THE UNTAMED EARL

In love with one sister, betrothed to the other—what’s an earl to do?

Usually when sisters fight over a beau, they’re both mad for him, but that’s not the case for the Hobbs sisters. Lady Alexandra has quietly carried a torch for the roguish Lord Owen Monroe since her teens; her older sister, Lady Lavinia, can’t stand him, but her father has arranged for them to marry. Owen has no interest in marrying either, but his father tells him he must not only marry Lavinia, but woo her—or else lose his allowance. After a case of mistaken identity, Owen stumbles into an agreement with Alexandra: she’ll tell him how to win Lavinia, and he’ll help raise her profile on the marriage market. Soon, Owen is as besotted with Alexandra as she has been with him, but the arranged marriage looms—unless Owen can find a way to marry the sister he truly loves. In the fifth book in The Playful Brides series, Bowman’s characters are a bit flat, with spoiled Lavinia barely kinder than Cinderella’s stepsisters and Owen bearing the tight breeches and confusion of the average Regency hero, but they're still endearing. Luckily, the plot and ending are satisfying, and Alex earns her place among the ranks of perfectly awkward romance heroines.

A sweet and simple Regency story of unrequited love, requited.