Think of England, by K.J. Charles

Despite my love of K.J. Charles’ work in general, and several of her books in particular, this title has been in my TBR since 2017, because I need to have “read in case everything has gone to shit” books in reserve for when things, inevitably, do go to shit. (see footnote ¹)

Then the lovely willa posted a link to this blog post on social media over the weekend, and that was that, I had to start it immediately.

Mind you: a good writer can parody another writer’s work, be scrupulously fair to it, and still misrepresent it in the best possible way. Therefore, heed thee these warnings:

Explicit sex on the page between two adult men; the casual xenophobic racism and antisemitism of early 1900’s England (see footnote ²); several mentions of suicide and one death by suicide on page; one incident of mental torture; several people killed on page (remember the author’s tagline, “romance with a body count”? it’s not an idle joke).

In the Lives of Puppets, by TJ Klune

I asked for the ARC based exclusively on the cover; I thought I would be able to read it quickly, for it is so very absorbing, but alas! I no longer read as fast as I once did.

“The Centurion’s Choice” by Sandra Schwab

(Note: I’m publishing this review today as a placeholder–I’m still reading my #TRBChallenge book for April)

It has been a long time since I’ve read any of Dr Schwab’s work, despite having several titles in both the print and digital TBRs. The reading slump from hell started mid-2015 and didn’t really let up until recently. However, I saw her post a promotional poster for this novella on social media and was immediately intrigued.

I had forgotten how much I enjoy her writing.

Beware: explicit sex on the page; battle, injuries and death, a bit of swearing.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen, by K.J. Charles

I had been waiting for this book since it was first announced; the cover reveal just upped the ante. I was therefore pretty close to ecstatic when I managed (through sheer luck) to get an ARC.

As expected, I loved it.

Of course, this being a K.J. Charles book, there are a few warnings to get out of the way (her author tag is “romance with a body count”, after all).

Reader beware: death of parents as backstory; parental neglect, parental abuse; explicit sex; threat of sexual violence against a young woman; actual violence and murder; and racism.