When a Girl Loves an Earl by Elisa Braden

August 5, 2020

Beauty is as beauty does.

https://www.elisabraden.com/books.html

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, beauty is only skin deep, it was beauty that killed the beast, she got her looks from her father…he was a plastic surgeon, she walks in beauty like the night…beauty, blah, blah blah.

Welcome to the world of Viola Darling, a woman so beautiful she blinds mere mortal men. They surround her like flies on a rotten peach. Yes, Viola Darling is the heroine from Elisa Braden’s When a Girl Loves an Earl, the fifth book in the Rescued From Ruin series. Evidently, Viola is a combination Ava Gardner/Elizabeth Taylor…at least physically. She also has a tad bit of a stalker-chick thing going on. In my humble opinion the stalker thing makes her less beautiful. Well, who is she stalking, maybe he doesn’t really mind? Au contraire mon capitan. She is obsessed with James Kilbrennen, Earl of Tannenbrook. She has been obsessed with him for a number of books. Why? We are not sure; except she has an “inkling.” She gets a lot of inklings, hopefully they are not too painful. Anyway, this inkling has led her to follow him around, jump out at him at parties, sends him gifts he doesn’t want. She has been an all-around nuisance.  She is also very immature. She reminded me a lot of a junior high girl who writes those do-you-love-me-I-love-you-sign-here notes. I could not like her…more on that later.

On the other hand, I liked James. He was a standard bigger than life, bigggg, stoic Scottish hero. You know the type: big hands, big feet, big shoulders, big nose, big jaw…big! He is at least 8 feet tall, which means he probably has some other very big things hanging around. He also has another big problem, he’s one of those I’m not worthy guys. You see, at one time he was going to be the best blacksmith in the world, then someone died and he inherited the Earldom. He left his mother, sister and sweetheart behind. He also left a child behind, but he didn’t know about that until later. Now, he is not only “not worthy” he blames himself for the death of the child. I am not sure how his leaving had anything to do with the child’s death from fever, but oh well, mine is not to reason why. See, I can come up with a lot of sayings. Anyway, even with the “I’m-not-worthy-because-of-my-humble-beginnings,” and the guilt trip, I thought he had possibilities. Too bad he was sucked into Viola’s web.

Here’s the main issue I had with this story. Viola’s obsession. It doesn’t matter what James does or says, she will just take no for an answer. Her obsession with him is troubling. I’m not sure if it was supposed to be humorous, in another author’s hands it could have been. James has tried to tell her as gently as he can, that he wants no part of her, but she just does not let up. She is obsessed, and then hurt when her rejects her. She gives him a crappy homemade, embroidered handkerchief as a gift. He gives it back to her, and he makes sure she understands he doesn’t want it. She is surprised by his reaction to her gift. She is hurt in the process. What does she expect? He has avoided her at every turn. While others might think he was rude, I have to ask…just what do you expect him to do? He is dealing with someone who will not listen. If she had a normal brain, she would have understood the message long before the hanky incident. Then there is the “let’s make him jealous” routine. OMG! There is nothing more immature than deliberately trying to make someone jealous. Jealousy is not a pleasant feeling to deal with. There are so many issues when jealousy is involved in a relationship: trust, insecurity, truth. To deliberately try to make someone jealous so they will fall in love with you is juvenile. When this plot device appeared in the story, the book almost hit the wall. Nothing makes me groan more, then people playing hurtful games.

Then once Viola traps James into marriage, she starts to have second thoughts. I again groaned. What direction was the author leading us? Why did she now have a problem with her “inkling?” However, not to worry, there were tons of whankee-roo with oversized appendages….tons and tons.

Sorry to say, I could not like this book. I found the heroine incredibly immature. She was obsessed, she used tricks, and played games with the hero. She was only pretty on the outside, but her inner being was ugly. While James was a standard Romanceland big, strong brute of a hero, he deserved better. So far, for me this was the weakest in the series.

Time/Place: Regency England

Sensuality: Numbing