This Earl of Mine (Bow Street Bachelors, #1)

by Kate Bateman

[chymerra]

I knew I was going to like This Earl of Mine after I read the first chapter. Any book that has me giggling the first chapter is a keeper. By the end of the second chapter, I was laughing out loud, and the book got better after that.

The plotline of This Earl of Mine was fast. After Georgie and Ben see each other at the party, the book takes off. There is no lag. There are no dropped storylines. The flow of the book was terrific. It was written in a way that made me feel that the characters were genuine.

I loved Georgie. Plain and simple, she was a boss. All she wanted was to be left alone and run her shipping business. But, this was Regency England and men ruled. She needed the protection of a husband to keep her business. And with her nasty cousin Josiah trying to compromise her, she decided to get married on her terms. Of course, she didn’t think she would ever see her husband again. So when she saw Ben at a gathering, she was astounded. She did handle everything with grace and a sense of humor. I liked the solution that she came up with. It made sense, and that scene when they were talking about annulment had me dying laughing.

I loved Ben as much as I loved Georgie. He didn’t have a choice in marrying her. She intrigued him, and he made it a point to bump into her at that party. I loved how he kept calling her Mrs. Wylde. He also rescued her on more than one occasion. I believe he fell for her before she fell for him.

Ben and Georgie had an immediate sexual attraction to each other. That sexual attraction kept building until an explosive kiss in a submarine (yes, a submarine!!). The author did a great job of building up that sexual attraction after each encounter. When Ben and Georgie finally had sex, it was terrific. What impressed me is that each sex scene afterward was just as amazing as the first one.

I was “eh” with Juliet and Simon’s plotline. It fell flat for me. I did appreciate how awful Simon’s poetry was, but other than that, bleh.

The plotline with Ben, Seb, and Alex and the Bow Street Runners were interesting. I liked how the author integrated that plotline in with Ben and Georgie’s plotline. I loved reading about the investigation and the clues that took both Ben and Georgie to figure out. Of course, Seb and Alex fascinated me too.

The Josiah plotline did surprise me. I should have seen what happened coming. I do think that Josiah got his just deserts too.

The end of This Earl of Mine was perfect. I loved how Ben and Georgie got their happily ever after. I was wondering how the Earl in the title was going to come into play (Ben was the “spare” and had no money). The way the author chose to write it in was excellent!!! I loved it. I cannot wait to read Alex’s story.