An Unseen Attraction

by Kj Charles

[Heather]

This is all Joce @squibblesreads' fault.  She had a video comparing this book to The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue.  I had recently read a m/m historical romance and found it pretty disappointing.  She said that Rowley and Clem were her favorite couple.  I decided to give this one a try.

This book was so good.  Clem runs a boarding house that his half brother owns.  He was born after an Earl raped an Indian nanny who accompanied his brother's family home to England.   Clem is seen as an embarrassment to his snobbish family and this is a way of keeping him out of sight.  The only condition of his employment is that he has to keep a drunken ex-vicar in the house no matter what.  Clem is a methodical person who needs to do one thing at a time.  Other people think that he is slow and clumsy because he gets flustered with too much stimuli.

Rowley is a taxidermist who takes lodgings at the house after setting up shop next door.  He prefers to be alone and can't handle other people's anger well after surviving an abusive childhood.  His quietness settles Clem.  The two of them gradually find enjoyment in each other's company.  They have a nightly cup of tea together.  They are just starting to acknowledge feelings for each other when there is a robbery attempt and then a murder.

This is when homosexuality was still banned in England.   There is a pub called the Jack and Knave that Clem frequents.  It is open only to approved people brought by known clients.  Inside the Jack, gay men and women are free to socialize openly.  Many of the characters in this series are regulars there.

This book does a very good job on the romance portion of the book.  There is sexual activity but it is loving and in context of a relationship.  A mystery is introduced in this book but is not fully resolved until the series is over.   It involves Clem's half-brother and then inheritance of the earldom.This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story