Having a particularly tough week, this book was the equivalent to a large glass of wine or a pint of Ben & Jerry’s as far as stress relief.

Analytical and a bit reckless when it comes to pursuing firsthand knowledge of her latest subject of study-the Mating Habits of Scoundrels—Jane finds the most perfect source for the information she desires in the man known only as Raven.

Savvy and street smart, Raven is the ultimate lone-wolf, secretly longing for a pack of his own when he encounters a chaotic whirlwind hiding in the shadows of his favorite brothel.

After a hilariously memorable first meeting their fates become intertwined as the duo launch into an investigation of his origins that could potentially change his life forever. During the course of which, it will come as no surprise that romance ensues and with this decidedly odd pairing, the path they take is riddled with not only sexy sparks of chemistry but loads of delicious humor.

It’s near impossible to not fall in love with this couple and become invested in the lives of the secondary characters who surround them. I know, I for one, will be waiting rather impatiently for this series to continue and will be snatching up previous titles from this author as fast as I can.

I tried and tried with this book, but it is just pretty meh for me. Part of the problem is that it is one if many recent books with a bluestocking heroine who wants to do “research” on romance and sex with the hero. I’m not only tired of this plot device , but I also don’t think it was well-executed here. I’m sorry to say that, because I really like this author usually.

Loved reading the amazing and awesome second story in the Scoundrels series.. When Jane finds herself in a brothel trying to do research on scoundrels, Raven tries to come to her rescue. As Jane and Raven continue to meet, Jane is trying to unravel the mystery of Raven's birthmark and origins, and Raven is helping Jane continue her research on scoundrels. Read the highly recommended, wonderfully written with captivating characters full of romance and mystery, and a must read love story.
I received a copy of the book through NetGalley.

I recieved a free copy from netgalley in exchamge for an honest review. This book got me after a brief reading slump. I really enjoyed the plot and relationship in My Kind of Earl.
Jane is researching scoundrels for the book she is writing with her friends. Her research finds her in a brothel where she catches the eye or Raven.
Raven has survived the best he could as an orphan and finally has his own home and a respectable job. When Raven tries to rescue Jane he ends up receiving her help in uncovering who he really is and where the birthmark on his arm come from.
Jane was a smart, curious, and independent character and i loved her interactions with Raven. I loved Raven appreciating Jane for herself.

I don't usually give 5 stars, because that means a book is pretty close to perfect. While this was not a perfect book, I did LOVE it! While the author does rely on some romance genre tropes, it is just different enough to make it interesting. The heroine is smart, and I love her for it, and so does the hero. Starting the novel out in a brothel was a risky way to start, but it worked!

This is book 2 in the series but is perfectly fine as a stand alone, at least that's how I felt not having read book 1.

Jane is doing research on the behavior of scoundrels and needs notes to write her book. She ends up sneaking into a brothel where she meets our hero, Raven. After their encounter, she knows she recognizes his birthmark from somewhere and is determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Jane can be a little interfering, but Raven never seemed to be out of his comfort zone with her direction so it didn't bother me. Jane has a very large family and very neglectful parents and she is just aching for someone to really see her, respect her, understand her longings in life. And I think Raven's playfully flirtatious personality was perfect for her.

Raven was orphaned as an infant and has lived a life of hard work and abuse. He has worked hard to get his own living place and even secured a few books to own. I usually find the heroine to be the bookworms in HR in general, and I loved seeing Raven's breath catch when he enters a well stocked library. I will always have a soft spot for the street heroes of HR. And Raven has a bit of that hardness to him, but he also has a fun personality. I found him humorous, playful and sexy.

I really absolutely loved this book right up until the end. THE END. We'll talk about that later. I thought this book had a great build over time of tension and touches and longing. I thought Jane and Raven were focused on each other for most of the book. Some parts were funny. Some were so heartwarming. Raven was really a great hero and I felt like he truly loved Jane and her family, who is obviously important to her.

I found this book to be filled with so many little scenes that built the tension. So many touches, almost touches, almost kisses, a stroke of a collarbone above a dress. I loved them. There is a scene where Jane is teaching Raven some of the social niceties of the ton and she's explaining how when making calls on women it's important to keep your hat and gloves with you so your hostess knows you won't be sharing intimacies with a guess. Raven informs her of at least 7 ways he could ravish her while keeping his hat and gloves intact. There's no kisses but it's so. Damn. Sexy. The wanting I felt during that scene was wonderful.

Give this book a try if you are in the mood for
A class differences feel – the hero is an orphan that grew up on the streets and the heroine is a daughter of a viscount
Secret/hidden identity – (maybe a bit of a stretch) the hero is an orphan trying to find out his origins
Enough mystery to move the story along but not overwhelmingly taking over
Moderate steam – it felt a bit on the lower end to me, but the scenes are detailed and explicit. They were just concentrated at the end

So. The END. Was a disaster for me. It was such an amazing, wonderful book until the end. Then. Everything happened. It was way too much crammed into a short percentage. Some of it didn't really make sense as far as the characters went. I didn't approve at all of Raven's actions. I also dislike when another character has to come in and kind of “fix” the problem and that's what happened here. I want the characters to be able to mostly figure it out themselves. There was just so much...I didn't like anything at the end.

I also didn't like the way some of Raven's darker moments of his past were handled. It almost skimmed over it, like see, look I'm fine, wink wink and I guess I would have preferred some more gut wrenching conversation closure on it than a gloss over.

I absolutely adore this cover. It might be one of my favorites ever. Love love love the passion in it, the colors, and those abs.

I was a touch slumpy when I picked this book up, but it helped so much. The conflict between Jane and Raven was minimal, but their comfort with each other and how they worked together to figure out his past was exactly the low angst love that I needed. There was enough of a personal struggle that I wanted to know more, but not so much that it overtook the story. This is my second book by V. Lorret and I am pretty sure I am all in now.

Raven is an orphan, sold to a workhouse, twenty-eight, and lives by four rules. He is handsome and loyal to his friends but has very few. He has a problem with trust. He works at a gambling hell and is only responsible to the owner. As he arrived at a brothel he heard the ruffling of underskirts and a female speaking. She was climbing into the window to get some research for a book. He could tell by the way she spoke she was a blue blood. He goes to get her out and saves her sort of from a customer grabbing her and wanting his hour. She slips out of the same window and her cousin is waiting for her. As they are leaving the cousin stops, she wants to know why and he tells her he has to stop for Raven and he is pink. She starts to stick her head out, Ravens are always black. They are off to a good start. Jane Pickerington is a bluestocking, intelligent with a big heart, and one of eleven siblings. She takes care of them and makes sure they are cared for. Two siblings ended up with the same name because their parents were oblivious to their children.
This also a mystery. Jane sees a birthmark on Raven's arm and she has seen it before but she has a hard time remembering where. So she starts looking into it, she wants him to have a family be part of something. There are some interesting surprises in store. There is always something happening in the book either with the children or between them or an outside influence. It is entertaining, witty, and fun. The characters are well developed and the tale is written with a well-planned out direction. It does keep your attention and makes you hunger for more.
I received this ARC from Net Galley and voluntarily reviewed it

I really like the two main chatacters in this book. Jane, a bluestocking, is the oldest of 11 children. She has taken upon herself to raise her brothers and sisters. Her parents are typical "ton" parents, leaving the raising of their children to others.
Raven, was raised in an orphanage. He has no family. He has taken himself literally out of the gutter and made something of himself, working as the manager of a gaming hell.
The two meet accidentally at a brorhel (Jane is doing research for a book). There is an instant attraction between them.
There were several things I liked in this book. One was the relationship between Jane and her siblings. The second was that the author took the time to show the relationship develop between Jane and Raven. The third was the ending completely took me by surprise and that doesn't happen too often.
What I didnt like was the ending. I think the author concentrated so much on the explanation of Ravens past that what fell short was the finish of the love story between Raven and Jane. It kind of fell flat.
So for that I took away a star. 4 stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐.
I want to thank Netgalley for the chance to review this book.

While I enjoyed the first book in the series more, this book was also a great read. Jane and Raven were a great couple and I especially loved Jane. I’m a sucker for a bluestocking and she was written so well. I found the mystery surrounding Raven’s past to be fascinating and it kept me reading in the few parts that lagged a bit. I know a lot of other readers were disappointed at the lack of an epilogue, but I thought the last chapter summed everything up nicely, even if it felt a bit rushed. Can’t wait for Ellie’s story next!!

*I received an eARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

When her book research on the difference between gentlemen and scoundrels leads her to a brothel, Jane Pickerington doesn’t expect the excursion to end in an all-out brawl. She winds up coming to the aid of the man who attempted to rescue her and soon discovers he’s far more than a garden variety rake.

Raven has a strict set of rules he lives by, rules that helped him survive as an orphan abandoned on the steps of a foundling home. He’s never had any other names or known anything about his true origins, nor has he tried to find out, but that all changes when he meets the insatiably curious Jane. She recognizes a scar on his arm and the fact that he’s entitled to an aristocratic position based on the truth of his birth.

Raven has always despite the aristocracy. He manages a gaming hell and is comfortable in the slightly seedier parts of London. He has no preparation for high society and doesn’t know that he wishes to, but he agrees to allow Jane to teach him some social graces. In exchange, Raven teaches Jane all about the wicked topics which spur her curiosity, leaving them both wanting more at the end of each lesson.

I have so many mixed feelings about this one. [Potential spoilers ahead.] I loved the concept of Raven and his mysterious past and the revelation of his true identity, but I felt he deserved more of a true recognition than he got in the end. We’re left with him still in disgrace and I wanted him to be vindicated, perhaps an epilogue or another chapter would’ve left me feeling more satisfied. I wound up liking Jane in the end, but she really had to do a lot of growing on me. At first, I pretty much hated her because of her arrogance, entitlement, and naivete given her meddling in Raven’s life for what were originally purely selfish reasons to satisfy her own curiosity and with no thought to the effects that could have on him. Her know-it-all attitude and constant corrections of Raven, not to mention her judgmental attitudes and blatantly using him as research for her book, got on my nerves. Fortunately, her behavior improved as she came to love Raven and her condescension turned into more of a witty banter and became a bit charming. For his part, Raven took this mostly in stride and produced some of the best innuendo I’ve read. His complexity as a character and his fear of letting anyone close was rather moving, especially when the truth of his origins and background is revealed and considering the fact that he’s never been loved. In some ways I feel like Jane pushed Raven entirely too hard and in others not at all hard enough, which left me unsure of how to feel about this book. Another complaint I had is the fact that the sexual abuse Raven endured as a young man is totally glossed over; he rationalizes the behavior of his abused when Jane points out how wrong this was, despite the fact that his inner monologues have revealed that this experience was damaging to him. I would’ve liked to have seen even just an extra page or two of him coming to terms with what happened to him as he realizes that intimacy with Jane is totally different from anything he’s ever known. No, this wasn’t strictly vital to the plot, I just think it would’ve rounded out his character a bit more.

This book wasn’t exactly everything I’d hoped it would be, but I did enjoy the coming together of these two quirky, unconventional characters and I’ll continue with the series, but mostly I look forward to Prue’s story.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I love when a book grips me and guides you on an heart-stopping journey filled with unexpected twists that holds your full attention to the very end and My Kind of Earl does just that! Vivienne Lorret has given readers a book that is well-written, filled it with head-strong individuals that come to life as you find yourself drawn into their story, witty and fun banter with an excellent plot that bring this read together perfectly! Raven, dark brooding alpha male, has emotional and physical scars from his past wants no involvement with others. Jane, a bluestocking on a mission, totally turns Raven's life upside down. But out of the darkness that has been his world he finally finds Jane who brings light into his world and realizes just how lucky he is to have the love of Jane. As the conspiracy unfolds beautifully with drama, searing passion, grief, trials and tribulations, turmoil and the uncertainties build and tensions escalate with twist and turns abound that will keep you guessing until the end in this outstanding story!

Jane Pickerington just wanted to do a little research for her book. She was meant to be in and out of the brothel before being noticed. Unfortunately, Jane is caught. In order to avoid the unwanted attention, she redirected the attention to a certain scoundrel named Raven.

Raven is angry when Jane ruins things for him. He follows her home to confront her, but things take a different turn when Jane recognizes his birthmark. Soon he finds himself on a journey to discovering who he really is.

Vivienne Lorret is one of my favorite historical romance authors. MY KIND OF EARL is a fun fast-paced read and a great start to a very promising new series. Raven is my favorite type of hero... a rogue who has a mysterious past. I also really loved Jane. She is brave and bold... unafraid to teach Raven a thing or two. They had great chemistry. Can't wait for Ms. Lorret's next installment.

His mouth curved in a slow, mysterious grin. “You’re not the only one who knows things, Jane.”

My Kind of Earl is second in the Mating Habits of Scoundrels series where three friends are trying to write a primer on scoundrels for debutantes. Their friend Prudence was caught up in a scandal and banished to the countryside, they want to help fellow debutantes avoid such a fate. New readers could easily start here as the heroine from the first is off on her honeymoon and all you really need to know is this heroine's, Jane, motivation for why she wants to research scoundrels. The hero, Raven, first made an appearance in the Misadventures in Matchmaking series (The Rogue to Ruin).

Catching his breath, Raven stared at her. He felt strangely mystified and exhilarated as if he were a lad seeing fireworks light up the night sky over Vauxhall for the first time.

Raven is a gaming hell factotum who moonlights at an upper class brothel pretending to be a gentleman to bring in more upper class gentlemen, this is where he first sees Jane as she is trying to sneak in. Jane is our heroine bluestocking who has a perfect memory and wildly curious mind. She at first came off a bit annoyingly obliviously naive while Raven was trying to save her and her reputation at the brothel but as the story focused more on her and Raven, their chemistry covered up any rough edges.

She knew he was only flirting with her out of habit, wanting to distract her. There could be no other reason. And yet, that low gravelly drawl made her wonder what, precisely, those wicked ideas were.

I loved these two, instead of insta-lust the author wrote instant awareness and what a burning delicious tingle up the spine these two gave off. The first half is just about wholly devoted to the chemistry between the two and it definitely worked. Once the reveal of what the bird tattoo on Raven's shoulder could mean about his previously thought orphan identity, the beginning steam between the two settles into more of a comfortable heat as Jane gives Raven lessons on how to act in society and he's giving her material on how scoundrels seduce. In the second half, some of Jane's eleven brothers and sisters start to make bigger entrances into the story and we get more flushing out of her personality, how her class obsessed and ignoring parents make her feel easy to be unlovable and being a pseudo-parent to her siblings has made her want to have a plan for every contingency. The brothers and sisters also provided great moments for Raven to showed he cared for Jane by his attention to them. To enjoy Jane and Raven together so much, you will have to let go of the idea that Jane should be chaperoned and for someone who is so aware of ruination, she plays it pretty fast and loose. It wasn't until around the 60% of the story that I think the narrowed focus on Raven and Jane started to lose some steam and I wanted some outside story to come in more.

The only way he could keep her, would be to claim his birthright.

The outside story to our couple's romance involves a mystery Jane is determined to solve about Raven's bird tattoo and how it could be tied into his identity. It gets a bit convoluted with involvement from Jane's uncle, traitors, and vengeful French spies but still held together. Raven is obviously scared to hope because of what answers they discover could mean to him so he gets a bit resistant and growly. All this had me rating the book a strong four stars until I got to the 70% mark and a couple things happened that made me wanting to drop the rating to two stars.

She quieted the restless sense of separation he’d felt all his life.

I mentioned how the narrowed focus on Jane and Raven started to lose steam in the second half but what really had me dropping the rating was a couple other things. When Raven discusses his past, he reveals that he was “rescued” by an older woman when he was a teen, who he slept with, and then when he got older she introduced him to other upper class women. Raven states this:
“By the time I’d reached my eighteenth year and my body had grown from nourishment and vigorous exercise”— he paused to wink—“ my features had lost their boyish softness. Her interest waned.
Raven laughs and smooths anything over by saying he was a young boy in puberty, so of course he enjoyed the attentions of a woman and Jane only thinks about how she is jealous that any other woman would have had her hands on Raven's body. I can not believe that line was said without a strong stating of how that woman was a pedophile and some form of condemnation and acknowledgment of what happened was wrong. I really think if it had been a teenage girl with an older man saying this, it would have been handled differently. This small scene, in the sense of the general overall story, really soured my stomach because of the gross perpetuating of such ideals when it comes to teenage boys and sex.

The second thing that dropped the rating was at around the 90% mark, we're in the midst of the last second angst moment before our couple eventually gets their HEA, Raven says some incredibly cruel things to Jane. I've just journey through 90% of this story with Raven and Jane learning each other and growing together to have Raven become “scared” and disregard all the work the author has done and say overly cruel things with only 10% for him to redeem himself? Needless to say, Jane forgave him too quickly and a lot of the caring previously displayed by Raven didn't hit as hard after his cruelty. Lastly, the ending was ridiculously abrupt, to the point I'm still questioning if my ARC was missing an epilogue. We get the reveal of events that led to Raven ending up at an orphanage and then boom, the ending. I don't need a five years down the road mini-novella but give me some time to not only enjoy the couple happily together but to also write a scene with them having it, I'm not sure they fully got that here.

“And to think,” he said, “all this happened because of a button.”

This started off so good with the delicious spine tingling teasing and chemistry between Jane and Raven only to lose some momentum in the second half and hit some major rough spots on its way to a very abrupt ending. I enjoyed Jane's open and honest admittance of love and Raven's growly but caring towards her. I also appreciated how the author must be a fan of the don't show a gun on the mantel if you're not going to use later school of thought, because when she shows a comfortable hidden chaise longue, she definitely ends up using it. The beginning of this felt so purposeful with the emotions and interactions between our couple but the ending had a very get it done and wrapped up feel. There's still two more friends out of the group to find their happily ever after and because this author can be so good with the chemistry between her leads, I still will be grabbing them up.

I’ve enjoyed Vivienne’s books before and although I haven’t read book one in this series, I really really want to now! The story was easy to follow but if you can read book one first, I recommend it. Our heroine, Jane, is the definition of curious. She and her friends are writing a book and while attempting to study scoundrels, she meets the mysterious Raven. He’s a bit dangerous but is definitely more than meets the eye. I adored both characters and love the ‘pink’ scene. Without ruining the story, Jane ends up investigate Raven’s history which rings about its own peril but helps a wonderful romance flourish.

The story flowed well, the plot was engaging and I adored the ending. The side characters are wonderful and I highly recommend this book!

Stained Pink.

This is Vivienne Lorret's take on a Victorian Tarzan (very loosely) and it is her best book so far. She shines best when her leads are sparing with witty banter and smoldering attraction. My Kind of Earl felt truly fresh and like she was having a ball writing Raven and Jane's story.

Raven is an orphan on his way to a brothel he frequents (and French letters do not prevent disease) when he is distracted by a debutante sneaking into said frequented brothel. He's half fascinated and half exasperated by Jane, the whip smart aristocratic miss on a mission for primer research. Needless to say, there just may be a pink bomb involved.

Jane is one of Vivienne Lorret's most intriguing and different heroines, she's keenly observant, innately curious, relentlessly on a quest for knowledge. With an eidetic memory, she is the detective in finding out Raven's true identity. Jane's frequent proclamations (fireworks, baby) make a truly unique and fearless heroine with insight and understanding of human nature.

Every book has its issues and problems. Raven was first groomed to service a widow at 15 and then continues selling himself for years then later frequents a brothel regularly. This is problematic in the form of syphilis and gonorrhea that plagued the aristocracy and brothels (Jane Eyre and Rochester and Bertha). Just saying.

Nonetheless, My Kind of Earl is a satisfying read with well developed and intriguing leads that do not disappoint.
Highly recommend.

The only quibble I had regarding this story was with the title, as it didn't reflect the pure charm of this book, which was Jane Pickerington. Vivienne Lorret did a masterful job of creating a smart, tenacious, loving character who was also real with her vulnerability and insecurity. It was easy to see why Raven's life was forever changed the moment Jane crossed his path. That being said, I could have done with a little less 'growling' from the hero since whenever he spoke he made Jane's confidence soar (except for one horrible lapse).

An absolutely charming romance but please do an epilogue with all these wonderful heroines when the series comes to an end.

My Kind of Earl is the second book in the Mating Habits of Scoundrels series. This has been a series of humor and intrigue. The series is based on three bluestocking debutantes on the hunt for husbands who realize they need a book to guide them and they take it upon themselves to write one. I love all the humor and chaos these bluestockings created in their research.
Jane Pickerington was on a mission to research the difference between gentlemen and scoundrels and she sneaks into a brothel to find answers. Her plan goes wild when she is discovered and Raven is injured trying to help her. While cleaning Raven up, she discovers his birthmark and knows she has seen it before, but where?
Raven was an orphan and was content with his life. He didn’t need a debutante throwing his life into chaos. He didn’t want Jane to keep looking into the birthmark and be disappointed when they find nothing. Proving the connection between his mark and the aristocracy was not something he was interested in.
I enjoyed reading this book and look forward to Ellie’s story and the chaos her research will lead her to.

Jane and Raven are an excellent couple with all the right Man-Familiar-With-London's-Dark-Underbelly/Innocent-Intellectual-Lady-Learning-to-be-Wicked vibes. The plot itself is a little much—I like when historicals get wild, but this one needed a bit more of strong foundation and wrap-up at the ending for the different threads to be truly supported. Regardless, the emotional journey Jane and Raven go on is satisfying and fun.

I am a sucker for a good Avon romance, so I wondered why I had never read anything by this author before. After finishing this book, I was ravenous for more from Ms. Lorret! The hero Raven was perfect for this story. I love when a character does not care what other people think about them and their motives are not driven by the expectations of society. Both the H/h in this one were perfect in that they were always true to themselves. I will definitely finish the series and look for more from this author.