Reviewed by Chris

TITLE:  A Seditious Affair

SERIES:  Society of Gentlemen #2

AUTHOR:  K.J. Charles

PUBLISHER:  Loveswept Publishing

LENGTH:  251 pages

BLURB:  

K. J. Charles turns up the heat in her new Society of Gentlemen novel, as two lovers face off in a sensual duel that challenges their deepest beliefs.
 
Silas Mason has no illusions about himself. He’s not lovable, or even likable. He’s an overbearing idealist, a Radical bookseller and pamphleteer who lives for revolution . . . and for Wednesday nights. Every week he meets anonymously with the same man, in whom Silas has discovered the ideal meld of intellectual companionship and absolute obedience to his sexual commands. But unbeknownst to Silas, his closest friend is also his greatest enemy, with the power to see him hanged—or spare his life.

A loyal, well-born gentleman official, Dominic Frey is torn apart by his affair with Silas. By the light of day, he cannot fathom the intoxicating lust that drives him to meet with the Radical week after week. In the bedroom, everything else falls away. Their needs match, and they are united by sympathy for each other’s deepest vulnerabilities. But when Silas’s politics earn him a death sentence, desire clashes with duty, and Dominic finds himself doing everything he can to save the man who stole his heart.

REVIEW:  

Merry Christmas, everyone!!!!!!

Before I go on about this (awesome) book, I just wanted to take the chance to say that I hope everyone is having a great holiday season. Or, at least, you are not currently in the middle of hiding the bodies of dead relatives who have finally gone Too Far (mostly because if that is the case you really need to be focusing on finding that shovel, not reading book reviews).

Anyways, Happy Holidays, and try not to get too drunk, too mad, or eat all the pie at once (sneaky 2am pie is the best kind of pie).

I was expecting a whole hell of a lot out this book. After the book problems I had last week I was pretty much demanding it. While it is probably not fair to put all my baskets into this one apple, or ask it to fix all my book woes, I was fairly confident that K.J. Charles would meet my every need. And despite the fact that I spent pretty much the entire book in a constant state of panic over what in all the gods’ names was Charles going to do to Silas, I was truly and thoroughly charmed.

Silas and Dominic are the epitome of Opposites Attracting. By all rights, their class, their beliefs, their politics…all of it, all of it should have damned them to a quick, if probably explosive, end. Not that there are a shortage of explosions between them anyways. But for some reason they are bound together in a way that defies logic and probably a good dose of common sense.

The fact that Silas and Dom push and pull at each other–with very few gains or losses on either side–is one of the things that makes this book so compelling. They are both so bloody opinionated and bull headed. Silas believes wholeheartedly in his fight against the tirany of the upperclasses. Dominic believes just as strongly in the idea of rule and order. Neither one will bow to the other…well, not in politics, at least.

In the bedroom that is an entirely different matter. I loved (in the gooey/shuddery/shivery way) the way that Dominic and Silas move inside their relationship. The way that Silas demands everything of Dominic…and the way that Dominic makes him fight for ever little bit of his submission. There is not a lot of heavy BDSM in this book, but the Domination and submission is brilliantly written. And I adore how this aspect of Dom’s personality is played out in his (contentious) relationship with Richard.

And speaking of Richard. I do believe the lord doth protest too much. I think that the lord protests so much that it is pretty bloody obvious he needs to get over his issues and let his valet bugger the stick right out of his ass.  (But we will have to wait till book three for that story)

Much like book one in this series, the historical aspects of this book were fascinating. I love learning about these odd tidbits of English history that never really get mentioned at all to those not going out of their way to study them. The fact that K.J. Charles takes the time to make these stories come to life around these historical events is just something I admire and am thankful for. It takes this story to a whole ‘nother level, and made these characters’ struggles all the more real.

Not much of a shock that I’m saying this was a great book, because it is usually what happens when you pick up one of Charles’ book. But I will say that this book and this series really does standout amount the historical romance crowd, and is well worth all the stars I can give it.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Loveswept

Amazon

ARe