The Errant Earl (Signet Regency Romance)

Rating:
Summary: A delightful read!
Review: Marcus Hadley was furious when his father remarried quickly after the death of his mother. It down-right galled him that his father married an actress! One with a daughter, no less! After a heated argument, Marcus left Rosemount for good.

Four years later, Marcus found himself the new Earl of Ellston. His father and step-mother had died in a carriage accident. Marcus regretted the fact that he had never reconciled with his father. He had intended to do so, but never dreamed the earl would die so suddenly. He returned to Rosemount expecting to find a very young step-sister. Instead he found a full grown lady. And a desirable one at that!

Julia Barclay had never met her step-bother, Marcus. She had been hidden in the shadows during the argument between father and son, so she knew his return would be awful. However, she had not expected him to return so soon! Julia had the house filled with stage friends and one big room was converted into a stage for rehearsing until they left on tour next month.

Knowing how Marcus felt about actors, she quickly gave her friends "roles" of servants to play while Marcus was at Rosemount. Everyone, real servants included, thought it great fun! This way, her friends could rehearse whenever Marcus was out of the house and, most importantly, they would have a roof over their heads for the next month. Julia never expected to become attached to Marcus though.

***** Oh, this book is a DELIGHTFUL read! And there is a little more going on than I wrote. I read this story non-stop. The stage friends were not used to being servants, so they made many large and small mistakes. Therefore, there are a lot of amusing situations mixed in with the romance. I do not see how anyone could be disappointed with this story! I loved it! *****

Rating:
Summary: Pleasant, yet .....
Review: Throughout this book I could not quite decide whether it more annoyed or pleased me.
Marcus Hadley is the 'Errant Earl', returning to his home after four years of self-imposed exile due to his own reaction to the elopement marriage of his father to Mrs. Barclay a famous Shakespearean actress.
He is weighed down by his regret and sorrow in not reconciling with his father and has determined to do his best to make up for this by caring for his step-sister. A little girl he thinks!
Of course Julia is no helpless child, but a mature young lady, very much at home at Rosemount. She loves it as her own and as her home - she and her mother having been very much the wanderers.
She and Marcus meet slightly disasterously - but he shows a pleasant sense of humour. Then she realizes that there will doubtless be serious trouble with him, due to her guests - a travelling troupe of actors. They have been a source of comfort, friendship and occupation since the loss of her mother and step-father. Presuming the Earl would throw them out on their collective ears, she decided to conceal them as servants.
Naturally confusion follows and the two are soon drawn to each other.
I enjoyed the characters of Marcus and Julia. Marcus was an especially sympathetic hero, his situation and upbringing gradually being revealed and showing how his views of his father's remarriage had been formed. Now, all this is being changed - mostly due to Julia and his awakening feelings for her.

Julia definitely was charming - but just a bit too charming. A bit too perfect, except for her jealousy of Lady Angela the local belle.
A particular scene involving a syllabub and the psuedo servants was meant to be hilarious and at the Lady's expense. Except, it would have been seen as cruel directed at the heroine. There seemed to simply be a nasty tinge to the presentation of the competition and her father. They were meant to be dreadful in every way - why? if Julia was so wonderful? Surely she did not need such an extreme contrast. It and other similar touches reduced the story to the slapstick level.
The other problem, was the enormous black plot hole. How could Julia and Marcus be living together at Rosemount without scandal? Not a whisper of impropriety from anyone. The plot introduced 'scandal' only when cranked out at the correct moment in a very laboured piece of a manufactured cliched situation.
A pleasant read - but there were problems that reduced it.