cover image The Earl Is Mine

The Earl Is Mine

Kieran Kramer. St. Martin’s Paperbacks, $7.99 mass market (352p) ISBN 978-1-250-00989-0

After the sparkling Loving Lady Marcia, Kramer’s second House of Brady historical romance notably slips. From the outset, when yet another Brady’s life is shaped by thoughtless premarital sex, the mechanical plot building lacks the drive of character or emotion. Gregory Sherwood, Lord Westdale, is heir to the Marquess of Brady. Since his mother’s death, only he knows that he is, in fact, another man’s child. Vowing never to love, he resists the allure of exuberant, titian-haired Pippa, five years his junior and the great-niece of Gregory’s godfather, who’s determined to set them up. While their battle against fate is of course doomed, its long-winded unfolding is lacking in the joie de vivre that Kramer insists Pippa embodies; the most lyrical language is reserved for describing how very wet Pippa gets walking in the rain. Seasoned romance readers will yawn, having seen it all before. Agent: Jenny Bent, the Bent Agency. (Mar.)