IT TAKES TWO TO TUMBLE & A GENTLEMAN NEVER KEEPS SCORE, the first two "Seducing the Sedgwicks" queer Regency romances

IT TAKES TWO TO TUMBLE
CAT SEBASTIAN (Seducing the Sedgwicks #1)
Avon Impulse
$3.99 ebook platforms, available now

Rating: 4.25* of five

The Publisher Says: Some of Ben Sedgwick’s favorite things:
    Helping his poor parishioners
    Baby animals
    Shamelessly flirting with the handsome Captain Phillip     Dacre

After an unconventional upbringing, Ben is perfectly content with the quiet, predictable life of a country vicar, free of strife or turmoil. When he’s asked to look after an absent naval captain’s three wild children, he reluctantly agrees, but instantly falls for the hellions. And when their stern but gloriously handsome father arrives, Ben is tempted in ways that make him doubt everything.

Some of Phillip Dacre’s favorite things:
  His ship
  People doing precisely as they're told
  Touching the irresistible vicar at every opportunity

Phillip can’t wait to leave England’s shores and be back on his ship, away from the grief that haunts him. But his children have driven off a succession of governesses and tutors and he must set things right. The unexpected presence of the cheerful, adorable vicar sets his world on its head and now he can’t seem to live without Ben’s winning smiles or devastating kisses.

LIBRARIES ARE AWESOME! SUPPORT THEM! USE THEM!

My Review: First, read this:

He didn’t even stop himself from thinking about the man, the taut muscles of his arms and the habit he had of biting back a smile as if smiles cost extra and he was saving up for an especially big one.
–and–
He wanted to watch the trees lose their leaves. He wanted to watch his children and the changes each day wrought in them. He wanted to belong here, to belong to his children and to Ben.
–and–
“This is all new to me. I’m in a new world without a map or a chart, but you’re my compass, Ben, and I know we’ll find a way.”

What a pleasure to escape into a late Regency world where two men grab their happiness instead of allowing the world to order them around. I think this happened, then as now, more often than They thought/think it does.

Several things got under my saddle and rubbed me wrong, but as they were reasonably minor and mostly ignorable, I flowed on past them with mere surface ripples in the stream of my enjoyment.

This mixing metaphors thing is fun. I'm gonna do it more often.

Some just lovely phrase-making, isn't it. There's humor and there's a bit of sentiment and then there's Author Sebastian's way with writing about horny men without making it crude. I'm becoming a Sebastianista. On to volume two!

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A GENTLEMAN NEVER KEEPS SCORE
CAT SEBASTIAN (Seducing the Sedgwicks #2)
Avon Impulse
$3.99 ebook platforms, available now

Rating: 4* of five

The Publisher Says: Once beloved by London's fashionable elite, Hartley Sedgwick has become a recluse after a spate of salacious gossip exposed his most-private secrets. Rarely venturing from the house whose inheritance is a daily reminder of his downfall, he’s captivated by the exceedingly handsome man who seeks to rob him.

Since retiring from the boxing ring, Sam Fox has made his pub, The Bell, into a haven for those in his Free Black community. But when his best friend Kate implores him to find and destroy a scandalously revealing painting of her, he agrees. Sam would do anything to protect those he loves, even if it means stealing from a wealthy gentleman. But when he encounters Hartley, he soon finds himself wanting to steal more than just a painting from the lovely, lonely man—he wants to steal his heart.

Content Warning from Author: This book includes a main character who was sexually abused in the past; abuse happens off page but is alluded to.

LIBRARIES...MAN, JUST CAN'T SAY ENOUGH ABOUT THEIR AMAZINGNESS!

My Review: First, read this:

“Oh, to hell with decent people. They’re exhausting. Make one feel so evil, when really one simply has one’s own concerns.”
–and–
“Let me make this equally clear to you, because I think I've failed you on this score. I want to be with you, in rooms above a pub or anywhere you happen to be. A cave, a pirate ship, a desert island, doesn't matter.”
–and–
“Maybe you need to get rid of your idea of better. Your boots are better than mine, but they won’t fit my feet.”

I seriously love a pithy aperçu!

I quite like all the interconnectedness of these stories, and was gratified that Ben showed up despite being happily hooked up with his Phillip.

Not quite as easy for me was the nature of Hartley's problem barring him from easy intimacy with Sam. Saintly Sam got a smidge saccharine if you want to know the truth. The big problem separating them was, in the end, less resolved than treated with a massive injection of handwavium. I was in the fullness of my go-with-the-flow mood from Ben and Phillip's tale so I bobbed past that rock.

Right into the one that holed my boat and resulted in that missing star: Martin. I gather that Martin and Will are next in the series, so I will say nothing except: "Really."

My review of the third Seducing the Sedgwicks series, TWO ROGUES MAKE A RIGHT, comes out tomorrow is right here!