I really liked this historical read! Plenty of drama and twists and turns. Jacob and Charlotte are great characters and their story really takes you back in time. A fun and entertaining read.

I enjoyed the fresh take on the hero and heroine. The menace of the women being killed kept the story on edge, which was great! The characters were great and I love reading about a strong heroine.

Ever since her parents died Charlotte Morris has been forced to live with her man-hating Aunt Martha and her son Edmund, Baron Morris. Fearing for her safety and suspicious of her cousin's behavior she suspects he might be terrorizing London. She runs away and ends up in the rookeries fearing for her life, she takes a friends advice and shows up on Jacob Ashland’s doorstep asking for help and protection.
Jacob Ashland is more use to the simple life of a common man, but his life has taken an unexpected turn he’s now the Earl of Ashland. When Charlotte turns up on his doorstep he offers the perfect protection and marriage. There’s an instant attraction between them and they agree to marry. They both gradually grow to love one another as they weave their way through the intrigue and mystery surrounding them. A captivating story and one I’m sure you’ll enjoy. I voluntarily read this book and this is my honest review.

An Unwilling Earl
by Sharon Cullen

I know I know arguable.....
However, buy buy buy buy buy....
I sincerely enjoyed this story. It had so many things, crime, passion, heart, life, mystery. The writer is extremely talented and sets the path of the story in a very expert way. You may feel at times it is a little tepid. You may feel it is a little too dark, however, the story is not the normal regency and therefore I took another measuring tool out to decide my rating. I was engaged, entertained, thoughtful, and at times a little irritated with the story. Therefore, it gets five stars. A truly enjoyable historical suspense romance. I was given this book in return for an honest review via NetGalley. Buy and enjou. Regards, Anna

Jacob Baker is a solictor and has just been informed that he is the new Earl of Ashland. He is a quiet man, honest and a widower. Charlotte Morris is the niece of Lord Chadley, who is a Marquess. Her grandfather and her mother had a fight about how the man she loved was not good enough but she went to him and gave up the grandure of the aristrocratic life. She ended up at her aunt's house when her dad died five years ago. That was one wicked lady. We met Jacob when Lord Armbruster and he were looking at the papers in their club. There had been four murders and no clues.
This was a very nice mystery, with some interesting twists to it. The characters were fun, witty and nice people. You could almost enjoy having them for neighbors. The story held my interest throughout the day while I read it in one sitting. Good tale, it moved smoothly and was easy to read.

This is the first book I have read by this author, and I truly hope I get to read many more! This book has it all! Murder, mystery, romance, and the potential for scandal! I am completely head over heels in- love with Charlotte and Jacob. Charlotte is the very definition of bravery and Jacob is epitome of kindness. I adore how their love turns them both into heroes!
Charlotte is an orphan who ran away from her Aunt’s house and has been living as a boy in the dregs of London for the last several months. Jacob is the reluctant new Earl of Ashland with a hobby of investigating crimes. .A chance run in between the two puts them in a possibly scandalous situation that lands them both in the path of a serial killer who may be closer to them than they realize.
This was such a fun read! I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.
I give this a 5

There’s a few intriguingly different plotlines happening in this story which mesh together to create an overall very interesting story. A serial killer in Victorian London is killing young servant women and dumping headless, handless bodies into the Thames. In a seemingly unrelated matter, a solicitor inherits an earldom and is almost simultaneously approached by a lady looking for her missing niece.

While Jacob has no intention of taking the case on, by chance he runs into Charlotte, the missing girl, disguised as a boy and hiding in one of London’s worst rookeries. Unable to imagine what could drive any gently bred young woman to prefer living in such a place to staying with her family, he offers his aid and slowly Charlotte comes to trust him, though at first she only asks for his assistance in leaving for America where she hopes to find work and make a new life.

Jacob is a charming beta hero; a widower who loved his first wife, he slowly transitions to being concerned about Charlotte’s well-being to admiring her resilience and determination, to loving her. He never tries to force her into anything or tell her he knows what’s best for her, though, which is such a refreshing change to most romance heroes. And while Charlotte surviving in the rookery might seem unbelievable, when the reader finally understands she was literally in fear of her life, and with excellent reason, it becomes more understandable. Terror is a great motivator, and it’s not as though she was thriving - she was terrified and slowly starving when Jacob offered his aid, and she was still wary enough to flee at first.

Charlotte is pretty sure she knows who the killer is, and even why he’s doing it, and it’s gratifying that Jacob takes her seriously right from the beginning. Luckily, through his occupation he has connections at Scotland Yard, but it was frustrating that the investigator on the case basically dismissed Charlotte’s information because the culprit was rich and titled and they’d pre-determined that ‘rich people don’t do things like this’. It’s sadly still true even today that victims, particularly women, aren’t believed just because the accused are rich and/or famous. Times really haven’t changed all THAT much.

Though there are a few familiar tropes here, there are also some really original ideas which change things up, and it’s a very believable romance between the two main leads. The historical setting is well done and there’s nothing anachronistic which caught my eye, which means the author’s done some thorough research. This is a proper historical romantic suspense and a really good one in that uncommon sub-genre. I’m giving it 5 stars.

Jacob Baker, a solicitor, and his friend, Oliver McCaron, Earl of Armbruster, have a weekly "Mayhem Meeting" where the amateur sleuths attempt to solve the crimes they read about in the newspaper. Little does Jacob know that fate has brought the most sensational crime of the day right to his door, when he rescues a "young lad" from being trampled by a horse and later is asked by a Lady Morris to find her runaway niece.

The "young lad" Jacob rescues is Charlotte Morris, who ran away from her priggish aunt and her cousin, Edmund, and is disguised and hiding in the London slums. Jacob's first encounter with Charlotte is the catalyst that sets in motion the romance and suspense that follows.

Jacob has unexpectedly inherited an earldom and is learning to deal with his new position in society. His developing relationship with Charlotte also pushes him to deal with his reawakened emotions, which were in hibernation after the death of his wife and son. Charlotte is attracted to Jacob but wants to go to America to escape the danger that she fears from her family.

"You were the one who said you were frightened of the future. Are you frightened because you do not know what it holds or are you frightened because you suspect what it can hold?

The story had definite Gothic undertones and kept my interest. I really liked Jacob's friend, Oliver, and hope he is set for his own story with the lady with dark flashing eyes!

I received a copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review

4.5 stars - I love it when I’m pleasantly surprised! This historical romance had some mystery and intrigue that I wasn’t expecting. Even though I knew who the villain was pretty early on, it was still nice to see the story unfold. The manner of the murders is pretty gruesome. Thankfully, they weren’t described in great detail, best of all the hero and heroine come to love and appreciate one another. I am very much looking forward to the next book in the series. I love it when authors I love embark on a new series, because that means there are more engrossing all-nighters in my future.

I received an ARC of this book, from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

I enjoyed the chase!

Successful lawyer Jacob Baker and now newly minted earl Jacob Ashland, the Earl of Ashland and his friend, Oliver McCaron, the Earl of Armbruster are intrigued by crimes and have a pastime of solving and dissecting crimes. They have weekly "Mayhem Meeting, as they liked to call it, where they perused the newspapers looking for the most sensational crimes and tried to solve them while drinking copious amounts of port."
Apparently successfully as their friend Detective O'Leary occasionally joined them. "They were a strange trio—the earl, the solicitor, and the detective. Although ... there were now two earls and a detective."
Currently, a spate of heinously disturbing crimes had come to light; servant girls were being brutally killed and dismembered and London working folk were panicked.
But with the rescue by Jacob of a young boy from being trampled by a horse that armchair sleuthing becomes more serious.
When a young gentle woman, an orphan seeks help from Jacob, he puts forward the idea of a marriage of convenience as protection for her and a buffer from marriage seeking young women and their mothers for him. Charlotte has run from an arranged marriage by her aunt and guardian to her much disliked and disturbing cousin Edmund.
Against her better judgement Charlotte accepts the marriage proposal, hoping that dangerous supposition she has about the servant girls' deaths won't bring disaster to them both.
Putting together the trope of young woman in disguise, evil relatives and a marriage of convenience works well in this first in a new series by Cullen.

A NetGalley ARC

An Unwilling Earl by Sharon Cullen is the first book of the Mayfair Men of Mystery series. I really enjoyed this book and cannot wait to see what the 2nd book in the series has to bring.

The two main characters are Charlotte and Jacob. After battling their own problems the two fall in step with each other and make a good team. Jacob is a widowed solicitor who recently has inherited an earldom. With his friend Oliver, the Earl of Armbruster they are both what you could call “Armchair Detectives”. I like how Cullen has portrayed Jacob not as a rake like most books of the same genre.

Charlotte ran away from her aunt and cousin to live in the rookeries dressed as a boy. She is a strong woman for her time by doing this. One thing that bothered me was her reluctance to share her story and fear about her life with her aunt and cousin to Jacob. By doing so caused more women to be murdered. Early on it was easy to figure out who the serial killer was but his did not make the book boring or the plot slow. Overall the story line had a good flow.

I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review.
An Unwilling Earl by Sharon Cullen is a nice mix of marriage of convenience and murder mystery. Jacob Baker a widowed solicitor is reluctantly forced to assume the title Earl of Ashland. Eager to escape the marriage mart he offers marriage in name only to Charlotte Morris a runaway orphan that he met when he rescued her from a horse on the street. Jacob and his friend Armbruster are armchair detectives and the mystery intriguing them at the moment is that young women are being murdered and turning up in the Thames missing their head and hands. A story that will keep you eagerly turning the pages to solve the mystery and to learn if Jacob can ever move on from mourning his first wife create a true marriage with Charlotte. Mild Steam, Publishing Date March 25, 2019. #EntangledPublishing #NetGalley #AnUnwillingEarl #SharonCullen

I was starting to get overwhelmed with to many Authors and books. So I narrowed down to a handful and Sharon Cullen was one of my favorites and I am so glad I have chosen all her books. Not a one has disappointed. I loved this book as much as all the other ones.

I found this author through Netgalley a few years ago and I have found her stories to be gripping and exciting and this book is absolutely wonderful, the characters draw you in and i could not turn the pages fast enough.

I received a copy from Netgalley and I am voluntarily leaving my own honest opinion

Thank you to Netgalley and Entangled Publishing for an early copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

I throughly enjoyed this book. It was my first book by Sharon Cullen and also my first mystery historical romance book. And while the killer didn’t remain a mystery for long (you and the characters figure it out very early on) it was still very interesting to see how crime was handled in the Victorian age. Since there was no way to get evidence like DNA or fingerprints, the police had no leads and no way to get them. I also loved the way Jacob and Armbruster were interested in crimes and their version of behavioral analysis. My only wish is that there was been more chapters with the POV of the killer to build up a bit more suspense throughout the novel.

The romance in An Unwilling Earl was good, too. The synopsis is a bit misleading because Charlotte and Jacob don’t get married until about halfway through the book and the ‘marriage of convenience’ doesn’t stay that way for more than like a page. However, I liked seeing Charlotte and Jacob falling in love and fighting their feelings during the course of the book. Jacob is different than other historical heroes in a refreshing way. Typically when our romance heroes have been married or in love before meeting their heroine it makes them very much against the world. Jacob, on the other hand, is more optimistic. He still struggles with feelings of guilt about moving on from his wife, but he has a much happier outlook at people in general. It was a nice change.

And of course, we got the love confession at an appropriately dramatic moment. Which was just icing on the cake. I recommend this to any historical romance lover and those who like a bit of mystery mixed in.

This is the first time in reading this author and do not know why exactly this called to me but it did. I think because I wanted to see if this Earl could heal and let his heart go again or would it be grabbed. I wanted I guess to see Jacob get his heart taken by love once again. Charlotte has troubles with her snagging us along with her thanks to the intrigue. Back then a woman did not actually have it easy at times and the danger was high if you found yourself in its path. They both have their challenges but find they work together that evolves around matters of the heart. The fun part of reading this is seeing where they go and what happens to them but remember it has a hint of danger that spikes us also.

This was a very compelling book to read. I love this author's way of telling a story which held my interest. The characters were well developed with thoughts and feelings of their own.
Jacob Ashland has been named the new Earl of Ashland and knows he must find a bride. He has done that before and isn't looking for love in any form. Just give a marriage of convenience and he will be happy.
Jacob meets a woman called Charlotte who talks like a lady but lives in the rookeries. She is trying to hide from a crazy cousin who wants to do her harm. Jacob and Charlotte come together in a marriage in name only to keep her safe.
The mystery of the crazy man who is killing people in London and a likeable couple whose lives come together because of it. A happy ever after makes this a fantastic read.
I really liked this book. Thanks Ms Cullen for a wonderful read. Look forward to future books.

A typical regency romance but this is one with a difference. A delightful and entertaining read. Although the ending is somewhat predictable in books of this genre, this one is a lovely tale with good strong characters, different from the norm storyline all in a good setting. A relaxing read of the trials and tribulations of the main characters on their way to finding their happy ending. I’m looking forward to the nextmin the series.

This is the second book I have read by this author and I can truly say I cannot wait to read more! Sharon Cullen has combined all the elements of a great historical romance to make my heart pound and turn the pages as fast as I could! Mystery, suspense, second chances, great characters and two people who meet by chance (or what it fate?) that were meant for each other.
Jacob Baker, solicitor has unexpectedly inherited an earldom. How wonderful you say? Not really because he enjoyed his work and would have to give it up. He works for barristers doing several jobs of helping to find people, interviewing witnesses and research which he finds satisfying. But when he is approached to help find a Baronness's missing niece Charlotte, he initially declines. He is intrigued however by a drawing he was given of her and unsettled by her aunts words.
Charlotte has been on the streets hiding until she can make her way to America. Her life had been terrible with her aunt and she had begun to form a suspicion of happenings in London.
When he does find her, they are drawn to each other and he really wants to help her. But events take off and there are forces that may pull them apart or cost their lives.
Don't miss this first book in a new series that I cannot wait to read more!!

An Unwilling Earl by Sharon Cullen is the story of Charlotte Morris and Jacob Baker, Earl of Ashland. Jacob was a quite man who lost his wife and child then he learned he was the new Earl of Ashland. When he heads to his friends house he happens to meet what he thinks is a boy but he later learns it was Charlotte. Charlotte is on the run worried for her life and past abuse. When she is talked into giving Jacob a chance to help her. Jacob is very taking with Charlotte but he isn't willing to take a chance on love after his past hurt. Jacob offers a marriage of convince to help her to keep her safe and it helps him not to have to take a wife.
Another page turner from Ms. Cullen...loved it.