Review and Giveaway: The Earl Claims His Wife by Cathy Maxwell.

Posted October 1, 2009 by Rowena in Giveaways, Reviews | 56 Comments

Publisher: Avon, Harper Collins


Rowena’s review of The Earl Claim’s His Wife by Cathy Maxwell.

Hero: Brian Ranson, Earl of Wright
Heroine: Gillian Hutchins
Grade: 4.5 out of 5

She’ll be his perfect wife . . .

Preoccupied with fighting Napoleon and making love to his mistress, Brian Ranson has ignored his wife since their wedding. But now that he’s become the Earl of Wright, he’s ready to fetch his bride back to London. He’s shocked to find she’s become a bold, beautiful woman, exactly the kind he lusts after . . . and she wants nothing to do with him.

Gillian, Lady Wright, is desperate to seize the love she’s been denied . . . but not with her rakish husband! So she makes a bargain—for thirty days she’ll be the perfect wife, then he’ll set her free. But no matter how she hardens her heart against her damnable earl, her body begs her to surrender . . .

There will be major spoilers going on with this review so if you want to read this book and not be spoiled, I suggest you stop reading right now.

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I was really surprised at how much I enjoyed this book because as you can see from the blurb of the book, there’s a great deal of cheating going on with the hero. I mean, the hero and the heroine get married and after they consummate the marriage, the hero tells the heroine that he’s in love with his mistress and that he was going to her.

And he did. Well, he went off to the military and served in the war for four long years and then when he returns from war, he goes immediately to his mistress which pisses the heroine off and causes her to leave him and run to her cousin’s house. Her cousin is the Earl of Holburn, who’s story was in A Seduction at Christmas, which came out last year. Gillian, the heroine was a great heroine. One who was completely normal and completely justified in everything that she felt and did in this book. It had to have been hard for her to have her hopes and dreams for the future dashed so soundly when her husband announces on her wedding night that he loves another and will not give her up.

It had to have been super duper hard for her to live through those four years that she lived under her husband’s roof, knowing that he was out there fighting in a war and loving someone else. That unrequited love is devastating and my heart went out to her. I wanted to hate Brian for his heartlessness even though he thought he was being “honorable” by being honest with her. You would think that the whole cheating on the wife with the mistress was the big conflict in the story, watching these two come together again after so much time apart would have made some great story telling but Cathy Maxwell wasn’t done torturing us readers. Oh no, she threw in the little complication of Lord Anthony.

My eyes about popped out of my head when it registered just who Lord Anthony was and what Brian was asking Gillian to do. It made me wonder just what the hell his reasons were for coming for Gillian….because he wanted to make their marriage work, because Jess died or because Jess betrayed him. Did he come back because he wanted to or because he had to? I had a hard time getting to this part because I didn’t know if I’d be able to forgive Brian for what he did.

But I did.

Like Gillian, I couldn’t help but fall in love with him. He totally won me over in the course of the book and I think he won me over because he knew he was in the wrong. He knew that she had every right to hate him but that didn’t stop him from going after her. In the beginning, when he was thinking that she belonged to him and he wasn’t going to give her up, I wanted to kick his teeth in but as the book wore on and as Gillian and Brian got to know each other again, I softened toward him and was happy that Gillian did too.

Gillian was my favorite part of this book. Man did I understand her pain and man was I pissed on her behalf. Getting to know her throughout this book made me like her more and more. She was so strong and so giving that I wanted things to work out for her. I wanted her to get the things that she wanted most in life and when things started falling into place for her, I couldn’t help but cheer her on because she was great. She was so normal, such a simple girl who wanted a simple life. The things she wanted in life weren’t things things that were super hard to achieve or accomplish. She didn’t want riches or to fly to the moon, she wanted to mean something to someone. She wanted to have a husband who did the small things and cared about her. She wanted someone to share her life with and if you ask me, that’s not asking much at all. She had so much to give and she gave of herself so willingly that for her to get the short end of the stick in the beginning of her marriage made me feel for her.

I really enjoyed getting to know both Brian and Gillian. I loved watching them work toward their happy ending because they had a lot to work on especially with all of the complications that they had to overcome. I thought they were a great team and watching Brian win her over made me happy. This book was a great book and it was definitely a book that I will reread again because it was a cute historical with a great storyline and charming characters. I really loved that Andres wasn’t made out to be this evil money hungry devil who was out to get Gillian. My heart hurt for him at the end but I’m hopeful that he will get his own book.

Overall, this book was great. I definitely recommend to each and everyone out there who wants to read a great historical. This is a great historical with characters that will stay with you. It’s been a couple of days since I read this book and I’m still smiling about it. It’s a keeper for me, check it out and see if it’s a keeper for you as well.

GIVEAWAY ALERT: Leave a comment on this review and you’ll be entered into a drawing for your very own copy of THE EARL CLAIMS HIS WIFE by Cathy Maxwell.

This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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56 Comments

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56 responses to “Review and Giveaway: The Earl Claims His Wife by Cathy Maxwell.”

  1. Luci

    Did not read the spoilers/major spoilers cause the blurb sounds intriguing.

    I will put this book on my wish list for when I get out of the financial rut I am in and start buying books again!

    Reply
  3. Scorpio M.

    Great review, I don’t mind spoilers. I’ve never read Cathy Maxwell before, this one has me intrigued!

    Reply
  6. Steff

    I haven’t read historical romances in a long time, but this one just might bring me back to them.

    Reply
  7. Patti

    I skipped the spoilers – thanks for the warning. My first Cathy Maxwell story was from the Four Dukes and a Devil Antholgy that came out this year- I bought it for the Jeaniene Frost story but ended up loving Cathy Maxwell’s story! Would love to win this, thanks for the opportunity.

    Reply
  13. Em

    Sounds great. I’ve never read a Cathy Maxwell before. I love historicals, so I’ll definitely look for this one.

    Reply
  14. Strlady

    I think it would be hard to get past the cheating, as you said, but I have no doubt Maxwell made it work. She is a great talent and I’m looking forward to reading this one.

    Reply
  16. The_Book_Queen

    Great review, thanks for sharing!

    Ah, intrigue! An hero who’s unfaithful in the beginning? Hmm, not my usual thing, but when done nicely, or by an author I already enjoy, I don’t mind it too much…

    I’d love to read this one! 😀

    Enjoy,
    TBQ

    Reply
  17. nath

    Great review, Rowena. I’ve been wanting to try this author, but I’m afraid ^_^; I don’t know… so this might be my chance, right? 🙂

    Reply
  18. Kay

    Well, I didn’t dare to read the whole review since you said there are spoilers, but I must say I am quite curious about this book, despite the awfully shallow cover. And title (I am somewhat wary of titles containing “duke”, “earl” and similar).

    This being said, I would love to be entered into the drawing 🙂

    Oh, and I really loved your review (the parts I did read that is) 🙂

    Reply
  19. scottsgal

    I love a good book where you become attached to the characters – this one sounds like it did that for you. Can’t wait to read it

    msboatgal at aol.com

    Reply
  22. pattepoilue

    I skipped the spoilers because i liked the synopsis and this sounds like something i’d love to read. I haven’t read anything with the same plot/intrigue/story so now i’m pretty interested in this one!

    Reply
  23. cheryl c

    Based on the synopsis (minus the spoilers) and your review, I am adding this to my TBB list. I love historical romances, and this one sounds like a wonderful story.

    Reply
  29. Maija P.

    I didn’t bear to read the review, because this book has caught my eye a while ago and I don’t want anything to spoil it. Would love to win it here!

    Reply
  32. Kaetrin

    I didn’t read the review – didn’t want any spoilers. But the rating looks good and I’d love to be entered in the giveaway please.

    Reply
  33. Cybercliper

    Sounds like a book that’ll make you run through a huge range of emotions! I felt sorry for Gillian just reading the review! Hope she put Brian through hell at least for a little while 🙂

    Reply
  35. Chelsea B.

    This book sounds heartbreaking and heartwarming all at once! But I’ve heard Cathy Maxwell is an amazing author, so I bet its just fantastic. Great review:)

    Reply
  36. Jane

    Great review. I did read the spoilers and I really want to read this book to find out how Brian won you over.

    Reply
  38. Michelle

    AWESOME review!! this book has my favorite plot line which is a second-chance-at-love plot and featuring a couple already married — i really, really want to read this book now because of your review. thank you!

    Reply
  39. Armenia

    Thanks for the honest review. I read the spoilers and I’m a little conflicted about a hero that cheats on his wife. Irks me to no end. But my interest is piqued and I want to know how he gets his a$$ out of this one.

    Reply
  48. Renee

    Well, I don’t usually read spoilers, but I wasn’t planning on reading his book, so I read them. Now, however, the book sounds so good, I’m going to have to put it on my list!
    Great review, Rowena! 🙂

    Reply

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