Engaging the Earl by Diana Quincy – a Review
Engaging the Earl
Accidental Peers – Book #4
by Diana Quincy
Release Date: June 9, 2014
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Kobo
Description:
Vivacious Lady Katherine Granville is the toast of the ton, but society’s most eligible miss secretly yearns for her childhood love, an untitled loner who vanished long ago after her father forbade their marriage.
After years abroad, the dark and brooding Edward Stanhope returns to England a changed man. No longer a second son with no prospects, his battlefield strategies have won him an earldom. His return should be a victorious one, but the new Earl of Randolph is battling secret demons that no one can discover. Least of all, Kat.
When the man she can’t forget reappears at her betrothal ball, Kat’s perfectly arranged future is thrown into tumult. Edward remains cold and distant, hoping she’ll marry a man worthy of her. But nothing is settled when Kat sets out to win back her first love. Can the new Earl of Randolph resist the woman he’s loved for so many years?
Review:
Engaging the Earl is the 4th book in Diana Quincy’s Accidental Peers series and is Edward and Katerine’s story. I’ve only had the pleasure of reading the previous story in this series titled Compromising Willa and was quite happy to read the latest installment as I enjoyed the previous book immensely. Needless to say, I was not disappointed with Engaging the Earl, and of course not being one to read a series out of order, I went online and read story synopsis’ of the first two books in the series so I could be brought up to speed. 😉
Once again Ms. Quincy weaves her magic and transports the reader back in time to a place where women are the Belles of the Ball and every single available male is clamouring to seek their attentions and claim their hand in a marriage proposal. Her character and world building is superb in this one and allows the reader to get swept away on a fun, fast, yet emotional journey between two love struck characters. Both Edward and Kat are two very strong, determined, and capable characters and manage to carry the story and keep the reader involved from the first chapter. Their love for each other is so well written and felt from the first chapter that I found myself unable to root for anyone else in their lives as the story progressed.
Even though it’s years later when Edward returns from war with the title of Earl of Randolph for his bravery and strategies, he is still very much in love with his childhood sweetheart. However, after witnessing the horrors of war, he is now suffering bouts of melancholia, or as we call it today, PTSD. Edward loves Kat, or Kitty as he’s always called her from their childhood days, that he’s willing to sacrifice his own chance at love and happiness and allow her to marry the man she has recently become betrothed too. He’s worried that should he go to her and offer for her hand, she would be committing herself to someone who isn’t whole anymore. However, now that Kitty knows he’s alive and back in England, she isn’t one to idly sit back and allow Edward to get away with explaining himself, or for that matter fighting for their love. What ensues between them is nothing short of scandalous back in those days.
Kat “Kitty” Granville is a wonderful, feisty, and loveable heroine. I loved that fact that even though she’s the toast of the ton, the most incomparable as she’s been dubbed for her years of turning down suitors, she’s not afraid of being who she is and not what society expects of her. She loves her Edward, or Rand as he’s called now due to his new Earldom title, and she will stop at nothing till she gets him. The cat and mouse game that progresses between Edward and Kat is quite funny at times, but also hot and steamy as well. I often thought her betrothed Lord Sinclair had to be completely clueless to not see the attraction between Kat and Edward.
I absolutely adored this story and both Kat and Edward. Quincy’s take on PTSD back in those days is well handled and written with care, and watching Edward battle through those episodes and then finally opening up to Kat about them, allowing her to really see how the war has affected him is a very emotional yet uplifting scene. The love they have for each other just pours off the pages and sweeps the reader away on an emotional yet lovely journey between two people who are meant to be. Kat will keep you in stitches at times and other times have you yelling; ‘you go girl’, even though back in those days that was unheard of. Ms. Quincy definitely has another hit on her hands with Engaging the Earl. For anyone who loves historical romance, strong characters who will keep you captivated from beginning to end and rooting for love to win out in the end, then this one’s for you.
Until next time, happy reading everyone!
Reviewed by Marcie
Copy provided by Publisher
