Take a photo of a barcode or cover
rynniereads 's review for:
The Queer Principles of Kit Webb
by Cat Sebastian
Absolutely grand! I’m not going to lie, it took me a little to get into the story, but I’m going to blame that on a stressful week at work. Once I got into the story I could not put it down and slowed down my reading pace to enjoy Cat’s wonderful writing.
Kit is a working class, former highwayman who gave up thievery when he was disabled during an attempted robbery. He is gruff with a hard exterior but a warm nurturing interior (for example, he refuses to disrupt the spider that lives in his doorway). Percy is rich and foppish, and where the book is set in the mid 1700s it provides some wonderful descriptions of the silks, wigs, and face powder with patches he is frequently wearing.
Their attraction grows as they work together to plan and prepare the robbery. It’s a case of opposites attract and I am 100% here for it. I don’t want to give away any plot details but there were some fun twists. Some that I saw coming and some that I were surprised by. I was thoroughly entertained throughout.
One small detail that stood out to me was acknowledgment of that Percy’s money comes from exploitation. So many romances brush over where the aristocrats get their money. In this book Kit actually calls out Percy for loving his family house that was funded by plantations in the West Indies. In addition to this reference to slavery, there is also a lot of discussion about how land owners exploit their tenants. At one point Kit states, “No such thing as a good landlord… There are horrible ones, like your father. And there are ones who manage to refrain from doing actual evil. But I’ve never heard of a good one.”* It was honestly refreshing to read this in a historical romance.
As with all of Cat Sebastian’s books, there is wonderful dry humor found throughout. A few of my favorite lines with no context:*
“He was not an unpleasant-looking man. Maybe even handsome, in a bland sort of way.”
“He wondered if rich meant took of their wigs while f–ing, and then got very annoyed with his prick for not finding wigs sufficiently unattractive.”
“Unchecked power gave a man a certain look; it set him apart from normal people.”
“You think I’m going to pass up a chance to kick a lord? Been dreaming of this since I was a little girl.”
“He took the tie out of his hair. Then he put it back again. There was vanity, and then there was lunacy.”
“How many rings did a man need? He had a dreadful certainty that the answer was zero.”
“Sometimes you need to cry into the bath.”
I really hope that this book is a first in a series because there were several secondary characters that I want more of. Honestly, I can’t wait for whatever Cat Sebastian writes next because most likely I will enjoy it, whatever it may be.
Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
*Quotes are based on my ARC copy, and may or may not be the same as found in the final published edition.
Kit is a working class, former highwayman who gave up thievery when he was disabled during an attempted robbery. He is gruff with a hard exterior but a warm nurturing interior (for example, he refuses to disrupt the spider that lives in his doorway). Percy is rich and foppish, and where the book is set in the mid 1700s it provides some wonderful descriptions of the silks, wigs, and face powder with patches he is frequently wearing.
Their attraction grows as they work together to plan and prepare the robbery. It’s a case of opposites attract and I am 100% here for it. I don’t want to give away any plot details but there were some fun twists. Some that I saw coming and some that I were surprised by. I was thoroughly entertained throughout.
One small detail that stood out to me was acknowledgment of that Percy’s money comes from exploitation. So many romances brush over where the aristocrats get their money. In this book Kit actually calls out Percy for loving his family house that was funded by plantations in the West Indies. In addition to this reference to slavery, there is also a lot of discussion about how land owners exploit their tenants. At one point Kit states, “No such thing as a good landlord… There are horrible ones, like your father. And there are ones who manage to refrain from doing actual evil. But I’ve never heard of a good one.”* It was honestly refreshing to read this in a historical romance.
As with all of Cat Sebastian’s books, there is wonderful dry humor found throughout. A few of my favorite lines with no context:*
“He was not an unpleasant-looking man. Maybe even handsome, in a bland sort of way.”
“He wondered if rich meant took of their wigs while f–ing, and then got very annoyed with his prick for not finding wigs sufficiently unattractive.”
“Unchecked power gave a man a certain look; it set him apart from normal people.”
“You think I’m going to pass up a chance to kick a lord? Been dreaming of this since I was a little girl.”
“He took the tie out of his hair. Then he put it back again. There was vanity, and then there was lunacy.”
“How many rings did a man need? He had a dreadful certainty that the answer was zero.”
“Sometimes you need to cry into the bath.”
I really hope that this book is a first in a series because there were several secondary characters that I want more of. Honestly, I can’t wait for whatever Cat Sebastian writes next because most likely I will enjoy it, whatever it may be.
Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
*Quotes are based on my ARC copy, and may or may not be the same as found in the final published edition.