Earls Just Want to Have Fun - Shana Galen (Covent Garden Cubs #1)

I'm not entirely sure how this book ended up on my radar; I think I actually saw the third book, I Kissed a Rogue, and went in search of the first one.  Anyway, after a bit of library finangling (because they didn't have it in Kindle format) I finally managed to dig in.

When Elizabeth was five, she was kidnapped from her life as a young lady of the ton and brought into a ring of thieves known as the Covent Garden Cubs.  After fifteen years of lies and stealing and being told she's the daughter of a prostitute, Elizabeth (now known as Marlowe) believes it--but still wonders at the few hazy memories she retains from her early life.  And she's yanked back into that life, and that world, when she's kidnapped again, this time by Sir Brook Derring, a Bow Street Runner Marlowe's parents hired to find her.  But as said parents are out of town and Brook has other things to do, he dumps her with his brother Maxwell, Earl of Dane, and heads off on other business.  Dane is none too pleased to be saddled with a girl who he's convinced is nothing better than thief, but sparks begin to fly between the two as he tries to get her in some sort of shape to meet her potential long-last parents.  Meanwhile, Marlowe's biggest concern is Satin, the head of the Cubs who will undoubtedly come after her, with repercussions for everyone involved.

Most of the time when an author tries to put a thieving/roguery plot into a historical romance novel, it doesn't go particularly well.  Luckily, this book was the exception to that.  This is probably because Marlowe's thief status and her position in the Cubs is an intrinsic part of her character, rather than something Galen just tacked onto her in order to make her seem more interesting.  Her escape from this situation is also vital to her future and Dane's as well, since anyone involved with keeping her from the Cubs is going to come under Satin's line of fire.  Because this was a primary plot point, rather than one just shoved in for kicks, it worked out very well.

Now, let's talk about Dane.  Dane at the beginning of the book is completely insufferable.  Why?  Because he's extremely prejudiced and hates poor people, thinking that they deserve their situations.  Basically, he's the embodiment of the thought that if they didn't want to be poor, then they shouldn't have been born poor to begin with.  He is a prick.  It's bad enough that I almost quit the book when he showed up, because I knew I would never be able to root for a hero so small-minded and just--ugh.  Thankfully, he changes his tune pretty quickly.  It's not unbelievably so--as much as any timeline in a book that takes place over the course of a few days can be believably stretched out, at least--and it takes a lot of arguing in order to get him to that point, but he gets there eventually and it is a change for the better.  And you can see the change slowly occurring, which is good because it doesn't make his change of position at the end of the book seem like it came out of nowhere.  If only people in real life could be reasoned with like Dane...

The writing here is good.  Galen writes a good relationship, good kissing, good sex scenes.  It's a great historical romance novel.  I don't think I've read any other ones by Galen, and while I'm not fawning and drooling over this one and going back to read it immediately after finishing it, it's definitely a good intro to Galen, and I look forward to reading other books by her.

4 stars out of 5.