Reviewed by Heather on
K.J. Charles is one of the romance authors that I found out about on Twitter and now is an autobuy for me. I was thrilled when she offered ARCs of this book to readers.
A lot of her books that I've read previously have focused on people who aren't part of the gentry. That has been a major part of the appeal for me. This one crosses class lines into upper crust society and I think that wasn't as enjoyable for me as her previous books. Still, the premise is inventive.
An upper class man has abandoned his children because they vocally opposed his second marriage. The children are adults and they are living in poverty with some terrible consequences. Alec decides to get back at his father by hiring thieves to steal the showy anniversary present that his father plans to give his wife. However, to get close to his father he'll have to pretend to abandon his principles to get back to a life of leisure. This is going to alienate him from his siblings who don't know that he has another motive.
This conflict between what he believes and the pretense that he needs to keep up tears at him. He has no practice or talent at being underhanded at all. For help he's reliant on the con man he hired to coach him and who he is very drawn to.
I like more slow burn and not much sex on the page in my romance books. That's definitely not what you get in these books. This relationship has a dominance-submission aspect to it. It is handled well and respectfully to both parties. I would recommend this book if you like historical romances that aren't just ladies looking for dukes.This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story
Reading updates
- Started reading
- Finished reading
- 22 December, 2018: Reviewed