One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean

February 8, 2013
Pooh on you Dorothy Parker and your glasses, passes and men!

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Yes, that old saying about men not making passes at women who wear glasses was laid to rest in Sarah MacLean's latest, One Good Earl Deserves a Lover. Having been stuck with glasses since the third grade, this book struck a chord with me. And, it brought back a memory of me playing an angel in a Christmas pageant when I was a teenager. I had a wonderful Romanesque dress, great giant wings that sparkled...and glasses. Playing one of the shepherds was Steven...the cutest boy ever. Well, because angels can't be sexy while wearing glasses, I decided to leave them off. Everything went great, until all of us decided to leave the stage at once. Let me tell you, giant sparkly wings and shepherd crooks don't fit together very well when there is a mad scramble to exit through a tiny door. If only I had my glasses on. Oh, vanity where is thy sting? You know of course, if this childhood trauma had been a romance novel the ending might have been different. As it was, cute Steve laughed and I was doomed to hide my face in shame for the next couple of weeks. Glasses - probably also responsible for smothering my acting career. So, I could identify with the heroine of this book, especially the scene with the mask. Been there. 

If the heroine hadn't worn glasses, I still would have loved her. Pippa was a wonderful heroine; she considered herself odd. She is intelligent, and I mean by intelligent...she is one of those brainiac people who know all the names of everything, but doesn't have any idea when it is the proper time or place to use those terms. Or, for that matter, choosing the proper person to expound one's knowledge. All of her brainy innocence led to some pretty amusing moments for me and startling moments for our hero, Cross. She drew him in much like a Venus fly trap, only without the viciousness and the dead flies. Pippa, with all of her faults, was a remarkable character and I enjoyed almost every moment she was on the pages of this book.

Then we have Cross, Mr. I'm Not Worthy. What I found interesting with Cross was that even though he keep repeating over and over that he wasn't worthy of Pippa or anyone for that matter, I didn't find it too terribly irritating. I'm not sure why, unless it was because even though he kept saying it, he was helpless to prevent being drawn into Pippa's web. The only time I was bothered by his "poor-me" was toward the very end of the story. For some reason, that particular boo-hoo scene seemed to be more of a page stretcher-outer, as opposed to any real enhancement of plot-line or character development. But on the up-side, it led to a delightful grin-inducing marriage proposal.

And, by the way. This book has so much sexual tension in it, you could cut it with a laser. To say nothing of the actual first bedding scene. Yipes! Sizzzzzzle. Although, it may have been just a teeny-weeny too long (no pun intended), but oh well. All I can say is, Cross has a lot of stamina.

I'm glad to say that One Good Earl Deserves a Lover is a vast improvement over A Rogue by Any Other Name. This is the second book in the First Rules of Scoundrels series and even with the goofy title I highly recommend this one by Sarah MacLean. 

Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Hot!!!!