Here's the blurb from
Goodreads
A tragic love story methodically woven around a fallen country music star, a beautiful dancer, a 13 year old child genius and a powerful, psychopathic judge.
A friend pulls out a Ouija board and asks you to play. It's just a game, right? But when the Ouija board reveals a secret you've never disclosed, then "the spirit" asks you to warn his living sister that she is about to be murdered. What would you do? This is the scenario that tragically entangles the lives of Max Allen, Carla Cecil and Bradford Doss.
Max is a disgraced fallen country music star trying to survive his ignominy by escaping to the islands to find a new direction and purpose for his life. In the islands, he meets and falls in love with, Michelle, a beautiful cruise ship dancer. Bradford Doss, is a revered Texas State Court Judge. He is also a serial murderer. Carla Cecil, is a child genius. At 13 she is the youngest person to ever attend Rice University, the spirit's living sister and tragically... the judges next prey.
So not my cup of tea. First, the timeline is a mess. You can't gauge what is happening when in comparison to what happens to the other characters. Also, it jumps from character narratives, so you can be seeing a scene in the present from a point of view and the next chapter you are seeing events in another place, another point in the timeline, and another narrator. And it can go from 100 to 0 as far as excitement goes really quick. Literally jump from a close murder scene to a peaceful beach in the caribbean and you have no idea how it is all related.
Second, it takes at least half the book to reach the moment told in the blurb. I spent half the book waiting for the board to come out, and after it did I was too tired of the rest of the things to take much of the excitement in. All the messy timeline made it very unsurprising when things finally started happening, and as we knew what was happening from moment one (they hide nothing in the mess) there are no surprises left.
Three, I found it slightly disturbing that most of the relationships in the book (healthy and unhealthy both) were between a young attractive woman and an older man. Like in one of those the male met the girl as a child, time skip, she is barely legal and he's in love with her, though he's about 8 to 10 years older. Of course, relationship ensues. Max, same story, but he's in his late 40's and she's in her early 20's. I just think it's icky that it's EVERY relationship that's actually portrayed in the book.
Based on the blurb, it had serious potential. I'm kind of sad of how it actually went.
Here's the summary from Goodreads:
When Lady Imogen falls upon the idea of using the London Season as a means of raising funds for a charitable scheme, she thinks it will be the simplest of things. With her friend, Lady Redmond at her side, the two embark upon a mission to attend as many social events as possible with the intention of opening every wealthy purse in sight. But it is all for a good cause; and a heartbreaking one as Imogen discovers when she and Lady Redmond find themselves wandering the dismal corridors of a workhouse for the poor of Lambeth.
Heath Montgomery, the young and arrogant Earl of Reddington had always enjoyed a life of privilege, free from cares and conscience. Looking forward to the London Season as always, he allows his determined mother a little latitude in searching for a wife for him; one with wealth of her own to swell the coffers of the Reddington Estate. Miss Jemima Ravenswood, daughter of a rich and ambitious Baron, seems to fit the bill. She is beautiful and as keen to secure herself a title as her father is.
But when the Earl finds himself crossing conversational swords with the caring and tenacious Lady Imogen, he wonders if beauty and fortune are enough for him anymore. When he finally falls for the curious Lady Imogen, will the Earl find he has gone too far and been too arrogant to ever win her heart?
As the second book of Bridget Barton I've read, (the first being The Honorable Rosalind's Heart) I at least expected a bit of a difference between this book and the other. Up to halfway through the book things started to vary. The characters, the members in their families, how the main characters meet, the unwanted love rival... Eerily similar between both books. Even the drawing room of the heroine's house in London is the same mint green, the difference is Rosalind hates it and Imogen likes it.
As for Imogen herself, I found her character very lacking. She is very involved with charity and helping people, but there's little else to her without the charity work, outside of a loose comment that says she likes to dance, something that was mentioned but never really demonstrated. Take the charity work away from her and there's nothing to her character. It gives very little to endear yourself to, and thus there's little emotion when she's faced with troubles. Her characters also develops very little through the book, which I find to be a little annoying.
Heath is a little flat as well, having nothing to do but fret about Imogen, his mother and his relationship with his sister Prudence (whom I consider the most well rounded character in this book). Lords are supposed to manage their estate and the lands that belong to them (that's where part of their money comes from), and to do politics in the House of Lords, but based on this book alone one would think money came to them from providence and the gentry did nothing but stare at the ceiling and amuse themselves in parties and luncheons all day and night. As his character is also a bit lacking, there's not much to fall in love with, other than the (very frequently mentioned) broad shoulders and dark hair that Imogen so likes. In Rosalind's case, at least there's several layers to her character, in the form of wishes, likes, dislikes, virtues, faults, aspirations... That is something this particular book lacks, as the only character with some depth is Prudence, whom is not as explored, being a secondary character to the tale.
As a seasoned romance reader, this book didn't do the cut for me, and I'm sure I would be kinder to it if I hadn't read The Honorable Rosalind's Heart before A Lady for the Brazen Earl. If you've never read from Bridget Barton before, I'd recommend Rosalind's story, as this book isn't necessarily the best introduction to this author you can get.
I was supposed to receive the book for free as part of the Advanced Reader Copy team in exchange of an honest review, but Amazon charged the book in the end so there's no need for the disclaimer, as I ended up paying for it.
