One couldn’t ask for perfect, he told himself, and decided not to consider if there might be a middle way between ‘perfect’ and ‘professional criminal’. [loc. 2333]
Gareth's having a passionate affair with a man he knows only as 'Kent'. It's England in 1811 and much safer to stay anonymous. When Kent declares he's heading home to Romney Marsh, Gareth -- 'London' -- refuses to divulge name or address, and resigns himself to never seeing Kent again. Then Gareth abruptly inherits a title and a manor house (his father, who abandoned him when he was six years old, left his will unchanged since before his second marriage and the birth of his daughter), and abandons the city for the wilds of Romney Marsh and a half-sister who didn't know he existed until very recently. Gareth doesn't really miss London: he likes the peace and quiet, and is fascinated by the natural world and his father's notebooks of observations. Whilst on a moonlit quest for the great diving beetle, he stumbles across a gang of smugglers going about their business -- and finds himself facing 'Kent', revealed as Joss Doomsday, dashing leader of the local gang of smugglers, across a courtroom.
Can the two move past blackmail, perjury and the yawning chasm between their social classes to some accommodation? Or will Gareth's beastly uncle and cousin, and Joss's differently-beastly uncle and his henchmen, doom them both? And will the enemies that Gareth's inherited along with the baronetcy give him a chance to prove his worth?
This was a charming read, though I confess I didn't warm to Gareth as much as to the Doomsdays. Joss and his delightful sister Sophy have a Black grandfather, a former slave in Georgia (I'd love to know how he came to Romney Marsh) and a wholly fearsome mother, Sybil, as well as a plethora of cousins, friends, and hangers-on. (Gareth, having grown up in the household of an unloving uncle, is not at all sure how this 'family' thing works.) Joss is happy to show Gareth just where the crested newt swims, and to explain his radical politics (yes, smugglers did import grain when the harvest failed and Parliament did nothing): and Gareth, to give him his due, is prepared to consider that Joss might have a point.
Despite the dual narrative voices, it was difficult to get a sense of the growing affection between Gareth and Joss. I could accept that they'd formed a strong connection during their anonymous trysts, despite their Vere Street affair lasting less than a week, but I didn't find their romance as credible as some of KJ Charles' other pairings. Nevertheless, this was fun and pacy and plotty, and I laughed aloud several times -- not least at the line 'On Romney Marsh, nobody would hear you scream'. Looking forward to the sequel, which seems to focus on Luke, a secondary character in this novel but all grown up in A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel, due in September.
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