ARC Review: AN UNSEEN ATTRACTION (Sins of the Cities, #1) by K.J. Charles

  Summary

A slow-burning romance and a chilling mystery bind two singular men in the suspenseful first book of a new Victorian series from K. J. Charles.

Lodging-house keeper Clem Talleyfer prefers a quiet life. He’s happy with his hobbies, his work—and especially with his lodger Rowley Green, who becomes a friend over their long fireside evenings together. If only neat, precise, irresistible Mr. Green were interested in more than friendship...

Rowley just wants to be left alone—at least until he meets Clem, with his odd, charming ways and his glorious eyes. Two quiet men, lodging in the same house, coming to an understanding... it could be perfect. Then the brutally murdered corpse of another lodger is dumped on their doorstep and their peaceful life is shattered.

Now Clem and Rowley find themselves caught up in a mystery, threatened on all sides by violent men, with a deadly London fog closing in on them. If they’re to see their way through, the pair must learn to share their secrets—and their hearts.
 

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Review

Rating: 3.5 stars.

An Unseen Attraction is the first book in KJ Charles's new trilogy Sins of the City. A new series by KJC is one good reason to bring out the celebrating-ponies gif, so here it is:

From what I've gathered from the blurbs, just like the previous series, each book in this trilogy will be about different characters. In this one we get to meet two sweet, kind, loyal men Clem Talleyfer and Rowley Green. Clem was a lodging-house keeper; Rowley was one of the lodgers. They'd lived under the same roof for eight months, in which time they'd formed a friendship over tea and conversation at night. However, both would have liked to be more than that, and this story was about them making that step towards a romantic relationship and becoming a couple. Theirs was a slow-burning romance, with them being careful around each other, and sometimes painfully slow. This could be why I wasn't as into the story as I usually am when I'm reading something KJC wrote. I guess I just prefer one that burns a bit faster, but I have to admit that for these characters the pace was just right.

An Unseen Attraction is romance and mystery wrapped up together, and the second part of the book was more about the mystery. That was the part I enjoyed the most. Dead bodies, arson, family secrets left and right, and that was only the beginning. Where it will go next, I don't know, but I look forward to finding out.

The second half was also the part where the other characters who will get their own books came into play, which is another thing I liked. Going on what I've read about them, I have a pretty good feeling about their stories.

3.5 stars is a little less stars than usual for a KJC book, but I am not one bit worried about that. You see, the author's last series is one I loved, and I mean LOVED. If I were to make a list of my favorite series, Society of Gentlemen would have a place on it, no doubt about that. However, if my memory serves, and I believe it does, I wasn't that much into the first book. The second was one of my favorite books ever; the third I also loved; the short prequel was amazing. With the first installment it took me some time to warm up to it, and by the end I couldn't wait to read the rest of the series. That's exactly what happened here: the story and the main characters didn't grab me from the get-go, but now I can't wait to read the remaining two books, and closely meet the other main characters and see where the mystery will take us next.


***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

 
Until next time, happy reading!

XOXO,

 

ARC Review: WANTED, A GENTLEMAN by KJ Charles

  Summary

By the good offices of Riptide Publishing
KJ Charles’s new Entertainment

WANTED, A GENTLEMAN
Or, Virtue Over-Rated

the grand romance of

Mr. Martin St. Vincent . . . a Merchant with a Mission, also a Problem
Mr. Theodore Swann . . . a humble Scribbler and Advertiser for Love

Act the First:

the offices of the Matrimonial Advertiser, London
where Lonely Hearts may seek one another for the cost of a shilling

Act the Second:

a Pursuit to Gretna Green (or thereabouts)

featuring

a speedy Carriage
sundry rustic Inns
a private Bed-chamber

***

In the course of which are presented

Romance, Revenge, and Redemption
Deceptions, Discoveries, and Desires

the particulars of which are too numerous to impart

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Review

Rating: 4 stars!

... and KJ Charles is one of my favorite authors, so -- and I'm sure I've said this before -- any time I get my hands on one of her new books, I'm a happy camper. That's why I feel terrible it took me this long to sit down and write my review. Real life got in the way of talking about fictional worlds, but still I feel like I've been a bad fan.

KJ Charles's books made me fall in love with M/M historicals, and Wanted, A Gentleman falls in that category. It's a historical novella set in London at the beginning of the 19th century. As it turned out even in 1805 people turned to personal ads in search for a lonely heart to match their own, or to play S/M games with or something... And in 1805 there was a young lady, very young and very spoiled, who used those ads to communicate with her fiancé. That fiancé was a gentleman of questionable morals and intentions, and she an heiress to an enviable fortune. Needless to say, her parents were desperate to see that marriage never happened and to end any correspondence between the young lady and the man she was so foolishly infatuated with. Martin St. Vincent was asked to help in the matter. Martin was once that family's slave, but was freed when he grew up and given the funds that helped him become a successful merchant, which left him under the burden of gratitude. His task brought him to the offices of Theo Swann, a man with his own burden and not too enthusiastic about being alive, who ran the Matrimonial Advertiser. There, a deal was made between the two men, a deal that would have them chasing the ill-matched couple across country.
Trying to break them up brought Theo's and Martin's lonely hearts together. 

Wanted, A Gentleman is a novella I enjoyed reading (twice, actually), and Theo and Martin were a couple I liked. This made me wish I met them in a novel... that was part of a series. Yes, KJ Charles's series are my favorite, and there's just something in reading about a group of characters over several books that turns them from characters I like to characters I love. However, as much as I would've liked Theo and Martin got more than a novella, I can't say I didn't get to know them. The author does her job well, and these characters got their backstories and personal traits that made them an interesting couple with interesting stories to tell.

Martin and Theo's love story wasn't without its obstacles, of course. Some truths weren't easy to hear, and they almost ended their relationship before it began, but resolution wasn't far behind. This is a novella -- you don't have to wait long for anything. The resolution was fun as it came from Theo's imaginative scribbler's mind whose villains were apparently superbly written. 

It all ended with a "Wanted, A Gentleman..." ad bringing Theo and Martin back together. Ah, they did make quite a pair. I hope they were happy together for a long time in that fictional past. 

Now, if you'll excuse me I have another KJ Charles book that requires my immediate attention. 

***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***



Until next time, happy reading!

XOXO,

 

ARC Review: A GENTLEMAN'S POSITION (Society of Gentlemen, #3) by K.J. Charles

  Summary

Power, privilege, and the rigid rules of class leave two hearts yearning for connection in the sizzling new Society of Gentlemen novel from K. J. Charles.
 
Among his eccentric though strictly principled group of friends, Lord Richard Vane is the confidant on whom everyone depends for advice, moral rectitude, and discreet assistance. Yet when Richard has a problem, he turns to his valet, a fixer of unparalleled genius—and the object of Richard’s deepest desires. If there is one rule a gentleman must follow, it is never to dally with servants. But when David is close enough to touch, the rules of class collide with the basest sort of animal instinct: overpowering lust.

For David Cyprian, burglary and blackmail are as much in a day’s work as bootblacking—anything for the man he’s devoted to. But the one thing he wants for himself is the one thing Richard refuses to give: his heart. With the tension between them growing to be unbearable, David’s seemingly incorruptible master has left him no choice. Putting his finely honed skills of seduction and manipulation to good use, he will convince Richard to forget all about his well-meaning objections and give in to sweet, sinful temptation.

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Review

Rating: 5 stars!

A perfect romance novel!

It only took me reading the prologue to know what I'd already assumed: I would love A Gentleman's Position. Full of love, yearning, dreaming, and heartache, it was my favorite kind of romance.

The love story of Lord Richard Vane and the great Cyprian was long awaited. Cyprian intrigued me from the beginning as the Society's redheaded problem solver, and Richard, though not my favorite person in A Seditious Affair, I still wished to see get his happy ending, for Cyprian's sake, but mostly I wanted to see him break free of that heavy burden that was his sense of responsibility and duty, and whatnot, all the things that kept him from going after what he desired most: Cyprian.

It took four years and seven months for Richard to finally get there. Or around 40% of the book, but it was so worth it. I loved every page leading up to it, during it, and after it. I'd forgotten how much I like reading love stories tinged with sadness.

Of all the books by KJ Charles (and I've read almost all of them) this is the one that made my heart ache for the main characters the most, and I adored it for it.

Getting to know Richard's, and Cyprian's families and their pasts was an excellent addition to an already amazing story.

Other characters that made me go into fangirl mode were all the men who already got their own stories: Silas & Dom, Julius & Harry, Ash & Francis, they were all here, just like the final book in this series deserved.

Their little society was threatened by the extremely unpleasant Lord Maltravers. It was time once again for Lord Richard to protect them all, and to do that Cyprian was essential. While Cyprian was busy with plotting and scheming to take down Maltravers and save their group from demise, Richard was agonizing over finding a way to make his relationship with Cyprian work...

It was quite satisfying how it was all resolved.

A perfect ending to the Society of Gentlemen series.

KJ Charles continues to impress me with her work. I cannot recommend it enough. To anyone who likes reading M/M historical romance novels, this series is a MUST read.

Now I'll just go sit in a corner and cry because it's over.

Note to self: Re-read all KJ Charles books as soon as possible.


***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***


My review of the previous book in the series, A Seditious Affair, can be found here.

Until next time, happy reading!

XOXO,

 

ARC Review: RAG AND BONE (A Charm of Magpies linked story) by KJ Charles

  Summary:

It’s amazing what people throw away…

Crispin Tredarloe never meant to become a warlock. Freed from his treacherous master, he’s learning how to use his magical powers the right way. But it’s brutally hard work. Not everyone believes he’s a reformed character, and the strain is putting unbearable pressure on his secret relationship with waste-man Ned Hall.

Ned’s sick of magic. Sick of the trouble it brings, sick of its dangerous grip on Crispin and the miserable look it puts in his eyes, and sick of being afraid that a gentleman magician won’t want a street paper-seller forever—or even for much longer.

But something is stirring among London’s forgotten discards. An ancient evil is waking up and seeking its freedom. And when wild magic hits the rag-and-bottle shop where Ned lives, a panicked Crispin falls back onto bad habits. The embattled lovers must find a way to work together—or London could go up in flames.

This story is set in the world of the Charm of Magpies series.

Warning: Contains a warlock who needs to go straight (but isn’t), a waste-man running out of patience, blood magic, bad-tempered justiciars, and a pen with a mind of its own.

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Review:

Rating: 4 stars!

Books written by the very talented KJ Charles are the ones I look forward to reading the most these days, and each one proves Ms. Charles's place on my favorite authors list is well deserved.

It was the Charm of Magpies series that made a fan out of me, so any new story from that world is more than welcome. Crane & Stephen's books remain my favorites, and I don't see that changing in the future, but I am loving reading about all these other characters from that world.

Ned and Crispin were introduced in the story A Queer Trade in which Crispin's search for some dangerous papers led him to Ned's shop, and in which Crispin learned the awful truth about his master. I couldn't wait to see what happened next, and thanks to the kindness of Samhain and NetGalley, I was lucky enough not to have to wait a minute after finishing A Queer Trade to continue reading about Ned and his Freckles.

I have to say this about Crispin and Ned, and not just them, but all the main characters KJ Charles has written about: they were all so lovely and wonderful, and I loved reading about all of them. Ned and Crispin were especially adorable. I wouldn't have minded one bit had this book been solely about the progress of their relationship, which is something that regularly happens when I'm reading KJC's works. But that is never all her books have to offer. No, sir. They not only have characters I regret aren't real, and romance stories that give me all the best feels, they also have interesting plot lines. In the world of A Charm of Magpies, one can always count on some people with magic using it in a bad way, causing harm, and making Stephen Day's job difficult. Rag and Bone was no exception.

At the beginning of the book, things weren't going so well for poor old Crispin. Learning to use magic the right way, and not the way he'd been taught, the way he'd been doing it for so long was proving to be almost an impossible task. Not to mention most of the practitioners neither liked nor trusted him. The only good part of his day was when he saw Ned, but his troubles with magic caused problems in his relationship with Ned, too. It hurt my heart reading about their fights when it was obvious how much they cared for each other, and how highly they thought of one another. Now, those thoughts warmed my heart. As I said before, reading about them resolving the issues in their relationship would've been enough for me, but that was not all there was. Trouble was brewing. Big trouble. And Crispin & Ned found themselves right in the middle of it.

Everything that happened and Crispin's involvement in it didn't escape the attention of those in charge, which meant even more trouble for Crispin. The man couldn't catch a break. Luckily, Rag and Bone was set at the same time as Flight of Magpies, so Stephen was there to make sure Ned and Crispin got the ending they deserved.

Just like all the books in this series, Rag and Bone was on the shorter side, sadly. I could've read about these characters a lot longer. That is why the ending left me hopeful that in the future I'd get to read more about their adventures. The possibility is there, so I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.

In the end, all I can say (again) is that KJ Charles is an incredible author, and I cannot recommend her books enough. Read them, read them now!

***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

Until next time, happy reading!

XOXO,

 

ARC Review: A SEDITIOUS AFFAIR (Society of Gentlemen, #2) by K.J. Charles

  Summary:

K. J. Charles turns up the heat in her new Society of Gentlemen novel, as two lovers face off in a sensual duel that challenges their deepest beliefs.

Silas Mason has no illusions about himself. He’s not lovable, or even likable. He’s an overbearing idealist, a Radical bookseller and pamphleteer who lives for revolution . . . and for Wednesday nights. Every week he meets anonymously with the same man, in whom Silas has discovered the ideal meld of intellectual companionship and absolute obedience to his sexual commands. But unbeknownst to Silas, his closest friend is also his greatest enemy, with the power to see him hanged—or spare his life.
 
A loyal, well-born gentleman official, Dominic Frey is torn apart by his affair with Silas. By the light of day, he cannot fathom the intoxicating lust that drives him to meet with the Radical week after week. In the bedroom, everything else falls away. Their needs match, and they are united by sympathy for each other’s deepest vulnerabilities. But when Silas’s politics earn him a death sentence, desire clashes with duty, and Dominic finds himself doing everything he can to save the man who stole his heart.

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Review:

Rating: 5 stars!!!

A Seditious Affair, book two in another awesome series penned by the incredible KJ Charles, is one of my 2015 favorites. In a year when luck wasn't always on my side when I was choosing my reading material, I did make one excellent decision and started reading books by KJ Charles. Some were great, and some were even better. A Seditious Affair... well, I'd need many positive adjectives to describe all my love for this book. It was everything I had hoped it would be and more.  

Reading A Fashionable Indulgence, which is the first book in this series, made two things clear. One: I was going to enjoy immensely reading about this group of men, and two: Silas & Dominic's novel would be my favorite. There is still one book to come, but I strongly believe my prediction was correct.

 "A man needs to be cruel to be kind."

I don't want to say this was love at first sentence, but love at first chapter it sure was. It had the elements of the story I would look forward to throughout the book. 

As you may or may not know M/M D/s romance novels, if done right, are my favorite kind. It's been awhile since I've read a romance like that, and Dominic and Silas and their bedroom games that really weren't games at all reminded me why they are my favorite. Not to mention it is what brought them together and what made them live from Wednesday night to Wednesday night, so I was extra glad for those games. What I appreciated the most was Silas's imaginative ways to satisfy Dominic's submissive needs when he himself had limitations regarding what he would or wouldn't use. Plus, this story is set in 1819, which makes me admire it all even more. 

The D/s dynamic between the main characters was one of the things I loved about this book and found in the first chapter. Another would be their discussions. Whether they were discussing books or politics, I always liked hearing their often much different opinions on the matter at hand, and the arguments that would ensue. And their opinions were different as they come; Silas was a lower-class radical often busy printing seditious libels, and Dominic was a gentleman working for the Home Office whose job was apprehending people like Silas, and was after Silas, though he was not aware of it for quite some time as in all those Wednesday nights they spent together, they never revealed their names to each other. Their differences were numerous and difficult to deal with, but they always had Wednesdays.

Politics had a notable presence in the story. I'm someone who finds everything politics-related disgusting. Those parts, especially those tragic historical events that were included in the novel left me feeling sad. It was a filthy business then, and it is now. Nevertheless, it did not manage to make me like this book less. If anything, the difficult situation Dom and Silas found themselves in for being on the opposite teams made me more eager for them to get their much-deserved happy ending. And let me tell you, the tender moments between these two made my heart melt.  

A Seditious Affair is the second book in the Society of Gentlemen series. The first third of the novel or so overlaps the events in A Fashionable Indulgence, but even so I'd say it could be read as a standalone, but why you want to skip that lighter, funnier beginning? For me, both were great reads, but this one is my personal favorite. I did like seeing the past main characters, Harry and Julius, and Ash from the short story The Ruin of Gabriel Ashleigh (which is also wonderful!). I have to say I was rather disappointed by Richard in this installment, but still I'm excited for his book. Now, if only I could make April come sooner.

Overall, a fantastic book! That's all.  
 

***ARC provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.***

Until next time, happy reading!

XOXO,

 

SPOTLIGHT TOUR & GIVEAWAY: First Time with a Highlander (Sirens of the Scottish, #2) by Gwyn Cready

Title: First Time with a Highlander

Author: Gwyn Cready

Series: Sirens of the Scottish, #2

Pubdate: October 6^th, 2015

ISBN: 9781492601968

From the “master of time travel romance”, award-winning author Gwyn Cready continues her steamy Sirens of the Scottish Borderlands series.

She needs a man—but only for a night

What do you get when you imbibe centuries-old whiskey—besides a hangover the size of the Highlands? If you’re twenty-first century ad exec Gerard Innes, you get swept back to 18th-century Edinburgh and into the bed of a gorgeous, fiery redhead. Gerard has only a foggy idea what he and the lady have been up to…but what he does remember draws him into the most dangerous and exhilarating campaign of his life.

Be careful what you wish for…

Serafina Seonag Fallon’s scoundrel of a fiancé has left her with nothing, and she’s determined to turn the tables. If she can come up with a ringer, she can claim the cargo he stole from her. But the dashing man she summons from the future demands more than a night, and Serafina finds it easier to command the seas under her feet than the crashing waves he unleashes in her heart.

Gwyn Cready is a writer of contemporary, Scottish, and time travel romance. She’s been called “the master of time travel romance” and is the winner of the RITA Award, the most prestigious award given in romance writing. She has been profiled in Real Simple and USA Today, among others. Before becoming a novelist, she spent 25 years in brand management. She has two grown children and lives with her husband on a hill overlooking the magical kingdom of Pittsburgh.

***

This October the second in Gwyn Cready’s Sirens of the Scottish series, First Time with a Highlander, comes out! To celebrate, Gwyn’s here to tell us a little bit more about the inspiration behind her time-travel romances AND play a quick game of “Would You Rather.”

“People often ask me why I like to write time travel romance, and it’s a two-part answer, because there are really two questions in there—why do I like to write romance, and why do I like to write time travel.

I began to write with the intention of getting published in June, 1997 to honor my younger sister, who was a poet and photographer and who had died suddenly the month before.  The sort of book I wanted to write was a book like the one a friend had given me a few months earlier—Outlander. At that time, I’d never read a romance before, and I COULDN’T PUT IT DOWN. Jamie is the best sort of hero—devoted, funny, brave, smart, and supportive of the heroine. I was so hopped up on the first three Outlander novels, it was pretty much all I could talk about in the spring of 1997—and it was one of the things I talked to my sister about since her college boyfriend had been named Jamie and like the heroine in Outlander, my sister’s name was Claire. It was the last conversations I ever had with her.

So there I am, in 1997, wanting to honor my sister with a book, and certain the book I want to write is a romance like Outlander. Time travel fit in nicely for me. Outlander is a time travel novel, of course, but I’d been a time travel fan before that. The Back to the Future movies are my holy grail of time travel. I loved Somewhere in Time, of course, as well as the Terminator movies, Time After Time, and Groundhog Day. Time travel lets you quickly throw your character into adversity and see if he/she sinks or swims. The question you want readers asking in romance novels is “How, with all these challenges, will the hero and heroine still end up together?” Time travel adds another layer to that tension, specifically, “How will they end up together when each is destined to be in his/her own time?” In my mind, one of the most heroic things a character can do is give up his own time in order to be with the person he/she loves, and that’s always a tender and gripping moment to write in my books.

Which brings us to First Time with a Highlander. Serafina and Gerard were such fun characters to chase through a novel. As with Just in Time for a Highlander, the first book in the Sirens of the Scottish Borderlands series, I wanted to shake things up a bit by having the hero be the person who travels to the past. Gerard is an ad man—and since I spent twenty years working in brand management at a big pharma company, I know what ad men are like. The women in this series hold positions of unusual power for women in the eighteenth century, and Serafina is no exception. She inherited a shipping concern from her father, but her blackguard of an ex-fiancé has run the business into the ground. He’s ruined her socially and financially, but Serafina is not one to take things lying down. She uses herbs she’s, ahem, “borrowed” from a famed spell-caster to summon a man to help her claim the cargo from the ship’s final voyage before her fiancé can get his hands on it. She only needs a man for one night and…well, you can imagine what that leads to in the hands of an inexperienced spell user. But Serafina is willing to pay the price—in fact, she’s quite willing once the smart, dashing Gerard appears.

Would You Rather Question: You can only hear one song for the rest of your life. Bohemian Rhapsody or Ring of Fire?

How can you not a pick a song that begins with “Love is a burning thing”? That line pretty much sums up half of the core essence of romance novels, with the other half being summed up by a line from another of Johnny Cash’s songs: “Because you’re mine, I walk the line.” That’s it, my friends. That’s what it’s all about.

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Apple: http://apple.co/1UTdm01

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  xoxo,
Purple