The Lawrence Browne Affair

by Cat Sebastian

Overview

An earl hiding from his future . . .

Lawrence Browne, the Earl of Radnor, is mad. At least, that’s what he and most of the village believes. A brilliant scientist, he hides himself away in his family’s crumbling estate, unwilling to venture into the outside world. When an annoyingly handsome man arrives at Penkellis, claiming to be Lawrence’s new secretary, his carefully planned world is turned upside down.

A swindler haunted by his past . . .

Georgie Turner has made his life pretending to be anyone but himself. A swindler and con man, he can slip into an identity faster than he can change clothes. But when his long-dead conscience resurrects and a dangerous associate is out for blood, Georgie escapes to the wilds of Cornwall. Pretending to be a secretary should be easy, but he doesn’t expect that the only madness he finds is the one he has for the gorgeous earl.

Can they find forever in the wreckage of their lives?

Challenging each other at every turn, the two men soon give into the desire that threatens to overwhelm them. But with one man convinced he is at the very brink of madness and the other hiding his real identity, only true love can make this an affair to remember.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062642509
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	02/07/2017
Series:	Cat Sebastian's Turner Series , #2
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	336
Sales rank:	125,689
File size:	685 KB

About the Author

Cat Sebastian lives in a swampy part of the South with her husband, three kids, and two dogs. Before her kids were born, she practiced law and taught high school and college writing. When she isn’t reading or writing, she’s doing crossword puzzles, bird-watching, and wondering where she put her coffee cup.

Editorial Reviews

★ 2017-01-23
A London swindler falls for his mark, a mad earl, in this Cornwall-set Regency romance.As Penkellis Castle falls to ruins around him, Lawrence Browne, the Earl of Radnor, hides in the tower, working feverishly on inventing a telegraphlike device. His servants have fled, the villagers think he's demonic, and Lawrence himself is convinced the madness and depravity that consumed his father and brother will claim his life as well. This gothic setup is punctured when professional confidence man Georgie Turner arrives on Radnor's moldering doorstep, posing as a secretary. Georgie recently aborted a lucrative assignment thanks to a sudden bout of conscience, a development his furious boss would like to properly, and violently, acknowledge. He's not impressed with the Mad Earl: "I had hoped for some good old fashioned howling at the moon, and all you do is build ingenious inventions and eat too much ham." Georgie is beautiful, slender, and graceful to Lawrence's bearded, hulking form. Lawrence dismisses his cool and neat secretary as a London dandy, but Georgie, a swindler practically from his birth in the slums of London, quickly, and astutely, assesses the situation and begins putting Penkellis to rights while at the same time appraising its valuables. Sebastian (The Soldier's Scoundrel, 2016) nicely contrasts Georgie's frankness and sexual openness with the deceitfulness at his core. Sebastian infuses a romance that could have been dark with a constant thrum of mild humor and steady wonder: "Then Radnor flashed him one of his rare smiles, and Georgie felt simultaneously like he had been given a precious gift and like he had been hit in the head with a shovel." Lawrence's character is complicated by social anxiety and sexual shame over his "perverse tastes": a thornier nest of issues than "madness" but an easier one to untangle. Georgie's change of heart is less effective because he was never much of a convincing scoundrel, but readers will be thrilled by the way his empowering love for Lawrence comes back to him in a time of need. In a crumbling castle in Cornwall, two inauthentic men from vastly different registers of Regency society find in each other an authentic and passionate love. Another exquisitely written, deeply romantic novel from Sebastian.

Kirkus Reviews

Readers will quickly be entranced by the depth of emotion and intensity of sensual desire Sebastian creates between her two protagonists. Pair this up with her flair for nuanced characterization and sly sense of wit, and Sebastian proves she is a new force to be reckoned with in historical romances.

Booklist (starred review)

Cat Sebastian masterfully crafts swoon-worthy characters the reader can’t help but fall in love with.

Jordan L. Hawk

Cat Sebastian has a place on my keeper shelf!

Tessa Dare

The Lawrence Browne Affair is an excellent, character-driven romance that reminds us everyone deserves to love and be loved...a mesmerizing and powerful character-centric love story.

All About Romance.com

On The Soldier’s Scoundrel: “Cat Sebastian sets a beautiful romance against a compelling story of blackmail, scandal and the impossibility of happily-ever-after... a reminder that love holds such power over us all.

Washington Post

Cat Sebastian’s second male/male regency novel is a beautiful story about the ways in which we can make ourselves better for those we love. With echoes from The Thomas Crown Affair and Beauty and the Beast, Sebastian weaves a tale that manages to be sad, hopeful, and thoroughly satisfying.

Heroes and Heartbreakers.com

On The Soldier’s Scoundrel: “Cat Sebastian’s debut is an utterly swoonworthy cross-class romance. Don’t miss it!

Courtney Milan

On The Soldier’s Scoundrel: “Cat Sebastian sets a beautiful romance against a compelling story of blackmail, scandal and the impossibility of happily-ever-after... a reminder that love holds such power over us all.

Washington Post

Cat Sebastian has a place on my keeper shelf!” %COMM_CONTRIB%Tessa Dare

On The Soldier’s Scoundrel: “The deftly-woven suspense kept me turning the pages, while the sparks flying between Jack and Oliver were delightfully romantic. Cat Sebastian’s debut sparkles with wit and sensuality. Not to be missed!

Lenora Bell

On The Soldier’s Scoundrel: “Cat Sebastian is already on my auto-buy list!

Summer Devon

On The Soldier’s Scoundrel: “Readers can expect angst-filled romance and scorching hot passion. Gentleman Oliver and Private Investigator Jack will check every box on your romance must-have list. I highly recommend this debut novel!

Bonnie Dee

On The Soldier’s Scoundrel:“Sizzling and sweet!”-Eva Leigh, author of Temptations of a Wallflower

Eva Leigh