Reviews with content warning for Confinement - The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen

The back covers says “gothic scandal meets Bridgerton intrigue” and I think that pretty much sums it up. A surprisingly good adventure and decent plot for a historical romance. (Don’t worry, there’s spice too!)

Content Warnings

galleytrot's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

READ: Apr 2024

FORMAT: Audio

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 4.25 / 5⭐

TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 4.5 / 5⭐

FINAL – OVERALL: 4.5 / 5⭐

In this book, a sudden and unexpected death pulls Gareth from his life as a clerk in London into his birthright position of Baronet out in the smuggler-infested back country of Romney Marsh. He’s left with managing a half-sister he never met, a home he never got to live in, accounts that don't make sense, and social expectations that no honest man ought to be asked to uphold. The marsh and his home are in Doomsday territory, and the clan's gaffer – Josiah Doomsday himself – turns out to be a man with a very intimate (and rather recent) knowledge of Gareth's own law-breaking interests. Blackmail, secret dealings, and unpaid debts haunt Gareth, who wants nothing more than to simply observe the bugs and the newts that captured all of his father's attention when his very own firstborn son could not.

I'm honestly not sure where to begin with this review. This book’s intricate story, its intriguing characters, and its strange and wonderful setting all converge together to create an incredible experience from cover to cover. I've read it twice now, and the second pass was not made any less interesting by already knowing what was going on or who was hiding what secrets. Poor Gareth has been pulled into a world he’d never expected to be a part of, with debts and responsibilities he could never have predicted, inheriting a wide and varied set of enemies he had no hand in making.

KJ Charles writes some of my favourite historical fiction romances out there, and I’m happy to add this one to the stack. I’m also very excited to move into the second book of the series at some point, although I am waiting for a day where I can truly focus all of my attention into it. One of the things that really interested me about this book was the growth and understanding of Gareth’s father’s character, a man who never has a single moment on-page (and in fact, spends the entire length of the book very much not alive). I love that he is never redeemed for his failures as a father, and while we learn enough to have some theories about his potential neurodivergence, we also end the book with the certainty of his involvement in nefarious plotting and profiteering.

This book has representation for gays. One of the main characters is mix-raced, with several other mixed-race and non-white family members.

The following elaborates on my content warnings. These may be interpreted as spoilers, but I do not go into deep detail.

This book contains:

parent deaths (past, recent, off-page); child abandonment; mentions of war; mentions of deaths, fighting, and injuries; intimidation, blackmail; sexual assault (off-page); alcohol use; weapon violence (knives, cane, fists, gun); assault; mention of past slavery; homophobia; child abuse (physical); serious injury, blood; body shaming; kidnapping, confinement; and, murder (off-page).

Content Warnings

booksthatburn's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

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

5.0

THE SECRET LIVES OF COUNTRY GENTLEMEN is another excellent gay romance from K.J. Charles, this time between a noble and a smuggler... with the complication that the noble, Sir Gareth, didn’t get his inheritance until his twenties when his estranged father died unexpectedly. Gareth pushes away a man with whom he'd spent a very pleasant week, only to have it turn out that this man lives near his late father's home and their lives keep intertwining in unexpected ways.

I don’t generally like the miscommunication trope, but this one is handled well without making anyone behave nonsensically (as much as I'd prefer they'd made different decisions earlier) Much of the tension is over people who think the Gareth has information which he does not, and this was overall delightful to read the missed the violence in murder and other dangers of smuggling as a profession. I like Joss, I generally enjoy roguish characters, and as a smuggler he fits that both in occupation and in personality.

I love the Doomsdays as a family and as individuals. The ways they behave collectively and individually just make so much sense and written so well. There's a real sense of identity to the people in the Marsh without turning them into a single mass. There's also a focus on Luke, a boy whose father uses his position within the Doomsdays to mistreat him and wield power as a petty tyrant over a child with limited recourse.

I wanted a romance with danger and maybe a little death, and this delivered on all fronts with a fascinating narrative to boot. The ending leaves room for some kind of follow-up on Luke, and I plan to read the sequel which features him as an adult.

Content Warnings

callidoralblack's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful

Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

Content Warnings

ridesthesun's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

I'M SO TENDER 🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺🥺

I love this story, I love the different relationships developed, I love the exploration of family -all the good and bad and complicated feelings that come with it. And Gareth and Jos I'm so 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺 🥺

They are so tender with each other. And the way they grow with each other and challenge each other is just so beautiful. And that ending for them 🥰🥰🥰 I'm in love

Content Warnings

kers_tin's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

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