Reviews with content warning for Kidnapping - An Unnatural Vice

I'm not a storyteller, that's not a thing my mind is set up to do. Reading hundreds of books does not place in me any desire to write my own stories. But sometimes I read a tale which is so artfully crafted that I'm in awe of how it's put together. AN UNNATURAL VICE by KJ Charles is one such book. I care about story structure, characterization by dialogue and internal thoughts, awareness of political/class forces, and intricacies of relationships. I'm interested in cults, con artists, and how twins are portrayed in stories. This has it all, the only thing it's missing to be my perfect story would be a heist or forced proximity, and it gets pretty close to that second one. I have reasons to think the third book will focus more on twins, so I'll save some deeper thoughts for that one.

AN UNNATURAL VICE is excellently crafted, as perfect of a middle book for a trilogy, as I could possibly think of from a structural perspective. It's a gay romance of opposites attracting and Nathaniel finding new love after a long period of mourning. As the second book of a trilogy, it provides a specific answer to something left open in the previous book, specifically, the formerly unknown heir to Clem’s father’s title. It has a new storyline involving Justin as a spiritualist, and his involvement with Nathaniel (which has a bit of a rocky start). A recent re-read of the first book prompted me to notice the ways that Justin’s existence is hinted at there, with the timelines of the two books having some overlap in the early stages. There have been several murders so far in the series, and no clear answer on who is orchestrating them. This is specifically mentioned towards the end of this book, with the implication that it’ll be resolved in the next one.

Does it make sense to start here? - As always with the middle book of a trilogy, begin with the first one, and don’t try to start here. The specific romance, plot line could make sense without the other books, but things like why the search for the heir even matters were established in the first book through the perspective of someone much closer to the issue than either Justin or Nathaniel are. As narrators, Nathaniel and Justin are very distinct from Clem and Rowley from AN UNSEEN ATTRACTION, though Nathaniel is consistent with how he appeared in the first book. Part of what reinforces this is that some scenes from the first book appear in abbreviated form here, but retold from Nathaniel's perspective. In these cases, the dialogue matches, but his internal monologue is often very different from how Rowley or Clem had perceived the same moments.

There’s a lot of very cool worldbuilding detail related to Victorian spiritualism and séances, explaining just enough of the tricks to keep the series out of the realm of fantasy, but not giving away all of the mysteries. One of the main conflicts in this book is between Nathaniel’s position as a journalist with a distaste for fraud, but a fascination in the person that is Justin, where Justin is a spiritualist, who has no reason to trust that something could be offered without expecting anything in return. Justin‘s existence up until now has been mostly transactional, for good or for it but mostly for ill. He tells rich people that they can contact their deceased loved ones, and doesn't feel bad for taking their money.

The way this book is handled makes me like the first one even more than I did originally, as this reveals the significance of several things which were present, but not emphasized. I’m very excited to read the next book, if it’s anything like this than this may become one of my favorite trilogies in recent years.

Content Warnings

wardenred's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I asked for a floor to sleep on, that’s all. You set off to save my life, and now you’re taking me to the family home. Why?

My favorite installment in this series, and the whole reason I've decided to re-read it. Perhaps it would even be fair to say this is one of my favorite romances, period. I love stories where there are very real barriers between the romantic leads, and they still gravitate toward each other and then work—on their relationship, but especially on themselves—to dismantle those barriers. I love seeing people change their lives for the better, not for somebody, but for themselves first; making changes to include the other person because being together makes them happier, but not overhauling their lives for the sake of a relationship. Because there's a line there, not even a particularly fine one where I'm concerned, but it so often gets blurred. Not in this book, there. Here, it's acknowledged and placed front and center and I'm very much here for it.

Also, Nathaniel and Justin's enemies-to-lovers dynamic and chemistry are just so well done altogether, outside of all those other aspects. The way they both really see each other, underneath all the incompatible values; the way what they're seeing becomes more important than the incompatibilities; the way Nathaniel does his best to understand; the way Justin discovers safe ways to be vulnerable—I loved reading all of this.

Also, unlike the first book in the series, the next part of the overarching mystery that unfolds here blends beautifully with the romantic storyline. The two plots are constantly interwoven, all the mystery developments pushing the romance forward, and all the romance changes affecting how the mystery/intrigue plot plays out directly. Absolutely a great read.

Content Warnings

20sidedbi's review

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adventurous emotional funny hopeful mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Liked this book much better than the first in the series.

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