One Good Earl Deserves a Lover by Sarah MacLean

Setting: Regency

Summary:

Lady Philippa Marbury is…odd.

The brilliant, bespectacled daughter of a double marquess cares more for books than balls, for science than the season, and for laboratories than love. She’s looking forward to marrying her simple fiancé and living out her days quietly with her dogs and her scientific experiments. But before that, Pippa has two weeks to experience all the rest–fourteen days to research the exciting parts of life. It’s not much time, and to do it right she needs a guide familiar with London’s darker corners.

She needs…a Scoundrel.

She needs Cross, the clever, controlled partner in London’s most exclusive gaming hell, with a carefully crafted reputation for wickedness. But reputations often hide the darkest secrets, and when the unconventional Pippa boldly propositions him, seeking science without emotion, she threatens all he works to protect. He is tempted to give Pippa precisely what she wants…but the scoundrel is more than he seems, and it will take every ounce of willpower to resist giving the lady more than she ever imagined.

Review:

I love Sarah MacLean. All her books thus have been sexy, witty, and surprisingly fresh in a genre that can seem very predictable at times. But I never expected how much I would love this book. To be honest, I came into this book with a lot misapprehensions because I thought the way that Philippa and Cross got thrown together was a bit cliche (Philippa’s sister and Cross’s friend are the heroes of the first book in the series) and I couldn’t really see how they would suit each other. A cold, calculating, rakish, gaming hell partner with a socially awkward bluestocking who wears glasses? Not really an ideal match at all!

But I should never have doubted Sarah MacLean’s talent for creating emotionally poignant stories with characters that have so many layers and who slowly reveal themselves to be so perfect for each other, you should never have doubted it in the first place. At least that was the case for me!

This was an amazing book and this was clearly one of Ms. MacLean’s favourites to write because of the amount of thought and downright awesome-ness that was just packed into it. The story was so well paced and flowed so well and yet managed to be unpredictable and fresh at the same time.  I loved the way it was written and I honestly had the hardest time putting this down!

Despite not warming to Philippa in the last book when she introduced, I grew to adore this determined, logically based young woman. Sure she can be immature and naive sometimes but that’s part of the reason she is so endearing to the reader. And don’t get me started on Cross who turned out to be one of my biggest romance hero crushes ever! You gotta love a guy who has a thing for the wallflower 😛 I simply adored their scenes together and their love scenes literally had me fanning myself, they were sizzling with tension! I love how they didn’t jump right into bed either but held back-makes it all so much more exciting to read!

To sum it all up: A great plot with great characters and a romance you won’t soon forget! This is definitely one of my top picks for this year! Well done Sarah! Can’t wait for your next book! 😀

Sensuality Rating: Pretty hot (4/5)

Verdict: Just read it! You won’t regret this one!

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars