An Inconvenient Earl
by Julia London
The fourth book in the Royal Match series, a historical fiction romance novel published December 26th, 2023 by Harlequin
Spice Rating: 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Rating:
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.
Y’all know that I adore historical fiction romances and that Julia London is one of my favorite authors for that genre. So it should come to no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed An Inconvenient Earl.
London, continuing her Royal Match series, sets out to present this story in a slightly different format than I had been expecting. The lovers did not truly need help getting together. More, they needed help staying together. And in an effort to not spoil anything, that’s all I’m going to say on the subject.
Emma was a really strong and pretty admirable character. She went through really rough times and rather than be bitter towards anything and anyone that was connected to the perpetrator of these times, she tried to set everyone up for success. Emma looked, at times, foolhardy, on the bright side of life. Luka, on the other hand, didn’t necessarily do that.
Luka was an absolute puppy. Definitely, he fell first and they both fell hard. The secret romance was scorching and the way they couldn’t hide it well. It all just melted my heart. There wasn’t much character growth in this story except for how Emma confronted both herself and everyone else with the truth. She managed to come into herself more.
Luka was the catalyst for it and it all created chaos in the best way that Julia London does chaos.
It was the a perfect christmas/ new years read.
Let me know what you think, booknerds!
Bookishly Nerdy 