- Genre: Historical Romance
- Publisher: Casablanca ( Sourcebooks)
- Pages: 384
So, for whatever reason Jess and I both picked up Shana Galen books around the same time for the most arbitrary reasons. Jess is reading The Making of A Gentleman because of the pretty dress on the cover and I read Earls Just Want to Have Fun because…well what can I say ? I think pun-y romance names are hilarious and the cornier the name of the romance the more likely I will give it a go.
This was my first tried and true historical. I tried a quasi historical, Geek Girl and the Scandalous Earl(see what I mean about loving corny titles?), which was a modern girl traveling to the past, but I couldn’t get into it.
The book opens when five-year-old Lady Elizabeth Lyndon kidnapped in a park by Satin, the leader of the Covent Garden Cubs, a street gang of young boys. Fast forward 16 years and Elizabeth now goes by the name Marlowe and has no real memory of a life before Satin and the squalor of Seven Dials neighborhood in London. Then she gets kidnapped (again) by Sir Brook who know her true identity as a member of the gentry (think the animated Anastasia). Brook leaves her with his less than willing brother Maxwell Derring, Earl of Dane. Suddenly Marlowe’s world gets turned upside down in more way than one.
Earls Just Want To Have Fun manages to take us outside the ballroom and see more of London. We not only get to see some of Marlowe experiencing the upper class but we also see a fair share of Dane experiencing the lower class. There is also a little bit of a caper aspect towards the end that was fun, it felt like this part came along late in the game, but I honestly didn’t know how it would turn out and the ending kept me on my toes.
The romance in this book is one where the characters are fighting their attraction to each other. It was comical at times because Marlowe doesn’t understand all of his proper-ness and he isn’t used to such an opinionated woman. Although there is a minor love triangle in this book, it’s not the same as the YA love triangles that I’m used to.
I did struggle with the book in one particular area. The Terms. I am such a newbie to Historical Romance. I was so lost and it was not until some Google-fu that I realized half the terms I thought were fiction where just real things like the Bow Street Runners, who are deputized citizens, but I thought were like mercenaries. There were also some dress terms I’m sure the true fans of historical romances know without thinking about it.
Overall I have to say….not bad. I think I could read more historical and definitely more by Galen.
*ARC received from NetGalley
