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4.2 AVERAGE
4.2 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
Surprisingly well written, well-plotted, and based in history. Plus it’s spicy scenes are right in my wheelhouse.
Loved. Steam + Politics. Obsessed with the Ricardians. I’m binging these
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
emotional
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
adventurous
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
reflective
tense
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
challenging
dark
emotional
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I had perused all the summaries before embarking in on the journey of the Society of Gentlemen series, and about halfway through book #1 I was ready to jump over to this story. Silas and Dominic's love story playing out in the background of "A Fashionable Indulgence" was eyecatching, as they're two men set in direct opposition to each other in their stations in live (Home Office gentleman, man printing seditious literature) and, by law of plot, must clash dramatically.
"A Seditious Affair" starts around the same time that "A Fashionable Indulgence" starts, but moves pretty quickly through the plot we've already covered in favor of emotions & smut, and then picks up the threads for more historically-based drama and political arguments (with, of course, ongoing emotions and smut). This is my favorite of the series, with the most likeable leads.
Things I liked: -the amount of historical research that went into the story -the smut -the "you've been in an emotional affair with your best friend for 15 years and you need to accept that some parts of that are not good" arc
Things I would have liked: -not learning that "apache" used to be a slang word for thief. really feel like i could have gone my whole life not encountering that, unchallenged, in a regency romance
-I still don't know what "mongrel eyes" means
-how much the "exclusive gentleman's club" represented by the Ricardians would have echoed / had roots in real queer history. (which is maybe just a research question I need to look into myself; it's not that it did not feel realistic, because it did, more or less- the fears, the reliance on privilege, the small town "oh no are these the only gays I know because it's getting incestuous" feeling)
"A Seditious Affair" starts around the same time that "A Fashionable Indulgence" starts, but moves pretty quickly through the plot we've already covered in favor of emotions & smut, and then picks up the threads for more historically-based drama and political arguments (with, of course, ongoing emotions and smut). This is my favorite of the series, with the most likeable leads.
Things I liked: -the amount of historical research that went into the story -the smut -the "you've been in an emotional affair with your best friend for 15 years and you need to accept that some parts of that are not good" arc
Things I would have liked: -not learning that "apache" used to be a slang word for thief. really feel like i could have gone my whole life not encountering that, unchallenged, in a regency romance
-I still don't know what "mongrel eyes" means
-how much the "exclusive gentleman's club" represented by the Ricardians would have echoed / had roots in real queer history. (which is maybe just a research question I need to look into myself; it's not that it did not feel realistic, because it did, more or less- the fears, the reliance on privilege, the small town "oh no are these the only gays I know because it's getting incestuous" feeling)
K.J. Charles is without a doubt one of the most solid writers of historical m/m. I know there are others out there and I would like to say I enjoy them too, but the fact of the matter is, I don’t really. There is just more meat on the bones of a Charles book.
This is book two in the series that started with A Fashionable Affair and like that book it deals with a volatile period in British history when the common people started rebelling against the aristocracy. Where the first book dealt with someone elevated from the common class to the aristocracy, this one is about the affair between Dominic, an aristocrat who works at the home office, charged with bringing in the rebel rousers and Silas, one of the most wanted seditionists. That makes for a tense affair, for sure.
As good as this was, it wasn’t my favorite. Mostly because of the D/s relationship between Silas and Dominic, which just isn’t something that I find personally fascinating. Many people will feel differently, I know, and those people will probably have more interest in how that particular relationship develops. For me, the character I liked the best in this was Julius, who steals every scene he is in. So it won’t surprise you that I liked the previous book better. However, this was still a solid story set at an interesting time in history and well worth the read.
This is book two in the series that started with A Fashionable Affair and like that book it deals with a volatile period in British history when the common people started rebelling against the aristocracy. Where the first book dealt with someone elevated from the common class to the aristocracy, this one is about the affair between Dominic, an aristocrat who works at the home office, charged with bringing in the rebel rousers and Silas, one of the most wanted seditionists. That makes for a tense affair, for sure.
As good as this was, it wasn’t my favorite. Mostly because of the D/s relationship between Silas and Dominic, which just isn’t something that I find personally fascinating. Many people will feel differently, I know, and those people will probably have more interest in how that particular relationship develops. For me, the character I liked the best in this was Julius, who steals every scene he is in. So it won’t surprise you that I liked the previous book better. However, this was still a solid story set at an interesting time in history and well worth the read.