Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: A Fashionable Indulgence
SERIES: A Society of Gentlemen #1
AUTHOR: K.J. Charles
PUBLISHER: Loveswept
LENGTH: 264 pages
BLURB:
In the first novel of an explosive new series from K. J. Charles, a young gentleman and his elegant mentor fight for love in a world of wealth, power, and manipulation.
When he learns that he could be the heir to an unexpected fortune, Harry Vane rejects his past as a Radical fighting for government reform and sets about wooing his lovely cousin. But his heart is captured instead by the most beautiful, chic man he’s ever met: the dandy tasked with instructing him in the manners and style of the ton. Harry’s new station demands conformity—and yet the one thing he desires is a taste of the wrong pair of lips.
After witnessing firsthand the horrors of Waterloo, Julius Norreys sought refuge behind the luxurious facade of the upper crust. Now he concerns himself exclusively with the cut of his coat and the quality of his boots. And yet his protégé is so unblemished by cynicism that he inspires the first flare of genuine desire Julius has felt in years. He cannot protect Harry from the worst excesses of society. But together they can withstand the high price of passion.
REVIEW:
“What do you want?”
“I don’t know!” Harry yelped. “I want to be a gentleman but I can’t help feeling like a radical. I want to please my grandfather, but the things he says make me wretched. I want to be loyal to Silas, God knows he was to me, but I don’t want to be dirty and hungry and poor ever again. I don’t know what I want, and I can’t possibly do what everyone wants of me.”
At the age of twelve, Harry and his parents fled from England. With warrants out for their arrest, they could no longer stay in the country and continue their work for the equality and rights of the working people of England. Now, years later, Harry is back–his parents having died while still on the continent–and is working in a bookshop run by a friend of his late parents. When a fancy lawyer starts coming ’round, Harry fears that their secret and illegal work has be discovered and they are all about to be dragged off in chains.
It was a rather big surprise to instead find himself made heir to his grandfather and thrust into the society of the ton. With the help of his cousin’s friend, Julius Norreys, Harry sets out to become the model gentleman. But his past, his morals, and his growing attraction to the beautiful Julius, seem determined to trip him up at every step.
This book was not what I was expecting. No matter how many times I pick up a book by K.J. Charles, I am always pleasantly surprised by what I find inside. Yes, this was a good romance–I would hardly expect anything less–but the way she used history to shape the story into something larger is impressive. And the fact that it is a part of history that rarely gets touched on in historical romances of this era made it all the better.
Touching on the lives of those not gifted with money or high station, this book shows us a glimpse of England we rarely get to see. Sedition, traitorous pamphlets, the fight for more power and rights for those denied such simply by their place in an aristocratic system–it was all so very fascinating. I don’t know much about the political struggles of this time period, and what I do is rather suspect since most of came from various entertainment programs, but seeing the flip side of English life in the early 1800’s made this story more complex than the stories I usually read.
Because Harry, for all his claims that he is not a radical, is very much the product of his upbringing. When mixed with his desire to be part of Julius’ world, Harry becomes a character constantly torn in two. While there were certainly times when I wanted to strangle some sense (of self-preservation) into the man–especially when he went and visited Silas–how I would have hated to seem him lose that part of himself. The conflict inside him is what makes him so great.
Through him we are shown a larger picture of the world he lives in. The decadence and the depravity–and how one is never far form the other.
Silas had had a lot to say about that, he recalled, as Alvanley gave him a pleasant nod and turned to jab an amused finger at Julius’s waistcoat. Bitter words on men who gambled gigantic sums while others starved. He’d called them bloated leeches, murderers by proxy, gargantuan bellies that consumed the country and shat it out. These were those men. This was a Tory club, where the men of conservative, traditional beliefs gathered, the people his parents and Silas had battled. They looked, to Harry’s wine-dazed eyes, like a set of jolly good fellows.
This is not simply a romance–though the romantic relationship between Julius and Harry is truly a thing that must be seen. It is more than just a story of two men in love. Yet it is as simple as that as well. Simple as two men who meet, fall in love, and have to make a choice as to where they will stand: together or alone.
It never goes where I think it will, this story. What tied me up in knots of expectation and dread were actually never the things I expected. I most certainly didn’t see the ending coming. To be honest, it was a very tense ride, this story. Constantly falling for Harry and Julius is so many small ways, and then having this ticking clock in the background just waiting for it to explode.
In the end, it was all worth it. The pain, the trepidation, the waiting–by the last scene I knew it was worth it. These are the best kind of stories. The kind that make you think without even realizing what is happening or how you are being twisted around. Stories that don’t take the easy way out. Stories that made you earn the HEA. This is the kind of story that you want again and again.
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