Tag: Cat Sebastian

Review – The Ruin of a Rake

Posted May 30, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – The Ruin of a Rake

The Ruin of a Rake

by Cat Sebastian

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 336
Series: The Turner Series #3
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Rogue. Libertine. Rake. Lord Courtenay has been called many things and has never much cared. But after the publication of a salacious novel supposedly based on his exploits, he finds himself shunned from society. Unable to see his nephew, he is willing to do anything to improve his reputation, even if that means spending time with the most proper man in London.

Julian Medlock has spent years becoming the epitome of correct behavior. As far as he cares, if Courtenay finds himself in hot water, it's his own fault for behaving so badly—and being so blasted irresistible. But when Julian's sister asks him to rehabilitate Courtenay's image, Julian is forced to spend time with the man he loathes—and lusts after—most.

As Courtenay begins to yearn for a love he fears he doesn't deserve, Julian starts to understand how desire can drive a man to abandon all sense of propriety. But he has secrets he's determined to keep, because if the truth came out, it would ruin everyone he loves. Together, they must decide what they're willing to risk for love.

Cat Sebastian’s The Ruin of a Rake completes her usual trick of taking a character who seemed unlikeable (or at least very deeply flawed) and making him the hero. Here she takes Courtenay (last seen in The Lawrence Browne Affair) and reveals the things that make him who he is, and the ways in which he’s trying to do better.

It also introduces us to Julian Medlock, who has his own problems — not least his desire to be respectable above almost all else, and thus the way he stays away from anything that looks like feelings. Asked by his sister to help rehabilitate Courtenay’s reputation (to allow him to see his nephew), Julian gives in, and quickly finds himself attracted to Courtenay, and tempted to do things that aren’t at all respectable.

It works because there’s genuine chemistry between the characters, and there are things which go a lot better than I feared when I first read them (like Julian taking over Courtenay’s finances). There are also some obvious points of contention that I realised were going to happen waaay before they did, which could’ve maybe been a little more subtle. I appreciated the hints at Courtenay’s reformation, like the fact that he isn’t drinking (but we don’t get told that right away).

There is a stupid nitpicky thing that I’ve definitely been informed is stupid and nitpicky, but it’s one of those things where it’s something you know well or which is a special interest, and you just can’t ignore it being wrong. Julian’s malaria is fairly well portrayed in general, actually: it’s correct that there are forms of malaria that can recur lifelong (caused by Plasmodium vivax or P. ovale: they can exist in a form called hypnozoites, in an infected person’s liver, and recur from there without a new mosquito bite, sometimes years later).

…Unfortunately, neither of them have the 24-hour recurrence of fever which Julian so clearly describes (which would indicate P. chabaudi or P. knowlesi, neither of which have hypnozoites nor would be plausible for Julian to contract). The regularity of the recurrent fevers is pretty diagnostic of which kind of malaria parasite you’ve contracted, and the description of Julian’s infection doesn’t match anything real. I know nobody else cares, but I do, and it was extremely distracting. It’s not something that would bother most people!

Overall, I had a good time, regardless. Julian blossoms from where he starts, and Courtenay is more of a dear than he appeared in The Lawrence Browne Affair.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots

Posted January 5, 2024 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots

Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots

by Cat Sebastian

Genres: Romance
Pages: 244
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Daniel Cabot doesn’t really know what he’s doing with his life. He’s lost faith in himself, his future, and maybe the world. The only things he knows that he cares about are the garden in the empty lot next to his crumbling East Village apartment building and his best friend.

Alex Savchenko has always known that he’s…difficult. Prickly, maybe, if you’re feeling generous. But maybe that’s the kind of personality it takes to start a low-income pediatrics clinic in one of Manhattan’s most troubled neighborhoods. When Daniel stumbles into his life, Alex doesn’t expect him to stay—most people don’t. And when Alex develops useless, inconvenient feelings for his new friend, he does what he’s always done, and tells himself that he isn’t feeling anything at all.

Daniel, though, has always worn his heart on his sleeve, and he isn’t stopping now.
Sometimes when things seem to be falling apart, it means there’s room for something incredible to grow.

Cat Sebastian’s Cabot books have proved a favourite lately, but I think Daniel Cabot Puts Down Roots might be my favourite of the bunch.

Daniel and Alex are both far from perfect humans, and their friendship might not always make sense to outsiders — Daniel spends a lot of time handling Alex, reading his mood and figuring out what he needs, whether it’s space for himself or a steady routine or a little extra companionship. That’s part of why their friendship works: Alex isn’t neurotypical, and a lot of things don’t make sense to him, and he finds most people impossible, but Daniel’s found a way to work with that, and the love between them is always there, even before they start moving toward a romantic relationship. Everyone takes them for a couple, and they more or less are.

The book follows their step-by-step evolution toward being the kind of couple who have sex, the kind of couple who plan based on knowing the other is there and is always going to be there, and that’s a huge deal for both of them. There’s lots of communication and an acknowledgement that their relationship doesn’t have to look like that of other people in order to be valid and important and absolutely central to them.

If I have one criticism, it’s that we spend an awful lot of the book on Alex’s needs. Here and there we see acknowledgements of Daniel’s needs, but it’s not so explicitly stated, and that can leave it feeling a touch imbalanced. It’s plain that Daniel doesn’t mind and he considers his needs to be met, but it still left me wondering a little.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Peter Cabot Gets Lost

Posted December 12, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Peter Cabot Gets Lost

Peter Cabot Gets Lost

by Cat Sebastian

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 210
Series: The Cabots #1
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Summer 1960:

After years of scraping by, Caleb Murphy has graduated from college and is finally getting to start a new life. Except he suddenly has no way to get from Boston to Los Angeles. Then, to add to his misery, there's perfect, privileged Peter Cabot offering to drive him. Caleb can't refuse, even though the idea of spending a week in the car with a man whose luggage probably costs more than everything Caleb owns makes him want to scream.

Peter Cabot would do pretty much anything to skip out on his father's presidential campaign, including driving across the country with a classmate who can't stand him. After all, he's had plenty of practice with people not liking him much—his own family, for example. The farther Peter gets from his family's expectations, the more he starts to think about what he really wants, and the more certain he becomes that what he wants is more time with prickly, grumpy Caleb Murphy.

As they put more miles between themselves and their pasts, they both start to imagine a future where they can have things they never thought possible.

Cat Sebastian’s Cabot books are proving to hit the spot every time for me. In this one, two idiot guys drive across the US with limited contact with their families beyond a couple of calls from payphones and a few postcards. At the start of the drive, they barely know each other, and they definitely don’t like each other, but gradually Caleb realises Peter’s not actually a bad guy, and Peter figures out what makes Caleb prickly and manages not to step on his toes… and of course, they fall in love. Or at least get very infatuated, and throw themselves eagerly into exploring their physical attraction.

I love that it doesn’t go with the very familiar mid-book miscommunication followed by reconcilation during the climax. It’s gentler and quieter than that, and Peter and Caleb do their best to communicate what they’re thinking and feeling, and figure out how to forge a relationship in their particular circumstances.

I have a lot of favourite moments, but there’s a special place for the moment where Caleb overhears Peter talking to his family, and ends up saying that he can’t believe he’ll have to vote for Peter’s dad (and we hear that Tommy, a main character from another book and Peter’s uncle, will be hitting the bar before and after voting for his brother). It just tickled me and felt so realistic.

For those who love their tropes, I have to point out as well that this is pretty much a grumpy/sunshine pair-up…

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Luke and Billy Finally Get A Clue

Posted November 5, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Luke and Billy Finally Get A Clue

Luke & Billy Finally Get A Clue

by Cat Sebastian

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 102
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Billy Reardon’s spent the past five years trying and failing to keep his teammate Luke Novak at arm’s length—or at least a normal, friendly distance. Or, failing that, he’d like to not make a fool of himself. But a month after getting seriously injured by a wild pitch and disappearing off the face of the earth, Luke shows up at Billy’s isolated house in the mountains just as a storm’s about to roll in. Now that they’re stuck together in the middle of nowhere, Billy can’t even pretend not to have feelings that go beyond what he ought to feel for a teammate.

Meanwhile, Luke’s acting strange and Billy doesn’t know why. And Billy can’t seem to fight the urge to make Luke sandwiches and hot cocoa, lend him cozy sweaters, and watch him play with the dogs. It’s all pretty terrible, and the one thing Billy’s sure of is that things between them are going to be different after all this is over.

This is cute and basically exactly what I needed when I read it. Billy and Luke are kind of assholes, each in their way, and they’ve been gravitating together for longer than either would care to think about. They’ve been part of the same team, ending up an integral part of each others’ lives, and it’s really sweet to watch them edge around that, and gradually move together.

It’s a fairly claustrophobic story, mostly just the two main characters, so it works at this length as an exploration of two guys (somewhat hampered by external homophobia and the fact that they’re in sport where that’s potentially even more dangerous for them) getting together and figuring out how to make it work.

And hey, it’s kinda cute to get a grumpy/grumpy relationship instead of grumpy/sunshine! Not that Luke is always grumpy, but he has a grumpy side that he allows himself around Billy.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – Unmasked by the Marquess

Posted October 27, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Review – Unmasked by the Marquess

Unmasked by the Marquess

by Cat Sebastian

Genres: Historical Fiction, Romance
Pages: 320
Series: Regency Imposters #1
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Robert Selby is determined to see his sister make an advantageous match. But he has two problems: the Selbys have no connections or money and Robert is really a housemaid named Charity Church. She's enjoyed every minute of her masquerade over the past six years, but she knows her pretense is nearing an end. Charity needs to see her beloved friend married well and then Robert Selby will disappear... forever.

Alistair, Marquess of Pembroke, has spent years repairing the estate ruined by his wastrel father, and nothing is more important than protecting his fortune and name. He shouldn't be so beguiled by the charming young man who shows up on his doorstep asking for favors. And he certainly shouldn't be thinking of all the disreputable things he'd like to do to the impertinent scamp.

When Charity's true nature is revealed, Alistair knows he can't marry a scandalous woman in breeches, and Charity isn't about to lace herself into a corset and play a respectable miss. Can these stubborn souls learn to sacrifice what they've always wanted for a love that is more than they could have imagined?

Unmasked by the Marquess is a m/nb romance, which may not be entirely apparent to all readers since Sebastian chooses to refer to Robin as she/her (a fact which is addressed in the author’s note, in a way that makes sense to me). It’s also a little bit grumpy/sunshine, if that’s something that appeals to you.

I did find myself struggling a bit in the middle of the book with the two of them being all “our relationship can never be, alas, woe, alack!” I mean, it makes sense, there needs to be something keeping them apart… but it felt a bit repetitive and like it wasn’t moving forward quite quickly enough.

I do enjoy both the characters, but especially Robin; I love that she’s so clever (and that sometimes she can’t resist going off into a dissertation on a pet subject), and I enjoy the ease she brings to Alistair: watching him open up as character was pretty fun.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Tommy Cabot Was Here

Posted May 18, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of Tommy Cabot Was Here by Cat SebastianTommy Cabot Was Here, Cat Sebastian

Tommy Cabot Was Here is a second-chance romance where you can feel the yearning between the two main characters early on. Everett’s memories of his closeness with Tommy, of the schoolboy infatuation between them and the horrible uncertainty about how they felt and what exactly they were doing, all ring quite true even now — and make a lot of sense with the decade it’s set in as well, where it would’ve been all that with bells on.

It’s quite a slim book, but that vividly evoked teenage passion works wonders to stir the pot and make their gravitation toward each other feel natural.

Plus, Tommy’s ex-wife Pat is pretty awesome, and I love that she’s portrayed as understanding both of them, and understanding the link between them, and that the divorce is completely amicable.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Lawrence Browne Affair

Posted March 6, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Lawrence Browne Affair by Cat SebastianThe Lawrence Browne Affair, Cat Sebastian

The Lawrence Browne Affair features a side character from the first book: none other than Georgie Turner, conman and thief extraordinaire. I wasn’t a huge fan of his character from his portrayal in the first book, but I’ve thought that before with Sebastian’s books, and she made it work once we’re in close-third POV and can see Georgie’s thoughts and understand his damage.

Once again, she surprised me with the way the plot worked out. The easy and obvious conflict was not what happened, and the characters trusted each other and the bond they were forming, in a way that often doesn’t happen in romance novels (and presumably real life, but I don’t enjoy it there either). Okay, people didn’t quite manage to communicate properly and talk out their problems — but at least they avoided throwing away all the evidence they’d seen with their own eyes, and avoided just believing the worst of each other instantly. Even though it would, in fact, be all of a piece with their pasts. (I’m trying to be a little vague here.)

It’s sort of a Beauty and the Beast story, which amused me too, and I enjoyed the way Georgie came to realise that he actually liked a lot of his marks — it’s what made him a good conman, and also a part of why he was so unhappy as a conman.

Overall, a sweet book and one I enjoyed. I loved Lawrence finding himself.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Soldier’s Scoundrel

Posted January 29, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 2 Comments

Cover of The Soldier's Scoundrel by Cat SebastianThe Soldier’s Scoundrel, Cat Sebastian

Jack Turner is sort of a private detective, sort of an agent of poetic justice, handling messes that higher-class society folks want sweeping under the rug — an abusive husband, a case of blackmail, stolen items… He clashes with Oliver Rivington, a soldier in need of lawful stability after the war, after helping Oliver’s sister out with such a problem, and I honestly expected sparks to fly much more than they did. It’s such an easy source of conflict for a romantic relationship: their morals differ so much! They’re opposed on a fundamental level!

And indeed, it is part of the conflict — but part of the joy of the book is in fact that Oliver considers his errors, reconsiders his position, and unbends enough to listen to Jack’s point of view. It’s not his way or the highway; even when he briefly thinks it might has to be, he’s still open to communication.

Is their burgeoning relationship a heaven of perfect communication, the meeting of like minds? Nope. Oliver still balks at some of Jack’s opinions and methods, and Jack for his part has a lifetime of trauma that shapes how he sees Oliver’s thoughts and actions. Each has to bend a little, and make efforts, to make the thing work, but it all feels more gentle and more intimate because Oliver is prepared to bend, prepared to apologise, prepared to live at Jack’s level. I cared about their relationship all the more because the conflict wasn’t straight-forward, because Oliver wasn’t prepared to let it go too easily, and wasn’t too proud to apologise — and Jack wasn’t too proud to accept it.

Overall, I found this really enjoyable. Jack’s approach to justice isn’t mine, but it makes sense for his life, and Oliver’s acceptance of it makes sense as well, and their relationship genuinely feels built on more than just headlong attraction between two stubborn assholes who won’t talk to each other — which can be lacking in other romances, where I wonder how on earth they’ll get on in the long run given they spent a whole book refusing to bend only to have a dramatic rapprochement at the end.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Missing Page

Posted May 12, 2022 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Missing Page by Cat SebastianThe Missing Page, Cat Sebastian

The Missing Page is a lot of fun. As it opens, Leo’s away doing work (still spycraft) and James has been invited to the reading of a will which grants him a small bequest. The will itself turns out to be a surprise: the person who manages to solve an old, old mystery (the disappearance of the daughter of the house) will become the owner of the family home. Those who assemble are people who were present that summer, a time when James was 12 years old.

Leo hears about this setup and thinks instantly of heirs poisoning each other, so he drives up as soon as he gets home to join James and help him unravel the mystery. Unlike many second books, this doesn’t have any walking-back of the relationship in the first book — there are no sudden stumbling blocks, they communicate with each other, they become closer still without first pushing each other away or having any miscommunications. They’re still negotiating their relationship, stepping carefully to avoid setting off any mines, but they’re committed and good to each other and trusting of each other, and it’s lovely.

As for the mystery, I admit, I didn’t expect the actual solution. That was a pretty good moment.

Even better, though, was Leo and James getting away from there at the end and going back to their lives together in Wychcomb St Mary. That’s their real family and home, and it’s lovely to watch Leo accept that.

Rating: 4/5

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Review – The Queer Principles of Kit Webb

Posted September 8, 2021 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Cover of The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat SebastianThe Queer Principles of Kit Webb, Cat Sebastian

I pounced on this as soon as it came out, of course, and wasn’t disappointed. There’s a bit of a vibe of K.J. Charles’ Any Old Diamonds about the plot (except I guess it may also be reminding me of The Gentle Art of Fortune-Hunting, in some ways), and I’m totally here for that, any time. The relationship between the two leads is very different to that book, with far less power-play (and less cold-blooded criminality), but there’s an element of getting your own back that’s delicious.

Speaking of the relationship between the two leads, it’s a sweet one. It takes quite a long time to develop, though the seeds are obvious from the start in their strong physical attraction to one another. The best part, of course, is the slow development of trust between them, despite their disparate backgrounds, despite the harsh parts of their past.

There were a few twists and turns that I spotted coming, but nonetheless made shocked noises when they did happen, because oh! no! how dare! etc. So that was fun, and in general it was just everything I needed — if, in the end, the happy ever after felt rather easy to come by, I completely didn’t mind, because I was charmed by the characters. And in this plague year 2020-gone-2021, we can all do with some happy endings. I don’t want to talk too much about why I felt it was easy to come by, because that’s a spoiler, but suffice it to say that it’s very neat. It feels believable for the characters, but people usually find it harder to make wholesale changes like that!

Rating: 3/5

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