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3.83 AVERAGE
3.83 AVERAGE
A few weeks before his wedding Charlie makes it his mission to meet and get the autograph of his favorite erotic writer. A friend gives him the address of Miles who writes the books under a pseudonym and the two are instantly drawn together. Neither should want the other and both are bound to their other obligations but they can’t stay away from one another and must figure out how they can possibly have a future together.
I wanted to like this more than I did. It was a shorter book so I was expecting the book to be a bit tighter but found my self skimming pages if long paragraphs that weren’t moving the story forward. I was very confused by the decision to have the book be fade to black when there were some very steamy other moments because it made the moment of intimacy very anticlimactic, no pun intended. I did really like both Charlie and Miles as well as Charlie’s wonderful group of friend and I’m hoping future books are about the friends. believe that this was a debut novel so I will be interested to see if the next book in the series works better for me.
Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin, and Carina Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
I wanted to like this more than I did. It was a shorter book so I was expecting the book to be a bit tighter but found my self skimming pages if long paragraphs that weren’t moving the story forward. I was very confused by the decision to have the book be fade to black when there were some very steamy other moments because it made the moment of intimacy very anticlimactic, no pun intended. I did really like both Charlie and Miles as well as Charlie’s wonderful group of friend and I’m hoping future books are about the friends. believe that this was a debut novel so I will be interested to see if the next book in the series works better for me.
Thank you to NetGalley, Harlequin, and Carina Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
No one would ever look at Charlie like that again. He knew it. Who else could? Circumstance had shaped them for each other, each chipped and bent in just the right spots for the other to fit perfectly.
A historical m/m romance about horny books and the men who write and read them. Except it's only like 40% about that. This is like the third book in a couple of weeks to make me unexpectedly tear up out of nowhere; either I'm just in a maudlin baby-ish mood or the books are hitting emotionally harder than I expected them to. This was so so cute! I felt middling to fair about it for most of the book, but towards the end I really really liked and sympathised with and felt for the characters. There were a few too many neat things that slotted in together perfectly at the end, but I'm not the type to care about that if the characters/romance have won me over sufficiently.
And they did! Charlie is an accountant and fop who needs to get married to settle his debts; Miles is a bookstore owner and anonymous pornography writer. Charlie is a huge fan of Miles, but they don't get off to the best start. Their road to romance from there was so sweet? I love romances that are about artist/admirer relationships, and this had a really interesting hook for me, when Miles realises that one of his favourite passages that he's ever written is one of Charlie's most beloved and reread passages of the book. I love connections like that; a thing they have in common before even meeting. Miles' books sound genuinely fun and stupid and trashy in the good way, and the connection that it provided for them was lovely? It helped that the powerplay etc was right up my alley. And I love when a romance really manages to convey that these two specific people are specifically good for one another, in all facets of life. I wasn't the biggest fan of the pacing of this; it did that thing where they had some significant scenes, and then we sorta stone-skimmed over the water of the next few weeks. Still, I enjoyed what we saw of them, and how they grew their relationship. I adored Charlie's friendship with Alma, and the little family at the club was super cute. This isn't the first queer historical with a plot like this, and I kinda thought I knew where it was headed, so I was glad/surprised to see it took a few turns I wasn't expecting to get there. Some components of the ending were easy to see coming, but eh, I didn't mind.
Listened to the audiobook as read by Tonny Hawthorne, and it was excellent! Or at least, I really liked his voice for the prose and the main characters. Everything else... eh. Most of his male side characters were too gruff/exaggerated, and his female characters were pitchy and a bit grating to listen to. But the main voices are great, so that's what's important. This was just really cute, and managed to make me care about these guys in a pretty short amount of time. I'll definitely read Noah's romance, and I hope Joey gets one too; I loved her.
Anyone could write a scandal. Reginald Cox made his readers weep over it.
Amazing, the author did the incredible concept justice. Was initially a bit scared by the potential level of detail of the smut but it was a level I liked. Also thought the ending was rushed but that’s life !
A case of it's so good I'm looking up synonyms for speechless but it's taking too much thought.
Not a fan of the pressing "family issue" in books like these but it's the Victorian era so they get a free pass. Was definitely not as depressing in places as I feared it would be. Really good I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this because well. "It wouldn't be proper!" or whatever those crazy kids said in 1883
Not a fan of the pressing "family issue" in books like these but it's the Victorian era so they get a free pass. Was definitely not as depressing in places as I feared it would be. Really good I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed this because well. "It wouldn't be proper!" or whatever those crazy kids said in 1883
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I received an eARC of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
4.5., rounded up. I've been saving this book to read when I needed a pick-me-up, and I'm glad I did because it's absolutely delightful.
Charles is extravagant and flamboyant in a very lovable way; he also has a strong moral compass, as he has agreed to marry Alma, a woman he does not love romantically but thinks of as a sister and wants to protect. Miles, an author and bookstore purveyor who lost his love years earlier, is more reserved and cautious but equally as compelling. Their romance is sweet and has palpable chemistry, and I enjoyed reading about them as their relationship develops over the course of the novel. The ending is dramatic, but entertainingly so, and I love how Jess Everlee incorporates the side characters throughout the story and uses them to resolve this ending.
Grab this if you love books by Cat Sebastian, Keira Andrews, or K. J. Charles.
4.5., rounded up. I've been saving this book to read when I needed a pick-me-up, and I'm glad I did because it's absolutely delightful.
Charles is extravagant and flamboyant in a very lovable way; he also has a strong moral compass, as he has agreed to marry Alma, a woman he does not love romantically but thinks of as a sister and wants to protect. Miles, an author and bookstore purveyor who lost his love years earlier, is more reserved and cautious but equally as compelling. Their romance is sweet and has palpable chemistry, and I enjoyed reading about them as their relationship develops over the course of the novel. The ending is dramatic, but entertainingly so, and I love how Jess Everlee incorporates the side characters throughout the story and uses them to resolve this ending.
Grab this if you love books by Cat Sebastian, Keira Andrews, or K. J. Charles.
4.5
This was fun! I read it in one sitting really quick on an airplane. It was a nice break, and I didn't need a whole lot of thought. I liked how real the characters acted. Even if they had challenges, they were all things a normal person of that time period might have faced, such as debt. Sometimes, the character back story can get very dark and wild.
This was fun! I read it in one sitting really quick on an airplane. It was a nice break, and I didn't need a whole lot of thought. I liked how real the characters acted. Even if they had challenges, they were all things a normal person of that time period might have faced, such as debt. Sometimes, the character back story can get very dark and wild.
DNF around 50% when I realized I was halfway through the book and not loving it.
Not as enamored with the world or relationship between the leads, and not as invested as I should be.
Not as enamored with the world or relationship between the leads, and not as invested as I should be.
writing style just felt kind of off to me, couldn’t really get immersed in the story, and then I was icked by the non-consensual first kiss and never felt the urge to pick the book back up again
Accidentally read the second one first, only mild regrets.