A review by tellingetienne
An Unsuitable Heir by KJ Charles

5.0

A stunning conclusion to an amazing trilogy. I can easily say this one of my favorite set of books by KJ Charles. An Unsuitable Heir was the historical gender queer romance of my dreams. The narrative wraps up the ongoing mystery in a way I didn't see coming, but that has nothing on how wonderful it was to see Pen as gender queer in a historical context. Charles, I believe, deftly handled the complicated feelings many gender queer people have about their identities (dysphoria, etc) without it being exploitative. As a genderqueer person myself, there were moments written about dysphoria and just existing as trans expressed in the novel ached they were so real. It pings back to Clem in the first novel, and how I identified so strongly with his learning disabilities. Charlies is a master at conveying difficulties of being as you are with a kind, compassionate tone.

Don't read this novel as a standalone, as it will be lacking in the context needed to really make it work.