The Earl is Mine by Kieran Kramer (House of Brady #2)
February 26, 2013
Historical Romance
St. Martins

Reviewed by May 

He was the legitimate heir to the Marquess of Brady.
But he wasn’t his son.
And he was doomed to a lifetime of lies.

Gregory Sherwood, Lord Westdale has a dark secret one that he promised his mother on her deathbed that he’d never speak of or reveal. When he learned the truth of his parentage, a part of young Gregory died and he became a different boy. One who would do his duty, but was filled with anger and who kept himself apart from everyone else. When he finds his soon to be bride in the arms of another man he runs to America to work, think, and clear his head.

The childhood warrior in him – the one who’d have ridden that imaginary piebald stallion and saved the world from dreaded enemies – didn’t like knowing he could be taken by surprise.

A year later he has returned to England to do his duty, and hopes to avoid the one woman who sees too much and asks too many questions – his lifelong friend Pippa. Gregory has already crushed her heart once, so Pippa hopes to both guard her heart and find a way to escape the marriage trap of her sleazy step-father and pursue her dreams. She wants to experience life to the fullest, and to have grand adventures. While her dream of building amazing creations made from sugar was a bit silly and odd, overall I found Pippa to be the kind of woman you can’t help but root for. She’s done letting people stand in her way – and unfortunately for Gregory, he’s standing right in her path.

“I have only one chance” – she squeezed his hands hard – “this chance, to live my life. And I’m going to take it.”

The biggest problem, really the only problem I had with this story was that I felt like there was no conflict romantically speaking. We are given snippets that seem conflict and drama filled, and yet this is an incredibly superficial read. We are not given depth, drama, or real emotional moments. These are two people who know each other incredibly well and love each other. Their match is encouraged by both families and expected. They have every reason to be together – except for Gregory’s secret and his desire to never open himself up fully to anyone else.

This secret of his true father was simply not enough for me to provide conflict for the entire story, especially since things are kept light and often silly instead of diving into more emotional territory. Since the couple really did not have a lot of courtship or falling in love to do, and because the story was character driven and not action packed, it suffered. Indeed even the scandal of Pippa running off with Gregory and dressing as his valet was skimmed over and brushed aside. This lack of conflict did not hurt my enjoyment while reading the novel, however once finished it was a glaring problem as I sat to write this review.

Indeed as I was reading it I happily flipped through and was quite enjoying myself. Pippa as a valet was quite the interesting deception to pull off. I especially liked this scene where Pippa is forced to try and help a pompous gentleman save face at the breakfast table when a dog pulls something out of his pants.

She balled up the sodden rag, terribly embarrassed by the turn of events. Apparently it had been rolled tightly and placed –

Inside Marbury’s trousers.

That gentleman, for once in his life, was silent. Mr. Dawson blinked. Pippa knew-

Pippa knew she had to say something. She inhaled a deep breath. “Good for you, Lord Marbury.” She said doggedly, “for wearing the latest trend – er, the er, the cravotch. It’s all the rage in Europe.”

“Cravotch?” Mr. Dawson asked, his eyebrows almost to his hairline.

“Yes, the cravotch,” Pippa said. “Cravat… crotch. It’s a word recently invented by a stylish French wit.”

There are plenty of memorable scenes, sweet moments, and reasons to really like these characters. The problem of course, as mentioned before, is that as a novel, as a romance story I never felt like things came together. I never really bought into the romance, nor did I feel satisfied by the resolution of Gregory’s dark secret.

Another aspect that appealed to me in this story is that it was most definitely Gregory’s story, and the other members of the Brady household remained absent until the end. It stands alone well and reading the previous novel would not be required at all – which is a blessing. Unlike the previous novel, this was a story without a lot of the problems and overdone tie-ins to the TV show that inspired these characters. The only real place where you got that Brady Bunch feeling was the epilogue that was so dripping with cheese I could barely make it through.

Keiran Kramer has such an amazing way with words, she is so adept at drawing me into a story and making me care about the characters while entertaining me, making me smile, and making putting the book down simply impossible. Her talent is such that I keep coming back, even if that means reading a series inspired by the Brady Bunch.

Grade: C+

Recent Reviews:
All About Romance – B-
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