The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen
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4.5 • 106 Ratings
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Gothic scandal meets Bridgerton intrigue in this swashbuckling Regency romance 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 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.
Readers Rave about KJ Charles:
"KJ Charles is one of the best romance novelists writing today. Historical romance at its finest." —Sarah MacLean, New York Times bestselling author
"Once again KJ Charles has produced an absolute masterpiece!" —Joanna Shupe, USA Today bestselling author
“A romantic, swashbuckling tale from start to finish.”—Manda Collins, Bestselling Author of A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem
APPLE BOOKS REVIEW
This steamy LGBTQ+ romance pulls you into a tantalizing and dangerous love affair in Regency-era England. Low-ranking nobleman Sir Gareth Inglis is still stinging from a recently ended relationship when he’s called back to the family estate. He’s busy cleaning up after his dead father’s many misdeeds when he discovers that the biggest smuggler clan in the area is run by none other than the ex-lover who broke his heart, the ruthless, devastatingly handsome Joss Doomsday. But when Joss steps in to protect Gareth from the aftermath of his father’s illegal trading and debts, the pair’s undeniable attraction is reignited. KJ Charles’ heartwarming romance paints a beautiful portrait of an unlikely pair who take each other’s sides in a world set against them.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Charles (the Will Darling Adventures series) launches the Doomsday Books series with a dark and stunning love story between a smuggler and a newly minted baronet. In the Kentish moors of the early 19th century, smuggling boss Joss Doomsday, head of the formidable Doomsday clan, and Sir Gareth Inglis, whose absent father's death has lately conferred the baronetcy on him, commence a tumultuous but tender affair while dodging a rival smuggling gang's hunt for 10,000 guineas owed them by Gareth's father and navigating a handful of troublesome relatives on both sides. The author's gift for historical fiction is on clear display, as Romney Marsh, Kent, is vividly evoked with both its scenic landmarks and local fauna (indeed, there are a surprising number of beetles and newts for a romance). Charles does not shy from the darker side of the smuggling business, with beatings and murders featuring heavily in the plot, but the characters grapple with morality in a convincing way through discussions and arguments and fallings-out. The few threads left dangling at the end only whet the appetite for future books. Readers will devour this.
Customer Reviews
Hugely enjoyable
What a great book - terrific set-up of the landscape and its residents, exciting story, and the most compelling main characters I’ve met for a long time. They’ll be on my mind for a while! Thanks to KJ Charles for such a lovely novel.
So excellent
I love the characters and lore of this book—it feels very rich and alive. Can’t wait for the next one!