Ellie—Lady Eleanor Rodriguez, Countess of San Jaime—possesses a worthless title, but her feisty spirit captivates the elite of the Queen's court—especially the dashing new Earl of Dorset.William Lacey, Earl of Dorset, has inherited his father's title—and his financial ruin. Now Will must seek a wealthy bride and restore his family's fortune. If only he hadn't fallen for the beautiful but penniless Ellie . . .
Sparks fly whenever Ellie and Will are together, but circumstances—and the conniving interference of others—threaten to keep them apart.
I was so not shocked to find that Eve Edwards is a pen name for Julia Golding (as is Joss Stirling) because I loved Golding's Dragonfly - the writing was beautiful and I thoroughly enjoyed Finding Sky (Joss Stirling) because had a strong story and characters and all of these things were pulled together to write the amazing story that is The Other Countess.
I won this in a giveaway and have been putting it off since I haven't really been in a historical mood, but I got the second Lacey Chronicles book from NetGalley a few weeks ago and thought that I ought to read this one first. I absolutely loved it, it was a beautiful, tragic but romantic story with narration and description that took me straight to the 1500s.
The romance between Will and Ellie was so well written, with Will falling for her despite knowing that she is the daughter of the man that ruined her and when he does find out the result is not pretty. There are plenty of obstacles in the way of this couple but the strength of their love overcomes them and I was totally rooting for them all the way through. I think I supported them because Will was a stubborn but romantic (totally swoonworthy) lead and Ellie was so feisty and clever in contrast to the more simple female characters in the book. This one also set up the romance between James and Jane in the next book.
I was pleased to see a bit of talk about sex and the more intimate sides of a relationship in there. It separates this book from the historicals that see this time as one where everyone was pure and chaste but it was also in undertones so nothing was actually described really meaning that it won't offend the readers.
Overall, a well written and absolutely beautiful historical where love overcomes the odds. The narration and descriptions were so relevant to the time period and I loved it.
Overall Rating: A-
Released July 10th 2010 by Puffin.
Book received from a giveaway.
Are you me? I also just read and reviewed this one, too, after putting it off for a ridiculously long time! I really liked it, too. And I had no idea the author had written more books under a pen name. I'll have to check them out - I really liked her writing style; it was so easy to read.
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