Review: The Cheer in Charming an Earl by Emma Locke
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 13, 2014
Note: page references taken from an ePUB version of the book.Book #3.5 in Emma Locke's Naughty Girls series, this is a novella that appears in the holiday anthology, ‘Tis the Season. It can be read as a standalone.This was my first Emma Locke story and I really enjoyed her writing voice. It was very different, unique, tongue-in-cheek, and reminded me a lot of Maya Rodale, one of my favorite historical romance authors.This story reads like a fairy tale, because it is almost impossible that a commoner would wed a peer. I say almost because look at Kate Middleton and Prince William, right?Elinor (spelled like the heroine in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility) is set on making Grantham Wendell, the Earl of Chelford, fall in love with her. The sister of a blacksmith, she first saw him when his horse threw a shoe and determined then and there to try and win him.So she travels to Yorkshire, the seat of Grantham’s estate, to stay with her mother’s sister, Millie, a recluse who turns out to be a former actress but still enjoys the pleasures of life. On the way, however, Elinor purposely sabotages her carriage near Grantham’s estate so she will be forced to stay at his house and get to know him better.Unfortunately, Grantham is having a rollicking house party complete with prostitutes and all sorts of revelry. Elinor is shocked and disillusioned and retreats to her aunt’s cottage to lick her wounds.For his part, Grantham hates the holidays ever since he lost his dear younger sister, Hannah, and surrounds himself with people during this time to forget his pain. “'It's said he can't stand the silence at Chelford at night. Reminds him too much of his sister, God rest her soul, and the day she died.'” (p306)This is kind of a wacky story, with a determined heroine taking charge of her own destiny and an earl who is charmed by her efforts—after first being enraged by them.As always, I enjoy the vocabulary I find: blackguard, rapscallion, whoremongering, peccadilloes, licentious. It’s one of the best parts about reading historical romance.Memorable moment:"This was the trouble with being known as a rogue. Even his servants felt the need to disapprove of him. So what if he had just pried a buxom woman’s hand off his nether regions? He still liked to think he was a gentleman.” (p270)I also enjoyed Elinor’s flirtatious and brazen aunt Millie as well as de Winter, Chelford’s best friend. I wonder if these characters will be featured in Locke’s other books in the series? I look forward to finding out when I read more.