ENTICING THE EARL

Author: Nicole Byrd ISBN: 9780425220979 4/2008 HISTORICAL Publisher: BERKLEY SENSATION
Time Period: Regency

Selfless widow Lauryn Applegate Harris is determined to retrieve the deed to her beloved father-in-law's estate—lost during one of his drunken gambling spells—even if it means offering herself as a courtesan to the Earl of Sutton, who now owns the land. No one need know Lauryn's other motive: secretly, she's always longed to dabble, just a little, in sin! The handsome earl is frankly amused. Clearly this winsome and delicate lady has no experience with such wicked behavior. Yet drawn by her beauty and thinking to teach her a lesson, he agrees. But after a few weeks of pleasure, it's the earl who finds he has the most to learn, as an outrageous proposal turns into a delightfully amorous tryst with possibilities no one could have predicted. But can love grow from such shocking—and duplicitous—beginnings?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

If you have enjoyed the antics of the Applegate sisters so far, you will no doubt be happy to have another chance to visit with them. I, however, do not view ENTICING THE EARL as a favorable offering.

It is rather far-fetched, a trifle boring, and the hero does not appeal to me at all. He seems stuffy and droll, even when trying to locate sunken treasure and possible killers. Despite the fact that some maids find him dashing, the picture I have in my head is less than flattering. Add that to the fact that he has no problem seeing through the heroine's ruse of being a courtesan, but still takes her up on her offer, it makes him even less heroic in my eyes.

While there are moments of interest, scenes that could be more intriguing, I find most of the book slow-paced and tiresome. Those moments of interest are few and far between to keep it from reading as if the characters and plot are passionless and flat.

Shannon Johnson