Cat's Books: Romance

An earl hiding from his future . . .

Lawrence Browne, the Earl of Radnor, is mad. At least, that’s what he and most of the village believes. A brilliant scientist, he hides himself away in his family’s crumbling estate, unwilling to venture into the outside world. When an annoyingly handsome man arrives at Penkellis, claiming to be Lawrence’s new secretary, his carefully planned world is turned upside down.

A swindler haunted by his past . . .

Georgie Turner has made his life pretending to be anyone but himself. A swindler and con man, he can slip into an identity faster than he can change clothes. But when his long-dead conscience resurrects and a dangerous associate is out for blood, Georgie escapes to the wilds of Cornwall. Pretending to be a secretary should be easy, but he doesn’t expect that the only madness he finds is the one he has for the gorgeous earl.

Can they find forever in the wreckage of their lives?

Challenging each other at every turn, the two men soon give into the desire that threatens to overwhelm them. But with one man convinced he is at the very brink of madness and the other hiding his real identity, only true love can make this an affair to remember.

Review

So much to adore about this frothy historical romance between a genius Earl and a con man.

I loved Georgie in the first book in this series and was thrilled to see him get the hero treatment here. 

Laurence is my favorite kind of hero- gruffy, grumpy genius. 

What I loved about this book is that the character growth and the falling love happens because these heroes slow down and really reflect on themselves and then they fall in love and lust. 

We have a crumbling estate, a dog, a child, bumps in the night, experiments of all kinds but also a really fine discussion of mental health and its intersection with homosexuality (or not really), cruelty, genetics depression, anxiety. 

And then Georgie's dire poverty and his criminal and ethical choices are just as interestedly engaged. The need for him to make a home of Lawerence child could have been more carefully explored but that is really a quibble. 

The secondary cast (especially the dog who is pretty much a service animal without the name) is well drawn. 

Georgie and Lawerence have a vibrant love story here. A treasure.