Ayers' Chasing the Earl (NO SPOILER ARC REVIEW)
Kathleen Ayers
Stars: ⭐⭐⭐½ (Couple at odds; hot hero who is not perfect; skunks)
Heat rating: 🔥🔥🔥
Cover Rating: The cover is fine. I would give it a B. There’s nothing to make me sit up and applaud, but the elements are pleasing to the eye. I definitely imagined Emmie being more angular and definitely not dressed like that. But it’s attractive.
So, MAR loves Kathleen Ayers and has read most of her works, including The Beautiful Barringtons series (which she loved) and The Wickeds series (also loved). This is the second book in the new series, the Arrogant Earls series (isn’t that the best series name?). Our H and h are Henry Eldrick, Earl of Huntly and Emmagene Stitch.
So, Huntly. I ain’t gonna lie; I have had a bit of a tendre for him since I read the previous book, Forgetting the Earl. I don’t know why because he actually sounds loathsome. Not his appearance, of course, but he really just seems like a sarcastic, rude, jacka$$.
His appearance, to me, brings me in mind of a blue-eyed Jared Padalecki. So that was absolutely lovely to visualize while reading. Jared really is a handsome man. So the entire time I am reading about Huntley, I am remembering evil Sam on Supernatural. That may be why I’ve loved him since he was checking out women’s bodies and spilling wine down his front in the previous book. (Squirrel would like you to know that Dean/Jensen is actually the Supernatural favorite guy, but Sam/Jared ain’t hard on the eyes.)
So what about Emmagene? There’s a whole lot going on with her. We met her in the previous book as well, and she figured in prominently there. The first book was about cousin Honora, who was mistreated by the Ton (TW/CW: bullying), and Honora’s retribution. In that book we learned that something has happened in Emmie’s past that is the reason she is angry and bitter and unmarried. Emmie does not trust men. “[Emmagene] was known for her scathing remarks, her low tolerance for those she considered tedious—which was nearly everyone save Honora—and the severity of her person. She kept everyone at arm’s length, especially gentlemen. Not that there were any who would brave the armor of Emmie’s harsh personality. It saddened Honora because the Emmie she knew was loyal. Fiercely protective. Funny, even, when she chose to be.” (Forgetting the Earl, p. 57). So yeah, there’s going to be a rough road to HEA here.
So Kathleen Ayers definitely worked some magic in this one, because I could not STAND Emmie in the previous book. I came to like her a lot in this one.
The book is short, under 200 pages, and a lot is happening. These two are thrust together as they are both attending the wedding of their respective cousins, who got their HEA in the previous book. I definitely suggest reading the first one before you go to this one. Because it’s short, you may need that background info in the previous book to get you up to speed quickly. And the previous book explains a lot more about Emmie’s character.
I can’t tell you a lot without spoiling, but it was an engaging read. I didn’t like it as much as I liked the previous one, but I did find it interesting and it definitely kept me reading. What I really loved: the fact that neither the H or h are perfect (not physically and definitely not character-wise—they both have major character flaws, which is refreshing). There was a description of Huntly that made me sit back and say, “YES!” and nod approvingly. To all my Romance author folks: more books with folks who are not perfect, please!
Heatwise, I’d give this a 3. You do get into the bedroom (and a few other locations, lol), but it’s not overly detailed. The sex scenes were interesting and kept you reading. And yeah, you can visualize things, so that’s always good.
* Y’all know I usually link directly to an author’s website, but for some reason, hers isn’t coming up for me, so I am linking to her official Facebook page instead.
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