Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles

43 reviews

cloudyworld's review against another edition

emotional relaxing medium-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

5.0

(with an extremely large longing sigh) Joss Doomsday... 💞💞

This is my favorite book of KJ Charles'; I own a bunch and have tried to read a bunch but I couldn't put this one down. It's a perfect regency-style romance that has great smut scenes and chemistry between the two main characters. Is Joss the perfect man?? You expect him to be this standoffish, jealous, overly manly prince of smugglers who kills and breaks the law with abandon but come to find out he's understanding, clever, kind and romantic prince of smugglers.... He might be my fav love interest of any book I've read this year! 

The story is cozy and funny and sexy and while I can't necessarily recommend the audio version bc the narrator's voice is really an acquired taste (and you have to speed it up to survive), this book was so good. I liked it so much I told my wife to listen to it too and actually listened to a lot of it a second time with her. Exactly the kind of romance I was looking for. This was literally a Jane Austen book if she slayed extremely hard and in a gay fashion. I saw there's another in the series with a character that is first introduced here so I'm going to have to read that one as well!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death and Homophobia

Minor: Blood and Classism

nevermoregothic's review against another edition

emotional hopeful 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

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood

Moderate: Homophobia, Murder, and Outing

Minor: Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexual assault, Slavery, and Death of parent

jess_always_reading's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.75

I absolutely loved this story. I've been reading my way through K.J. Charles's work and this is my favourite story alongside the Will Darling series. It's fun and quirky with a riveting plot line and an incredible cast of characters. The setting itself feels like a character in its own right, I love the portrayal of the marshes and the community. One of my favourite things about the story is definitely that the characters make an effort to improve their communication and grow together, it's so rarely seen and done very well. Plus, dashing smugglers, anti-imperialslism, hidden treasure, and beetle hunting! What more do you need?

11/10 would recommend!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Violence, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Classism

quiet_reader's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful inspiring mysterious reflective tense 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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Gun violence, Homophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Violence, Medical content, Kidnapping, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Alcoholism, Cursing, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Death of parent

amyteurhour's review against another edition

3.5

Content warning: homophobia, outing, classism, racism, violence, death, infidelity, neglect, abandonment, child abuse, sexism, sexual assault, kidnapping, torture

This was super steamy from the get-go. I thought the two main protagonists were likable and easy to root for. The last quarter was super tense, but it kind of ends rather abruptly. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Infidelity, Racism, Sexism, Sexual assault, Torture, Violence, Kidnapping, Outing, Abandonment, and Classism

figsofpeach's review

adventurous mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Sexual content

Minor: Death of parent and War

megnut's review

adventurous emotional mysterious tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.25

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Bullying, Child abuse, Confinement, Death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, and Murder

Minor: Kidnapping and Death of parent

rhi_'s review against another edition

adventurous mysterious fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

Moderate: Death, Homophobia, and Kidnapping

Minor: Death of parent and Sexual harassment

hex_meghead's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious tense 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

4.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Sexual content, Violence, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Sexual assault

Minor: Racism

onefineelephant's review against another edition

adventurous hopeful mysterious reflective tense fast-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

10/10. I accidentally read the second book (about Luke) first before reading this one but I'm not necessarily mad at the order since they are fairly standalone books. I do think it was an interesting perspective to have so much knowledge of Luke when he was not so much in this book until the end. Because I read the other book first, I more or less knew what was going to happen in this one but somehow I was still so surprised by the events. There is something about this author's writing style that makes me think about the characters and plot non-stop and yet also not have any idea where the story is going (in a good way). I love the genuine connection but also faults between Joss and Gareth. Their love is so wonderful, especially set in this time period. I also enjoyed the supporting characters quite a bit including the other Doomsdays and Gareth's new family. Overall, I highly recommend this book as well as the second. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Emotional abuse, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexism, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, Grief, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Outing, Alcohol, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Ableism, Alcoholism, Misogyny, Medical content, and Abandonment

There is potential incest because a cousin implies to want to court his cousin but nothing actually happens. Also, at one point there is a threat of sexual assault/rape of a woman but this threat is not made to the woman and does not actually happen.