A young woman trying to do the right thing
An earl’s son whose clumsiness is their downfall
A scandal that turns the Haute ton upside down
The undeniable spark that transforms a blunder into a tender connection

Sarah Moran’s attempt to save Kenver Pendrennon-the heir of an earl-as he slips off the Cornwall cliffs sends them both into each other’s arms and into the sea.

Now, marriage may be the only option to keep a scandal at bay. But what started as a terrible mistake may be exactly what both of them need…

Titles in The Duke’s Estates series include — The Duke Who Loved Me —♥— Earl on the Run —♥— Blame It on the Earl —♥— A Gentleman Ought to Know —♥—

This is an adult 18+ story that may contain language, possible violence, and/or sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Title:  Blame It on The Earl
Series:  The Duke’s Estates #3
Author:  Jane Ashford
Genre:  Historical Romance, Regency Romance
Published:  August 23, 2022
Publisher:  Sourcebooks Casablanca
My Rating:  3.5 stars

Blame It on The Earl continues The Duke’s Estates series with a couple who I enjoyed – when it was just them in the scenes – but, unfortunately, Kenver’s mother is in this one as well and she is one nasty piece of work.

While on an outing along the shore with her parents, Sarah is fascinated with the possible sighting of a cave entrance.  As she is an intelligent young woman with a fanciful streak she’s already weaving stories and possibilities for this mostly hidden cave’s entrance.  What she didn’t expect was to find someone else within that cave, nor to instinctively reach out to help the man when it seems he was about to fall into deeper waters.  The result?  Well, being trapped in a cave with the tide coming in will mean that these strangers will spend an uncomfortable night together… with the expected results from parents and society at the time.  It doesn’t matter that during the time trapped they had talked, perhaps felt the first stirrings of attraction, what matters now is propriety and that means a hasty marriage.  Something that neither wants at this early point, but they’ll have no choice but to comply.

While I always enjoy this author’s storytelling abilities, this time I absolutely loathed several characters from the first meeting (and they only got nastier as time went on).  Not every hero is going to be dashing, brave beyond belief, and able to stand up to family members.  The way that Kenver’s mother (and by not stopping his wife – his father as well) treats her grown son… and the reprehensible way she treated Sarah was heartrending and only infuriated me at those characters and took away somewhat from Sarah and Kenver’s romance.

I finished Blame It on The Earl but it certainly wasn’t a favorite of this author’s works.  The writing is smooth, the details amazing, and the story basically good – but for me, it was very difficult to watch a grown man allow his mother to act as she did toward his new bride.  Yes, circumstances were involved, but so were emotions, the beginning of a love that needed a bit of tending to grow strong enough to stand the onslaught of hate from one woman and some of her servants.  It sounds strange, I acknowledge that, but it was very hard to root for a hero’s happiness when I cannot find the least respect for his lack of action in defending the woman he does have feelings for.  Everyone reads the same story with a different perspective, that’s true no matter the book.  Yet this time around I wish Kevner had found his backbone a bit sooner and stood up to his hate-filled mother.  It was a good story – with characters that I didn’t always like.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. The opinions expressed in this review are my own -good, bad, or indifferent. I was not financially compensated for this review and no expectation of a positive review was promised.*

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