KJ Charles

Sir Philip Rookwood is the disgrace of the county. He

Band Sinister

sophia n

literally the blueprint. i feel sorry for all other histroms.

emily

absolutely fucking delightful & kj charles can take all of my money.

Jayarna La Bozzetta

I don't claim to be a historical romance expert but this was so sweet!

Jo H

My Year of Historical Romance - Book 12
Regency period (unspecified), English countryside, MM, POC side charcters

What a fun, and inclusive Romp in the Regency English countryside. I've never read any of the 'classics' of the time, but to my untrained eye, this book seems to be the most period-authentic in terms of the language used of the UK based HR that I have read, whilst still being fully accessible for today's reader. And what a surprise to find that this also includes 'a book within a book', given that Amanda has written a Gothic novel based on the society gossip that surrounds the scandalous 'Murder' club of Sir Phillip. Also, kudos to the author for creating such a diverse group of young men. They were; a landowner (Philip), a fully entitled but pantie-charming layabout! (Corvin), an artist (John), a doctor (David) and two musicians and two scientists that I recall. And not only were they differently situated in their world, but they were also all very different in personalities too.

This is my fist KJ Charles, and it certainly won't be my last. Not only was it fun, but it was also romantic and sexy and actually talked about topics that the vast majority of Regency type HR does not... that of where the money came from (slavery) and the utterly ridiculous nature of the so many of the societal conventions of the time. Many of the more contemporary authors of HRs subvert conventions of the times and tropes of the sub-genre and include stories of people and their activities based on actual events, but I've yet in my explorations come across an aristocracy based book that directly comments on these things, and many others that were relevant at the time, and that was the icing on the cake for me. 

And one of the best aspect, by far, was the discussion of male virginity and this not being in the confines of a male/female binary. Guy indeed 'lost' his virginity, and there was nary any penetration involved... well not at that point anyway! What there was, surrounding his 'debauchment' by Sir Philip, was consent front, right and centre. That was also something I've never seen quite so directly and often included within the dialogue of a romance, and blows away all the arguments (some of which may have been my own) that it can't also be sexy at the same time. Because it was sexy. Most definitely! 

The nature of the rock-solid bond, heartbreaking reasons aside, between Philip, John and Corvin, which really is the found family trope that I adore so very much, was slush to me. And funny, given that they often fucked each other, and at times as a threesome, and then went on their merry way! Of course STD's from multiple partners were not mentioned, but then a single HR can't do it all lol!

The inclusion of two different black male side characters, one of whom we hear his backstory in the text (and I would so have liked to have heard more about Mr John Raven and his sharp tongue in particular, especially given how he was one of two bisexual members of the 'Murder') and how they were often looked upon by the English country folks, and the casual mentioning, in passing, of what I assumed was a society woman in a lesbian relationship and other things dropped in here and there, were all great bonuses for me. Also, David, the doctor is a Portuguese Jewish man, and there was some minor discussion around his nationality and more so around his religion included too. I would LOVE to read more about these characters, all of them, and that would include the lesbian woman I mentioned above, and another side character (one of the scientists I think) who seems to like cross-dressing at times (I don't think he/they was trans, but I could be wrong) and I would also give an arm and a leg (not really lol!) to read Amanda's book 'The Secret of Darkdown' that was the cause of much hilarity and some minor tension, that was thankfully resolved very quickly. 

It may well sound like a lot of box-ticking was included, but I can honestly say that it felt very natural that all these people with such wide ranging backgrounds were included, given the story being told. 

I think that my main criticisms are that I wanted just a bit more from some of the side characters such as the scientists and the musicians. Just enough to understand who they are, and how they fit into the 'Murder'. We are told Philip, Corvin and John's backstory so that all good. But what about David (the doctor)? He seemed to be the only het (or possibly bi?) man out of all of them, so how did he get involved with such an enticing band of reprobates, especially given his line of work? 

Also, apart from Amanda, we don't see any female character of any significance until the end portion of the book. But, TBH, I'm not sure if that is an entirely fair mention, given the story being told and the time period it was set in, or just my personal need for more female presence period. And I may have only noticed it in particular because I was so hoping to at least meet on the page, the lesbian woman friend (who had been 'ruined' by request by Corvin!) who was referred to a couple of times. And besides the delightful (not a word I would normally use, but it is so fitting for this book and her sunny and inquisitive, AKA nosy like me!, personality) Amanda, the only other females were all dour and highly unpleasant, one of them much more so than others, but it would be a spoiler to say more about her...

I'm also going to google 'beet sugar' now; something I've never heard of before, as that was a point of education for me. As was the fact that Britain was at least 100 years behind other European nations in its production because it appeared to be holding on much more strongly to the higher profits of cane produced sugar via the forced labour of enslaved people on plantations throughout the Caribbean (ie some of its colonies). This education that you often get wrapped up in a lovely romance, is one of the reasons I love our genre, and in particular indie authors and titles so much. And now, with certain choices I'm making, this includes HR too. 

Happy sigh.

Band Sinister

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