Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: The Bohemian and the Banker
AUTHOR: Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: 209 pages
BLURB:
“A night lost in Paris finds two hearts changed forever.”
Sent to Paris on business, Nigel Warren doesn’t quite understand why his colleagues’ eyes twinkle as they tell him to meet them at a local night spot.
When he discovers it’s a drag cabaret and his acquaintances aren’t there, he realizes he’s the butt of a joke. Yet he finds himself quite undone by a singer dressed in an elegant gown, crooning a spellbinding ballad.
It’s not unusual for Jay, a former Londoner, to bring a new “friend” home from the cabaret, but he’s never had a guest quite like Nigel, whose straitlaced manner hides an unexpected passionate streak.
One romantic night on a rooftop under starry skies, followed by an afternoon enjoying the excitement of the 1901 Paris Exposition, bonds these opposites in a way neither can forget—even after they part.
Their spark reignites when Jay comes to London, but he’s not sure he can go back to hiding his true self, not even for the sake of love…unless Nigel is willing to shed his cloak of staid respectability and take a leap of faith.
Warning: Contains a virgin who doesn’t speak French but is fluent in numbers, and a drag performer who is trilingual in English, French and Love. Not responsible for extra pounds brought on by the urge to dine on croissants au deux.
REVIEW:
Nigel couldn’t deny the feelings beyond the mere physical, which tumbled through him. He was so alive and here with the one person in the world who could make this possible. Surely mere chance and the prank of two idiot Frenchmen hadn’t brought him to Cabaret Michou, and surely no other man would have swept him away like this. Only Jean Michel, John Michael, Jay could affect him so.
Nigel Warren does not know Paris, he does not know French, and he most certainly does not know where he is going the night that two work colleges send him to Cabaret Michou. Then he sees Jean Michel up on stage at the Cabaret. He still might not know any of those other things, but now he is determined to know Jean Michel, the man–dressed as a woman–who captivated Nigel the moment he laid eyes on him. And after two days together Nigel begins to wonder if he ever even knew himself before Jay–who was Jean–came into his life.
Real life means that the dream that was Paris must come to an end, though, and Nigel is forced to return to London and his ordinary banker’s life. Where he finds that he does not know if he can live a life without Jay in it. But even if by some miracle Jay were to join him in England, he does not know how to keep the man he loves there. For as much Nigel loves Jay, Jay loves Paris, and Nigel does not know if he can give the man he loves enough to let go of the life he loves.
This has got to be my favorite book by Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon. I’ve read several of their historical novels, which I enjoyed, but this one was so much better. I don’t know if it was the time-frame (turn of the 20th century) or just the characters themselves, but I was hooked on this story from the moment I started reading.
And the writing here is quite beautiful as well. There was something almost dream-like while Jay and Nigel were in Paris the first time. They seemed to float along in his haze of perfection–even the imperfect parts–that made watching them fall in love seem so sweet. But once the fog has lifted, and they go back to real life, thing become clearer, and cracks start to show where previously they had been hidden. The book was hardly perfect, but it was perfect for these two characters. Jay who lives to be on stage–in all the glamor and flash and heartbreak–and Nigel who find joy in lining up numbers and creating order. They are opposites, but in that they fill the gaps that they have left in themselves. When they are apart it is clear something is missing, but when they are together…nothing is more perfect.
I’m having trouble coming up with much that I didn’t like about this book. Yes, I wish that Nigel had listened better, or that Jay had explained sooner, but I don’t think this would have been as good of a story if either of those things had happened before they did. And I certainly don’t know if I would have loved Nigel nearly as much, if he didn’t have the chance to say was he said during that last meeting with his boss.
This was very much a ‘happy sigh ending’ type of book. What angst there was was minimal–and important to the story–and the tension between these two, as well as the rest of the world’s expectations, made it a wholly enjoyable story to read. Plus I just loved the setting of this book. I don’t get very many chances to read stories set in the early 1900’s so this was a joy to find. I totally recommend this book if you love historicals, cross-dressing, and two men who are perfect for each other.
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