London - 1850

Jacob Baker is hurrying to meet with Oliver McCaron, the Earl of Armbruster, for their weekly mayhem meeting. On his way, he rescues a lad from being trampled by horses. A frail person, he gives the lad some money and sends him on his way. Jacob is a caring man and always willing to help someone in need. During their meetings, Jacob and Oliver look through newspapers for articles about local crimes and try to solve them. One headline they have been following is the murder of several women found with no head or hands. Many of them appear to be servants.

Jacob works as a solicitor and likes his work. But now, after the death of his cousin, he finds he is the Earl of Ashland. Jacob knows that he will soon have to accept his new title and responsibilities.

An old woman comes to him and asks him to find her niece, Miss Charlotte Morris. The woman is Lady Martha Morris, the Dowager Baroness Morris. While finding people is not what he usually does, the woman is very insistent saying he comes highly recommended by a well-respected barrister. Jacob hopes the young woman is not a victim of the murderer on the loose.

It turns out that Charlotte fled her evil aunt, Lady Morris, and cousin, Baron Morris, after having spent years with them. Her mother passed away birthing Charlotte and her father died several years ago, so she has fled from the Morris home and is now living in the rookery. Her aunt treated her badly saying everything is a sin. Turns out, Charlotte is the “lad" that Jacob had rescued. When he discovers this, he insists that she stay at his home and under his care. He promises that he is simply helping. His own wife and child died in childbirth some years ago. Charlotte agrees and hopes to be able to journey to America where she can teach young American ladies how to win and marry titled English men.

As they spend time together, they find they are attracted to one another. However, Jacob still grieves the loss of his wife and son in childbirth. Charlotte is also determined to go to America. But Charlotte feels she knows who the murderer is who is on the loose and they team up to help solve the case.

This is an interesting story. The first part of it dragged a bit for me, but finally picked up the pace. I think a lot of the “rookery” part could have been whittled down. However, the characters are strong and I know readers will like and connect with them and the book.

Copy provided by NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review.

This was a very engaging story. Jacob is a solicitor and is happy in his work. He has recently inherited an earldom but this isn’t something he is looking forward to. Charlotte has run away from her aunt and is living in the rookeries. In spite of her upbringing, she proves to be quite resourceful. Even though Jacob was deeply affected by Charlotte’s beauty, he wasn’t ready to take things further. He has an interesting friend in Armbrust and I would enjoy reading his story. I loved the friendship between the two men and also the growing relationship between Charlotte and Jacob. There is also a mystery to solve concerned with multiple murders. I received a copy and have voluntarily reviewed it. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Jacob Baker is a widower & a solicitor whose life takes an unexpected turn when a distant relative dies & he inherits the title of the Earl of Ashland. Charlotte, an orphan, suspects her cousin of terrorizing London. When her maid Penny disappears, she fears for her own life and runs away & finds herself living in one of London’s rookeries. One day a handsome, well dressed man rescues her from being trampled by a horse & both of their lives are changed.
The first book in a new series & I found it to be well written with a story that flowed well. There was a very good mix of murder, mystery & of course romance. The characters are well portrayed & have plenty of depth. I liked both Jacob & Charlotte & although they were attracted to each other there growing relationship was well written, believable & had me enthralled. The villains were also very well portrayed & were truly evil. I look forward to reading more in the series
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

Jacob Ashland is a successful barrister and amateur sleuth. He has unexpectedly inherited the title of Earl of Ashland. Before the Ton is aware he is an Earl, the guardian of Charlotte Morris begs him to find her missing niece.

Charlotte has run away from her cruel aunt's house in fear. When her maid disappeared, she started to suspect her cousin. Now, Charlotte is living in the Rookery fighting to survive. After Jacob saves her in the streets, Charlotte starts to realize that he may be the one person that can save her.

Jacob has been married before and lost his wife and newborn son in childbed fever. He has sworn not to marry again. Charlotte brings out his protective instincts and he offers her a marriage in name only. Before long, Charlotte finds herself falling in love with her husband and fearing her secret can destroy them.

This was such a well-written book! I loved the characters. Charlotte was such a strong young woman. Jacob was the tragic hero needing the perfect heroine to save him from the darkness in his life. I liked the murder-mystery subplot.

I voluntarily reviewed an ARC provided by NetGalley and the publisher. Thank you!

Jacob, the new Earl of Ashland wasn't the raised to be an Earl. He was happy being a solicitor working with barristers, interviewing witnesses and tracking people down. When he saves a young boy from being killed under a carriage, he thinks he has done a good deed, not knowing that this encounter will become an important part of his life. When Lady Morris comes to him asking him to find her niece Charlotte, he turns her down. She leaves a drawing of Charlotte with Jacob. Lady Norris is a horrible woman who lives with her son. Mistreating Charlotte is one of the things that Lady Morris liked most. Meanwhile there are women being murdered in London. The heads cut off and the rest thrown in the river. When Jacob finds Charlotte, he realizes why she looks familiar. He must help save her from being returned to Lady Morris and her son, Lord Morris. Will Charlotte be returned to her aunt? Can Jacob love again? This is a great book. Romance, mystery and a serial killer all in one. I really loved it..I received this book from Net Galley and Entangled Publishing for a honest review.

An unexpected historical romance.
This is a bit different to the norm, involving a serial killer, a gentlewoman in hiding and a solicitor turned new Earl. This was quite a dark book as the killings are grisly and the romance element is not centre stage. It certainly made a change and I was kept engaged throughout. If you want to try something a bit different give this novel a go.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book from NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

This is my promised fair and honest review for this ARC. What an unusual story! There is love interspersed with mystery and horror. Frankly, I found it a bit unsettling at times even though I couldn't put it down. Not only an unwilling earl but a very unnerved countess.

I enjoy this author’s writing style. I liked both of the main characters and the mystery was an excellent one that was well-plotted and well-delivered. I absolutely loved that the villains got their just deserts in the end. So often, that doesn’t happen.

Jacob Baker is a solicitor who works for barristers doing research, interviewing witnesses, and tracking people down when necessary. He is also a widower who deeply and truly loved his wife, Cora, who died of childbed fever along with their newborn son. He’s been in mourning for five years now. He has also just learned that he has inherited a title, Earl of Ashland, and he is not happy with that intrusion into his life. Jacob is in a bit of a snit because of the title and all of his new responsibilities and the fact he’ll have to give up his law practice when he has a visitor, Baroness Morris, who wants him to find her missing niece – Charlotte. Jacob refuses, but he’s intrigued by the drawing of the young woman and what her aunt had to say about her.

Charlotte Morris is the granddaughter of a marquess who disowned Charlotte’s mother when she ran away and married an untitled man of whom he didn’t approve. Charlotte is now an orphan – her mother died in childbirth and her father died five years ago. Charlotte has been living with an aunt and cousin since then. Charlotte’s aunt has spent those five years mistreating and abusing Charlotte. Now that some other events have happened, Charlotte has run away and is living in the rookeries because if she went anywhere else, her aunt would find her. Ultimately, she plans to go to America to teach the husband-hunting heiresses how to properly behave in English society.

The mystery could be gruesome if it were spelled out in detail. That wouldn’t bother me, but it might bother some readers. Luckily for all of us, it isn’t detailed. There is a monster loose in London and he (or she) is stabbing women and cutting their heads off. The bodies are found, but the heads are not. Charlotte thinks she knows something that will lead to the identity of the murderer, but she is afraid of what she knows and just wants to escape to America.

I thought the mystery was more believable than the romance, but I really enjoyed them both. I did come to believe that Jacob loved Charlotte and it was nice to see them get their HEA.

Why didn’t I give it a full five stars? Well, for a couple of reasons. First, there was just way, way, way too much Cora (Jacob’s first wife) in the story. There was even a place or two where he thought of her either during or just after he and Charlotte had been intimate. All of that ‘Cora’ made it much harder to believe that Jacob loved Charlotte. Second, I think the author must have learned the term Dowager, but not its proper use. Dowager is used as a ‘title’ for every titled female in the story who has lost her husband. That is NOT the correct usage and every time I saw it used as it was, it would completely pull me out of the story. I believe the term is in the book eight or ten times and not one of them is used correctly. Third, there were story inconsistencies such as the villain murdering someone with his dinner knife, then later it was said that they were murdered with the same weapon as the other victims. Maybe I have an uncorrected eARC and all of this will be corrected in the published version of the book.

Those things I mentioned above aside, I would recommend this book and will be looking forward to the next one.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

An Unwilling Earl by Sharon Cullen is a fairly good mixture of historical romance and romantic suspense. Both the romance and the suspense are built slowly and gradually, the latter being expertly written, in my opinion. If you’re new to historical romance, you might love and enjoy this book more than I did. If you’re a voracious historical romance reader like me, then you’ll probably find it to be average. But I feel like I should warn readers that the mystery/suspense in this book is darker and grittier than the usual type of mystery that's written in historical romance. If you’re comfortable with the darkness and grittiness of the Maiden Lane series, then you should be fine reading this book.

An Unwilling Earl definitely has an interesting and unique premise. Charlotte ran away from her guardian and is staying in the rookeries because she fears something…or someone coming after her. Her guardian hires Jacob (a solicitor recently turned earl) to find her, but Jacob finds the whole situation shady and decides to help Charlotte out when he finds her. His solution: a marriage of convenience. The set-up of the book was a bit slow, but it was written in a realistic manner because it took a while for Charlotte to truly trust Jacob. One of my favourite things about this book is the very low-key beta and middle class hero who literally has no clue how to be an earl. I also really liked that this was a slow burnish friends to lovers romance and marriage of convenience romance. The circumstances leading to the marriage actually worked out well for me and I liked how it took a while for them to get married because like I said, it was more realistic.

By all means, this is a good story, but I found the romance to be average at best. Charlotte and Jacob are fine characters. I had a hard time understanding Charlotte's character because sometimes she would come across as very street-smart, but other times she would just come across as completely naïve. The writing was a little bit inconsistent as well, strong in some parts, weak in others. As characters, Jacob and Charlotte didn’t really blow me away. Consequently, their romance didn’t sweep me off my feet, which is why I'm only rating this book 3 stars.

Jacob Ashland was content with his life as a solicitor and mourning the death of his wife and son. having newly inherited the title of Earl of Ashland he is reluctant to join society. He and his friend consider themselves armchair detectives and they are currently focusing their attention on a serial killer at work on London's streets. When he is approached to find a missing woman by her aunt he finds himself intrigued. 

Charlotte Morris has lived with her aunt by marriage and cousin from a young age. her aunt is a strict bitter woman and her cousin is a strange individual. Charlotte has seen him do some odd and disgusting things. when her maid and confidante disappears she flees fearing the worst.  masquerading as a boy she is living in the slums of London when she comes in contact with Jacob. Her plan is to travel to America to escape her family and when Jaacob offers his aid she finds herself living in his home. 

Jacob knows there is more to Charlotte's story than she has revealed and he does not believe she has thought through her plan to travel to America. Sparks fly between the two but with danger lurking around the corner they find themselves married but will be as temporary as Charlotte intends? 

I enjoyed this Victorian romance. the early criminology theories were an interesting aspect that I enjoyed reading. while I found Charlotte to be an inconsistent character I loved Jacob. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good mystery. 

I received an arc of this book from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. all thoughts an opinions are my own.

A scintillating read. Jacob is a grounded and serious character who has gotten set in his role in life. Things are just changing when Charlotte comes marching in and brings with her the potential for greater change. She is fierce in the face of all her struggles and determined to stand on her own two feet.

The author does a wonderful job developing the characters and the plot. She weaves the emotional roller coaster that Charlotte finds herself in magnificently. The slow way Jacob allows her to build her trust in him is sweet and endearing.

It a beautiful addition to the series. It has all thrill of a mystery and the sweetness of a romance.

While I did enjoy the book, I really didn't believe that the hero Jacob really fell in love with the heroine Charlotte. So Jacob is widower and he truly did love his love and she was the only woman he had ever been with. He decides to become some type of detective (not really just assisted) he does this to pass the time to deal with his grief. Unfortunately london is having a whole lot of murder happening and here he ends up meeting Charlotte. Charlotte is on the run since she is thinking her cousin is involved in these murders and she does not really trust much, she finally decides to get assistance and tell Jacob her belief, these two get married for convenience sakes, she for some reason fell in love with Jacob but he doesn't want to fall in love again, and tat is where I truly never believed he was in love he couldn't get over his first wife.. Yes supposedly they do fall, the book is sometime a little too grisly for me and unbelievable for a historical romance book but yes it was still enjoyable

I'm not going to lie, I found the murder mystery portion of this book to be more believable and more enjoyable for me than the romance portion of it. The notion that a well bred and education "realm of the peer" couldn't possibly be a murderer was a belief that I hadn't before considered. I wish there had more of a look into the killer's mind, more than just the tiny snippet that we did get to see. I'm sure a look inside his mind would have been fascinating, and maybe what this book needed to push it over the edge from mediocre to gripping. The mystery part could have overshadowed the lackluster and unbelievable romance. Too bad it didn't.

As for the romance, there was just something unlikable about them. Jacob had potential - he had lost his wife and son in childbirth, and by all accounts he had loved her very deeply. It explains his desire to save Charlotte to a point, but it doesn't explain why he would suddenly offer her marriage. That goes above and beyond wanting to help someone, which often made me wonder if he was confusing lust for love. As it is, Charlotte is distrustful (rightfully so after the way she has been treated), but even when she cries out for help, the minute it is offered, she shuts it down and tries to run away. She even become defensive when Jacob tells her he has feelings for her, but that he's not in love with her. What did she expect after knowing him only a week, and even then more often than not she was trying to throw his help back in her place. Eventually, she agrees to the in-name only marriage (per her husband), only to jump into bed with him the moment he brings the idea to the table. But it doesn't matter that they sleep together, or if she conceives, because she's got his promise that when it comes time to go to America, he will let her go. *insert eye roll here*

Despite all of that, I am sure there are others to whom this novel will appeal. The author does have a strong writing style, even if I feel this particular novel could have done with more fleshing out before released. I would give this author another chance!

DISCLAIMER: I received a complimentary copy of this novel in exchange for my honest review. This has not affected my review in any way. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are 100% my own.

This is a new author for me. I enjoyed Jacob and Charlotte’s story. I thought the chemistry between them was well written. The murders could have been a tad less gruesome for me, but overall a great read!
I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own,

This was such a great read with all the components of a beautiful romance written against the backdrop of the seedy side of London and the threat of a serial killer. Charlotte has escaped from her aunt and nephew’s house and has been hiding in the rookeries of London. It is only when her aunt, Lady Morris, seeks out the assistance of solicitor Jacob Ashland, that Charlotte and Jacob’s worlds collide. Jacob, a widower and a newly appointed earl, finds himself intrigued by Charlotte’s disappearance, partly due to his interest in solving crimes, though only in discussions with his friend, Lord Armbruster. Both he and Armbruster have been contemplating the recent spate of murders in London for which there are no known suspects, when he is confronted by Lady Morris.
Both the two main characters were a delight. Jacob is such a kind-hearted gentleman whose compassion and love for Charlotte is evident from the beginning, despite his lack of awareness of his feelings. His gentle strength made him an appealing character and well suited to Charlotte, a character who has endured such hardships. She however, is also strong in character but in need of someone to care for her. Together they made such a compelling couple. All of the secondary characters add to this story, with their distinctive and well-developed personalities. The story is well written and the murders, despite their gruesome nature, handled appropriately for the genre.
This is definitely a page turner, with an ending that leaves me wishing for the next book in the series. I can’t wait to read more about Lord Armbruster.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

An excellent historical romance by Ms. Cullen. I liked the main characters and liked how they fell in love. I really liked the added element of a dark secret which made me want to finish the story to see if they received their HEA. Was not disappointed.

Historical romance with danger and murder and a girl disguised as a boy in the slums is definitely up my alley. Unfortunately, past the premise, everything went rather downhill for me.

Jacob’s character is built on many things I love—including a tragic past and a sudden rise to unwanted lordship. But his words and deeds are often different from who the story wants him to be. I’m not a giant fan of all the times Jacob goes over Charlotte’s head, she calls him out, he insists he’s in the right, and then she agrees with him. Action forms character, and Jacob repeatedly did things that went against what had been established of his character—including victim blaming Charlotte for allowing the murders to continue. It’s wild to me that characters tell Charlotte she’s running away from her problems when her problems are a murderer who has previously threatened her.

I liked Charlotte, though she (and thus their relationship) sometimes seemed a bit juvenile.

The treatment of mental illness is awful in this book and I could write an essay, but I’ll leave it with these words from the heroine: “Because, as you said, he is disturbed. A monster, if you will.”

I received a free copy from netgalley in exchange for an honest review. An unwilling earl was a stand out book in this genre. The murder was realistic and served an important part in the book rather than being an afterthought in so many romance novels. I also like Jacob a solicitor turned earl who was reluctant to love and marry again after the death of his first wife and son. Jacob's relationship with Charlotte was sweet and compelling. Charlotte running for a dangerous past, but still strong and optimistic about her future. Really enjoyed this one.

This is the first book I've read by Sharon Cullen, and it certainly won't be the last. The story was quite entertaining, a historical romance filled with secrets, heartbreak....and a serial killer. Well, that was different! But it was the delightful characters that I found so intriguing.

Jacob was a solicitor and the newly minted Earl of Ashland - the very unwilling Earl of Ashland. He loved being a solicitor, dang it all! He was also a widower, having lost his beloved wife and their newborn son. He had no intention of ever loving again. Jacob and a couple of friends met often, attempting to solve crimes as a hobby. One day after leaving his club, he saved a boy from being trampled by a horse. Later he would learn that this "boy" was actually Charlotte, a young lady and a runaway from the cruel aunt who was her guardian, and her very, very odd cousin of whom she was terrified.

I absolutely adored Jacob! He was extremely smart and witty, and also determined to resist his compelling attraction to Charlotte. Charlotte, though totally out of her element living in the rookeries to hide from her family, was a strong, stubborn young woman. When it appears that the best way to keep Charlotte safe was to make her his countess, they marry. However, evil had a way of finding Charlotte. Even though it was obvious right from the start who was butchering women in London, these marvelous characters kept me totally glued to the story. I look forward to reading more by Sharon Cullen.

I received an ARC of this book courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley. I received no compensation for my review, and all thoughts and opinions are entirely my own.

Jacob Ashland’s life is turned upside down when he learns he's the new Earl of Ashland. He enjoys his work as a solicitor and doesn't know the first thing about being an earl. In the meantime, he saves the life of a skinny lad from deadly horses' hooves. He has no idea his life is about to change even more. The young lad turns out to be runaway Miss Charlotte Morris who Jacob befriends and offers to help. Charlotte is running from her evil aunt and cousin and wants to go to America to escape them. When Jacob proposes marriage instead, Charlotte finally relents and marries him although she hides a dark secret that could destroy everything.

I really liked Jacob. He was a caring young man who had suffered his own tragedy with the death of his wife and infant son. I was happy to see that he didn't fall into "insta" love with Charlotte and struggled with guilt over building a new life with Charlotte. I wasn't a fan of Charlotte though. She came across as stubborn and ungrateful until the very end. There was a lot of internal dialogue throughout the story and it was a bit distracting at times. The same thought over and over was too much. Not to disclose any vital parts of the book, but the dark secret held parallels to someone else who actually did not exist until 38 years after this story.