Tempting the Earl

October 3, 2016
Miles’s third Muses’ Salon Regency (after Chasing the Heiress) enmeshes opinionated countess Olivia Walgrave in a plot that involves spies, thespians, ne’er-do-wells, Parliament, the Home Office, and her absentee spouse. Olivia was abandoned by her husband, Harrison Walgrave, Earl of Levesford, just after their hasty nuptials. She’s enjoyed reigning over his estate for six years and has established herself as a competent overseer of his business affairs; secretly, she’s also an outspoken critic of the Parliamentary status quo. Her essays appear in a broadsheet under the pseudonym An Honest Gentleman (AHG), protecting her anonymity and providing a reliable income. Harrison, a member of Parliament, both admires AHG and suspects the writer of scurrilous intent. The two eventually square off amid political and sexual fireworks. Regency fans fond of intrigue and detailed subplots will enjoy Miles’s impressive grasp of the era’s politics and mores, but the author’s fondness for showing off her research sometimes encumbers the story. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary.

October 15, 2016
Enough is enough. Ever since he married her, six years ago, Olivia Walgrave's husband, Harrison, Earl of Levesford, has completely ignored her. Left by herself to manage their country estate, Olivia has found personal fulfillment writing essays on the social ills affecting England, using the pseudonym An Honest Gentleman. But Olivia wants more from life than an absentee husband, which is why she is pressing Harrison for an annulment. Harrison knows he has been busy with secret work for the War Office and ending his marriage would easily allow him to continue on with his life as it is. However, when he returns home to his estate, ostensibly to check up on his wife, he discovers that letting go of Olivia may be more difficult than he thought. Fans of Jo Beverley and Mary Jo Putney as well as all readers who value Regency-set romances that are expertly grounded in the era's history will be delighted to discover the latest in Miles' (Chasing the Heiress, 2016) impeccably researched and beautifully crafted Muses' Salon series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)