The Earl I Ruined - (Secrets of Charlotte Street) by Scarlett Peckham (Paperback)

About the Book

When Lady Constance Stonewell accidentally ruins the Earl of Apthorp's entire future with her gossip column, she does what any honorable young lady must: offer her hand in marriage. Julian Haywood, the Earl of Apthorp, learns the woman he's secretly in love with is at fault, it isn't just his life that is shattered: it's his heart.

Book Synopsis

She's beautiful, rich, and reckless...

When Lady Constance Stonewell accidentally ruins the Earl of Apthorp's entire future with her gossip column, she does what any honorable young lady must: offer her hand in marriage. Or, at the very least, stage a whirlwind fake engagement to repair his reputation. Never mind that it means spending a month with the dullest man in England. Or the fact that he disapproves of everything she holds dear.

He's supposedly the most boring politician in the House of Lords...

Julian Haywood, the Earl of Apthorp, is on the cusp of finally proving himself to be the man he's always wanted to be when his future is destroyed in a single afternoon. When the woman he's secretly in love confesses she's at fault, it isn't just his life that is shattered: it's his heart.

They have a month to clear his name and convince society they are madly in love...

But when Constance discovers her faux-intended is decidedly more than meets the eye--not to mention adept at shocking forms of wickedness--she finds herself falling for him.

There's only one problem: he can't forgive her for breaking his heart.

Review Quotes

2018 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart (R) Finalist for Best Historical Romance - THE EARL I RUINED

"[An] astonishling good debut...The whole book is a breath of fresh air, both a complex, layered story and a soaring romance with two very real people at its heart. Peckham evokes a wide arc of desire, fear, love, humor and sadness in Westmead and Poppy's marriage. And bravery, too -- the bravery that comes from the person you love asking what you want, and meeting you there." -- The New York Times, on The Duke I Tempted

"Peckham's meticulous character work pays off in spectacular, grandly romantic fashion and The Duke I Tempted ends with particularly cathartic and hard-won happily ever after." -- BookPage

"Gothic romances are tempestuous by definition, but this one is dramatic even by those heightened standards...If you want something to speed your heart and stop your breath as you read beneath the covers, with only the meager flashlight beam warding off the enveloping night -- then you have a rare treat in store." -- The Seattle Review of Books