The Earl's Complete Surrender

November 9, 2015
Barnes’s second Secrets at Thorncliff Manor just-post-Regency romance (after Lady Sarah’s Sinful Desires) follows James, who is an earl and a spy, and Chloe, a well-born widow whose husband abused her, as they search the aforementioned manor for a book in which evil antimonarchical conspirators called the Electors have for some reason decided to write a list of their members. James must learn that he cannot devote his life entirely to espionage, Chloe must learn to come out from under the shadow of trauma, and the reader, unfortunately, fails to learn why a conspiracy against a Hanoverian monarch is being run by the soi-disant Electors when one of the hereditary titles of the Hanoverian dynasty was Elector of Hanover. The book’s Electors are anarchists or something similar—it’s never made clear. This historical blunder is only one symptom of the general muddiness, inconsistent characterization, melodramatic plot, and tangled verbiage throughout the novel. There is a distinct sense that the characters are continually ducking into secret passages and secluded rooms solely in order to avoid bumping into the first book’s plot, as otherwise one manor, no matter how sumptuous, simply would not be large enough.

November 15, 2015
It is like trying to find a needle in a haystack! James, the Earl of Woodford, knows that somewhere in the vast library at Thorncliff Manor a copy of the Political Journal is hiding. This book contains all the names of the members of the Electors, a secret group of British aristocrats determined to rule the world. If James can get his hands on this volume, he can not only help root out these traitors to the Crown but will also in some way avenge the death of his father. The only problem is that every time James tries to track down the book, he finds the annoyingly distracting and completely kissable Chloe Newburg in his path. The Earl's Complete Surrender, the second in Barnes' Secrets at Thorncliff Manor series (Lady Sarah's Sinful Desires, 2015), delivers everything historical romance readers crave, including vividly etched characters, an involving plot shot through with intrigue and danger, and plenty of passionate romance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)