If you are interested in reading about white queer men in Victorian England, this book is for you. Otherwise it’s a pretty mediocre read.

𝓣𝓱𝓮 𝓖𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓵𝓮𝓶𝓪𝓷’𝓼 𝓑𝓸𝓸𝓴 𝓸𝓯 𝓥𝓲𝓬𝓮’𝓼
Lucky Lovers of London Book 1
By: Jess Everlee
Gay Historical Romance

𝒪𝓋𝑒𝓇𝒶𝓁𝓁: 4.5/5
𝒮𝓅𝒾𝒸𝑒: 2.5/5

𝑅𝑒𝓋𝒾𝑒𝓌:  There were a lot of really cute moments sprinkled throughout this book that I loved. I cannot wait to continue this series!
That being said, I am a little sad about the spice, there was promise of something really good between characters but most of the scenes were fade to black or not descriptive.

𝒜 𝐹𝒶𝓋𝑜𝓇𝒾𝓉𝑒 𝒬𝓊𝑜𝓉𝑒:  “You’re wrapped me round your damn finger too tight to just shake me off now, mate. And you know it. You love me. You said you did.”

𝒯𝓇𝑜𝓅𝑒𝓈: Dual POV; GrumpyXSunshine; Class Difference; LGBTQ+ Rep; Found Family; MM Romance

𝒯𝓇𝒾𝑔𝑔𝑒𝓇 𝒲𝒶𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃𝑔𝓈:  Sexual content; Homophobia; Alcohol; Drugs; Death; Infidelity; Addiction; Sexism; Misogony; Emotional Abuse; Classism

THE GENTLEMAN'S BOOK OF VICES has a good start, an enjoyable middle, and an ending that is in turns stressful and anticlimactic. While ultimately not one I care for, it might appeal to those who don't mind oddly convenient resolutions to problems the characters can't quite find their way out of.

The biggest tension is that Charlie is engaged to marry a woman he likes but does not love (or at least is not interested in, sexually), since's he's gay and would rather be a confirmed bachelor if the choice had been afforded to him. He's marrying as part of a scheme between their parents to get the two of them married and Charlie's debts settled. The problem is that, around a month before the wedding, Charlie meets and is infatuated with Miles, a pornographer who runs a bookshop. Miles won't sleep with a married man, so if Charlie wants to keep seeing Miles for longer than a fling, he'll have to call the wedding off. For a long while it seemed like everything revolved around whatever Charlie was going to decide, with Miles having made his position clear but not able to control whether or not Charlie got married. 

I think I like my books with a bit more stress but not this kind of stress. I dislike lying in relationships and am rarely able to handle them in fiction, and this manages to have a lot of that stress without most of the actual lies, which doesn't soothe things for me as much as it could have. I'd prefer a book where it feels like the characters worked for the ending, like something is different by the end because they have changed in a meaningful way. Miles may have, but so much of the narrative focus in terms of agency is on Charlie that I'm not even totally certain of that. The resolution seems to be just handed to them, and in a way that changes my thoughts about the beginning as well. It's likely too sexually explicit to work for those who prefer their romances closed-door or fade-to-black, while dodging explicit detail once things really get going. It's not for me, though I had a good time in parts.

This book was an ok read. The writing was well-done, but I struggled to connect with the characters on a deeper level. Overall, I would call this a solid romance but it's not a favorite. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a historical gay romance. I previously read the 2nd book in the series and I definitely think this one was better in both writing and plot.

I listened to this as an audio book and my biggest criticism is the voice the narrator used for Smithy. Every time he used the voice, it really pulled me out of the moment.

READ: Dec 2023 

FORMAT: Audio 

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 4.5 / 5⭐ 

TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 4.75 / 5⭐
FINAL – OVERALL: 4.5 / 5 ⭐ 

In this 1883 historical romance, Charlie wants the autograph of his favourite author as the last hurrah before he must get married and store his precious collection away for the foreseeable future, but the man has proven difficult to find, well-hidden behind his pen name. When he finally gets Miles’ identity, he meets the man at his bookstore, and a misunderstanding sparks the beginning of a heated affair with a quickly-approaching expiry date. Miles will simply not carry on with a married man out of principle, but Alma is just as in need of her union with Charlie as he is, and she’s too kind to willfully hurt. 

I’m shocked at how intrigued I am by literally every character within this book. Every single one of them is introduced to us with enough charm and tantalizing details that I want to know more; even the less likeable characters who exist solely to force our main leads into uncomfortable decisions. I rarely give side-characters a passing glance, preferring to put all my focus on whom the story is actually about, but this world is so richly populated I can’t help but want to see more of them. Even Alma, who in most romances would likely be portrayed as terrible person we couldn’t possibly want our protagonist to end up with, has her own set of charms and quirks that make her pleasant and delightful. I needed this book to resolve in the best possible way for all parties involved, and while it didn’t fit my personal solution for making that happen, it definitely did happen. 

My only gripe about this book is that, for how sexually charged it is from cover to cover, there is shockingly little spice on-page. This story takes more of a tell-don’t-show perspective that I couldn’t wrap my head around, because there are a couple of spicy scenes, but one of the more significant ones cuts off right immediately before things get going. Artistically, I think this story probably does enough to consider itself complete, but personally... I’m not ashamed to admit I’m in it for the smut. This book is also among the closest I’ve come to seeing an honest BDSM relationship played out in a historical setting, and I just feel a bit dejected that it didn’t lean more into being that. I won’t hold it against my rating, because I honestly had such a good time reading this one and it was too well-written to dismiss. 

This book has representation for gays, lesbians, and non-binary gender expression. It has a generally-positive portrayal of sex workers. At least one character is described as non-white, but there is otherwise little else in the way of diversity. 

This book contains:

alcohol use; joke bout animal sacrifice; mentions of infidelity; homophobic laws leading to past deaths and incarceration; past struggles with substance abuse and addiction; drug use (opium); past blackmail; past illness resulting in death; past grief, loss; implication of dysphoria; and, women being treated as subhuman for childbirth out of wedlock.

Less filthy than anticipated, considering the setting. A very charmed story, filled with nuanced, detailed characters, with a delightful, decadent setting.