No Earls Allowed by Shana Galen is one of the best books I've read this year. So funny, so sweet, charming and sexy.
Neil Wraxall, a former Major and acknowledged bastard, is tasked with removing Lady Juliana (Julia) from the orphanage she runs. Her father spoke to his father and tasked Neil with removing Julia from the orphanage and the 12 orphaned boys in a dangerous part of town. Instead of just overseeing the orphanage, she has decided to stay there until she has it firmly under control. Neil quickly realizes that convincing Julia to go home will be no simple task.
Julia is dedicated to the 12 boys in her care. She lost her sister and has taken up her sister's pet charities as her own. Sure the orphanage and the boys have some problems, they sometimes get out of control - especially when the pet rats get out of their cage - but she will make it work. Julia refuses to abandon these boys like so many other adults have done in their short lives. She may have a crime lord breathing down her neck, but she believes she can control the situation.
Instant attraction and sparks fly between Julia and Neil - I think I spent the first three chapters laughing out loud. The antics of the boys, the servants, Neil and Julia are priceless and so funny. Neil has a hard time facing his feelings not only for Julia, but for the boys too. He wants to make sure they are all safe, and little by little begins to care about each of them.
Neil is certainly a hero to sigh over. The attraction and sexual tension between Neil and Julia light up the book. There were sexy times that were well worth the wait. I highly recommend this book, fantastic reading!

In his nightmares Major Neil Wraxall is still battling the violent war that took the lives of his men and his only brother. He may have come home a war hero but as an illegitimate son, he is at the beck and call of his father; who assigns Neil the impossible task of bringing the headstrong Lady Juliana back home from the rundown Sunnybrooke Home For Wayward Boys and the twelve rambunctious orphans she is trying to keep in order. Juliana isn't going anywhere . . . so neither is Neil, who soon finds himself whipping the motley crew of boys into shape.



(In other news, I just got the title of this book...Get it? It's about a home for boys? No girls allowed. Also, I don't think there are any Earls in this book...Wraxall's father is a Marquess. . . )



No Earls Allowed sort of had the feel of a fun 80's rompy comedy as Neil uses his military know how to get the wayward boys in order . . .while also foiling a corruption plot? I don't usually go for books with kids in them, but there is something endearing about the flurry of chaos that erupts with everyone under one roof.



This series is all about self-assured war heroes meeting their match with plucky headstrong heroines and Lady Juliana is no exception. Lady Juliana is determined to turn Sunnybrooke into a real home and while she accepts Neil's help, she refuses to let any of the boys slip out of her protection.



Did I mention that this book has a virgin hero? I don't think it's that big of a spoiler because it doesn't have anything to do with the plot and is revealed early on. Knowing the difficulties of being an illegitimate child Neil never wanted to risk having one of his own. His choice to abstain is because of social constraints, something we usually only think about with women and I think it's worth noting Galen applies this to the hero.



A heartwarming romance that isn't afraid to bring the heat.

Sorry but I couldn't get into the book at all. I tried though, I'm so sorry for my ADD brain.

Lady Juliana has decided to run an very run-down orphanage on the edge of the slums. Neil Wraxall, one of Draven's Survivors, has been tasked by her father to make her move back home. She's quality, he's a nobelman's illegitimate although acknowledged, son. Neither has any desire to marry anyone. She's being harassed by one of the worst slumlords in London -- her father's money or her in his bed. Neil is fortunately very handy and helps repair the orphanage, and protects the boys and Juliana to the best of his abilities, helped when needed by the rest of the Survivors. However, both are very attracted to each other, and scandal looms. It's a lot of fun watching their interactions!

I just couldn't get into this. The writing style was not for me, the plot moved in sudden jumps and spurts that didn't seem to make much sense, and it felt like it was just all over the place. DNF'd about a third of the way through. (Sorry!)

Lady Juliana has taken up residency at boys home. Major Neil Wraxall is assigned to bring her back home. What he thinks is going to be an easy job turns out to be nothing but. Juliana has fallen in love with the boys and will do anything to keep them safe. With the odds against her, Wraxall jumps in to help. Being nothing more than the illegitimate son of an Earl he feels he can do nothing more than to admire her from afar. Some long nights at the orphanage change that and Lady Juliana finds she has more to love than just the boys.

In an Oyster Shell – It was a satisfying romance that will leave your heart full of the robust characters.

The Pearls – I love a good regency but this one stands all on its own. The Lady is running an orphanage which is really beneath her station. I liked the uniqueness of this. I loved how it had less to do with society and more to do with the orphans. This paired with a man who has no station by title but has earned it by the favor of his father and his work in the war efforts makes for a great story that stands apart from all other regencies.

There were a lot of characters but there was little confusion of who was who. The boys that Juliana is looking over will steal your heart. Wraxall being able to relate to the boys and in turn work on the demons of his past was really inspiring. This is a character-driven book that left me turning page after page in earnest.

So refreshing! I’ll tell you why. The hero is a man born out of wedlock, a bastard, who never wants that stigma or shame attached to his child, so he’s made a life choice to remain chaste. Well, chaste is probably an over-statement since he's done everything but have intercourse, but for the purposes of this story, he's a virgin. I love that. He’s also a war hero who’s haunted, but loyal and still expecting to remain alone (if you don’t count the 11 men who cheated death with him whom he consider to be his brothers) yet, somehow he finds, love, purpose and maybe even redemption. The heroine and the kids in the story are great too, but the hero alone is worth reading this one again and again.

I received an ARC of this book, from the publisher, via NetGalley, in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Another survivor bites the dust. This time it is Neil Wraxall and his load of guilt. He was the commander of the group and still feels the loss of friends who died. His current job turns out to be a lot more than he thought. Lady Juliana is stubborn and will not leave the orphanage that she is running. Neil must protect her from the danger she finds herself in. Both have issues in their past that are affecting their behavior in the here and now. A nice addition to the new series. Both Neil and Juliana are wonderful characters who must work to overcome events in their past in order to enjoy their present and their future.

I received a free copy of the book in return for an honest review.

I’ve really enjoyed this series; out of the ordinary heroes and heroines that deserve these strong and caring men. I loved the orphan boys in this book, they brought out the best in all of the characters.

Loved it! Start to finish simplay
an amazing read!

Neil Wraxall is the illegitimate, though acknowledged, son of Marquess Kensington, who educated and provides for him. While he was a soldier, Neil was part of a squad now known as Draven's Dozen, because only twelve of the original thirty men survived. Neil is wracked with guilt over the death of his half-brother, and is plagued with nightmares. He spends the bulk of his time at his club with his fellow survivors. Neil is pulled from his melancholy when his father has an assignment for him. He must go to the St. Dismas Home for Wayward Youth, and ensure that Juliana St. Maur is removed from the premises and escorted safely to her home.

Juliana (Julia)has been attempting to keep the home afloat, though one disaster after another has befallen the place, which she now calls "Sunnybrooke." She refuses her father's summons to return home, and Neil Wraxall is not going to persuade her to leave. When Julia stubbornly refuses to leave, Neil determines that he, too, will remain until he can persuade her to change her mind. What ensues is that Neil finds himself becoming involved with the orphaned boys living in the home and in the daily activity. His military experience soon has the unruly boys working about the place, cleaning, building, and repairing.

While this activity is happening, Julia and Neil are finding that they are greatly attracted to each other. Neil's feelings of guilt and unworthiness make him feel that he could never deserve a woman like Julia, and his own illegitimacy has caused him to vow to never take a chance on fathering a child of his own outside of marriage. The road to their happy ever after is rocky, as the baggage Neil is carrying is great. He is even further panicked when he realizes that the boys might be looking to him as a father figure.

I loved the character of Neil, and felt heartbroken over his misplaced guilt. Julia's heart was in the right place, but she did not always act in the most intelligent manner. I believe part of that was her being naive, but part of it was just being stubborn. There are some amusing moments, and some action to go along with the sweet, yet steamy romance, which made NO EARLS ALLOWED a satisfying and enjoyable read.

I absolutely adored Julia and Neil's story. Though I haven't yet read Ewan's (the first book in the series, Third Son's a Charm --there's no excuse, because I own a copy already!) it didn't matter a bit because this one worked just fine on its own. Though the brief glimpse we do get of Ewan has me more than curious about what his story could be so...

(Sleep. It's totally overrated.)

Events in Julia's past have propelled her from a life of luxury to take charge of a home for orphaned boys, which is where (former Army) Major Neil Wraxall, the recognized but illegitimate son of a marquess finds her while performing a job for his father. Neil thinks getting Lady Julia will be no problem at all, but obviously has more than a few thinks coming on that front...

I loved that Ms. Galen gave all twelve of the boys at the orphanage such distinct personalities and made them all feel like characters in their own right rather than mere plot moppets. Watching them all interact with "Major" made for some of my favorite parts of the book. And those pet rats--LOL, he never will be free of them, that's for sure!

With Julia and her boys within the sights of the local crime boss, there were many edge-of-your-seat moments in this book, nicely balanced with equally charged (but in a different way, of course!) moments between Julia and Neil. It was a refreshing change to have a hero and heroine who manage to stay (technical) virgins until their (you know it's coming, right? Slight spoiler here if not) wedding night; not to worry, though, they do get up to some other very steamy shenanigans in the meantime.

I finished the book blinking back more than a few happy tears, looking forward to the next one in the series!

Rating: 4 1/2 stars / A-

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.

I must confess that wounded war heroes and children in novels are not usually my cup of tea and yet ... I was completely enchanted by Shana Galen's latest, No Earls Allowed, which features a wounded war hero and an whole orphanage full of children. After witnessing her beloved sister's disastrous marriage, Lady Julianna is determined to remain unwed. Instead, she devotes herself to running an orphanage and avoiding the neighborhood crime lord. As gently bred ladies are wont to do.

But her father has Other Ideas and sends war hero Mr. Neil Wraxall to fetch her home to a respectable life in Mayfair. Instead, Neil stays. When he's not repairing the roof and imposing military order on a household of troublesome orphaned boys, he's falling hard for Lady Julianna. Though he's a war hero, he's also a bastard son and so is convinced he's not good enough for her, but Julianna finds he's just the man she needs. This is a sweet and soulful romance about two wounded souls finding love and family together. Spoiler alert: This novel also features a rare sighting of the elusive Virgin Hero!

No Earls Allowed is book two in Shana Galen’s Survivors series, and like the first book, Third Son’s a Charm, features one of the men who had belonged to a specialist ‘suicide troop’ formed during the Napoleonic wars. The group consisted originally of thirty, all of them single men, some of them younger sons, some of them by-blows – but all of them expendable; and under the command of Major Neil Wraxall, the men were given the most dangerous missions, missions from which they were not expected to return – and many did not. By the end of the war, thirty had become a mere dozen, and even though the war has ended, Wraxall continues to carry a mountain of guilt for the eighteen men who did not return as well as for the death of his half-brother Christopher, the oldest legitimate son of their father, the Marquess of Kensington.

Neil’s life as an illegitimate son has perhaps been easier than many others in his situation given that his father acknowledged him from birth; he provided for him, made sure Neil had a good education and upbringing and then purchased his army commission. In spite of that, however, Neil still feels his status – or lack thereof – as a bastard, and has never really felt as though he fit in or belonged anywhere apart from with his company of men in the army. Now the war is over, he spends most of his time at his club with his closest friends – Ewan Mostyn and Rafe Beaumont – or alone, wallowing in guilt and consuming large amounts of strong drink in the attempt to keep the nightmares at bay.

When Neil receives a note from his father asking to see him, he isn’t too surprised. Neil performs the odd service for the marquess now and again, and he takes himself off, wondering what his father needs him to do this time. The last thing he expects is to be asked to retrieve an earl’s daughter from an orphanage for young boys located in one of the less salubrious areas of London; but Neil can’t imagine it’ll be difficult and arrives just in time to discover the earl’s daughter in question being importuned by an unsavoury character.

Lady Juliana (Julia) is the one remaining unmarried daughter of the Earl of St. Maur, and is currently residing at the Sunnybrooke Home for Boys in Spitalfields where she is trying desperately to keep the place running without sufficient funds and staff. When her sister, Harriett, was alive, the home had been one of the charities to which the two of them donated, although it had been Harriett who had been the truly tireless supporter of that particular orphanage and several others; but after Harriett’s death in childbirth, the home has become something of an emotional crutch for Julia, who sees devoting herself to Sunnybrooke as a way to keep Harriett’s memory alive. The earl is naturally concerned and wants Julia to return home to the world of the ton as befits her station in life, but she will hear none of it. The boys need her, and given the way her beloved sister’s husband treated her, Julia has decided she wants nothing to do with men or marriage.

Added to Julia’s many problems – pilfering from the pantry, the resignation of the cook, the leaky roof and a trio of escaped pet rats – is Mr. Slag, the local crime-lord who is pressing her for payment of a large sum of money in exchange for his ‘protection’ – or if not money, he insinuates another way in which he would become her protector. Julia has just got rid of him – for now – when Neil arrives and stops her dead in her tracks. With his dark hair, well-muscled build and startlingly blue eyes, he’s the most gorgeous man Julia has ever seen and, lost in contemplation of all that male beauty, Julia fails to recall she’d been cooking breakfast for the boys when Slag had turned up – a fact that suddenly makes itself known courtesy of the burning smell emanating from the kitchen.

Neil hadn’t planned to spend the day sorting out breakfast, wrangling rats and a group of young boys alike, but he quickly realises that the notion he could simply tell the lady that her father wants her home and then escort her there was rather wide of the mark and that she’s not going to meekly obey the earl’s summons. He decides instead that the best way to get Julia out of there is to make sure the orphanage is safe (none of the door and windows lock properly), clean and dry (the roof leaks and the boys are slobs) and that proper staff are engaged… but it quickly becomes apparent, even when the place is tidier and more secure, that Julia isn’t going to go back to her father’s house. And if she stays at the orphanage, then Neil stays, especially when he discovers that one of Julia’s servants is working for Slag.

No Earls Allowed (a title which seems to have no bearing on the actual story) is an enjoyable and entertaining read, but I found the premise of an earl’s daughter running an orphanage while still being accepted by the ton to require quite a large stretch of my credulity. I did, however like that Ms. Galen gives Julia underlying and unacknowledged (to herself) reasons for her determination to run the place, rather than making her a blithe Lady Bountiful type – as I said earlier, it’s clear she’s using the place as some sort of emotional crutch and, as her former governess points out, that she’s using it to hide from life. She’s determined and gutsy, and I liked her – until, towards the end of the book, she turns into one of my least favourite heroine-types, the one who, when told to stay behind for her own safety (and because the hero wants not to have to worry about her while he’s confronting the bad guys) insists on tagging along and then has to be rescued. And while Neil is a wonderful hero – handsome, kind, honourable and just plain decent – he has his moment of stupidity near the end, which just feels tacked on in order to provide a bit of last minute drama. Which it doesn’t.

Some of the best moments in the book are provided by the interactions between Neil and the boys. I’m not normally fond of children in romance novels, but I’m pleased to say that Ms. Galen writes them all well, and does a great job of showing how they bond with Neil and adopt him as a father figure, and how he so naturally steps into that breach and takes charge of them and the orphanage. The romance between Neil and Juliana is sensual and nicely-developed; they have scorching chemistry and in making Neil a man who knows all too well the stigma of illegitimacy, of being ostracised, talked about and looked down on, she has created a hero who is a little different from the norm, a man fully aware of the consequences of passion and so unwilling to visit them upon an innocent child that he has remained (technically) a virgin – although luckily for Julia, he’s not inexperienced (!).

I enjoyed meeting Ewan and Rafe again; their unquestioning loyalty and the snarky banter between Neil and Rafe are other high points, and overall, I enjoyed the No Earls Allowed in spite of my reservations. I’ll definitely be reading the next in the series when it comes out later this year.

Neil Wraxall survived the war against Napoleon and all of its horrors but he's beginning to doubt his abilities when he cannot convince the lovely Lady Juliana to return to her father's home. She has taken over the responsibility of caring for twelve orphan boys at the Sunnybrooke Home for Boys and there's more trouble here than any one woman or man can manage. Fortunately, Julia learns to depend on Neil and the boys begin to look to him for guidance, too, until the local crime lord stirs up more trouble than one can imagine!

This is a delightful story and will not disappoint fans of war heroes, orphans, and damsels in distress!

Thanks to the publisher and to NetGalley for an ARC; all opinions are my own.

In the second book in Shana Galen's historical The Survivors series, Neil Wraxall known as The Protector finally meets his match in the indomitable Lady Julianna and her orphan boys. This was a totally delightful read, full of humor, witty banter, excellent brotherhood and a combustible sexual chemistry between Julia and Neil. It deals with a lot of social topics that adds depth to the story making the romance between these poignant, sexy and sweet. I cannot wait for the next one!

You know what? I really liked No Earls Allowed. I read a lot of historical romances and this one surprised me in many wonderful ways. From the lackluster blurb, I wasn't expecting too much going in. But I love Sourcebooks novels and was excited to receive this copy. 

First thing--ignore the blurb. Or maybe absorb and then immediately forget the blurb. It doesn't come anywhere close to explaining the complexities around the characters. But maybe that's a good thing, because then readers get to just experience the story as its thrown at them.

I usually get bored at some point or another--the heroine or hero is just too damn angsty, or too wildly and inexplicably attracted to the other, or too much time is spent on getting to the good stuff. But I was invested in these characters from the beginning. The story is told in alternating POVs, but you never get the same scene recounted from both characters, which so often drags the story down.

Juliana is not necessarily a surprising character, but she nonetheless a compelling one--a fiercely independent woman devoted to raising a houseful of orphaned boys. She eschews men and doesn't want anyone to tell her what to do even as it becomes clear that she is definitely in over her head at least a little bit. Enter Neil, who is a rather surprising character (but no spoilers here). 

It's so much fun watching these two navigate the waters--of society, of the orphanage, of their relationship. The book keeps you on your toes up to the very end--seriously, for a minute there, I thought there might be a cliffhanger. Definitely no cliffhanger, but still a satisfying end (and definitely a satisfying steam factor, too). My only complaint is that sometimes Juliana is way too frazzled and I would have liked to see her have a little more competency early on? (But I may also be projecting a little here.)

Should you read it? This was my first Shana Galen novel, but it definitely won't be my last. If you're a fan of historical romances in the vein of Tessa Dare or Lisa Kleypas, you'll want to add this one to your TBR.

This latest installment is Galen's Survivors series swept me up in its characters and kept me up far past my bedtime. The characters of Julia and Neil are both struggling with the painful losses of siblings and find a start to healing in the Julia's orphanage for boys. I found the development of Julia and Neil's relationship to be realistic with Julia's slow acknowledgement that she was in over her head and Neil's reluctant realization that the orphaned boys have a lot to teach him. The similarity of their emotional wounds made the fact that they could help each other heal believable since they could understand one another's pain in a way that someone who hadn't experienced such couldn't. This is definitely a book I'll be recommending and rereading.