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A review by sbbarnes
The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles
lighthearted
mysterious
relaxing
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
I knew I would love this one and accordingly saved it for last in my vacation reads. This turned out to be a cardinal error because I started it on the plane ride home and had to pause reading to unpack and eat and then stayed up until midnight to finish. What I'm trying to say is that this book is lovely.
It follows Gareth, newly become a baronet after his absentee father's sudden death, and Joss, resident smuggler in charge. The two had a brief, anonymous affair in London before Gareth was a baronet which ended on bad terms and are reunited when Gareth is meant to be testifying against Joss's sister. For obvious reasons, this doesn't go well. However, the two are thrown together several more times and find themselves drawn together both by their attraction and by their honest love of the marshlands they now both live in.
In no particular order, some things I really loved about this book: the cast of supporting characters, especially the women. Gareth lives with his step-aunt/father's ex-mistress Katherine and his teenage half-sister Cecy, and I found both of them to be lovely additions. On Joss's side there are a lot of compelling characters as well, his grandfather, who sees and knows all, his cousin Luke, who sees way too much, his sister Sophy, his mother and so on. I look forward to learning more about them all in future books.
The communication between the two leads was wonderful. So often, in romance novels the issues between the main couple are communication-based, and while that does happen here, I loved how they spoke with each other and how they cleared up their problems. While "forbidden romance with a class barrier" would have been my catnip anyway, the addition of honest and well-thought-out dialogue about whether it is actually a problem for them that Joss is a smuggler just makes it that much better. Especially because it puts the two men on such equal footing, lending credence to their relationship.
It follows Gareth, newly become a baronet after his absentee father's sudden death, and Joss, resident smuggler in charge. The two had a brief, anonymous affair in London before Gareth was a baronet which ended on bad terms and are reunited when Gareth is meant to be testifying against Joss's sister. For obvious reasons, this doesn't go well. However, the two are thrown together several more times and find themselves drawn together both by their attraction and by their honest love of the marshlands they now both live in.
In no particular order, some things I really loved about this book: the cast of supporting characters, especially the women. Gareth lives with his step-aunt/father's ex-mistress Katherine and his teenage half-sister Cecy, and I found both of them to be lovely additions. On Joss's side there are a lot of compelling characters as well, his grandfather, who sees and knows all, his cousin Luke, who sees way too much, his sister Sophy, his mother and so on. I look forward to learning more about them all in future books.
The communication between the two leads was wonderful. So often, in romance novels the issues between the main couple are communication-based, and while that does happen here, I loved how they spoke with each other and how they cleared up their problems. While "forbidden romance with a class barrier" would have been my catnip anyway, the addition of honest and well-thought-out dialogue about whether it is actually a problem for them that Joss is a smuggler just makes it that much better. Especially because it puts the two men on such equal footing, lending credence to their relationship.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Child abuse