Rating: 4 stars
Gareth Inglis was abandoned by his father when he was about six years old, sent to live with his uncle, who clearly didn't much care for him. Now he works as a clerk in his uncle's company but dislikes his job. When his father suddenly dies, Gareth becomes a baronet and inherits a home in Romney Marsh, a remote area on the coast. There he discovers that he has a half-sister whom he'd never previously heard of (who'd also never heard of him) and that neither the young lady nor her aunt, his father's housekeeper and former mistress have been left a penny. Gareth promises to do right by the women, who in their own way were also abandoned by his father.
Being a gentleman of leisure agrees with Gareth, who never really liked living in London. He spends his days trying to figure out his father's finances and reading through his research into local flora and fauna. Soon he finds himself rambling, trying to explore the nature his father loved so much. While Gareth very much disapproves of law-breaking and smuggling, his housekeeper calmly informs him that such things are a way of life in Kent, especially in Romney Marsh, where the Doomsday smuggling clan controls pretty much everything. Once Gareth finds himself about to testify in court against a young woman he witnessed smuggling one evening, he finds himself threatened with blackmail by a former lover, a handsome man he only ever knew as Kent back in London.
Kent is in fact Joss Doomsday, the de-facto leader of the Doomsday clan, who is not about to let his sister get convicted of smuggling. He didn't really want to confront his former lover in a public courthouse, but having tried to contact Gareth by messenger earlier and being rebuffed, he didn't have much choice. Gareth is naturally rather embarrassed and angry about the whole thing, and it takes quite a bit of apologising from Joss before they become friendly, and then more.
Obviously, there are a number of obstacles in the way of Joss and Gareth's eventual happy ending. Gareth is fiercely law-abiding, and Joss basically makes his living illegally. There is also the class difference, not to mention their love for each other being seen as a crime. Gareth's father was apparently up to nefarious things before he died, and now a rival smuggling band keeps threatening him and his family. Gareth's uncle and odious cousin show up to visit him, making it obvious that they were also involved in the underhanded dealings somehow, and Gareth and Joss have a hell of a time sorting dealing with no-good uncles and all sorts of shenanigans.
KJ Charles is an excellent writer, and I very much enjoyed this historical romance. According to an overeager publisher, this is Bridgerton meets Poldark in a sweeping LGBTQIA+ Regency Romance. I'll give you the Poldark, at least a bit, but this is pretty far from the drawing rooms of Julia Quinn's Bridgerton novels - but everything set in the Regency era now gets the Brigerton description. I'd also not really call it sweeping. Who gets paid to come up with these tag lines, anyway?
Judging a book by its cover: I really like the shade of blue on the background and the little borders with plants and various wild animals are a nice touch considering how taken Gareth is with all the nature on the Marsh.
Crossposted on Cannonball Read
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