Review: All of Us Murderers

All of Us Murderers by K.J. Charles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review 

“I hope and pray none of you see it, but if you do, don’t look at its face. Turn away and you may, perhaps, be spared." 

All of Us Murderers was a fun romp of a Gothic mystery and romance. As any Gothic worth it's salt, this starts with our lead Zeb arriving to Dartmoor at the looming, dark, and cold stone, Gothic mansion Lackaday House. His cousin has written and begged Zeb to visit for them to get to know each other. When Zeb arrives he's greeted by a night-gowned young woman dramatically running out of the house and his former lover Gideon. Zeb clearly has ADHD (he uses the original fidget spinner, a rosary) and with that not being understood or respected in Edwardian times, he struggles with keeping jobs. When he worked with Gideon, it had Gideon covering for him at times and trying to keep their romance a secret, it was the first time for Gideon being in a relationship with a man. They ended up getting seen and they both got fired, with Gideon blaming it on Zeb. 

Wynn looked around the table. “It is very simple. One of you shall marry Jessamine, and have my fortune with her.” 

Along with Gideon, Zeb's brother, his wife, and two other cousins are houseguests. Wynn tells them all that he's changed his inheritor from Zeb's brother to whomever will marry Jessamine, a distant cousin and the previously night-gowned fleeing woman. It's a plot set-up that has family members turning on each other for money and a setting that brings in the spooky, hauntings, legends, myths, and similarities to moments from their grandfather's published Gothic books. The first half focused more on the Gothic mystery, it's a little foggy mystery with introducing all the characters and working out, remembering who's who and the relationship dynamics between them all. 

He was a serious man, but Zeb knew, none better, how much his eyes could warm and crinkle at the edges, how his face could light up with amusement or desire or love— 

The second half brought in the romance more and we got Zeb and Gideon working out their past relationship issues with a clearer understanding of who they are individually and how that means they will work together. I enjoyed how neither character was perfect, in how they previously reacted but visibly grew into their selves more and worked and learned how their chemistry puzzle pieces fit together; they developed their relationship. There were bedroom scenes to bring in the heat before the latter second half brought the mystery back in and delivered reveals and answers. 

“It was razed to the ground because of the corruption of the monks.” 

“Well, that was the point of the Reformation.” 

“I mean, it was a place of great cruelty,” Jessamine said. “Cruelty and secrets, presided over by evil men, until the people of Dartmoor tore it down because no such acts of darkness should be concealed in a house of God.” 

“Gosh,” Zeb said, nonplussed by the sharp left turn into melodrama. “Odd site to pick for a house, then.” 

There were numerous nods to other Gothic works (The Yellow Wallpaper, etc.) and the foggy atmosphere you want from the genre was there. I did think some of the twists and turns got a little convoluted towards the end but even if the vengeance, justice, and retribution ride got a bit bumpy, it was still fun. Gothics are always great at getting Satan to take a back seat to the true horror, family dynamics, and this story definitely delivered on that vibe.

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Review: The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K.J. Charles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars 

I received this book for free, this does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review. 

He smiled, and the dazzling force of it close up rocked Gareth in his seat. “You’re London, then? Nice to meet you, London.” 

Gareth smiled back, hopelessly enthralled. “You too, Kent.” 

After heated eye contact that lead to a week of secret rendezvouses, Gareth is devastated and hurt when “Kent” tells him he's leaving the London area to go back home. With a father that abandoned him to his uncaring uncle after his mother's death when he was six, Gareth leans into that childhood pain and feels unwanted and unloved all over again. Even though Kent is trying to tell him he still wants to meet up when he's in town, Gareth can't hear him and breaks it off with hurtful words. Two days later, Gareth learns of his father's death and has inherited his Baronet, this has him traveling to Romney Marsh where he discovers his father's mistress, a half-sister, and that he has unwittingly followed Kent. 

“This is the Marsh,” Catherine had said, and as so often, that was all the explanation there was. 

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen was a more quiet and reflective toned story, even though it had mystery, suspense, and open door scenes. When Gareth gets to the Marsh, his feeling as an outsider is exacerbated as everyone looks at him as “outmarsh”. Catherine, his father's mistress is kind to him but she's also dependent on his generosity as she has no where else to go and his half-sister Cecy is an emotional seventeen year old who swings from wanting to build a relationship with him to angry when he doesn't do exactly as she wants. When Gareth unthinkingly tells someone he saw a group of smugglers, especially a female one, he gets pulled into testifying, trying to get on Cecy's good-side as she is seeing a Revenue officer. Ignoring warnings that informing on the Doomsday smuggling group will make him many Marsh enemies, Gareth thinks he's doing the right thing but when Josiah Doomsday steps into the court room and threatens to tell his own secrets, to save his sister Sophy, who Gareth is testifying he saw, Gareth has to back-down in front of everyone, because Josiah is Kent. 

“You threatened me,” Sir Gareth said, low and savage. “You used—what we did.” He whispered that last. 

As you can imagine, Gareth is raging angry, this breaks the fragile bond he was starting to build with Cecy and Josiah used an extremely dangerous and emotional secret against him. The hurt, also from Josiah on how Gareth broke things off, and anger do get talked through and Gareth works through his father abandonment issues. The plot also forces these two to have to work together, so by the half-way point, they're together, if still tentative. With the initial breaking apart and coming together mostly dealt with, Gareth learns that his father was receiving mysterious payments every month from somewhere and with Josiah saying that he had no smuggling deals with the man, men coming into Doomsday territory to frighten and harass Gareth and Cecy, and Gareth's uncle and cousin suddenly wanting to stay at his home with him, they start to investigate together to work out what is going on. 

“Because you’re a smuggler and I’m a baronet. You’re Joss Doomsday and I’m outmarsh. I informed against your sister and you blackmailed me in public!” One argument might have been convincing; three was the opposite. Three was encouraging, even. 

“Eh, details,” Joss said. “You still haven’t given me a good reason.” 

This had a large cast of characters, the Doomsday family is many and Josiah also has to deal with some family dynamic business, mainly an uncle who feels he should be in charge. A rival, different territory smuggling group, Sweetwater, also comes into play and you have a good amount of moving pieces to keep track of. While I appreciated the detail to naming the places the characters were going, the place names became too many in conjunction with all the characters I was trying to keep track of. I thought it was a sweet, emotional layer to Gareth's character when he takes his father's incomplete naturalist (book cover tie-in!) studying notes and walks the marsh following in his father's footsteps to try and know the man better but it also gets a little lost in all the other moving pieces. Josiah had a few in depth moments, his talk with his granda, but for the most part, his character was on the move a lot and I wanted more settled moments with him. 

“I missed you so much.” It was a whisper. 

The last twenty percent brings all the plot threads together, Josiah having to once and for all deal with his uncle, Gareth also dealing with his uncle, and the mystery of the smuggling business Gareth's father was maybe involved in; the seemingly separate threads all weaved together in the end. There was also a quick, and again, I think got lost in the other going-on, character depth moment of Gareth giving us a third act break-up because of emotional growth he needed to do. As I said, a good amount of moving pieces, some economic class and warfare serving country versus community talk, a romance that was a little too quick developed for me, a few, almost got buried in the mix emotional depth moments, but all told with a care to language that really helped set the atmosphere.

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15%

Gareth knew dependency all too well, and he saw it now: the ever-present fear of abandonment, the humiliation of being at another’s whim, the resentment that had to be stifled because to show it could be fatal.

Reading Update: Page 1

It's a snow day for me! 

❄️📚❄️ 

Some comfort food and a historical romance. 

Starting off the Doomsday Books series, Joss Doomsday has to blackmail the new baronet Gareth to try and save his sister. What Joss uses is the secret affair he and Gareth shared. 

That's right, we have a second chance romance to go along with our danger (smuggling, cutthroats, thieves) and mysteries to be solved. 

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by K.J. Charles pre-order (Mar. 7th) link

Garlic Parmesan Turkey Meatballs recipe

Review: An Unseen Attraction

An Unseen Attraction by K.J. Charles
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

My friends' list has nothing but love for this author and book and I have a bad feeling this could be one of those "Everyone but me" moments. This is the first time I have tried this author, so I'll give it another chance but this really just did not hit the mark with me.

The synopsis starts off with stating this is a "slow-burning romance". Our couple have their first sexual experience/play/moment by chapter four; that is not my personal want from a slow-burning romance. What I do like seems to have happened before our story starts off, Clem and Rowley's relationship has already developed to the point of friendship with attraction and we the reader's are coming in when they are finally ready to act on it. I mostly favor the initial spark and building rather than the finally acting sexually on it.

Another personal dislike was Rowley's taxidermy, the author does a great job describing, explaining, and realistically weaving it into the story but for someone who loves human slasher movies, I just can't read about people wanting to stuff their pets and Rowley explaining the process. Greatly appreciate the research and depth but bowels and skinning animals is not for me, but like I said, didn't seem to bother the majority of people.

I think this would be better to be described as a slow-burning mystery, as the building, plot, and pace slowly reeled you in, I also think the mystery dominated the story more. Their chemistry wasn't as sparking as I usually like but missing that beginning building probably hurt this for me.

The mystery isn't fully solved in this but I'm not sure I'm going to continue with the series, I think I might try another of hers in a different series. I hope this isn't one of those everyone loves but me authors :/

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