Review: To Catch an Earl

To Catch an Earl by Kate Bateman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.3 stars 

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

She’d been afraid he’d take one look at her with those piercing blue eyes of his and see right through the demure wallflower she played in public, to the reckless criminal beneath. 

Second in the Bow Street Bachelors series about three men that went to war together and now own a gambling club, To Catch an Earl, features Alexander Harland and Emmy Danvers. You could easily pick up this story without reading the first (The Earl is Mine), as this has a pretty narrow focus on Alex and Emmy. The hero from the first barely makes an appearance and in fact, I kept wishing for more scenes between the three friends as they are supposed to be the connecting thread within the series. Their gambling club doesn't get much screen time, which could be a blessing as the Regency sub-genre is over-saturated with that setting, but I missed a lodestone to feel like I was grounded in this series' world. 

They were truly on opposite sides of the law now, the Runner and the thief. 

This starts off with a prologue introducing us to our heroine Emmy and her crush on Alex. She knows he's about to go off and fight Napoleon so she decides to dance with him at a masquerade ball and they end up kissing and having that instant attraction/connection that has her (and her scent) lingering in Alex's mind even four years later when the story continues in chapter one. Our hero Alex's role as a Bow Street Runner has been given the mission to find the Nightjar, a thief that stole jewels and left a black feather. Nightjar hadn't been active for four years and then suddenly they commit another theft. Emmy's father was the Nightjar, as a displaced French aristocrat he wanted to steal all the stolen French crown jewels and give them back to the Bourbon monarchy when it is restored in France. He ends up dying, hence the four year inactivity, but then a man named Danton begins to blackmail Emmy's remaining family, her grandmother and brother Luc, claiming he will ruin the family's reputation by naming her father as the Nightjar unless they steal three jewels for him and give him the French royal jewels. Emmy's brother Luc lost his foot in the war, so it's up to Emmy to steal the jewels. 

He couldn’t allow himself to feel anything for her. She was a criminal and he was sworn to uphold the law. 

I was all in for this dynamic but the cat and mouse game I anticipated was instead muted in favor of a focus more on Emmy and Alex's sensual feel. For the most part, Alex knows Emmy is the Nightjar from just about the beginning of his investigation, she's “caught” at the midway point of the story. Emmy also is a very reluctant thief, she sometimes thinks about how she likes the adrenaline junkie emotions of stealing but she's pushed into it and doesn't want to be doing it. The villain Danton blackmailing them barely gets any screen time until the end, which makes any danger feelings that angle could have provoked nonexistent. Alex has some angst about being attracted to Emmy, he knows she's the mystery masked woman he kissed and she's the Nightjar, because a moment in the war had him hesitating to kill a woman and she ended up killing people because of his hesitation. Emmy's angst should obviously come from Alex is trying to arrest her but that's, for the most part, ignored and she even does things to get his attention. 

“I want you again, Emmy Danvers. And I want to take my time.” 

I can't say I ever really felt their roles as runner and thief but they did have some hot potato moments. As I mentioned earlier, I felt like the action plot was pushed to the side in favor of sensuality and this couple definitely had some of those moments. I did feel the crackle, tension, and heat between them but it was hard for that to support the whole story. I enjoyed Emmy's grandmother pushing her towards Alex, the secondary romance between brother Luc and Sally, and the brief glances at Alex's friendship with Sebastien. I thought Emmy's love of feelings and words from other languages that can't be translated to English could have been a fun quirk but it was interjected awkwardly (not to mention all the smelling/sniffing going on) and sometimes used as the only building friendship interaction between her and Alex. The ending also had some ungainly feel to it with Alex wanting to marry Emmy to give her protection and then the sudden “I love her” moment. This didn't quite deliver on what I was looking for but if you're looking for a couple that strings their sensuality throughout the story, Emmy and Alex will give that to you.

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