Stevie‘s review of If Wishes Were Earls (Rhymes with Love, Book 3) by Elizabeth Boyle
Historical Romance published by Avon 31 Dec 13
This is the latest in Boyle’s series about the ladies of Kempton and their various ways of avoiding the curse that condemns them to spinsterhood – or their new husbands to terrible fates. This time we get the story of Miss Harriet Hathaway and Tiberius Maximus Marshom, the 7th Earl of Roxley, both of whom we first met right at the beginning of the first book when Roxley arrived in the village with his friend the Duke of Preston, and whose story I’ve been dying to read. This book, like the rest of the series, certainly made me smile numerous times, and it also had a mystery plot that took me most of the story to figure out completely, though the solution was obvious once I saw it.
The story opens during the Masquerade Ball at Owle Park – the one from which Daphne eloped in the previous book, although knowledge of that fact isn’t essential if you’re joining the series in the middle – and Harriet, dressed as Cleopatra, is being chastised by Roxley over her scandalous costume. We learn that she has set her cap at Roxley, but he has a potential (if not very welcome) rival in the form of the dastardly Viscount Fieldgate. Harriet – the only girl in a family of five boys, all of them Roxley’s childhood friends – isn’t afraid to go after what she wants, though, and sets out to seduce Roxley in the gardens of Owle Park. Not that he’s entirely opposed to the idea, of course, even if he does feel obliged to behave honourably towards a woman who is practically family.
Skip forward eight months and Roxley is in trouble. Since that night at Owle Park nothing has gone right for him – almost as if someone is conspiring against him – and his debts have mounted up well beyond any funds he might be able to raise elsewhere. Not only that, a wealthy merchant has bought up all those debts and is using them to compel Roxley into marrying his daughter – or else Roxley’s beloved aunts, who brought him up following the death of his parents, will be thrown out of their various homes and he will have to find some other way of accommodating them all. Aunts are a recurring theme in this series, and I love the lot of them.
Meanwhile, Harriet arrives in London with one of Roxley’s aunts and is horrified by the news of his impending marriage but also suspects that something untoward is afoot. Roxley has already figured that much out and has enlisted the help of Harriet’s older brother and his colleagues at the Home Office, who piece together a story regarding the deaths of Roxley’s parents and a missing necklace, although there is at first no hint of who the villains are who are trying to retrieve it from Roxley (not that he has any idea where his parents might have hidden it).
In order to delay the wedding, Roxley announces that it can’t take place until there has been a ‘mustering’, according to his family’s traditions: his bride-to-be must meet and win the approval of each of his aunts in their own homes.
Harriet, determined to find out what’s going on, decides to accompany them (against Roxley’s advice, since he wants to protect her from whoever’s out to get him), and offers to work as companion to the future Lady Roxley (the previous incumbent having mysteriously sprained both ankles). There follows an excellent series of adventures featuring the aunts, as well as a hideous china pug dog that Harriet is forced to transport from one aunt to the next. All ends well eventually, and I’d guessed the location of the diamonds before the characters, even if I didn’t figure out the identity of the main villain until the big reveal.
A worthy addition to the series, which also stands up well as a story in its own right. I also like the excerpts from a series of fictional romance novels (the Miss Darby Stories) which introduce each chapter as well as being referred to at times by Harriet when she’s seeking to illustrate their current situation by comparing it with a fictional example. Now I want another book in the series sooner rather than later, as well as more glimpses of the various aunts within the different families.
Grade: B
Summary:
When you wish upon an earl…
Harriet Hathaway has only ever wanted one man: the Earl of Roxley. After a passionate interlude at a house party, Harriet is convinced Roxley will do the right thing and propose. But when she returns to London, she finds the roguish earl on the verge of proposing to another.
Yet Harriet refuses to believe that her hopes of a happily-ever-after are completely lost—for she can see the desire still flickering in the earl’s eyes when he looks at her from across the dance floor. And when they are alone… there is one wish neither can deny.
…the most extraordinary things can happen
The Earl of Roxley is in a dangerous fix—and to keep Harriet safe, he must hold her at arm’s length. He won’t entangle her in the murderous mystery that is threatening to destroy his family and his future. But keeping Harriet Hathaway out of his troubles proves as impossible as it is to keep the determined beauty from stealing his heart.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
