by Vivienne Lorret
Series: The Mating Habits of Scoundrels #2
Published on September 29, 2020 by Avon, Avon
ISBN: 9780062976604
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 384
Genres: Adult, Romance, Historical Romance
USA Today bestselling author Vivienne Lorret continues her charming new trilogy with a bluestocking whose search for information on the mating habits of scoundrels has her stumbling upon the missing heir to an earldom... in the London underworld.
Jane Pickerington never intended to start a brawl in a brothel. She only wanted to research her book. Yet when her simple study of scoundrels goes awry, she finds herself coming to the rescue of a dark, enigmatic stranger… who turns out to be far more than an average rake out for a night of pleasure. He’s positively wild!
Only the most feral and cunning could have survived foundling homes and work houses. Orphaned as an infant, Raven never had another name. At least… not until he meets her. Now he’s face-to-face with the one person who recognizes the strange birthmark on his arm and can reinstate him to his blue-blooded birthright.
All at once, Raven’s life takes a turn. His knowledge of dark alleys and gaming hells never prepared him for gilded ballrooms. So Jane becomes his tutor. Yet, the more lessons in decorum she offers, the more this untamed scoundrel wants to teach her all the ways to be wicked.
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After loving the first book in this series, Lord Holt Takes a Bride, I definitely had to pick up the sequel, My Kind of Earl. Though the characters cross-over from the previous book, you can read this one on its own without a problem. For the most part, I enjoyed this one though not quite as much as the previous book, which came down to the characters.
Jane interested me as a side character in book one. I loved her bluestocking ways (I’m always a sucker for an intellectual female character in historical romances) and I was ready for all the witty banter that would no doubt ensue. Instead, I found Jane to be quite annoying to read. She was both naïve and extremely judgmental, the sort of person that believes they know everything and have no problem telling everyone else about it. It certainly didn’t endear her to me and I often looked forward to her scenes ended so I could get back to her counterpart, Raven.
To be fair, it got better. As she and Raven got to know each other better, her words were less biting all the time and it was more enjoyable to read their interactions.
But I definitely enjoyed Raven’s character more, overall. He was the sort of brooding gentleman with a tragic backstory, the kind that’s all gruff on the outside but is a total cinnamon roll inside whether he wants to acknowledge it or not. I did wish the author hadn’t treated parts of his backstory as surface level experiences, especially those dealing with the trauma he went through. I felt like we only scratched the surface of who Raven is in this book and I wanted to explore that further.
Plot-wise, I can’t say there was anything particularly memorable. I like the continuation of the young women writing their book on scoundrels, and how it leads to them learning more than they bargained for about the men in society. Honestly, the only thing that really irked me was the ending. The story had a natural ending, but something was missing for me. I needed one last chapter, one of those happily ever after epilogues where everything is amazing and we see the couple enjoying life together. My Kind of Earl had the sort of characters that I thought deserved that and we don’t really see that at the end, not like I have in other romances. It would have been a nice addition but not a deal breaker.
Though I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the first book, My Kind of Earl was a solid sequel and this is a series that I plan to stick with! Enough so that I’ll likely check out the author’s other works soon too!
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.
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