Aware that marriage between an architect’s apprentice and an earl’s daughter would be disastrous, Adam rejects Kitty’s request that they elope. But fifteen years later he learns that he is, in fact, the only son of an earl who has recently died. The pair meet again, he still single, she a lovely widow, both now equal in rank; but can they resolve the misunderstandings that lie between them? The sparks soon rekindle, but she, though a beloved stepmother, is childless, and does not an earl need an heir? And who is trying to kill Adam?

This is a ‘second-chance-at-love’ romance of the kind popularized by Austen’s Persuasion, with a touch of mystery thrown in to add further suspense. The lovers are sympathetic figures: Adam in his struggles to adjust to an unfamiliar role, and the young Kitty at the mercy of a father ready to marry her off to settle gambling debts. Despite hurt feelings, both struggle to be fair-minded as they reassess their past interaction and present circumstances. More openness would have helped, but it is never easy to break the habit of concealing one’s insecurities from others.

Recommended to lovers of Regency romances.
HNR Issue 94 (November 2020)
https://historicalnovelsociety.org/reviews/the-earl-with-the-secret-past-harlequin-historical/

This was a pretty good book. I liked both Adam and Kitty. With second chance romances, especially in historical romances, the female lead tends to forgive the male lead too quickly IMO. I appreciated that it wasn’t really done too quickly for me. I highly recommend.
**I voluntarily read and reviewed this book

Hertfordshire

Adam Monroe, age 21, is trying to explain to Kitty, age 17, why they cannot marry. He simply does not have the money to continue the lifestyle she has always known. She is the daughter of an earl and he an apprentice to an architect. His widowed mother is the man’s housekeeper. His employer has been good to him and Kitty’s father would never allow her to wed him. As much as she wants them to wed, it is best to turn her down.

Edinburgh - 15 years later

Adam, now age 36, has become a successful architect and has returned home to his mother after completing a job. She confesses a secret she has kept from him. It turns out his father was not killed in a war. Instead, she took Adam and fled his father. The man was an earl and he has died. Adam is now Ambrose Adam Trewin, the English Earl of Kelridge. He has an Uncle Grenville and a cousin, Bartholomew. His uncle is not happy that Adam is the new earl because he wanted the title.

Kitty is now Lady Fenton. Her husband has passed away and she is the stepmother to four: Robert, Viscount Fenton, Edward, Jennifer, and Charis. She loves then all dearly and only wished she and her late husband could have had children of their own. Kitty is a practical woman who lives in the present and doesn’t allow herself to think of the past. She enjoys writing and wants to be a published author. Robert tells her that he has invited Adam to dinner as he is the new earl and wants to introduce him to people. Kitty is shocked to find he is the man she loved so long ago. Will he recognize her?

Watching this romance bud and then bloom was a treat. Adam and Kitty’s attraction to one another was too hard for them to fight. There is not only romance but intrigue in this book. A delightful story. Enjoy!

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

There was so much potential in this story that I feel just was never realized. Also, I can already tell that I'm going to be in the minority with my opinions on this one. However, I just couldn't stay interested in this story for long periods of time. I had to keep putting it down and going off to do other things (or as much as I hate to say it reading it before bed so that I could fall asleep easier). The problem wasn't with the writing by any means, the author had a strong writing style, it was just that this one seemed to drag on and go over the same ground until it became predictably tedious.

I get it. Adam and Kitty were once in love, but he couldn't marry her then because he didn't know he was actually the son of an Earl. He broke her heart and now, fifteen years later, she has obvious and understandable trust issues when it comes to him (to the point where the first several of their interactions paint her with an almost waspish personality). Plus she has a secret that she has been carrying that she feels will impact any possible future with him. But instead of letting him make up his own mind, she makes it up for him.

Now I know, a lot of historical novels have this same basic story-line, but I think one of the things missing from this one was Adam actually trying to woo Kitty, and to win her over by proving he's not the man he was fifteen years ago. Time and again he tells himself that is what he is going to do, but then he gets sidetracked by kissing her. Or wanting to kiss her, or every other thing under the sun so that I don't feel we ever actually got to the woo-ing part. There was definitely chemistry between them, and some playful banter when they weren't sniping at each other, but the "love" between them didn't feel real.

As I said above, I'm most likely going to be in the minority with my feelings on this one. However, I would definitely read more from this author.

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.

THE EARL WITH THE SECRET PAST – Janice Preston
Harlequin Historical
ISBN-10: 133550558X
ISBN-13: 978-1335505583
ASIN: B083Y3QYMD
June 16, 2020
Historical Romance

Hertfordshire, England - 19th Century

At twenty-one, Scotsman Adam Monroe was an apprentice architect on a job to help rebuild a burned portion of Fenton Hall. He fell in love with seventeen-year Kitty Whitlock, the daughter of Lord Whitlock. She wanted to run-away with him, but Adam knew, as much as he loved and wanted her, his position in society was far below hers and it would only harm her. Something he would never do. Fifteen years later he learns his mother lied to him. She is a housekeeper, but her employer is her cousin, who helped hide her from her abusive husband. With the death of his father, Adam becomes Ambrose Adam Trewin, the Earl of Kelridge. Adam has a cousin, Bartholomew, whose father is Grenville Trewin, a brother of Adam’s father. Grenville has managed the estate, and probably expected to inherit the title. When dangerous incidents happen, Adam suspects them, but doesn’t want to believe they would harm him.

When Adam left her, he broke her heart. But Kitty was also desperate to escape her father’s plans to use her to relieve his gambling debts. Disillusioned about love after Adam left, she married the Viscount Edgar Fenton, more than twenty years her senior. Now fifteen years later she is a widow with four grown stepchildren, but none of her own. While they are in London, her stepson Richard, the new viscount, has invited the new earl to a dinner party. All of society is entranced with learning about this earl’s hidden past. Not Kitty, now Catherine, though; not when she learns the new earl is the apprentice architect. Her heart has hardened and she believes love a hoax. Now the former apprentice will live at Kelridge Manor, only a few miles from her home of Fenton Hall.

It is an impossible situation. Lizzy doesn’t want Adam, someone she believes a charlatan, and Adam learns the love of his life married another man within two weeks of his leaving. He painfully released her to save her, but he guesses now that she didn’t really love him at all. Can these two ever bridge the gap between their differing views of what happened? All the while he has much to learn about his new position and the difference between life as just a man and that of a noble. THE EARL WITH THE SECRET PAST takes an interesting look at the time’s society and a person’s place within it, while revealing a heart-tugging love story.

Robin Lee