An Inconvenient Earl (A Royal Match #4)

Julia London

Blurb:

Bold. Beautiful. Beguiling.

It’s been over a year since Emma Clark’s no-good husband left on an expedition. The Countess of Dearborn has played the abandoned wife, but people are beginning to presume the earl is dead, which doesn't suit Emma at all. Emma likes being head of household in Albert’s absence and does her best to keep his family believing he is alive and well. She’s thirty years old and finally having some fun. If the earl is in fact dead, his family is waiting in the wings to swoop in and throw Emma out, leaving her destitute.

Then along comes Luka Olivien, the Weslorian Earl of Marlaine. He’s traveled all the way from Egypt, duty bound to return to the countess her deceased husband’s precious pocket watch—only to discover she doesn’t know he’s dead… Or does she? It’s hard to tell. Luka catches glimpses of the desperate vulnerability beneath the party girl exterior and can’t help being drawn into the beguiling countess’s ruse.

Themes: Historical

Rating: 3.5 stars

Heat Rating:

Review:

I have to preface this review by saying that I have been a devoted fan of all of Julia London’s historical romance novels since the very first one that I picked up years ago and I despite not being a fan of her contemporary novels I have never let them color my devotion to her historical work. That said I really just could not get into this story until about the last five chapters and I was very sad about that. Emma Clark’s ass of a husband has finally done her the favor of dropping dead while on expedition in Egypt and she is able to live her life freely and enjoy herself for once. But when the handsome Luke Olivien, Earl of Marlaine in Wesloria, arrives intent on sharing the news of her husband’s death and passing on an heirloom before returning onto his travels, Emma is just as determined to put him off. Soon the two of them are involved in a long (and drawn out) game of cat-and-mouse that soon turns to something much more as they spend time together. As the couple begin to develop feeling for one another, their game begins to have much further-reaching consequences as Emma and Luka both realize they can’t live in their bubble forever and time must go forward, and they might not be able to do so together. While the premise of this story is one that could have made for an interesting novella, the length of the story just made the story entirely too drawn out and boring in the middle for my tastes. I liked Luka very much, despite him being a bit too led by his intrigue with Emma at times, but otherwise he was a strong, sweet, and interesting character. Emma was another story; I understand she had it hard with her husband in the beginning and needed to live it up a little bit, but honestly she began to be a little bit too frivolous and vapid for me during the middle of the story. I wanted to push her to just grow the hell up and realize there were more important things in the world she should be focusing on, so I was glad that she finally did that in the last 5 or 6 chapters when she was forced out of her little world of insignificant to face the challenges so many others have to face. I think I could have really enjoyed this story had it been about 10-15 chapters shorter with those removed from the middle, but other than that, Luka was a great character, it was nice to see so many of the previous couples that are from the interwoven series that le to this one, and when Emma finally came to her senses she was a pretty decent character too. I am not sure if this series is to continue but hopefully if it does, the next couple will either have a shorter story, or one with a deeper more developed plot line. I hope others find more entertainment with the story, but it definitely wasn’t for me. Still well written and enjoyable, but not up to my usual expectations of a London historical romance.

*eARC provided by author (via NetGalley) for the purpose of an honest and unbiased review. No compensation was provided.