THE SECRET LIVES OF COUNTRY GENTLEMEN, first of a duology that could easily be longer (hint, hint)

THE SECRET LIVES OF COUNTRY GENTLEMEN
KJ CHARLES (The Doomsday Books #1)
Sourcebooks Casablanca (non-affiliate Amazon link)
$16.99 trade paper, available now

Rating: 4.75* of five

The Publisher Says: Abandoned by his father, Gareth Inglis grew up lonely, prickly, and well-used to disappointment. Still, he longs for a connection. When he meets a charming stranger, he falls head over heels—until everything goes wrong and he's left alone again. Then Gareth's father dies, turning the shabby London clerk into Sir Gareth, with a grand house on the remote Romney Marsh and a family he doesn't know.

The Marsh is another world, a strange, empty place notorious for its ruthless gangs of smugglers. And one of them is dangerously familiar...

Joss Doomsday has run the Doomsday smuggling clan since he was a boy. When the new baronet—his old lover—agrees to testify against Joss's sister, Joss acts fast to stop him. Their reunion is anything but happy, yet after the dust settles, neither can stay away. Soon, all Joss and Gareth want is the chance to be together. But the bleak, bare Marsh holds deadly secrets. And when Gareth finds himself threatened from every side, the gentleman and the smuggler must trust one another not just with their hearts, but with their lives.

I CHECKED THIS BOOK OUT OF MY LOCAL LIBRARY. USE THEIR SERVICES OFTEN, THEY NEED US!

My Review: The way I know I'm reading a KJ Charles story is when the men falling in love have their life's work established, are busy doing it, and do not need anything to make life more complicated for them. Then they meet/reconnect when they're just about out of strength. After that, they need the other to be able to do their work because strength supported is powerful in all new ways.

I love this story dynamic.

So I was sure to be a happy old reader, and mirabile dictu in light of recent disappointments, so I was. Joss made me smile with his assumption of the mantle of Head of Household. He clearly was born for the role. The ways in which his Head-ness manifested weren't always clear because he would use them in the interests of everyone, of the family he heads but also the community at large.

Gareth, the baronet "in charge" of the whole community, sees Joss's activities from a high-control perspective. He's expected to enforce The Law. He doesn't much like this burden because he isn't naturally assertive. In the course of doing his duty, he and Joss come into conflict. Nothing makes your feelings clearer than conflict. Gareth and Joss...well...there's a reason Author Charles writes romances. Their bond, as she depicts it, is powerful and undeniable. This cross-class pairing allows each to understand the nature of the social system they live and love within.

As is usual in the genre, the romance succeeds...more believably than a cross-class romance usually does because rhe men are each the head of their world; because the men are each the inadequately trained inheritors of their power; and because they are similarly happy to reform their youthful bond.

I think prospective readers should know going in that the story is told in a regional voice, a dialect of sorts that is rooted in a specific place and its people; others, outsiders within the story, comment on its peculiarity so this is very obviously meant to convey the social bonds that exist in the great mass of the people. I found it effective at that and, for my reader's ear, quite musical and engaging. Others might not. As part of the author's larger purpose of creating a world as a setting for her story, this works very well. As a facet of worldbuilding in general it's very hard to pull off. Author Charles's previous books have made it clear she is a Master of this art. The Marsh, a real place I'm told, is vivid in my mind's eye without feeling overdetailed.

Straight people are strongly cautioned. Not safe for "eww-ick" homophobes. I'd call the steam level moderate, but I can—and have—fallen asleep during a porn film. The sex in the story is not of prurient intent. It is there as an enhancement of the reader's understanding of the development of each man's connection to and acceptance of the other. It is also a clear signal of the characters' increasing awareness of the world outside their Marsh as different, as Other...and this Othering lets them gain space for their Forbidden Love to grow and nurture not only their partner but their fellow Marsh inhabitants.

Since I read these stories for fantasy fulfillment, I got what I wanted. I hope you'll try Author Charles's many terrific tales. Starting here is a good idea.