How to Engage an Earl

By Kathryn Caskie

The last thing the Earl of MacLaren wants is a wife, so when he awakens to discover a fair-haired enchantress at the foot of his bed, he behaves as any man might by taking full advantage of the delicious situation. Then his family bursts in, and the chit brazenly announces that she is his betrothed. So he finds himself well on his way to being legshackled for life!

Beautiful, reserved Anne Royle had never done anything so mad in her life. She entered the earl's bedchamber with no intention of seduction. Rather, she hoped to discover a document that could contain the truth about her heritage. But now her world is turned upside down, and while she trembles at the thought of her wedding night, she finds she longs for it in ways she never thought possible.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Oct 13, 2009
• ISBN: 9780061745591

Kathryn Caskie

Kathryn Caskie has long been a devotee of history and things of old, so it came as no surprise to her family when she took a career detour off the online superhighway and began writing historical romances full time. With a background in marketing, advertising, and journalism, she has written professionally for television, radio, the internet, magazines, and newspapers in and around metropolitan Washington, DC. How to Engage an Earl is her sixth novel. Kathryn lives in a 200-year-old Quaker home nestled in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains with her greatest sources of inspiration, her husband and two young daughters.

Reviews for How to Engage an Earl

[the_book_queen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I read a mixture of all kind of romance books. My obsession started out with historical, but has moved to a lot of paranormal in the past year or so. But I still read a fair ammount of historical. When I bought How to Engage an Earl, I had high hopes for it-- I had read her previous book in this trilogy, about the eldest sister, Mary, titled, I believe, How to Seduce a Duke (Correct me if I am wrong here, it has been a while...). There are some books that you have no hope for, but they come up on top in the end, some that you have high hope for, but they end up disappointing you... I'm afraid that, for How to Engage an Earl, I'm leaning more towards the last option.The story started out kind of rough. It had to potential, as far as the early plot line, to be a good, interesting book with a faster pace. But it didn't quiet reach that potential. Annie was looking for letters that supposedly prove her and her two sisters are daughters of the prince, illigetimate triplets born during an affair their mother had with him. She is sent upstairs until the Earl's bedroom to look for them, but who should she come across while up there? Why, the Earl himself! Of course, he's a little bit drunk, and he's a rake, well, a recovering rake, so it's not surprising when he tries to take advantage of her. His mother and half of her friends, some of the more loose tongued matrons of Society, along with Laird's best friend, catch them together. Annie lies and says that Laird had just proposed to her, and they came up here for a moment alone. So starts the tangled and twisted lies they will weave before the story's end.Most of the book's storyline was mediocre at best, with a few areas that alude to a mystery yet to be solved. However, those few areas are not written as best as they could have been, in my opinion, which also makes them less than perfect. Don't get me wrong, Kathryn Caskie is a good author. I simply thought that How to Engage an Earl was one of her weaker works. I will say that it picked up considerably towards the end, but not enough to save the whole book. All in all, it was an okay book, but I doubt I will ever take time to reread it again. I will probably pick up the next book in the series, How to Propose to a Prince, just to see how Elizabeth's story ends and if we will ever find out the complete truth about the letters, the Prince, and the triplets' mother.3.5/5 Stars. How to Engage an Earl has a few flaws, too many for my tastes, but for a true historical romance buff, it may very well be a diamond in the rough. However, this reviewer found it lacking in the plot, the romance, and the love scene--hello, she was a virgin, and during their one and only love scene in the whole book, there is absolutely NO mention of her condition! He doesn't stop, she doesn't cry out, there is no pause, no 'pushing in until he suddenly reached a barrier...blah blah blah...he gives one final shove' et cetera. Maybe I'm missing something? A page that went astray? A paragraph that got lost?This is not a book to run out and buy right away nor is it a book to cross off your list and never read. It's stuck somewhere in the middle, and only you can decide for yourself if you want to take the plunge and try this book. It's not horrible, so you shouldn't regret the decission, but it's not wonderful either. But that's just me.