an editor, badly. I can lean into a ridiculous plot but the writing and characters need to be semi-decent or digestible.
I was expecting to get a story about 2 grieving people growing close and bonding over the baby the heroine is wet nurse to. Instead you get a bunch of endless exposition and secondary silly conversations from the household staff gossiping that drags out the story. There's a lot of robotic telling that felt stilted. This happened, then he did this, then he did that, etc. This author isn't a great storyteller. And the hero Thorne the supposed "grieving" Earl who lost his wife during child birth mere weeks ago suddenly grinning like a loon and grabbing the heroine up and sucking on her neck whispering "you're a naughty naughty girl. I love naughty girls!" and flipping her dress up wanting to fuck her........ O_o *record scratch* WHAT?! Sir, what the fuck was that? I love a surprise moment of passion but that literally came out of NOWHERE. The whole tone and dialogue was insanely creepy instead of angsty or passionate. The author doesn't set up her scenes well or build up any kind of momentum nor give any character development. That scene gave me serious whiplash and pretty much made this weird book nosedive. The sex scenes weren't even steamy or out there or taboo like you would expect given that title, it's just the overall writing that's the cringiest part. These two don't emote anything other than raised eyebrows or laughing, that's it. The heroine Catherine is supposed to be a grieving widow who loved her husband deeply and also lost her child during birth, yet she's all open arms, open legs and giggling and swooning over her boss who is being a creep for no reason. It made no sense. I was looking for something sweet and different. This was neither. Also This whole story is silly and not even fun. Jacqueline DeBroot needs an editor, badly. I can lean into a ridiculous plot but the writing and characters need to be semi-decent or digestible.
June 19, 2023
The title of this book is horrific; the story not so much.
June 5, 2025
Super slow build up until about 55% of the way through.
But this was better than I thought it would be! There is a lactation k*nk in here that I strangely liked.
The title is a little off putting, but easily ignored to read. I was surprised at how possessive the MMC is, but I enjoyed it and I truly loved his jealously!
There are definite unanswered questions in here (like who is digging? Will they know the secret of Jonathan’s true identity?)
But this was better than I thought it would be! There is a lactation k*nk in here that I strangely liked.
The title is a little off putting, but easily ignored to read. I was surprised at how possessive the MMC is, but I enjoyed it and I truly loved his jealously!
There are definite unanswered questions in here (like who is digging? Will they know the secret of Jonathan’s true identity?)
May 28, 2024
This was actually better than I expected. I really felt horrible for the lies the H/h were told by the midwives, so I was glad in a way that they were getting a HEA, BUT then I realized this is only part 1 of their story and part 2 doesn't seem like it's going to be possible for all the characters to have HEAs. 3.5 stars rounding up.
February 25, 2024
Waaaay bad title...
May 19, 2023
I reread this one and really didn’t like it the second time around. I’m dropping my rating from 4 to 2! That second book is told a large portion from Thomas’s POV and I felt bad for him.
Original review: 4/16/15: The title put me off for a long time but after reading other reviews telling readers that they needed to just ignore the title and read this book, I did! I really enjoyed it and probably would've given it 5 stars had it not been for the very last page! Apparently there is going to be a book 2! I would have preferred to be left with the HEA of book 1 because book 2 is sure to be filled with angst!
Original review: 4/16/15: The title put me off for a long time but after reading other reviews telling readers that they needed to just ignore the title and read this book, I did! I really enjoyed it and probably would've given it 5 stars had it not been for the very last page! Apparently there is going to be a book 2! I would have preferred to be left with the HEA of book 1 because book 2 is sure to be filled with angst!
October 24, 2023
As other reviewers have mentioned the biggest off putting thing about this book is its title. Anything, almost anything even a title like "The Earl and the Girl" would have been vastly better than this one.
The story is much, much better than many of the other books I read in this genre. I mean there is something endearing about a man who cuts the meat, potatoes and vegetables into bite sized pieces for the heroine when she only has one hand free to eat with as she is holding the baby in the other hand. The book is direct in that both the main characters were honest about their loneliness, lust and later love for each other. It's refreshing in a way.
The story is much, much better than many of the other books I read in this genre. I mean there is something endearing about a man who cuts the meat, potatoes and vegetables into bite sized pieces for the heroine when she only has one hand free to eat with as she is holding the baby in the other hand. The book is direct in that both the main characters were honest about their loneliness, lust and later love for each other. It's refreshing in a way.
April 19, 2015
Eh!
The author leaves you guessing. There were too many missing pieces. Who's digging holes? What's up with the mysterious ship? Will the Earl ever find out that his son is not his?
The author leaves you guessing. There were too many missing pieces. Who's digging holes? What's up with the mysterious ship? Will the Earl ever find out that his son is not his?
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews