by Kate Bateman
Series: Bow Street Bachelors #2
Published on June 30, 3030 by St. Martin's Paperbacks
ISBN: 9781250306111
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 336
Genres: Adult, Historical Romance, Romance
A case of secret identities finds reunited lovers on opposite sides of the law in this fun, flirty Regency romance.
There's only one case Bow Street agent Alex Harland, Earl of Melton, hasn't cracked: the identity of the mysterious woman who stole a kiss from him before he left for war. He's neither forgotten--nor forgiven--her for leaving him wanting. When he starts investigating the Nightjar, an elusive London jewel thief, he keeps running into the alluring Emmy Danvers, who stirs feelings he hasn't felt in years.
Even though Emmy's loved Alex for years, she can't risk revealing her heart, or her identity as the Nightjar. With Alex on her case, Emmy knows that her secrets are in danger of being discovered. Their cat and mouse game heats up with every interaction, but when Emmy's reputation--and life--is at risk, will Alex realize that some rules are made to be broken for love?
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An Entertaining Game of Cat and Mouse
I’m adding To Catch an Earl firmly in the “great when reading, but completely unmemorable” category. This was a really entertaining historical romance in the moment but I can’t say it was one I’d remember a week or month from now.
Which I don’t necessarily consider a bad thing because I’m generally not looking to romances for some life-changing story that will stick with me for years to come.
The synopsis promises a cat and mouse game and it delivered! I loved that there was the constant tension of Alex hunting the thief, Emmy, while she’s working to make the biggest steals of her life and battle her longtime crush on the aforementioned Alex. It kept the story moving along and created instant tension. And heat. There was plenty of that.
I hesitate to call this an enemies-to-lovers romance because they’re not quite enemies so much as two individuals with differing opinions of what’s right and wrong. I loved that Emmy was a thief, and not just any thief but an infamous one after treasures for a cause, rather than just for profit. It spoke to who she was as a person, both her goals and motivation and what she stood for. Meanwhile, Alex is clearly opinionated when it comes to what he believes is right and wrong and having that challenged by Emmy made their interactions all the more interesting. Plus there’s the early scene between them that sparks a romance that doesn’t happen for years.
But there’s one element about the entire book that annoyed me to no end, despite how enjoyable I found the rest of it — the perfume. So not a spoiler, you learn Emmy has this favorite perfume she wears made just for her. She’s literally the only person with that scent, and it’s a noticeable fragrance that makes it pretty easy for Alex to start putting pieces of the puzzle together. So why would you wear that perfume to steal things? I’m no thief but I would think the first rule would be to not get caught, and the second to not make it easy to catch you. I had to kind of accept this premise to really love the book but it irked me to no end, even though Alex might have been the only one to make the connection.
So romance was great. Story was entertaining. Just that one plot point that disrupted it all. But at the end of the day, I would still recommend To Catch an Earl as well as the previous book This Earl of Mine. Both have been just the sort of entertaining romances I needed at the time and worth checking out!
About Austine
I'm a 20-something research proposal developer with a background in the life sciences and education. Reviewer of books since 2011, amateur photographer by day, and aspiring author by night. I believe animals (and books) are better than people.
I laughed when I saw your issue was perfume. I know what you’re saying, why would a thief where such a distinctive scent? You would want to make sure there was nothing to flag you. It’s a minor irk at least. It sounds like this book is delivering exactly what I want, fun and romance. It may not have been all that memorable but I just want to enjoy the book in the moment. I’ll just have to write my review quickly before I move on to the next book.