Earls Trip

Holiday (Canadian Boyfriend) makes the playfully anachronistic tone clear from the very first line of this fun Regency series opener: “What happens on Earls Trip, stays on Earls Trip. Usually.” Archibald “Archie” Fielding-Burton, the Earl of Harcourt, is stoked for his annual two-week vacation with his best bros, Simon Courteney, the Earl of Marsden, and Edward Astley, Viscount Featherfinch. En route to Scotland, Archie receives a desperate message from family friend Sir Albert Morgan. Sir Albert’s daughter, Clementine, whom Archie hasn’t seen in many years but remembers fondly and who recently ended her engagement to the odious Theodore Bull, is chasing after her impulsive sister Olive, who has eloped to Scotland with Theodore. “Please Archibald,” Sir Albert writes, “save my girls.” Now the men have a mission. After rescuing the women and bringing them to a friend’s vacant castle, however, the trio’s sacred male-bonding time is impinged upon. Though Archie asks the women to keep their distance, he can’t resist joining Clementine for bouts of late-night stargazing. When she asks him to show her that intimacy can be better than what she had experienced with Theodore, Archie realizes that agreeing to her request will forever change their relationship. Humor abounds and the pages turn at a brisk clip. It’s a delightful romp. Agent: Courtney Miller-Callihan, Handspun Literary. (May)