What do you think?
Rate this book
The Irish Earl's Ruse
Lady Susannah Somerset is the daughter of a duke, and he never lets her forget it, but on a visit to her grandmother's estate she falls in love with Connor O'Neill, the new horse trainer, an Irishman who is not only below her station but openly contemptuous of her personally
220 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published June 2, 1992
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
February 20, 2019
Wow! No wonder Ms. Lange is one of my top favorite HR authors. Sadly, very little of her work is available as e-books.
With this book, if we leave out the anachronisms, the brow-raising easing of social norms, the distortion of history/geography/politics (which I barely care about), it is a romance reader’s dream come true! So go for the story and leave out the extraneous.
Connor O’Neill is a hot delicious alpha-hunk of a hero, his serving status notwithstanding. And Susanna is the archetypal EL h - beautiful (beyond belief), spirited but empathetic and grounded. She is a veritable sleeping beauty who has spent 2-3 seasons bored by men who do not interest her. But her grandmother’s Irish horse trainer jolts her into a yearning wakefulness.
The H is actually an Irish earl (but, of course) serving incognito as a horse trainer as he has dangerous reasons to be in the area. He is rightly described as ‘lordly’ and ‘noble man’ by the h’s grandmother and others as he stands heads and shoulders (literally and otherwise) above the other male specimens around him. The h comes to spend possibly the last summer as a free woman at her grandmother’s estate as her father is pushing her to marry. They spark off instantly and progress decorously to become (almost) friends but their undeniable bond deepens into a rare, once in a lifetime connection.
And do they romance? Fiery, exciting, passionate - enough to send me in raptures. And all with just looks and smiles and undercurrents. This book barely has a kiss or two. For almost the whole book, their mutual love is clearly obvious to the reader- and to each other but remains verbally unacknowledged. They remain within the bounds of their social stations - for most parts -while communicating on a private non-verbal level! *sigh*
Their relationship has a forbidden tag not just because of the stated class chasm but also a political divide that's seemingly impossible to bridge. So a hea seems impossible and the H acts accordingly.
But then we get that ending! *swoons*
With this book, if we leave out the anachronisms, the brow-raising easing of social norms, the distortion of history/geography/politics (which I barely care about), it is a romance reader’s dream come true! So go for the story and leave out the extraneous.
Connor O’Neill is a hot delicious alpha-hunk of a hero, his serving status notwithstanding. And Susanna is the archetypal EL h - beautiful (beyond belief), spirited but empathetic and grounded. She is a veritable sleeping beauty who has spent 2-3 seasons bored by men who do not interest her. But her grandmother’s Irish horse trainer jolts her into a yearning wakefulness.
The H is actually an Irish earl (but, of course) serving incognito as a horse trainer as he has dangerous reasons to be in the area. He is rightly described as ‘lordly’ and ‘noble man’ by the h’s grandmother and others as he stands heads and shoulders (literally and otherwise) above the other male specimens around him. The h comes to spend possibly the last summer as a free woman at her grandmother’s estate as her father is pushing her to marry. They spark off instantly and progress decorously to become (almost) friends but their undeniable bond deepens into a rare, once in a lifetime connection.
And do they romance? Fiery, exciting, passionate - enough to send me in raptures. And all with just looks and smiles and undercurrents. This book barely has a kiss or two. For almost the whole book, their mutual love is clearly obvious to the reader- and to each other but remains verbally unacknowledged. They remain within the bounds of their social stations - for most parts -while communicating on a private non-verbal level! *sigh*
Their relationship has a forbidden tag not just because of the stated class chasm but also a political divide that's seemingly impossible to bridge. So a hea seems impossible and the H acts accordingly.
But then we get that ending! *swoons*
June 5, 2013
Fantastic read. Tons of angst, wonderful feel for the Regency period and the Thoroughbred horse-breeding culture that was part of it. (I've read other historical romances with a horse-breeding theme, but most of them bored me, unfortunately.) Lange did a great job with the Irish aspect of the story, emphasizing the injustices being done to the Irish in that historical period. She also brought up the Protestant vs Catholic religious issue near the end of the book, and skirted around it lightly by stating that the first-born son of the O'Neill family was always baptized as a Protestant. Not sure if this was ever done in fact at that time, but kudos to her anyway for not ignoring the issue completely, as often happens in an Irish-English fictional romance.
Some fine secondary characters in the story as well, especially Gussie, the heroine's free-spirited grandmother.
(This is the last of Emma Lange's books I will be rating. I tried reading one other book and disliked it, but I didn't add it to my reviews here on GR. Overall I am somewhat disappointed in Lange's books - was expecting better plots, more romance and better character development than she typically delivered. Mary Balogh is still my "gold standard", particularly in the Traditional Regency genre.)
Some fine secondary characters in the story as well, especially Gussie, the heroine's free-spirited grandmother.
(This is the last of Emma Lange's books I will be rating. I tried reading one other book and disliked it, but I didn't add it to my reviews here on GR. Overall I am somewhat disappointed in Lange's books - was expecting better plots, more romance and better character development than she typically delivered. Mary Balogh is still my "gold standard", particularly in the Traditional Regency genre.)
April 20, 2017
A really enjoyable tale of two intelligent, understanding characters who find themselves in the unexpected dilemma of falling in love. The duke's daughter was not arrogant to think that her new Irish horse trainer was beneath her, but recognized the nobility in his character and bearing and knew it was her Englishness to which he objected. Of course, he eventually overcomes his dislike for the English and goes to reclaim her - the final scenes were quite fantastic! It's rare to find such well-crafted traditional regencies as many veered too much to the farcical, but this one was a gem find. (Bought via Amazon)
April 15, 2019
Every now and then I like a nice historical romance. Connor is an Irish Earl in disguise as the head horse trainer for Susannah's grandmother. Connor is in England to track down his younger brother who believes himself to be some sort of Irish Rebel but is in grave danger to a traitor who is turning against the rebellion. Susannah, the daughter of a duke, is spending this summer visiting her grandmother. The two meet and there are fireworks!
These two are so perfect together. They are equals in wit, intelligence, personality and their love of horses. I was really cheering them on to get their HEA. But then Connor turned into a big fat jerk and did something that made me not like him as much. I'll give details in my safety spoiler.
The romance develops quite nicely between the MCs, and the secondary plot with the younger brother keeps things moving. But Connor is a bit of a snob and can't fathom the idea of falling in love, let alone marrying, an English girl. Not after the way the English have treated the Irish. So he begins to pull away and treats Susannah in a very cold way, avoiding her wherever possible. He even trots out a few OW to push her away.
Susannah, for her part, is being pressured to marry and one of the hopefuls comes to the horse race to pursue her. She isn't interested and is hurt by Connor's coldness towards her, even though she knows she can't marry a simple horse trainer.
These two go through a lot of push and pull (mostly by Connor) with Susannah being sweet and loyal and putting on a bright face to hide her hurt. While Connor is focused on saving his brother and getting away as soon as possible so he won't be tempted by Susannah.
He does eventually come to his senses, but I wanted him to suffer more. I think what bothered me most was the imbalance of power. Connor had all the control over the situation. He alone was the one to decide if they would be together. He knew she loved him and he walked away and left her bereft. Sure, he wound up drunk every night, but that's not enough for me, I'm bloodthirsty, I guess. She does resist him for a minute but he does a decent grovel and they get engaged for the HEA. There is no sex in this book, only kisses.
Safety
These two are so perfect together. They are equals in wit, intelligence, personality and their love of horses. I was really cheering them on to get their HEA. But then Connor turned into a big fat jerk and did something that made me not like him as much. I'll give details in my safety spoiler.
The romance develops quite nicely between the MCs, and the secondary plot with the younger brother keeps things moving. But Connor is a bit of a snob and can't fathom the idea of falling in love, let alone marrying, an English girl. Not after the way the English have treated the Irish. So he begins to pull away and treats Susannah in a very cold way, avoiding her wherever possible. He even trots out a few OW to push her away.
Susannah, for her part, is being pressured to marry and one of the hopefuls comes to the horse race to pursue her. She isn't interested and is hurt by Connor's coldness towards her, even though she knows she can't marry a simple horse trainer.
These two go through a lot of push and pull (mostly by Connor) with Susannah being sweet and loyal and putting on a bright face to hide her hurt. While Connor is focused on saving his brother and getting away as soon as possible so he won't be tempted by Susannah.
He does eventually come to his senses, but I wanted him to suffer more. I think what bothered me most was the imbalance of power. Connor had all the control over the situation. He alone was the one to decide if they would be together. He knew she loved him and he walked away and left her bereft. Sure, he wound up drunk every night, but that's not enough for me, I'm bloodthirsty, I guess. She does resist him for a minute but he does a decent grovel and they get engaged for the HEA. There is no sex in this book, only kisses.
Safety
May 21, 2024
I haven't rated this higher as I simply couldn't get into this book and had to force myself to finish. For one, I never really warmed to any of the characters, and rather disliked the hero. His arrogance and attitude towards the heroine were off-putting, and aside from being very good-looking, I failed to see his supposed charm.
The plot was also weak, and read more like a series of contrived incidents. This doesn't usually bother me with a Regency but, in this case, I didn't find the banter or interactions between the characters sufficiently interesting to compensate. Too often, I felt the urge to roll my eyes, particularly at some of the h & H's overdone internal dialogue. There's also an entire side-plot about why the H is an Irish earl masquerading as a horse trainer, and yet it received only cursory attention. Perhaps if the author had developed this storyline further, I might have found either the hero or the overall story more compelling.
The plot was also weak, and read more like a series of contrived incidents. This doesn't usually bother me with a Regency but, in this case, I didn't find the banter or interactions between the characters sufficiently interesting to compensate. Too often, I felt the urge to roll my eyes, particularly at some of the h & H's overdone internal dialogue. There's also an entire side-plot about why the H is an Irish earl masquerading as a horse trainer, and yet it received only cursory attention. Perhaps if the author had developed this storyline further, I might have found either the hero or the overall story more compelling.
September 15, 2024
Perhaps I was in the wrong mood for a Regency, but I found this one more irritating than entertaining. I was unable to ignore the informalities & strange historical distortions that abounded so I couldn't enjoy it. Lady Gussie! Ugh! The arrogant hero, Connor O'Neill, had little redeeming charm & I think Susannah Somerset could do better.
November 29, 2015
liked the end, where the irish earl request a meeting with duke about his daughter
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews