Only an Earl Will Do by Tamara Gill – a Review

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Description:
The reigning queen of London society, Lady Elizabeth Worthingham, has her future set out for her. Marry well, and marry without love. An easy promise to make and one she owed her family after her near ruinous past that threatened them all. And the rakish scoundrel Henry Andrews, Earl of Muir who’s inability to act a gentleman when she needed one most would one day pay for his treachery.

Returning to England after three years abroad, Henry is determined to make the only woman who captured his heart his wife. But the icy reception he receives from Elizabeth is colder than his home in the Scottish highlands. As past hurts surface and deception runs as thick as blood, so too does a love that will overcome all obstacles, unless a nameless foe, determined with his own path, gets his way and their love never sees the light of day…

Review:

Only an Earl Will Do begins with Lady Elizabeth in trouble.  Unfortunately, during this era, the trouble she finds herself in will drag her family down with her.  Her father takes the reins of the situation and presents Elizabeth with her only option……marry a man who she does not love and try to make a good life for herself and her new husband. 

Henry Andrews returns to England, after living with his uncle in the states for two years (I know the blurb says three years, but we’ll get to that later) to amass some personal wealth in order to save his family holdings in Scotland, eager to see the one who had stolen his heart years ago…Lady Elizabeth Worthingham.  When Henry learns that she’d married another, his heart was broken.  She’d chosen someone else, something he could not understand, and seemed to have moved on.  When their paths finally cross, it’s obvious there are still feelings close to the surface for both, even though they are each bound and determined to not let the other know.

Once the two of them finally get to speak freely to each other, they both know that something is amiss.  It seems that there has been a conspiracy of some sort to keep the two of them apart.  Henry vows to make Elizabeth his once again, but she knows if he finds out her secret, their new relationship will be doomed before it ever gets started.  As they embark down a path trying to ferret out the one making their lives a living hell, especially Elizabeth’s,  will Henry be able to truly forgive Elizabeth her secrets or will he finally walk away for good?  The true test comes as lies are revealed and lives are changed forever………

Only an Earl Will Do had the makings of a great story, but fell a little short for me.  I really did like both characters.  Elizabeth was very honorable and her loyalty to her family will endear readers to her.  The same can be said about Henry.  He did, after all, put his life on hold for two (three??) years to save his family’s holdings and in turn lost something equally important to him.  The supporting characters were nicely written as well, and I hope to find out more about them in future books.  Even though the “bad” guy in the story was truly slimy, the whole plotline surrounding him, at least for me, was kind of….meh…..  Again, for me, it just didn’t flow and have a ring of believability to it.  The beginnings of his “badness” did, but it was stretched too thin by the end.  I do have two big complaints:  grammar and timeline.  The blurb about the book says Henry was away for three years, but in the book it says two most of the time.  And, the age of a certain character would suggest two as well.  I’m not a professional writer, but when I read a story and the grammar screams at me to notice, I have no choice.  Some of the sentences were choppy and I’d have to reread in order to get the meaning, an apostrophe shows possession and to vs. too should be a slam dunk for anyone who’s over a certain age.  Having said all of that, I really did like the story and the characters and am looking forward to the next installment.  I just hope that it’s a little more refined.  This is the first I’ve read by Tamara Gill, but look forward to giving her books another go. 

Reviewed by Vickie

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