Blurb
In the sordid
streets of Victorian London, unwanted desire flares between two bitter enemies
brought together by a deadly secret.
Crusading
journalist Nathaniel Roy is determined to expose spiritualists who exploit the
grief of bereaved and vulnerable people. First on his list is the so-called
Seer of London, Justin Lazarus. Nathaniel expects him to be a cheap, heartless
fraud. He doesn’t expect to meet a man with a sinful smile and the eyes of a
fallen angel—or that a shameless swindler will spark his desires for the first
time in years.
Justin feels
no remorse for the lies he spins during his séances. His gullible clients
simply bore him. Hostile, disbelieving, utterly irresistible Nathaniel is a
fascinating challenge. And as their battle of wills and wits heats up, Justin
finds he can’t stop thinking about the man who’s determined to ruin him.
But Justin
and Nathaniel are linked by more than their fast-growing obsession with one
another. They are both caught up in an aristocratic family’s secrets, and
Justin holds information that could be lethal. As killers, fanatics, and fog
close in, Nathaniel is the only man Justin can trust—and, perhaps, the only man
he could love.
Best Line: Justin
patted her thin fingers soothingly. There,
there. You saved for two years to look for your lost children, and you’re
spending the money on a spiritualist instead of a private detective. You
hopeless, soggy mopstick. There, there
Okay, so,
confession time. I love con men stories. Always have. A story about a fraudster pretending to be a seer set
against the backdrop of a Victorian romp was always going to tick every single
box I have. This was a rollicking, breathless adventure I read in a day and
still can't stop bothering people about.
Nathanial is
a bit of a prat who needs to get his righteous rage on to feel good about
himself. Justin is a morally corrupt scallywag and between the two of them the
sass is at critical levels. Some of the dialogue in this is just superb.
This is the
second book but I had no troubles getting into it. The series follows different
couples whose stories overlap and, to be honest, I think that if I hadn't
started with this I wouldn'tve continued. The first book takes a little while
to get going before it becomes good while this launches straight into sizzling
tension and tight pacing.
Also, big
cheers to the amount of inclusivity on show in this series. Far from the
standard 'Everyone in Victorian England was made of bland mayonnaise', Charles'
world includes POC, disabled people, autistic people, some gender fluidity and
a gay club run by a trans woman. It's refreshing and a HEAP of fun.
If you like
your queer romance with cracking dialogue, tight plotting and witty conmen,
this is the book for you.
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