Kate Bateman's To Catch an Earl continues her
historical Regency Romance Bow Street Bachelors series.
Working undercover for London’s first official police force, the Bow Street Bachelors have an obligation to serve the city’s best interests—even while they’re falling for the city’s most alluring women…
SHE KNOWS HOW TO STEAL A KISS.
Alex Harland, Earl of Melton and dedicated rake, never pictured himself as an agent of inquiry. But the thrill of investigation is a challenge he now embraces. When he’s asked to pursue the Nightjar, a notorious thief who is reclaiming France’s crown jewels, the case throws him into the path of the beautiful and equally elusive Emmy Danvers, reminding him of the only puzzle he’s never solved: the identity of the mysterious woman who once stole a kiss from him—and left him wanting so much more…
WILL HE SURRENDER HIS HEART?
The daughter of a thief, Emmy learned long ago how to keep her secrets safeguarded—and, as the notorious Nightjar, her love for Alex Harland is one of them. With the determined earl hot on her trail—and making her hot under the collar—Emmy has no choice but to keep her distance. But when a moment’s danger threatens Emmy’s life as well as her name, will Alex finally discover that he’s followed every clue…to true love?
Book 2
Buy Links
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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Working undercover for London’s first official police force, the Bow Street Bachelors have an obligation to serve the city’s best interests—even while they’re falling for the city’s most alluring women…
SHE KNOWS HOW TO STEAL A KISS.
Alex Harland, Earl of Melton and dedicated rake, never pictured himself as an agent of inquiry. But the thrill of investigation is a challenge he now embraces. When he’s asked to pursue the Nightjar, a notorious thief who is reclaiming France’s crown jewels, the case throws him into the path of the beautiful and equally elusive Emmy Danvers, reminding him of the only puzzle he’s never solved: the identity of the mysterious woman who once stole a kiss from him—and left him wanting so much more…
WILL HE SURRENDER HIS HEART?
The daughter of a thief, Emmy learned long ago how to keep her secrets safeguarded—and, as the notorious Nightjar, her love for Alex Harland is one of them. With the determined earl hot on her trail—and making her hot under the collar—Emmy has no choice but to keep her distance. But when a moment’s danger threatens Emmy’s life as well as her name, will Alex finally discover that he’s followed every clue…to true love?
Buy Links
Amazon US ~ Amazon UK ~ Amazon Au ~ Amazon Ca
B&N ~ Google Play ~ iTunes ~ Kobo
Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Erica – ☆☆☆
Three Stars. If the novel had not been written so well, I would have rated the plot, execution, and flow two stars.
To Catch an Earl is the second installment in the Bow Street Bachelors series, and can easily be read independently of the series as a standalone with little to no confusion.
Emmy is a jewel thief, a legacy passed down from her late father, including her brother and grandmother. As the blurb states, she's been in love with Alex forever. To be honest, I didn't get Emmy, at all. Her love for Alex felt vapid, since she had never held a conversation with him, didn't know him from Adam, and only saw him from afar, so what was to love? Infatuation over his looks, perhaps? This one-dimensional issue continued throughout the novel for me, as none of Emmy's motivations made a lick of sense.
Alex was a more fully developed character for me, with his war injury of decreased sight. His inner monologues were longer than I expected, but it gave good insight into who Alex is as a man, which helped how I viewed those closest to him. Honorable, his job as a Bow Street Runner is important to him.
To be honest. I didn't understand the attraction between Emmy and Alex. It felt forced from the get-go, the reader told instead of shown. It wasn't the balance between opposites. I never felt it, which made the entire book fall flat for me. I wasn't invested, so the pages dragged for me.
Another major facet I didn't quite get – the thievery. Emmy and family continued to steal gems, forced by a blackmailer. It was the first piece on the blackmail list that would have been the ammunition to blackmail them, considering their father had passed away and they were innocents, so it's not like he could be dug up to swing from the hangman's noose. They didn't steal out of necessity. I realize it was to give an adventurous, exciting air to the novel, causing it to be a page-turner. For me, it just ended up feeling forced, like the author was trying too hard to make the readers believe in Emmy's baddassery. Feed the blackmailer or risk hanging over something with no proof, something you didn't commit, or steal for the blackmailer and actually swing from the gallows while caught in the act. Irrational. Ignorant. Scent distinctive, wear one-of-a-kind perfume during a theft, because Emmy was just begging to get caught. This also fell flat for me, because it was ludicrous, not exciting and spunky.
Another con for me, an overabundance of historical facts, read as if taken from a textbook. It didn't feel as if it was to set the scene or build the world around them, more like proving the author knew the facts. These facts were injected at odd times, dumped during meandering inner monologues, which pulled me from the story, since I felt as if I was being lectured.
I'd love to say this is on me, as if the writing style isn't to my tastes. Perhaps my mood was too depressive to enjoy this fun romp. Ordinarily I'd agree and say so, but the idea of the plot didn't hold up well to how it was executed.
I'm curious to see where the series goes. While I've enjoyed the author in the past, if the next is a bust for me as well, the writing style obviously doesn't suit with my reading tastes.
Also Available in the Bow Street Bachelors Series
Buy Links
Amazon US ~ Amazon UK ~ Amazon Au ~ Amazon Ca
B&N ~ Google Play ~ iTunes ~ Kobo
For reviews & more info, check out our This Earl of Mine post.
Kate Bateman, (also writing as K.C. Bateman), is the #1 bestselling author of historical romances, including her RITA® nominated Renaissance romp, The Devil To Pay, and the novels in the Secrets & Spies series To Steal a Heart, A Raven’s Heart, and A Counterfeit Heart. When not writing novels that feature feisty, intelligent heroines and sexy, snarky heroes you want to both strangle and kiss, Kate works as a fine art appraiser and on-screen antiques expert for several popular TV shows in the UK. She splits her time between Illinois and her native England.
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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of To Catch an Earl (Bow Street Bachelors #2) by Kate Bateman to read and review.
