Dude, this book was not at all what I thought it’d be. I mean, story-wise, it’s spot on exactly what you think from reading the synopsis, but the smut, almost the exact opposite of what I had pictured. Which is no fault of the book; I just misunderstood and had set my expectations in a totally different realm.

I thought it’d be a more typical regency romance (at least typical from my fairly small sample size). More of a slow burn where the first time their hands touched was tantalizing. The smut may have been excepts from the fictional writer’s work until the characters finally give in to their passions and sex it up as much as possible in the last third.

It was not that. Not at all. By the 40% mark they were having sex and it was BDSM adjacent. Pretty much all of the sex was rough; however there weren’t any discussions of boundaries or safe words before things got heated. Which I don’t mean to imply the darker steam was bad or wrong or anything. I just wasn’t prepared for that and for my personal preference wish they would have discussed boundaries and safe words before taking action on things. Or asked for consent before performing certain actions.

As long as you know what you’re going into, I recommend picking this one up. Overall it’s a pretty enjoyable historical romance. However, I don’t recommend the audiobook.

* 2.5 stars *

The book started off very slow and once I was 150 pages in it started to get good. That is the only reason why I rated this book the way I did. All in all characters were very developed. The ending was a surprise which I liked.

Absolutely wonderful in all of the best ways!

After reading the sample chapters available on NetGalley I knew I needed more and took a chance on requesting the full book. Luckily I was approved because I ADORED this book.

Historical Romance, especially when it involves LGBTQ is always my type of literature and this story perfectly captures the secrecy that era required. We have sunshine and loving Charlie who has consistently made wrong choices and gotten himself in to enough monetary trouble that he's being forced in to a loveless marriage to receive a bailout. Before he signs away his life though he wants one last hurrah in the form of getting an autograph by his favorite erotica writer.

What Charlie didn't know was that meeting this man in a quite failing bookshop was going to start a series of events that completely upends his life, his way of thinking and his way of loving.

Miles and Charlie were so incredibly wonderful to follow along with and the ensemble of this book is really enjoyable. Book 2 focuses on two characters I adored and I'm just as excited for that one too!

I could read this book a thousand times over and enjoy it just as much as the first. Its not very spicy despite the general plot of it but it has some strong scenes that fit with the book and aren't just there for gratuitous reasons. This book is beautifully written and I just couldn't put it down until I saw the ending. I would read an entire series of Charlie and Miles if given the opportunity.

3.5 stars rounded up! It felt a little too insta love for me.