"He that lieth down with dogs shall rise up with fleas"
http://www.kellybowen.net/
You know, for some reason I purchased Kelly Bowen’s debut book, I’ve Got a Duke to Keep
Me Warm, but never finished reading it. It also appears I didn’t buy any of her books until her Season for Scandal series. So, you know what that means. It means that not only can I pick a book from my DNF pile to read, I can also do a short author glom. (The author isn't short, the glom is.) Sounds like a great idea to me. We will see, we will see. Oh joy! Oh Rapture! And, now we turn to Last Night with the Earl.Last Night with the Earl is the second in the Devils of Dover series and while I didn’t like it as much as I did A Duke in the Night, I still liked it quite a bit, and I do recommend it. I especially liked the hero Eli, I thought he made for a wonderful angst-filled hero-with-a- scar character. In this case a biiiigggggg scar. The heroine on the other hand was a little bit harder to like – she could be quite an aggressive, unforgiving, virago at times. And, that’s ok, except, she was also blind to her own faults.
If you read the first book in the series you will know that Rose is the artist sister with a chip on her shoulders. We never really found out in the previous story just why Rose was so surly. All we know is that the chip on her shoulder somehow involves her ex-fiancé/boyfriend/grand love, Anthony Gibson. We find out in this book Anthony was pretty much a horses-baaa-tooty; however he can no longer be reproached about his actions because he's dead. Which is one of the reasons she so angry with the world. That rotten-to-the-core Anthony Gibson left a number of scarred people behind, including Rose, and his best friend Eli, the Earl of Rivers.
Eli has scars on the inside as will as on the outside. The description in the book indicates that his physical scars are not just itsy-bitsy, but his face is actually pretty mutilated. He scares little kids, which is why he doesn’t return to London but journeys to his country estate Avondale. Ah, Avondale, a place to hide. But wait! Unbeknownst to him, Avondale is now a school for gifted young women and it is run by Clara (A Duke in the Night) and her I-have-a-grunge sister Rose. Well, it seems that at one time Eli loved Rose, but he stepped aside for his best friend Anthony – he still luved Rose silently from afar. Spoilers. Now, Anthony was a big stinking cad. Even though Anthony courted Rose, he also had some pretty salacious caricatures of her which he passed around to his buddies and then made public. When this happened, society being society ridiculed Rose. While Eli didn’t know the extent of what Anthony was doing, he was aware of how Anthony treated women. The things Anthony did made Eli uncomfortable and he disapproved of Anthony’s antics. But the problem was, he didn’t say anything to Anthony, he didn’t denounce him, he didn't drop him from his friend list. And by his silence, he became an enabler. He gave his silent consent.
Rose thinks Eli is made of the same cloth as Anthony – he would be the flea to Anthony’s dog. Maybe she couldn’t do anything to Anthony –' cause he’s dead – but Eli is a different matter. Rose is not gentle with Eli, she is filled with animosity and she blasts him, blames him for what happened with Anthony. Rose pulls no punches, she feels no sympathy for his injuries. In fact, she berates him for feeling sorry for himself. He’s a mopey-gus and she’s a hornet. So, as a couple in a romance novel, they are not off to a very good start.
Ms. Bowen takes Eli and Rose on a nice, slow journey as they learn truths about each other and themselves. They learn to trust each other and eventually become friends, then lovers. Through Rose's strong encouragement, Eli confronts his fears. He is able to see things through her eyes and becomes a better person for it.
And, now I have to ask: couldn’t we have just one romance book where there was only one person with a problem? Through most of the book, our focus is on Eli’s problem. Oh sure, Rose is antagonistic but we (the reader) think she’s hostile because of Anthony. And, that’s partially true. However, it isn’t until Eli has confronted his problems that Rose’s big impediment is introduced into the story line. Because of her big issue we have a misunderstanding. I would have been happier if Rose’s problem had cropped up earlier in the book or not been there at all. As it was, it was presented in the last few chapters of the book and seemed to be there to add a word count. But this is a minor quibble.
Overall, this was a great read. I liked it very much and I’m really glad that Kelly Bowen decided to join the world of Romanceland in 2014. I do recommend this book, even if there was one to many issues to conquer.
Time/Place: Regency England
Sensuality: Hot
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