A review by kaje_harper
Shackles by Alexis Hall

5.0

This is the story of Ruben and Milord, and how they met. Milord is captive, a man of vile reputation and fallen-angel looks, whose one virtue seems to be that he never lies about who and what he is. Ruben is the handsome, earnest and compassionate clergyman tasked with convincing Milord that it is better to repent and hang than be burned alive. Unfortunately Milord is not capable of repentance, or even faking it. And Ruben is inexorably drawn to this strange, adamant, fragile, vicious, brilliant man...

This is almost the story I was hungering for after Prosperity. Or rather, it's a piece of that story, a beginning, a gorgeous, entrancing, damnably-short start... It deserves the five stars but this will only whet your appetite for more.