The missing Earl of Ferrington doesn’t want to be found…

Pulled from his comfortable life in Boston by agents who insist he’s the Earl of Ferrington, Jonathan Frederick Merrill―Jack to everyone else―arrives in London only to face a torrent of criticism from his great-grandmother. Angry and hurt, Jack resolves to have one look at his ancestral home, and then return to America.

Harriet Finch has been carried off to her wealthy grandfather’s country house, where she’s seething with rebellion. She spends her days pacing the grounds, fantasizing about a way to escape the life her grandfather has planned. There she meets an intriguing, handsome rogue. What better way to flout her grandfather’s rules than to flirt with a stranger he would never approve of? But when she learns Jack’s true identity, Harriet is stunned and furious at the deception! Her grandfather is delighted and insists she marry the new earl.

Can Harriet accept Jack’s promise to marry her when she wants nothing more than to be free and is Jack willing to pay the price of nobility if it means he’ll have to stay in England?

Titles in The Duke’s Estates series include — The Duke Who Loved Me – Earl on the Run – Blame It on the Earl –

This is an adult 18+ story that may contain language, possible violence, and/or sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Title:  Earl on the Run
Series:  The Duke’s Estates #2
Author:  Jane Ashford
Genre:  Historical Romance
Published:  February 22, 2022
Publisher:  Sourcebooks Casablanca
My Rating:  4 stars

Earl on the Run is the second title in The Duke’s Estates series, and I found myself quite taken with Harriet and her “Jack”.  Although two individuals who had the world upon their shoulders like these two did with their various family members might be hard to find in a small village.  Their story is both simple and complex – any emotions involving family tend to be far from easy to resolve and between them, well, they have unique people messing with their emotions and their lives.

While Harriet and Jack find their way through growing emotions, and perhaps not the total truth between them at the start, the reader is given a bit of a lesson of the times in the very real difficulties that laudanum had on so many people’s lives for various reasons.  In some ways, my heart ached for Harriet’s mother almost as much as it did for her.  Each suffered at the hands of the man who would dictate Harriet’s life, but one was no longer strong enough to fight him.

I had such a good time watching this couple fall in love, face the challenges (not always together), and work their way through the deceptions and half-truths that started this bond they share.  Harriet’s grandfather is such a nasty piece of work – and Jack’s great-grandmother isn’t much better.  With relatives like these is it any wonder that neither wanted to be part of their families?  Going along on their journey to carving out a future for themselves only, on their own terms was a delightful journey.  Oh, of course, the road is filled with potholes and obstacles but the fun of reaching a destination is the journey to get there.  I had fun with Jack and Harriet in Earl on the Run, and that really is the entire point.

I was also able to learn quite a bit about the Travelers, and as you’ll see, they are a fascinating people and one I’d love to see incorporated into more historical romances in the future.  It’s the small things, the details of a way of life for that time that will always draw me in and hold my attention throughout any story.  I learned a few things in Earl on the Run, things I wasn’t expecting and that is always a pleasant surprise for me.

If you enjoy a good Historical Romance, if you adore the sizzling chemistry but aren’t worried about closed doors, and if you adore watching two unlikely (on the surface) people open themselves up to the possibility of one special person believing they are the moon and the stars… then you’ll feel right at home in Earl on the Run.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

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