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3.94 AVERAGE
3.94 AVERAGE
The Queer Principles of Kit Webb has aristocratic dandy Percy trying to convince highwayman turned coffeehouse owner after a permanent injury Kit to do one last job. And while I adore a good heist, most of the book involves Percy hanging around the coffeehouse in elaborate outfits flirting with Kit and homoerotic fighting lessons. So what's not to like?
It's very hard not to love bratty peacock Percy as he moves closer to all out class war and grumpy but enamoured Kit who has some serious Eliot Spencer vibes. A charming romance where not that much happens really apart from feelings, but its all delightful and there's an excellent amount of sword-fighting and radicalism.
It's very hard not to love bratty peacock Percy as he moves closer to all out class war and grumpy but enamoured Kit who has some serious Eliot Spencer vibes. A charming romance where not that much happens really apart from feelings, but its all delightful and there's an excellent amount of sword-fighting and radicalism.
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would! Kit and Percy really won me over. I immediately continued to the sequel, to be honest for more Kit and Percy tidbits than for Marion. I sure do love an ambiguously ethical Robin Hood type. Also, less Sunshine/Grump, more Pompous/Grump, and it was delightful.
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
its just as lovely on the reread. the highwaymen part of the story is actually the least interesting part, but everything about class and values that comes after is genius
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
TWs/CWs: violence, death, familial abuse, depression, grief, horrible people in positions of power, injuries
Kit Webb, once the greatest highwayman in the country and now an owner of a respectable coffee house, has a problem. The problem being that he is so, so bored with his new respectable, boring life. But he promised himself that nothing can tempt him back into the life of crime.
That nothing is Percy, Lord Holland. Percy also has a problem, one that needs solving fast, since it’s threatening to throw his entire life out the window. Turns out that his father, the duke, is a bigamist, and Percy’s aristocratic life has been illegitimate this whole time, and now he and his childhood friend Marianne, who is currently married to the duke, are being blackmailed. So, Percy makes a plan:
Do a crime at his father, steal valuable blackmail intel
Get help to do said crime from supposedly cool, but actually very boring Mr. Webb
Somehow keep your dukedom or blackmail a lot of money out of shitty father to save himself, Marianne and his baby sister
Hang around Webb’s coffee shop until he helps you, maybe flirt a bit, wait he’s not boring at all. Oh no
Of course, his plan gets messed up, because before he knows it, he’s doing silly things like interrogating the abusive nature of aristocracy, asking himself if that is really what he wants of his own future, and trying to talk himself out of falling in love with one Mr. Kit Webb, because emotions bad. As you can tell, he’s really going through it, the poor bastard.
Meanwhile Kit is also interrogating what it means for him to even still be alive, when his entire life is marred with grief and pain and the whims of the aristocracy, and whether he’s willing to trust himself with one of their ilk. His life is safe now, but he realizes that maybe, just maybe, he could allow himself to live a bit more.
The juxtaposition of the world weary, stalwart and kind Kit, with his coffeeshop and lending library and pet spider and community he loves, against Percy, the smug little emotionally repressed bastard with only two friends, one of them being his employee, who’s life is falling apart before his eyes, and who must make decisions about his life for the first time in his life. It is beautiful and lovely and so touching.
I adore Cat’s fussy gremlin assholes, and Percy is a prime example. I adore him. He’s so awful and I love him so much.
And finally, I adore Marianne. She’s so depressed and weird and homicidal and I cannot wait for her and [REDACTED]’s story. They deserve a little murder. As a treat.
Kit Webb, once the greatest highwayman in the country and now an owner of a respectable coffee house, has a problem. The problem being that he is so, so bored with his new respectable, boring life. But he promised himself that nothing can tempt him back into the life of crime.
That nothing is Percy, Lord Holland. Percy also has a problem, one that needs solving fast, since it’s threatening to throw his entire life out the window. Turns out that his father, the duke, is a bigamist, and Percy’s aristocratic life has been illegitimate this whole time, and now he and his childhood friend Marianne, who is currently married to the duke, are being blackmailed. So, Percy makes a plan:
Do a crime at his father, steal valuable blackmail intel
Get help to do said crime from supposedly cool, but actually very boring Mr. Webb
Somehow keep your dukedom or blackmail a lot of money out of shitty father to save himself, Marianne and his baby sister
Hang around Webb’s coffee shop until he helps you, maybe flirt a bit, wait he’s not boring at all. Oh no
Of course, his plan gets messed up, because before he knows it, he’s doing silly things like interrogating the abusive nature of aristocracy, asking himself if that is really what he wants of his own future, and trying to talk himself out of falling in love with one Mr. Kit Webb, because emotions bad. As you can tell, he’s really going through it, the poor bastard.
Meanwhile Kit is also interrogating what it means for him to even still be alive, when his entire life is marred with grief and pain and the whims of the aristocracy, and whether he’s willing to trust himself with one of their ilk. His life is safe now, but he realizes that maybe, just maybe, he could allow himself to live a bit more.
The juxtaposition of the world weary, stalwart and kind Kit, with his coffeeshop and lending library and pet spider and community he loves, against Percy, the smug little emotionally repressed bastard with only two friends, one of them being his employee, who’s life is falling apart before his eyes, and who must make decisions about his life for the first time in his life. It is beautiful and lovely and so touching.
I adore Cat’s fussy gremlin assholes, and Percy is a prime example. I adore him. He’s so awful and I love him so much.
And finally, I adore Marianne. She’s so depressed and weird and homicidal and I cannot wait for her and [REDACTED]’s story. They deserve a little murder. As a treat.
adventurous
emotional
funny
lighthearted
mysterious
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
What a great book. The characters were funny, charming, and easy to fall in love with. The chemistry between Percy and Kit was electric and you just want to root for them over and over again. Highly recommend it!
i can’t believe this is the same cat sebastian that went on to write “you should be so lucky”