I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
Counting On a Countess
Blurb:
Christopher “Kit” Ellingsworth, war veteran and newly minted Earl of Blakemere, buries his demons under every sort of pleasure and vice. His scandalous ways have all but emptied his coffers . . . until a wealthy mentor leaves him a sizeable fortune. The only stipulation? He must marry within one month to inherit the money. Kit needs a bride and the bold, mysterious Miss Tamsyn Pearce seems perfect.
Husband hunting isn’t Tamsyn’s top priority—she’s in London to sell her new shipment of illicit goods—but she’s desperate for funds to keep her smuggling operation afloat. When a handsome earl offers to wed her and send her back to Cornwall with a hefty allowance, Tamsyn agrees. After all, her secrets could land her in prison and an attentive, love-struck spouse could destroy everything.
But when an unexpected proviso in the will grants Tamsyn control of the inheritance, their arrangement becomes anything but convenient. Now, Kit’s counting on his countess to make his wildest dreams a reality and he plans to convince her, one pleasurable seduction at a time.
While marriage of convenience is not my favorite of tropes, I found that Counting On a Countess by Eva Leigh to be the perfect example of how to write one. That being said, I wasn’t too enthralled with either of the two main characters. Both Tamsyn and Kit have selfish motives in marrying each other and while they both agreed on the marriage, I could not justify their reasons.
Tamsyn is a smuggler.
What an awesome sounding background right? Well…I just wished the story kind of maintained that excitement that was introduced in the beginning. I loved the premise of her smuggling to help her little village. But that excitement kind of petered out in the middle of the story and picked up again towards the end.
Kit is a former soldier gone rakehell.
Ah Kit, the quintessential PTSD suffering, “going to drown my sorrows in female pleasures” Elligsworth. He has to marry to be able to use a financial windfall that a friend has bequeathed upon him. So what does he want to do with said money? The reason kind of draws out as the story unfolded, so it was not quite a hundred percent clear. It’s like we had to drag it out of him. And what did I think of it? All I said was “Hmmm, really?”
So Tamsyn has a secret (of course she didn’t tell him about her smuggling) and Kit has a secret. Two secrets don’t make a right and the whole marriage begins to strain in certain parts.
My favorite parts.
The last half of the book was exciting and I actually had a giggle there towards the end. The smuggler reveal and Tamsyn’s relatives were what made the story good. Even Kit’s character actually shone there at the end. I just wished it was like that throughout the whole book.
This was my first Eva Leigh book and I can say that I would be interested in reading more from the series.
About Eva Leigh
Eva Leigh is a romance author who has always loved the Regency era. She writes novels chock-full of smart women and sexy men. She enjoys baking, spending too much time on the Internet, and listening to music from the ’80s. Eva and her husband live in Central California.
Eva also writes in multiple romance genres as RITA-award nominated Zoë Archer.
14 comments
Oh wow. I read book one and enjoyed it and didn’t even link these two together until the bottom. Bummer it didn’t quite keep the excitement going the whole time. And those secrets. Man when there’s a secret being kept I want it to be a real GOOD one not an eh, okay one. Thanks for the heads up!
I really couldn’t justify his secret at all. It seemed a little too selfish.
It sounds like these two characters were keeping too many things from each other for this to work completely. Glad you were able to enjoy it overall. Great review!
Yeah, the secrets were aggravating!
Lovely review. Glad you liked this one. I haven’t read this author in a while, her stories tend to be a bit too modernistic for a HR for my liking. I do struggle with selfish characters though.
Thanks! I’m not sure about the modernistic part, but there were some eyebrow raising issues, now that I think about it.
While I do like a marriage of convenience story I am sorry this one disappointed you. I love that it made you giggle.
What happened in the end was what made the story. 🙂
Oh man. Sorry to hear that this one fizzled out in the middle on you. Although, I’m glad that it picked back up in the end. It sounds like you still enjoyed the book though. Just with the story and characters were consistent throughout the entirety of the book.
Yep, it was still enjoyable. The last quarter of the book was the best.
That green dress is so pretty on that cover. Sorry to her it wasn’t great even if it was good.
The color is so vibrant! Not giving up on the author. 🙂
I’m sorry it wasn’t as good as what you’ve expected Aleen 🙁 But those cover looks gorgeous!
It’s okay. The covers are gorgeous. 🙂