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The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen (The Doomsday Books) Paperback – 7 Mar. 2023
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Bridgerton meets Poldark in this sweeping Regency romance of smugglers, adventure, mystery, and life-changing love from celebrated author KJ Charles.
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 man in a London molly house, 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.
"This felt like KJ's very own sexy and skullduggerous take on the romcom trend, and I loved it."-USA Today bestseller Talia Hibbert for The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting
- Print length352 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherSourcebooks Casablanca
- Publication date7 Mar. 2023
- Dimensions12.8 x 2.6 x 19.6 cm
- ISBN-101728281806
- ISBN-13978-1728281803
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Product description
Review
KJ Charles is one of the best romance novelists writing today. Historical romance at its finest ― Sarah MacLean
Product details
- Publisher : Sourcebooks Casablanca (7 Mar. 2023)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 352 pages
- ISBN-10 : 1728281806
- ISBN-13 : 978-1728281803
- Dimensions : 12.8 x 2.6 x 19.6 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 121,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 3,855 in Regency Historical Romance (Books)
- 5,255 in Historical Thrillers (Books)
- Customer reviews:
About the author
![KJ Charles](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/S/amzn-author-media-prod/n85jvjiadlbjsub3u08qa0ejq4._SY600_.jpg)
KJ Charles is a recovering editor and RITA-nominated author. She lives in London with her husband, two kids, an out-of-control garden and a cat of absolute night. She writes mostly historical: queer romance, paranormal, fantasy, mystery. Shenanigans may occur. High body count.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings, help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyses reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the writing style beautiful and a cracking good read. They also appreciate the well-rounded characters and storylines. Readers also mention the pacing is steady and balanced, with great sex scenes and satisfying ending.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers find the storylines loveable, impeccable, and action packed. They also appreciate the great sex scenes and satisfying ending. Readers also mention the pacing is steady and balanced.
"...The characters are well rounded, the pacing is steady and balanced, it's just such a concise book...." Read more
"...I loved the storylines and the supporting cast, terrifying though most of them appeared to be. A great tale of a bygone era, superbly told." Read more
"...KJ's books are always so deftly written and plotted and I love Gareth and Joss" Read more
"Great plot, well rounded characters, including minor players...." Read more
Customers find the writing style beautiful, and say the book is a cracking good read.
"...The depth of colour and scene setting is wonderful and full of suspense...." Read more
"...London and Kent. Gareth and Joss. They were so lovely, even amidst the issues they faced, there was just something so soft and tender and quiet..." Read more
"...KJ's books are always so deftly written and plotted and I love Gareth and Joss" Read more
"...The cover work by Jyotirmaryee Patra is absolutely gorgeous, as is the cover for book 2 A Nobleman's Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel, which fingers..." Read more
Customers find the characters well rounded and the Kent accent well done.
"...Also all the secondary characters are as usual lovely (cannot WAIT to read Luke's book) and most importantly, as in all KJ Charles, horrible people..." Read more
"...The Kent accent was very well done - quite a few words were new to me, but where I live there are still traces of these speech patterns in older..." Read more
"...a collection of damaged heroes and dastardly villains, some delightful secondary characters, a HEA with some peril on the way, and a central couple..." Read more
"Original and well paced plot, with great, well drawn characters...." Read more
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Top reviews from United Kingdom
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And it is not like there was something off with the earlier books, I honestly have The Magpie Lord for ever as a favourite, but the latest books are such a joy. The characters are well rounded, the pacing is steady and balanced, it's just such a concise book.
I loved both Joss and Gareth, I love second chance in particular, and even if this is not fully one, I enjoy seeing characters that already know each other work their way back together.
The book is fun, funny, it has a strong moral compass, which does not mean it alligns with the law in any way shape or form, but it still has it, these characters are not morally grey, they just disagree with the law as it stands and I agree wholeheartedly, I am enjoying so much out of seeing several historical romances come to terms with what the aristocracy really is (luck and networking) and the damage the system does to the little people that are trying to live their lives, regardless of what German inbred cousin is currently wearing the crown - in this vein I remomend Cat Sebastian too.
It is also action packed, it has great sex scenes and a very satisfying ending.
Also all the secondary characters are as usual lovely (cannot WAIT to read Luke's book) and most importantly, as in all KJ Charles, horrible people deservedly die.
I enjoyed this so much.
Gareth thought he'd never see the man who's company he was enjoying very much after he pushed him away and later regretted. But when his father dies and now suddenly Gareth has inherited his father's home and everything else that comes with it he's about to meet him again but in the worst way possible since Gareth has managed to be in the middle of a smuggling family's business and a smuggler who he is very familiar with.
London and Kent. Gareth and Joss. They were so lovely, even amidst the issues they faced, there was just something so soft and tender and quiet about them and their relationship. There's plenty going on around them and to them, quite frankly that complicated things for them. New family for Gareth that he never knew and trying to do right by them. Smuggling business for Joss and all that entails. Murder and meddling family. Joss with his trying to take care of everything and everyone, Gareth with his abandonment issues thanks to his no good of a father and learning to stand up for himself. Even amidst all of that, there was always something so precious about these two together, the relationship making them see what matters and evolving them, I guess. They're just so lovely together.
There's also the doomsday family, even with their edges, I loved them, minus one or two of course. But Luke and Asa especially? I loved them. But there's a lot of family and found family here and standing up and fighting back as well as some danger and of course, a happily ever after.
Top reviews from other countries
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KJ Charles
2023
353 pages
Overall Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
MM Historical Romance (Regency Era)
Plot: Gareth Inglis has just been elevated to a Sir, and he’s not at all happy about it. Though his boring life as a legal clerk in his uncle’s practice leaves much to be desired, it’s what he knows, and there’s safety in what’s known. His entire life has been a string of disappointments and abandonment, and he’s not sure if he can handle another one– especially after a handsome stranger Gareth knows only as "Kent" steps in to fill a deep longing Gareth didn’t know he possessed, only to disappear off into the sunset and leaving Gareth to face his new future empty and alone. Again.
Gareth’s inheritance, a grand house and modest plot of land called Romney Marsh, is situated upon a long stretch of English coastline that appeals mightily to smugglers, some of whom Gareth accidentally becomes acquainted with during one of his habitual late night walks. Though he’d love nothing more than to keep his mouth shut about the entire business, his honor requires him to testify against them in favor of the law (as a former lawman himself, Gareth can hardly side with smugglers, now can he?).
At the eleventh hour, Gareth learns that Kent, the mysterious stranger who sets his blood on fire, is none other than Joss Doomsday, the head smuggler of Romney Marsh, and suddenly Gareth finds himself unable to say a bad word against them and he’s feeling very bitter about it. This leaves him in somewhat of a pickle, as the people of Romney Marsh aren’t exactly welcoming of strangers, and even more hostile to attempted snitches (you know what they say about snitches, and it doesn’t matter that Gareth didn’t fully snitch– intent is bad enough).
But Joss Doomsday is not one to forget when a debt is owed, and Gareth’s silence may have saved his family a trip to the gaol. If there’s a way to repay him, Joss would do so gladly, and once the bodies start piling up, Gareth is extremely glad to have Joss in his corner. But what kind of future is there for two men mixed up in a business as dirty as theirs?
First Take: Argh! KJ Charles is the best. It’s been a while since I’ve scratched my historical romance itch, and Charles’ books always remind me why I love it so much: there is something extra swoony about two dashing young men carousing about in ye old England just trying to find their bit of happiness in a world dead set against them. The stakes are high, banter supremely witty, looks of longing are surreptitious and adorable, and the ultimate payoff is glorious. I loved this one, and can’t wait to read the sequel.
Characters: Sir Gareth Inglis is a kind and honorable man who is so used to disappointment that at this point, he expects it. So he is extremely surprised when he learns that his father left him everything upon his death, the excitement of which is tempered by his discovery that his father never really cared about him at all. It’s no surprise then that Gareth finds himself unworthy of love and in desperate need of someone to convince him otherwise. Joss Doomsday lacks an education, manners, and a proper grasp of the King’s English. But what he lacks in sophistication he makes up for with good sense, street smarts, and a mean right hook. He is well aware of the fact that Gareth Inglis could do much better than him, but Joss has never been one to back down from a fight, especially when hearts are on the line.
Praises: I visited Scotland earlier this year and became well-acquainted with bogs and marshes, and it was so fun to go back, this time in my imagination. In this book, the setting is as important as the characters and plot, and KJ Charles gifts us with a serenely beautiful but dangerous place in Romney Marsh– it has more secrets than a courtesan’s Little Black Book and I had a great time discovering all of them along with Joss & Gareth. As always, the characters are complex and dynamic and a little quirky– I’ll certainly pay more attention to beetles from now on. In a time when MM relationships are illegal and dangerous, it’s hard to imagine ever getting a HEA, but Charles crafts her stories in a way that makes that reality feel believable and worth alllll the trouble it takes to get there.
Critiques: Absolutely nothing to critique here, this story is really well done!
Prose: 3rd person dual POV from Gareth and Joss. KJ Charles is so good at making a reader feel fully immersed in the past. It is hard sometimes with historical fiction/fantasy, to keep the present from seeping in somehow. But Charles does a great job of making the prose and dialogue feel appropriate for the time. So much delightful witty banter. The way Joss & Gareth talk to each other is heart-melty and sweet.
Steam: 4/5 Things get steamy, but not overly so. There’s plenty of plot to keep you interested, though when KJ Charles writes a love scene, she makes it count.
Trigger Warnings: Violence, Parental abandonment.
Tropes: Opposites Attract, Betrayal, Secrets & Lies, Blackmail, Aristocracy & a Commoner, Enemies to Lovers, Fish Out of Water, Forbidden Love, Forced Proximity, Hidden Identity, New Guy in Town, Partners in Fighting Crime, Rags to Riches, Shared Past, Wrong Side of the Tracks, Small Town, Unexpected Inheritance
Cliffhanger: HEA, no cliffhanger.
Memorable quotes:
One couldn’t ask for perfect, he told himself, and decided not to consider if there might be a middle way between ‘perfect’ and ‘professional criminal’.
It suited Joss, too: he had no desire to break heads. He considered himself an honest trader, apart from the criminal parts.
Gareth had no idea why Joss wanted him, of all men, but by some miracle he did, and Gareth Inglis was, at this moment, the luckiest man in Romney Marsh. Possibly in England.
Stand-Alones, Prequels, Sequels, & Tangents: Book one in the Doomsday series. Book two, The Nobleman’s Guide to Seducing a Scoundrel, is set ten years in the future and follows a different MM couple. It could probably be read as a standalone, but this series is likely best enjoyed when read in order, as one of the main characters in book 2, Luke Doomsday, is featured prominently in this book as a young boy.
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Love the Marsh, and the marsh-English spoken by Joss and his family.