fosully 's review for:

Love Habit by TL Clark

4.0

informative lighthearted reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

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 Love Habit is a historical m/m romance focusing on the life of a novice monk at the start of the Tudor era. As I’ve come to expect from this author, it is well-researched and brimming with historical details.

I particularly enjoyed Paul’s work as an infirmarer. It was fascinating to read about some of the treatments and cures that were used at that time, and his mentor Brother Giles is a great character. There were lots of fun moments where the other monks (and even Brother Giles) were reluctant to admit they needed treatment and had to be persuaded to accept help.

During the story we get to see a full year pass in the life of the monastery, which gives a fascinating insight into the patterns of feasting and fasting throughout the year as well as the regularity of day-to-day life.

At times I felt that the informative aspects of the book intruded on the flow of the story. For example, Latin biblical texts were given with in-text translations and references to the chapter/verse where they can be found. Where there were several of these in a scene, it felt like what they added to the immersive world of the story was undermined somewhat by the awkwardness of how they were presented.

This book gets four stars from me! I would recommend it to fans of historical romance who are open to reading about gay monks.