Aspiring trainee architect Adam Monroe fell in love with 17 year old Kitty who was well above him in terms of social strata. She needed his help and wanted him to marry her and for them to runaway together in order to escape from her father. He refuses and she turned to her now deceased husband for help. Adam, unexpectedly inherited an earldom and 17 years later they meet again. When Adam travels to London and tracked down his lost love. Kitty is well ensconced in High Society and has two stepchildren. Her step daughter is due to come out in the Ton whilst it turns out that her step son is friends with Adam. Kitty has grown into an independent determined woman who does not necessarily want to remarry. Adam courts her but can she forgive and forget that he turned her down when she needed him the most.

Suddenly an Earl.
15 years ago apprentice architect Adam Monroe fell in love with 17 year old Kitty, however because of their different social standings he had to let her go and break her heart. Now he’s suddenly discovered he’s the son of an Earl. He travels to London to take up his role and hoping to find Kitty.
Kitty was heartbroken when Adam left her but she had to escape her father so married someone else. Now widowed, Kitty is well established in Society and is concerned with her stepdaughter’s come out. She never expected for her stepson’s friend, the new Earl, to be her long-lost love, Adam.
I loved that their lives have moved on when the story starts. Kitty hasn’t remained single and pining for Adam but has married and has stepchildren. Adam has become an architect and is just finished work on a big project. The attraction between them is still strong and they both find it difficult not to pick up where they left off, but they realise that the other has changed. The love story between the two is the main focus with the subplot of how Adam deals with becoming an Earl as it’s a big change and he doesn’t conform to the norm.
I liked the detail about the Exeter exchange which I haven’t seen mentioned before. I also liked the secondary characters especially Lady Datchworth.

This is another version of the historical trope with an unexpected inheritance of a title. The Earl as he becomes, was not expecting to inherit but instead to work for a living, but a death up the line – his father in fact, thrust him into the role. It turns out his mother had been lying to him all his life about who is was…
And the horror of this lack of knowledge had meant that he had paid the price in his youth for not marrying the girl he loved, as he thought himself too lowly in society for her.
And of course, she then went on to marry someone else.
But now she was a widow and he had the chance to gain her back.
So the trope begins. But Kitty was not the girl he remembered. In her marriage she had grown up to be a woman of strength and ideas, and marrying again was not one of these ideas.
So a courtship begins.
And ends as we all expect with a marriage.
Nicely written with the nice initial plot twist layering onto the trope.

Adam Monroe has spent lots of time with Kitty when she was eighteen and he was learning to become and Architect and assisting his aster with some remodelling on Fenton Hall. When Kitty ask him to elope with her or just take her away, he refuses to hear her reasons, and walks away to save her reputation, as he is just a working man and she is a lady and far above him.

15 years later Adam finds out he is the son of an Earl, and when he arrives on London, Robert ow Lord Fenton seeks him out, he discovers that his Kitty is now Catherine, Lady Fenton, stepmother to 4. Adam is still attracted to her, but extremely hurt when he learn she married the previous Lord Fenton 2 weeks after Adam left her.

What he doesn’t realise is that Kitty is still angry at his desertion, and struggling with her feeling of inadequacy, fostered by her husbands gentle reminders that she hadn’t presented him with any children. She has developed an enviable facade of indifference and very good control., that Adam struggles to get past. When Robert asks him to design a new wing for Fenton house, Kitty and Adam are thrown together, can they work through their differences and escape Lady Marlborough’s machinations.

This was an light and enjoyable read, which I enjoyed.

I voluntarily reviewed an advance reader copy of this book and all opinions are my own.

I always enjoy this author’s style of writing and once again she has managed to create strong believable characters whose stories you want to follow. The way that Adam and Kitty are thrown together again after fiftee years is believable and their rewoken love story flows naturally from the first instance. I also liked the way that the signposts for the final,dramatic section of the novel were bedded completely in the text but did not stand out until the author wanted them to be seen. Very skilfully done. This was a very enjoyable read.

There is so much going on in this historical romance. Adam and Kitty's love story ends before it begins Adam knows an apprentice can't wed an Earl's daughter and pretends their love meant nothing to him. Fifteen years later, anger and surprise dominate their early encounters, but passion simmers just out of reach. Misunderstandings and well-meant interference, complicate their relationship putting the reader through a gamut of emotions.

This story has engaging characters everyone adds to the story's ambience. The plot brings originality to the rags to riches and second chance romantic tropes.

I received a copy of this book from Mills and Boon via NetGalley in return for an honest review.

Hardworking architect Adam Monroe’s world is shaken when he inherits an Earldom! Thrust into the ton, he bumps into widow, Kitty Fenton – his lost love. Fifteen years ago, he’d refused to elope with Kitty as he was a lowly apprentice & she an Earl's daughter even though they both loved each other.
I was drawn in from the start & totally held until the last page. Adam & Kitty loved each other but circumstances drew them apart & now that Adam has inherited his father’s title they meet again, the attraction is still there but both were heart broken. A well paced story with strong characters & I loved how Adam & Kitty rebuilt their relationship almost to have it completely toppled when someone sets out to kill Adam. My only quibble was that there was no epilogue & whilst the ending was satisfying I felt an epilogue would have completed their story
My honest review is for a special copy I voluntarily read

I enjoyed this book very much. Good, strong characters and a believable story. A story with a difference too. The book was well written and edited and I couldn’t put it down so read it in one long sitting.

I read this ARC for an honest review
All thoughts and opinions are mine

A new author to me and really enjoyed this
Great story and characters - well written and absorbing - read in one sitting easily

Looking forward to more from this author

The Earl With The Secret Past is so well written, you can literally feel the sparks flying between the two protagonists as they reconnect and try and work there way through all the baggage between them. It's a book you can easily devour in one sitting.

I received an Advance Reader Copy from the publisher via NetGalley. This in no way impacted on my view.

The Earl with the Secret Past sees Scottish architect Adam Monroe discover that he isn't actually the son of a widowed housekeeper, but rather the late Earl of Kelridge. Now on his way to London to claim his title, he bumps into an old friend, Robert, Viscount Fenton, who invites him to his home and helps him makes his way into upper class society. He's never forgotten his lost love, Kitty, who he had to leave while still an apprentice, and is shocked to discover that she is Rob's stepmother and married just weeks after he had left all those years ago. Being thrown in situations together again and again, will Adam be able to explain why he couldn't marry her as a lowly apprentice, and can Kitty forgive him for not rescuing her in her time of need?

I love stories like this one of new found status and rank, and redemption arcs that lead to love re-blossoming. This book had it all, and it had lovable characters too. Kitty was fantastic, and I really felt for her pain at how she was treated by her father, to how her late husband belittled her lack of children. She loved people wholly, and that was clear with her step-children, who, though close in age, she loved like her own family. Having her heartbroken by Adam leaving when she was 17, and not taking her with him, had always affected her, even when she never thought she would see him again. Having Adam return, in an exalted position, and so close to home - even living in her home at times - really tore at her feelings, and seeing her come to terms with the fact she is still in love was both heartbreaking and wonderful to read. Adam, for his part, had never forgotten Kitty, and if her had known about his true heritage when he was younger, it's plain to see he would've married Kitty straight away. Now he knows he need to win her back, and beg for her forgiveness, and tries everything he could to do so. Their chemistry had never withered, and we knew they would get together, but how this happened was an adventure that was thrilling to see.