Book Review: In Bed with the Earl - Christi Caldwell

From Goodreads: Christi Caldwell, USA TODAY bestselling author of the Wicked Wallflowers series, combs London’s underground and finds romance and danger for a missing lord and the lady who loves him.

To solve a mystery that’s become the talk of the ton, no clues run too deep for willful reporter Verity Lovelace. Not even in the sewers of London. That’s precisely where she finds happily self-sufficient scavenger Malcom North, lost heir to the Earl of Maxwell. Now that Verity’s made him front-page news, what will he make of her?

Kidnapped as a child, with no memories of his well-heeled past, Malcom prefers the grimy spoils of the culverts to the gilded riches of society. Damn the feisty beauty who exposed the contented tosher to a parade of fortune-hunting matchmakers. How to keep them at bay? Verity must pretend to be his wife. She owes him.

The intimacy of this necessary arrangement—Verity and Malcom thrust together in close quarters—soon sparks an irresistible heat. But when the charade ends, the danger begins. Will love be enough to protect them from a treacherous plot devised to ruin them?

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My Thoughts:  I found myself enjoying this book enough that I devoured it in one setting, always a good sign of a fun and good read!  The heroine demonstrates the fine line between courageous and brave and stubborn and desperate...and the risks one is willing to take for family and those we love. Our hero, as we learned in the previous book, has both some shady, unscrupulous family members, and some that are innocent of a series of wrongdoings against him as a child, leading to his making a living, a rather good living, as a scavenger. He's stubborn, sometimes cruel, friendless (in his mind), and still living like he's desperate and not comfortable in terms of money and access to the necessities. Together they come together and end up finding a way to help each other out...security for Verity and a sense of belonging and security for Malcom as well. Verity helps him see that it is not him against the world, no matter how he tries to frame it, and that actions have repercussions internally and externally.  I loved how it all came together at the end, how they work through personal and external challenges, and ultimately determine that life is better surrounded by other people that care about you, and vice versa.

Thank you to #NetGalley and #Montlake Romance for the opportunity to read this advance copy!