Genre: Historical Romance/LGBTQIA+
Published: November 29, 2022
Pages: 300
Is their real-life love story doomed to be a tragedy, or can they rewrite the ending?
London, 1883
Finely dressed and finely drunk, Charlie Price is a man dedicated to his vices. Chief among them is his explicit novel collection, though his impending marriage to a woman he can’t love will force his carefully curated collection into hiding.
Before it does, Charlie is determined to have one last hurrah: meeting his favorite author in person.
Miles Montague is more gifted as a smut writer than a shopkeep and uses his royalties to keep his flagging bookstore afloat. So when a cheerful dandy appears out of the mist with Miles's highly secret pen name on his pretty lips, Miles assumes the worst. But Charlie Price is no blackmailer; he’s Miles's biggest fan.
A scribbled signature on a worn book page sets off an affair as scorching as anything Miles has ever written. But Miles is clinging to a troubled past, while Charlie’s future has spun entirely out of his control…
Carina Adores is home to romantic love stories where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters.
London, 1883
Finely dressed and finely drunk, Charlie Price is a man dedicated to his vices. Chief among them is his explicit novel collection, though his impending marriage to a woman he can’t love will force his carefully curated collection into hiding.
Before it does, Charlie is determined to have one last hurrah: meeting his favorite author in person.
Miles Montague is more gifted as a smut writer than a shopkeep and uses his royalties to keep his flagging bookstore afloat. So when a cheerful dandy appears out of the mist with Miles's highly secret pen name on his pretty lips, Miles assumes the worst. But Charlie Price is no blackmailer; he’s Miles's biggest fan.
A scribbled signature on a worn book page sets off an affair as scorching as anything Miles has ever written. But Miles is clinging to a troubled past, while Charlie’s future has spun entirely out of his control…
Carina Adores is home to romantic love stories where LGBTQ+ characters find their happily-ever-afters.
I received a copy of this sneak peek through Netgalley. This is my honest review.
This book starts out running. We are immediately treated to a Victorian (?) bar scene with drag queens and rooms you can rent by the hour, which is all well and good, but considering the fact that a person could be arrested for engaging in sodomy, I wonder how the bar was not the scene of constant raids. Like did they not know what went on there? Or were they paid off to leave it alone? I got no answers to those questions from the brief glimpse I got, and I doubt I'd get the answers by reading the whole book because I'm pretty sure that's not the real focus of the story, but where I'm still working on wrapping my mind around the reality of life for gay men back then, I have questions!
We are quickly informed that Charlie is marrying a beard, and his relationship with Alma is one I really want to see more of, honestly. Is he marrying her for the wrong reasons? By today's standards an emphatic yes. But dude picked a woman who seems to be terrorized by her mother as never being good enough for anything, and she's just so beat down by that, and from what little I saw, it seems like all he wants to do is literally whatever he can that will make Alma smile. He had a whole ass cake tasting before those were fashionable because he knew it would make Alma happy. I know their relationship isn't going to be the primary focus of this book, but I'm still here for it because a part of me wants both relationships to happen for Alma's sake.
There is so much I can imagine happening in this book, and at the moment that's all I can do because I do not own a copy of it at this time. But there's a lot more I'd love to see from these characters so this is a book I will definitely be keeping in mind for future reading when I'm not trying to dig myself out of a Netgalley hole. - Katie
Jess Everlee is a queer writer from Northeast Ohio with an Oscar Wilde obsession and two spoiled guinea pigs. She has a deep love of interesting art, offbeat communities, and admittedly pretentious coffee brewing systems. You can keep track of her comings and goings at www.jesseverlee.com.
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