ARC Review: How to Lose a Lord in 10 Days or Less by Elizabeth Michels

This is my third book by Elizabeth Michels and she keeps getting better and better. I enjoyed the previous two books of “Tricks of the Ton” series, “Must Love Dukes” and “Desperately Seeking Suzanna”. I thought they were fun and light but also had substance to their stories. Her heroines are always the odd girls out and Katie Moore is no exception. Michels’ writing is always entertaining and engaging. I have really come to enjoy her story-telling style.

Our heroine Katie is very “unique”. She has exiled herself from society. Because of her riding accident she is has an injury and is terrified of horses even though she loves them. She also wears male clothing and lives in a remote cottage on her land without any servants or anyone else. She enjoys her quite life and solitude… or so she thinks. When Andrew Clifton, Lord Amberstall, has an accident on her property she offers him a place to stay while his horse is healing. Katie is affronted when Andrew wants to put his horse down after he suffers and accident. She is determined to help the horse heal. While Andrew is staying in Katie’s residence they form a very special relationship. I really liked that Katie and Andrew fell in love slowly and that they did not have insta-lust. The more time that Katie spends with Andrew the more she starts to care for him and the more she realizes her secluded life is not what she would hope.

Lord Amberstall, or Andy as Katie begins to call him, appears in the previous story, “Must Love Dukes (Trick of the Ton #1). I wish I had paid more attention to him but I do remember his “fall from grace”. In my opinion, it wasn’t such a big debacle to cause him to feel disgraced but I took it as a part of the story. Andy is interesting because he is so uptight. He has very precise ideas of how his life should be and how a lady should behave. To say that Katie is the exact opposite is an understatement. She follows her own rules. Andy can’t help but start to see Katie’s eccentricities as charming, after a while.

Katie and Andy are thrown together by coincidence but we learn that her uncle is behind many of Andy’s circumstances and we learn while. I thought this aspect of the story was interesting, even though it was a backdrop to their story. In true Michels fashion there are so funny episodes in the story and some serious ones, I think she is able to find the perfect balance. I really enjoyed this story and equally loved the hero and heroine.

**ARC provided by Publisher**

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