"It was like his parents had suddenly realized he wouldn't be there forever, and now their love was like a police state; he couldn't escape it."
David "It was like his parents had suddenly realized he wouldn't be there forever, and now their love was like a police state; he couldn't escape it."
David Draper, the sixteen year old nephew of Bobbie Draper, is a self-entitled little piece of shit.
I have very little patience for intelligent children with loving families who live in stable economic situations, and yet they still insist on being angry little assholes. This is David, a gifted chemist who lives on Mars, and who is headed for great things. Meanwhile, he's decided to rebel out of a combination of stupid anger and laziness, and he somehow ends up cooking drugs for a local drug kingpin. He's also got his head entirely up his own ass. He sees girls as things, and only does nice things in the hopes that he will be rewarded with sex. He is extremely immature yet book smart. It's a bad combination.
This novella is set after book two in The Expanse series, Caliban's War. After the events of that book, Bobbie is home on Mars living with her brother and his family while she's on "psychological leave." David resents her and her presence because it gets in the way of what he wants to do. He also ignores almost entirely the monumental things happening around him, including domestic terrorism, and the fact that his very own aunt is heavily involved in the politics of the solar system.
Thankfully by the end of the book he's learned some hard lessons and grown up, but man he's insufferable for most of it. I just wanted to punch him.
[3.5 stars]
Merged review:
"It was like his parents had suddenly realized he wouldn't be there forever, and now their love was like a police state; he couldn't escape it."
David Draper, the sixteen year old nephew of Bobbie Draper, is a self-entitled little piece of shit.
I have very little patience for intelligent children with loving families who live in stable economic situations, and yet they still insist on being angry little assholes. This is David, a gifted chemist who lives on Mars, and who is headed for great things. Meanwhile, he's decided to rebel out of a combination of stupid anger and laziness, and he somehow ends up cooking drugs for a local drug kingpin. He's also got his head entirely up his own ass. He sees girls as things, and only does nice things in the hopes that he will be rewarded with sex. He is extremely immature yet book smart. It's a bad combination.
This novella is set after book two in The Expanse series, Caliban's War. After the events of that book, Bobbie is home on Mars living with her brother and his family while she's on "psychological leave." David resents her and her presence because it gets in the way of what he wants to do. He also ignores almost entirely the monumental things happening around him, including domestic terrorism, and the fact that his very own aunt is heavily involved in the politics of the solar system.
Thankfully by the end of the book he's learned some hard lessons and grown up, but man he's insufferable for most of it. I just wanted to punch him.
First, y'all should click over to see the larger version of the cover so you can see our heroine Susan's face. It is the most non-swoony face I have eFirst, y'all should click over to see the larger version of the cover so you can see our heroine Susan's face. It is the most non-swoony face I have ever, ever seen on a romance novel cover, and that is so true to her character, I love it. Even the arms are folded! Susan Lazarus is not fucking around.
This is the second book in the Lilywhite Boys series, which follows two con men and thieves in late Victorian London. This series is actually connected to Charles's prior series, Sins of the Cities, as Susan is the adoptive daughter of Justin Lazarus, the former spiritualist (and scammer) turned enquiry agent. Now it's about twenty years later, and Susan herself has taken up the family business, making a name for herself by being tough as nails, and very, very good at her job. Her former lover is one of the Lilywhite boys himself, Templeton Lane (formerly James Vane, confirming this also takes place in the same universe as her first series, Society of Gentleman). They were sort of childhood sweethearts, but their relationship ended with a terrible break between them that left Templeton on a boat to do hard labor in Australia, and with Susan as an enemy.
Years later, they are on opposite sides of the law. Templeton is nearly killed when a jewel theft goes wrong. He finds the body of the owner when he breaks in, and he in turn is found standing over the body of the owner, at which point he makes a run for it. Having clearly been framed and not wanting to drag his only two friends (and criminal associates) down with him, the only person he knows who might possibly believe him innocent of the murders (the valet was killed, too) and also might be able to help clear his name, is one Susan Lazarus.
This is a second chance romance, with elements of enemies to lovers near the beginning, so it's a twofer. Also, it's a murder mystery! And historical fiction. And it's very well written. And the way that Susan and Templeton come back together is so very good. They're both such emotionally complex people with such different personalities, but their chemistry feels effortless, and their conflicts and struggles poignant. Susan is a badass, and Templeton is some sort of gentle bear/puppy combo with criminal tendencies mostly to do with thieving. As both puppies and bears are known for stealing shit that doesn't belong to them (mostly to eat), I feel my comparison is apt.
I really can't emphasize enough how much it upsets me that y'all still aren't reading K.J. Charles as much as she deserves. She deserves to be a bestselling author with awards threatening to collapse her shelves. I think I'm finally going to have to do a deep dive and finish out the books in her back catalogue I haven't gotten to yet, because I don't know when she's publishing her next book and it's making me anxious.
Merged review:
First, y'all should click over to see the larger version of the cover so you can see our heroine Susan's face. It is the most non-swoony face I have ever, ever seen on a romance novel cover, and that is so true to her character, I love it. Even the arms are folded! Susan Lazarus is not fucking around.
This is the second book in the Lilywhite Boys series, which follows two con men and thieves in late Victorian London. This series is actually connected to Charles's prior series, Sins of the Cities, as Susan is the adoptive daughter of Justin Lazarus, the former spiritualist (and scammer) turned enquiry agent. Now it's about twenty years later, and Susan herself has taken up the family business, making a name for herself by being tough as nails, and very, very good at her job. Her former lover is one of the Lilywhite boys himself, Templeton Lane (formerly James Vane, confirming this also takes place in the same universe as her first series, Society of Gentleman). They were sort of childhood sweethearts, but their relationship ended with a terrible break between them that left Templeton on a boat to do hard labor in Australia, and with Susan as an enemy.
Years later, they are on opposite sides of the law. Templeton is nearly killed when a jewel theft goes wrong. He finds the body of the owner when he breaks in, and he in turn is found standing over the body of the owner, at which point he makes a run for it. Having clearly been framed and not wanting to drag his only two friends (and criminal associates) down with him, the only person he knows who might possibly believe him innocent of the murders (the valet was killed, too) and also might be able to help clear his name, is one Susan Lazarus.
This is a second chance romance, with elements of enemies to lovers near the beginning, so it's a twofer. Also, it's a murder mystery! And historical fiction. And it's very well written. And the way that Susan and Templeton come back together is so very good. They're both such emotionally complex people with such different personalities, but their chemistry feels effortless, and their conflicts and struggles poignant. Susan is a badass, and Templeton is some sort of gentle bear/puppy combo with criminal tendencies mostly to do with thieving. As both puppies and bears are known for stealing shit that doesn't belong to them (mostly to eat), I feel my comparison is apt.
I really can't emphasize enough how much it upsets me that y'all still aren't reading K.J. Charles as much as she deserves. She deserves to be a bestselling author with awards threatening to collapse her shelves. I think I'm finally going to have to do a deep dive and finish out the books in her back catalogue I haven't gotten to yet, because I don't know when she's publishing her next book and it's making me anxious....more
This honestly might be five stars on re-read, but I've been handing out five star ratings like they're candy, and I've come off my book high now. ThisThis honestly might be five stars on re-read, but I've been handing out five star ratings like they're candy, and I've come off my book high now. This is a strong 4.5 stars for now.
Firstly, this is a retelling of The Prisoner of Zenda, a Ruritanian Romance/Adventure/Swashbuckler from the late 1800s, written by Anthony Hope. I've never read the original, but before diving into this I did read the detailed summary of the book and I'm really glad I did that, because it was fun seeing what Charles changed and tweaked, although our narrator, Jasper Detchard, also informs us of the big things that the original "got wrong" (in this book, the original is played off as a memoir of the "player-king" Rudolf Rassendyll, a distant cousin of the king of Ruritania who is called upon to impersonate said king).
You can tell that Charles just had an incredibly amount of fun, not only with reworking a book that she obviously has great affection for (and criticism of), but also writing a different kind of romance, one where the heroes are morally grey at best, villains at worst, and who don't hold to monogamy. There are plots and swashbuckling and schemes ahoy in this book, and it was an incredible amount of fun to read. It's a relatively short book, but she really packs a whole bunch in here. There is not a dull moment to be found.
Highly recommend! Just know you're not getting a traditional romance, but more of an adventure story and you'll have a grand old time.
Merged review:
This honestly might be five stars on re-read, but I've been handing out five star ratings like they're candy, and I've come off my book high now. This is a strong 4.5 stars for now.
Firstly, this is a retelling of The Prisoner of Zenda, a Ruritanian Romance/Adventure/Swashbuckler from the late 1800s, written by Anthony Hope. I've never read the original, but before diving into this I did read the detailed summary of the book and I'm really glad I did that, because it was fun seeing what Charles changed and tweaked, although our narrator, Jasper Detchard, also informs us of the big things that the original "got wrong" (in this book, the original is played off as a memoir of the "player-king" Rudolf Rassendyll, a distant cousin of the king of Ruritania who is called upon to impersonate said king).
You can tell that Charles just had an incredibly amount of fun, not only with reworking a book that she obviously has great affection for (and criticism of), but also writing a different kind of romance, one where the heroes are morally grey at best, villains at worst, and who don't hold to monogamy. There are plots and swashbuckling and schemes ahoy in this book, and it was an incredible amount of fun to read. It's a relatively short book, but she really packs a whole bunch in here. There is not a dull moment to be found.
Highly recommend! Just know you're not getting a traditional romance, but more of an adventure story and you'll have a grand old time....more
This was a bit rough, but charming in its roughness. It's my favorite of Sebastian's Regency Imposters books. At the beginning of the book especially This was a bit rough, but charming in its roughness. It's my favorite of Sebastian's Regency Imposters books. At the beginning of the book especially when the lovers are in the "enemies" phase of "enemies to lovers," the banter and the narration both are very biting and witty, but in a gentle, non-threatening way for my emotions.
Amelia is our heroine, and I will admit it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize she was in both prior books in the series. She has retreated to the countryside to a life of solitude with her former governess. She has decided it is ultimately futile to try and participate in a society that doesn't want her, at the expense of her identity. The mental and emotional toll trying to fit in was too high. This is where our hero, Sydney, finds her. Through a series of tragic, flukish circumstances, he has found himself the owner of an estate, the ancestral lands of his friend, the Duke. It is to these lands that Amelia has fled, renting a cottage near the edge of the grounds. She has no idea he owns the land when they meet. And they have a truly delightful antagonism between them at first, which melts gradually into companionship, and then love.
The secondary characters are also quite lovely. There's a blind duke, an illegitimate daughter, dogs, the aforementioned governess (who is asexual, though they didn't have the words for it). Our hero and heroine are both bisexual. And the Duke is quite gay. I think this book pulls off LGBTQIA people living in Regency England in maybe a slightly more believable fashion than the first one did. I also liked that Sydney was a Quaker, and the way his family was used was something I haven't seen in a romance before.
This book also fixed the complaints I had with the first two books in the series. I thought the first book skipped my favorite part of romance, which is the characters getting to know each other. I don't think it's fun to read about characters who just fall in love instantly (other people feel similarly to me, which is why "instalove" is a much-despised trope). Here, you see them get to know each other, and it's great. My complaint with the second book is that it wasn't long enough, developed enough. It felt like she just skipped from place to place in that book to get it over and done with. She skipped the fun transitions, the scenes of characters actually doing and experiencing things. This book was the longest book I've read from her in some time, and no transitions were skipped. We're with them every step of the way that we should be.
Anyway, all this to say, A Delicate Deception was a fine closer to this series, but I really am very excited for her to finally continue the Seducing the Sedgwicks series in a couple of months, and the next book has an actual good cover! I almost fell over from shock when I saw it.
Merged review:
This was a bit rough, but charming in its roughness. It's my favorite of Sebastian's Regency Imposters books. At the beginning of the book especially when the lovers are in the "enemies" phase of "enemies to lovers," the banter and the narration both are very biting and witty, but in a gentle, non-threatening way for my emotions.
Amelia is our heroine, and I will admit it took me an embarrassingly long time to realize she was in both prior books in the series. She has retreated to the countryside to a life of solitude with her former governess. She has decided it is ultimately futile to try and participate in a society that doesn't want her, at the expense of her identity. The mental and emotional toll trying to fit in was too high. This is where our hero, Sydney, finds her. Through a series of tragic, flukish circumstances, he has found himself the owner of an estate, the ancestral lands of his friend, the Duke. It is to these lands that Amelia has fled, renting a cottage near the edge of the grounds. She has no idea he owns the land when they meet. And they have a truly delightful antagonism between them at first, which melts gradually into companionship, and then love.
The secondary characters are also quite lovely. There's a blind duke, an illegitimate daughter, dogs, the aforementioned governess (who is asexual, though they didn't have the words for it). Our hero and heroine are both bisexual. And the Duke is quite gay. I think this book pulls off LGBTQIA people living in Regency England in maybe a slightly more believable fashion than the first one did. I also liked that Sydney was a Quaker, and the way his family was used was something I haven't seen in a romance before.
This book also fixed the complaints I had with the first two books in the series. I thought the first book skipped my favorite part of romance, which is the characters getting to know each other. I don't think it's fun to read about characters who just fall in love instantly (other people feel similarly to me, which is why "instalove" is a much-despised trope). Here, you see them get to know each other, and it's great. My complaint with the second book is that it wasn't long enough, developed enough. It felt like she just skipped from place to place in that book to get it over and done with. She skipped the fun transitions, the scenes of characters actually doing and experiencing things. This book was the longest book I've read from her in some time, and no transitions were skipped. We're with them every step of the way that we should be.
Anyway, all this to say, A Delicate Deception was a fine closer to this series, but I really am very excited for her to finally continue the Seducing the Sedgwicks series in a couple of months, and the next book has an actual good cover! I almost fell over from shock when I saw it....more
On the one hand, I wish I would have read this sooner, because it’s great. On the other, I wish I would have saved it, because the sequel seems to be On the one hand, I wish I would have read this sooner, because it’s great. On the other, I wish I would have saved it, because the sequel seems to be postponed indefinitely for some ground-up retooling, and I would prefer to have it as soon as possible. I found the worldbuilding here to be one of the more intriguing urban fantasy set-ups I’ve read, especially when you factor in that a large part of it uses the consequences of WWI in such a thoughtful way, with the War, and the War Beneath. You can definitely read this on its own as a standalone, but I hope K.J. Charles does continue the series eventually.
So the premise here is that disgraced former soldier Saul Lazenby is unable to find decent work, except with a crackpot named Major Peabody who is convinced magic exists, and who possesses a fierce ambition to make some sort of important discovery. In the course of his “work” for Peabody, Saul keeps running across the mysterious Randolph Glyde, who refuses to divulge his true occupation and purposes, and accuses Saul of being up to no good. As their run-ins continue, it becomes apparent something else is going on, and the two men get past their antagonism in a rather sexy way (also, a sweet way, as they are both lonely and craving human contact after the trauma of the war).
As stated before, I loved the worldbuilding here, and I also ended up loving the main characters, although the secondary ones weren’t as fleshed out here as hers usually are. I suspect part of that is that they are mean to be further developed in later books. I also didn’t know, and it’s worth knowing before going in, that this is set in the same world as her previous book, The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal. You can read this one on its own, but I suspect I should still have read them the other way round, as that one takes place about twenty years previous.
Merged review:
On the one hand, I wish I would have read this sooner, because it’s great. On the other, I wish I would have saved it, because the sequel seems to be postponed indefinitely for some ground-up retooling, and I would prefer to have it as soon as possible. I found the worldbuilding here to be one of the more intriguing urban fantasy set-ups I’ve read, especially when you factor in that a large part of it uses the consequences of WWI in such a thoughtful way, with the War, and the War Beneath. You can definitely read this on its own as a standalone, but I hope K.J. Charles does continue the series eventually.
So the premise here is that disgraced former soldier Saul Lazenby is unable to find decent work, except with a crackpot named Major Peabody who is convinced magic exists, and who possesses a fierce ambition to make some sort of important discovery. In the course of his “work” for Peabody, Saul keeps running across the mysterious Randolph Glyde, who refuses to divulge his true occupation and purposes, and accuses Saul of being up to no good. As their run-ins continue, it becomes apparent something else is going on, and the two men get past their antagonism in a rather sexy way (also, a sweet way, as they are both lonely and craving human contact after the trauma of the war).
As stated before, I loved the worldbuilding here, and I also ended up loving the main characters, although the secondary ones weren’t as fleshed out here as hers usually are. I suspect part of that is that they are mean to be further developed in later books. I also didn’t know, and it’s worth knowing before going in, that this is set in the same world as her previous book, The Secret Casebook of Simon Feximal. You can read this one on its own, but I suspect I should still have read them the other way round, as that one takes place about twenty years previous....more
this cover is so beautiful, i don't even care what this book is about, why is this so good to me ughhhhhthis cover is so beautiful, i don't even care what this book is about, why is this so good to me ughhhhh...more
Loading...
