Judith’s review of What An Earl Wants by Kasey Michaels.

Gideon Redgrave, eldest child of the late Earl of Saltwood, refuses to be humbled by the scandal that once tore his family apart. He’s built his life in London society around one rule: trust no one. So the last thing he wants is to play guardian and role model to a headstrong boy . . . or to engage in a battle of wills with the boy’s spirited half sister, who is fighting Gideon for custody.

Beautiful and bold, young widow Jessica Linden proves to be a formidable and passionate adversary. But the more they lock horns, the more Gideon realizes he’d prefer to have Jessica on his side . . . and in his arms. Especially now that a new threat—sprung from his father’s supposedly defunct secret society—is poised to destroy the Redgraves once and for all.

This is the first book in a new series by an author who has written some fine historical romances in the past and who has launched another series that appears to be a winner.  Yes, it seems to have many of the same aspects as other historical romances, but within what seems like a predictable context, the characters and the strands of several situations bring creativity to the story.  Of course, there is the independant, wealthy, free living aristocrat who has every intention of remaining so until the very last minute when he must face marriage in order to secure the family line.  That’s sort of a given.  There is a young widow who is doing everything she can to simply earn a living and keep from living on the streets.  It is her deep concern for her half-brother that drives her into Saltwood’s life–for some reason he has been given guardianship over hapless young people almost endlessly.  His guardianship over Jessica’s half-brother is like a hair shirt for him, and when Jessica finally meets him, she agrees that he is not someone she would want to be around very much at all.  Way too much time on his hands, no real desire to  make anything of himself except a nuisance and possible the newest fashion plate.  Yet she loves him and wants what is best for him.

The relationship between Jessica and Gideon began like many others in Jessica’s life–she was a widow who was seen as being “available” to an aristocrat who wanted to sample her charms.  Yet their coming together wasn’t quite the “hit and run” that characterized most of Gideon’s sexual encounters.  And for Jessica, whose emotions had been locked away for a very long time, this encounter seemed to awaken something in her that wasn’t exactly welcomed.  The other characters in this story form a wonderful backdrop–Gideon’s grandmother, the mother of the earl featured in the Prologue, was a free wheeling lady who did exactly as she pleased, who looked twenty years younger than her chronological age, and whose memories and knowledge of her son’s involvement in the “secret society” were quite a surprise to her grandsons.  So this story is indeed a romance of a rather intense nature and is, at the same time, a historical mystery that involves Gideon and his brothers by way of contemporary murders of men who were friends and “playmates” of their grandfather.  There’s just a lot going on in this story, and if the reader really likes a certain level of simplicity, then this is not their kind of book.  As for me, I like the multi-layered thing — it is almost like trying to unravel a ball of yarn that seems beyond redemption.  The ending of this tale is quite surprising.  I thought I had it all figured out and I was wrong.

Fans of well-written and thought out historical novels will like this book, I think.  Ms Michaels is an author who have given her readers some very good books and I think this new series will not disappoint.  I really felt like these characters had a greater sense of reality than is sometimes the case, and appreciated the attention the author paid to make the story as well developed as she did.  Not any loose ends that I could perceive.  Just a really terrific historical romance all spiced up with a dark mystery as well as meeting Gideon’s rather unusual brothers, all of whom are going to have their own stories.

I give this novel a 4 out of 5.

You can read more from Judith at Dr J’s Book Place.

This book is available from HQN. You can buy it here or here in e-format. This book was provided by the publisher for an honest review.