Last Night with the Earl is one of those books that, when upon finishing, made me wonder why the hell I waited so long to read it in the first place. It’s rich in emotional development and has one of the wittiest heroines I’ve ever read. My gripes are minor, and they could very well be due to my own decisions to read the series out of order.

Eli Dawes is thought to be dead, but returns home to his family estate after a solicitor manages to track him down. He was in a barn, healing from injuries sustained from war with the help of a generous old woman. Eli’s father is dead and everything has been left to him. What he isn’t aware of is that the estate has been turned into a school for wayward girls.

Wanting to avoid all the pomp and circumstance of a homecoming, Eli aims to sneak back into his home. Unfortunately, the unlucky room into which he plans to break and enter is Rose Hayward’s studio. He’s caught by Rose, who brandishes a very sharp paintbrush Eli assumes to be a knife and that kicks off their reunion.

As someone whose favorite trope is enemies to lovers, Last Night with the Earl started out beautifully. Eli and Rose circled each other like cats and each interaction was oozing with angry horniness. It, however, doesn’t stay that way. Normally, this would irk me because I prefer to know what I’m getting into and please don’t take my precious enemies to lovers away from me. Please, I bet of you!

Eli and Rose have a past. Rose was engaged to Eli’s best friend, Anthony, who turned out to be a grade A shit heel. Though Eli has always loved Rose, he was happy enough to be her friend and indulging in their shared love of art. Both Eli and Anthony went off to war as an act of rebellion against their families. Anthony later died in “battle.” I’m using air quotes here because remember, he’s a shit heel.

Their antagonism upon Eli’s sudden return from war stems from events that happened to Rose while he was away. Anthony would send home disgusting and humiliating caricatures home to his friends. Many of them were of women he had affairs with. Others were just well known society women. Of course, there was one of Rose, portrayed as a gold digging rat woman tearing at Anthony’s pockets.

Eli didn’t know that Rose had been bullied into hiding, where her isolation and social anxiety only increased. Once Rose realizes that Eli wasn’t part of Anthony’s schemes to have his drawings spread around and eventually published, the two try to rebuild their friendship to the way it was pre-war.

Technically, this is friends to enemies back to friends again to lovers. It was done so beautifully and subtly that I didn’t even recognize the shifts until I had finished the book. The progression felt natural and tender; I hadn’t noticed the absence of sniping and snarking. If that isn’t a lovely measurement of effortless emotional development, I don’t know what is.

And can I just mention how well Rose and Eli communicated with one another as they worked to establish trust? Eli exists in that rare space of romance heroes between beta and alpha. After suffering an injury that disfigured his face, he is no longer the rake who got by on his looks and charm. He needs to regain his confidence and Rose gives him the patience he needs. Clearly, both characters have some painful baggage (literally and figuratively) that lead to tense moments, but they never jeopardize their affection and respect for each other by doing things rashly or saying things without thinking. Every interaction nudges them closer to together, inch by agonizing inch.

It’s a slow burn that is FUCKING BEAUTIFUL.

I love Rose so much. She’s going on the list of favorite romance heroines. She’s a skilled artist and knows her art history. I know next to nothing about art, but she had me hanging on every word in a scene where she attempts to validate a painting’s origin. She also has some slamming one liners:

“Damn right. You’re a lady. And an unwed one at that.” He dropped his boots on the beach, sounding genuinely disturbed.

Rose swallowed another sound of amusement and studied him curiously. “A lady,” she repeated, beginning to understand. “And unwed.”

“Yes,” he said tightly.

She swallowed the very unladylike sound that threatened to escape. “Dammit. I missed my cue to swoon.”

…

“Who would ever want to be married to a man who can’t take his head out of his ass long enough to stop feeling sorry for himself?”

…

He lifted his glass. “To new beginnings,” he repeated. “And friendship that will always make difficult things less so.”

She smiled at him again, her dark eyes holding his, and brought her glass to her lips. She drew in a deep breath and closed her eyes. “And to wine that isn’t English,” she sighed in clear bliss before taking a slow deliberate sip.

It’s truly a crime that I only allowed myself to select three quotes because my copy is dog-eared to hell and back.

This is the second book in the Devils of Dover series. (We had a wonderful guest review of the third book from Claudia, who is now part of our reviewing staff.) Despite having a noteworthy reading experience, I still felt like I was missing some backstory. The first book’s couple shows up in this one and though I’m not positive, I have a feeling that some of the trauma from Rose’s public humiliation is shown in that story because Eli’s issues are more of the focus here. Rose’s story seemed already in progress. I wished I had seen more of Rose’s backstory on the page, but perhaps I just need to read the previous books.

I’ve had this book for a while and I’m not sure what possessed me to finally pluck it off the shelf, but I’m so glad I did. Not only do I want to read the other two books in the Devils of Dover series, I want to snap up whatever Bowen writes next. For readers who love slow burn historicals that have a focus on emotional healing, I can’t push this into your hands or onto your e-readers fast enough.