Reviews tagging 'Sexual content'

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles

83 reviews

jess_justmaybeperfect's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny reflective tense fast-paced

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

5.0

In Book 1 of The Doomsday Books by KJ Charles, The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen, we meet Sir Gareth Inglis, the reluctant baronet, & Mr. Joss Doomsday, leader of the Doomsday smuggling clan. Gareth (“London”) and Joss (“Kent”) have a week long love affair ended by Gareth in a moment of panic and heartbreak. Soon enough, in a courtroom of all places, they cross paths again and their reconnection begins.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen is an interracial, gay, second chance, rivals to lovers, class differences, found family, mystery fueled, and adventurous romance. These two and their late night meetings to tryst or go hunting for cool beetles, or both (!!) learn love, trust, kindness, and devotion together. 

Highlight: even though both men have numerous awful family members Gareth’s step-aunt/housekeeper and Joss’s grandfather provide a tremendous amount of support for and understanding of their relationship. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Death of parent, and Abandonment

Minor: Racism and Slavery

carbs666's review against another edition

emotional funny hopeful 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

4.0

This book was extremely cute! It reminded me a lot of a Cat Sebastian book - a colorful cast of characters with a flexible morality, some light criminal activity, a total nerd making a total badass fall in love with him, bugs, family intrigue, etc. I rly liked the dynamic between Joss and Gareth, and I enjoyed watching them grow and change over the course of the book. Gareth learning to stand up for himself while still relying in his friends and family for help when he needs it; Joss learning that he doesn't always know best and that help is most appreciated when it's offered, not assumed or forced. Overall this book was very cute and I am looking forward to the rest of the series! 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content and Violence

Moderate: Sexual assault

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

kenneth07's review against another edition

adventurous emotional mysterious 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

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual content

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

cheye13's review against another edition

adventurous 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? It's complicated

4.0

I picked this up for a cozy silly time and that's what I got for the first two thirds. Then it spiraled into a Peaky Blinders-esque crime thriller genre and I gotta say, while I was not disappointed, I was also not prepared. While I didn't end on the cozy note I was hoping for, that last portion did have me turning pages like crazy and did make for a fun read.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, Blood, and Kidnapping

Moderate: Homophobia, Torture, Violence, Medical content, and Murder

Minor: Rape, Slavery, Grief, and Pregnancy

- There is understated threat of blackmailing both main characters with homosexual/sodomy allegations throughout the book

- Because semi-organized crime is a large part of the plot, there is violence and threats of violence throughout

- There is a torture scene, which is detailed but brief, consisting primarily of threats and culminating in a drowning attempt

- There are mentions of a past rape and veiled threats of rape

- The child abuse happens largely off-page, but the results are quite detailed, and it ultimately culminates in a knifing attempt

garbage_mcsmutly's review against another edition

emotional hopeful fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

4.0

This book was quite spicy, like there were many scenes and they were all graphic. Also there was just a lot of like.... smuggler intrigue? It was sort of an action/thriller but without the action? IDK how to describe it. The relationship between the MCs was realistic and tender and just really nice.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Bullying, Sexual content, and Abandonment

Moderate: Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Gun violence, Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, and Classism

Minor: Physical abuse, Racism, Rape, Dementia, Death of parent, War, and Injury/Injury detail

capriqueen's review against another edition

adventurous emotional 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? No

4.0

I wish we’d gotten a bit more set up in the beginning to feel more invested, but I got invested later anyway and the relationship was sweet. I really love Charles’ prose, there were several lines that I had to reread because I loved them so much, and the wit is so funny too

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Sexual content, Violence, and Classism

Moderate: Death of parent

Minor: War

kaneebli's review

emotional funny lighthearted mysterious medium-paced

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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Murder, Abandonment, and Classism

Moderate: Outing

Minor: Adult/minor relationship, Incest, Rape, Slavery, and Pregnancy

overthinkereading's review

I read Secret Lives as a recommended title for a Kindle reading challenge prompt.

I did like the story, it was easy to care about these characters, and the Gothic Regency-with a side of mystery vibes made for an enjoyable read.

That said, as a proponent of Own Voices literature, it bears noting that the author of this M/M romance is not a queer male.

CW: sexual content; violence (including against children); blood; kidnapping; murder/attempted murder

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, Sexual content, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder