The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen, KJ Charles
I’m pretty much committed to reading whatever KJ Charles writes, and she can pretty much always (with one notable exception) win me over. (The exception is Jackdaw. I wonder if that’ll change when I reread it, but I really didn’t love where the relationship started there, and especially not the tricky middle.) So I started this expecting a good time, and wasn’t too surprised to get it, because it’s KJ Charles.
Admittedly, for a bit I wasn’t sure because Gareth was being a bit of a dick — though as ever with KJ Charles’ characters, you can also see why and where it came from (even if you think it’s a bit overblown; human emotions do that). I wasn’t sure how the two of them were going to figure things out, and honestly the first bit was more fraught than I was looking for in a weird mood.
Still, I gave it time, and quickly found myself sucked in. Gareth has his insecurities, but he also has the strength of them: he knows why he’s insecure, and he doesn’t want to see anyone else feel the same way. Joss has a lot of responsibility and steps up to it with ease, and it’s a delight to see him also learn to share his burdens and to take a little for himself. There are some delightful side characters, too (and some vivid, well-drawn but less delightful ones as well).
The mystery is equal billing with the romance — I didn’t find anything too surprising in how it worked out, but I enjoyed the ride.
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