A thoroughly satisfying ending to the series. Charles always surprises me with managing to tie everything up into a happy ending by taking the most surprising route to get there. I had my expectations about how this book would go and once again, they were blown out of the water.

I loved Pen and Mark separately as characters and together as a couple, I liked how there was more going on in the plot than the relationship between the two of them but the romance played an important part in the book as well. Pen being nb (not sure whether he would use genderqueer or genderfluid so I'll stick with nonbinary) was done really well and I love how Mark handled it, no assumptions, just straight out asking. There was a line in Pen's POV where he talks about how he could have told Mark he wanted to fly to the moon and it would have been received with the same unflappable practicality and I loved that bit because it showed just how much Pen liked that about him and linked well with what we knew about Mark's character from previous books. I liked how Pen wanting to be who he was, as well as his love of trapeze, was what was standing in his way to accepting being an Earl and all that it entails. Equally, I enjoyed how Greta was the practical one who had been thinking about the future even if her brother hadn't.

The minor nitpick I had was I felt like Mark and Pen said 'I love you' a little too quickly considering how long they had known each other, but I liked the obstacles the two of them had to get past on the way and how they handled what Mark did and why he did it.

I wouldn't be able to say how the representation was handled, in terms of Pen being nb and Mark having one arm, but it felt like it was respectful and the two characters were fully fleshed out, rather than just stereotypes or caricatures.

Seeing the other characters from Pen and Mark's POV was great, especially Clem, and as soon as I finished this book, I wanted to go back and reread the whole series again. A really satisfying series and one I would definitely recommend.

"<i>You know, people tell you a lot of things about how the world is or ought to be, but it's mostly bollocks. Bishops and barristers bleat on about the laws of nature, but.. well, fire burns, and if you drop a thing it falls, and after that I reckon everything's up for debate. I'm not going to tell anyone how they should be.</i>"

I did the happiest of happy dances when I got approved on this title. Book two remains, hands-down, my favourite but AN UNSUITABLE HEIR has a very satisfying end for the series, which I think all readers can appreciate as it doesn't always pan out that way, and features an absolutely exquisite portrayal of a gender queer individual. One doesn't have anything to do with the other but having both rolled into one was just the best.

"<i>A lot of people think it's odd.</i>"
"<b>Well, a lot of people are arseholes.</b>"

I'm no stranger to Charles and I'm no stranger to loving her books. <i>Sins of the Cities</i> was a fabulous series in the sense that we're given one main conflict, which we learn over the course of book one, and which the following two books show other angles of that same situation and the fallout of events. Each featuring a new couple while the other characters flit in and out as required.

<i>Lazarus was slippery, dishonest, and not the sort of character you'd think Nathaniel would mix with in a hundred years, but he was also bright as a button and sharp as a tack and, Mark had to admit, looked like a magnificently filthy fuck, so that probably explained Nathaniel's attack of chivalry right there.</i> <-- no real reason for this quote, I'm just so so trash for that ship and honestly I'll take any excuse to think of AN UNNATURAL VICE because that book still haunts me. ahem, back to this one, though..

We've had the autistic bastard of an Earl and an Indian woman paired with his bookish taxidermist neighbour; we've had the grief-stricken journalist match-up with the conniving Seer he's sent to investigate; and now the one-armed enquiry agent finds his person in one half of a trapeze artist duo who dresses like a man and a woman, is neither and yet both, and who is at the heart of all the murder, mystery and mayhem that has run rampant around them all.

<i>People tended either to see the long hair and the way he often dressed and decide he was womanish, or to see the broad shoulders and bulging biceps and conclude he was a fine strong man. They were all wrong, and he was so tired of trying to explain why.</i>

I could probably spend countless words going on about how wonderfully complex, yet not at all, Pen was. How sometimes he fit his body, even if he wanted to put paint on his eyes or wear golden hooped earrings, and other days the sight of his masculine hands and the strength of his jaw made him dizzy with despair that it didn't fit how he felt inside, how he couldn't change the parts he was born with -- and wouldn't want to -- and how making himself up half and half, sometimes more one than the other, was exactly right and exactly him. And how this was both stunning to read about and also heartbreakingly beautiful; heartbreaking because of those times he was confined to a role he didn't always agree with. Heartbreaking because of those who wanted to change who he was, who judged him for every little difference. Everyone but Mark.

"<i>He's only got one arm.</i>"
"<b>I can see why--</b>"
"<i>Don't say it. Don't you dare say it or I'll drop you on the stalls.</i>"
"<b>I can see why you think--</b>"
"<i>Greta, I'm <b>warning </b> you.</i>"
"<b>I can see why you think he's 'armless!</b>"

Mark was such a fascinating character in his own right, too. The plain penny to Pen's colourful tuppence, he was an easygoing and straightforward man who liked everything. Men, women, men who wore dresses, women who wore trousers, he was fluid and malleable in a way that complemented Pen's own changes in feeling or desire. But I loved how he asked Pen what he want, how he felt, how to treat him, how to speak to him, and listened, always listened. Having recently read a book about a character who was gender fluid, and seen only the briefest amount of time touching on that fact and what it meant, these conversations, this dialogue, were so important to see. Because if you won't make it part of the story, why even include it? Reading is for fun, for pleasure, for turning off your brain, but it should also be for tuning <b>in</b>.

<i>Mark had always said he wasn't fussy, and believed that was true. [..] He'd liked everything, which made it fine that he'd loved nothing. And now he'd met unique, irreplaceable, extraordinary Pen, and it turned out Mark was the fussiest man in the world.</i>

As for the story that began in AN UNSEEN ATTRACTION and was brought to a close in book three, it wasn't exactly a wild ride but it was definitely a dark and dangerous one, sprinkled with countless misdeeds, mistreatments, manipulations and murder. And I was definitely thrown for a bit of a loop near the end. Charles fed us something of a red herring and I was totally blindsided by it. I fell, hook line and sinker, and I totally admit to my folly. But that's okay! It was a great end and.. well, the <b>end</b> of it all, the resolution to everything, was just bloody perfection for everyone involved. It was the neatest of bows and I'm just such a happy little duck (snort) about it.

"<i>I feel right with you, Mark. And I know it's right, because I spend quite a lot of my life feeling wrong and I can tell the difference.</i>"

I'm sad to see the end of this series but also pretty damn satisfied all around. While we focused on Mark and Pen, because of all the loose ends needing to be.. well, tied up, we get a goodly few group interactions of all characters together. Nathaniel and Justin are, of course, definitely my favourite of the couples and so every scene with them, specifically Justin, was a delight but I'll confess that Clem kind of won me over in this one, too. He was my least favourite part of book one but he was much easier to bear (and, as a result, dearer to my heart) as he helped Pen navigate some of the world he was unexpectedly thrust into.

"<i>I don't think anyone except Greta has ever seen me before. They all see what they want.</i>"
"<b><i>I</i> want. I'm not a philanthropist, mate. I want you all the time.</b>"
"<i>But you want <b>me</b>. Not me as a man or a woman, or me without the difficult parts. Just me.</i>"

Mark's practicality and, I guess you could say, easygoing nature didn't always give him an overabundance of personality but he was the perfect steadying balance to Pen and his general awe and delight in the other man was so sweet and so wonderful to see.

<i>Pen was all air and fire, born to laugh, and to fly.</i>

I honestly don't know what more I can say about this book, or this series, or this author. Except that I constantly find myself with <b>so much</b> to say every time I turn the final page on one of her books, and.. well. I think that's telling. But if you want me to spell it out, here it is : this is a writer I will never tire of and will always recommend.

4.25 "did you just drink to the fall of the British Empire?" / "I was brought up in bad ways" stars

Book Review


Impressions

An understanding of the communication of emotions comes easy in this taste-filled read.

As with previous readings of this author I’m yet again enamored of the descriptive language that makes me part of the world of a London in the 1800’s. This monochrome moral view of ethics and odd predications reminds that our world has not advanced but an inch, made so painfully clear in K.J. Charles writings. I’ve become an unapologetic fan.

The author allows this reader to slip so effortlessly into the period. It’s the coming to know and the growing appreciation of people with odd predilections that makes this a delightfully and wonderful journey. They become preferred to the normal.

There’s twist and turns that center on the mounting love and slow surging heat between two unlikely lovers. Weaving together the ambiance that brings all this together in a wondrous telling is where this author shines best, in my opinion.

This read is just as wonderful as its precursor. Another treatise about the wondrous eccentricities and outward expressions of the gilded gifted.

Hanging Sword Alley and Justin Lazarus and Nathaniel Roy was the opener to a close that is spectacular. This is the sequel to An Unnatural Vice.

Awakening

“Oh, I know. You look at people and you see a boring clerk, just another man in a suit. Or you see someone with one arm, and the one arm is all you see. Or even” – he indicated himself – “you see a man. And it looks like it’s real because it’s what we see, but there’s so much wonder on the inside. As if you had a plain packing crate and it was filled with silks and Persian rugs and things that would spill out and make everything beautiful, if only you took the trouble to open it. Do you see what I mean?” – Pen to Mark, An Unsuitable Heir

Story/Plot/Conflict
Poor Emmeline Godfrey appears in the parlor of clever “Mystic Martha” better known as London Seer Justin Lazarus. She’s looking for her runaway twins. Fast forward, almost a decade later and they are the Flying Starlings, gifted aerialist that seduce hearts while freeing the spirit. But here’s where the story takes an ugly twist.

There’s murder, intrigue and ugly torture afoot and it all centers around the lovely male known as Pen (Repentant) Godfrey Starling, he is the lost heir.

With “womanish” good looks and a penchant to ignore the sexual norms dictated by society, he is the outlandish with a kind heart and free soul. Pen and his sister Greta resist the moral dictates of their world to carve out their own ways. Unknown to the twins their independence outside of societal norms carries a price that’s paid by others. Death and greed haunts their every step.

My Main Characterizations

The Flying Starlings
Lord Moreton Earl Repentance Taillefer (Repentance Godfrey, Pen Starling) his happiness became defined by the trapeze and the love of a one armed detective. Their mutual passion was at first sight and lasting with a love that seemed created just for them.

Regret Taillefer (Godfrey, Greta Starling) as her twin brother Pen’s aerial partner in the Flying Starlings she understands his true heart and loves her brother completely. She’d do anything for….Pen.

Mark Braglewicz is the clever rustic one-armed detective that falls in love with Repentant (Pen) Godfrey, the missing heir. Mark becomes part of Pen’s soul and his deepening love. Their passion and shared heat is unapologetic. They learn almost too late how to fight to keep it safe and forever.

Critiques
Put simply…this is good stuff and a good read. Thank you K.J. Charles

This was a fantastic intriguing romantic mystery. Hired to ferret out the missing heir to an earldom Mark is a man on a mission to help a friend and try to make sure that the heir the new Earl is not murdered. Pen Starling is an acrobat and unaware of his true lineage. When Pen and Mark meet sparks fly and they find themselves falling in love. With an Earldom on the line and a killer on the loose Mark and Pen have to find out what is more important to them and fight for a future.

An Unsuitable Heir, the final novel in K.J. Charles' Sins of the Cities series, was a sensational, unputdownable conclusion, filled to the brim with murder, scandal, sexual tension, and two unconventional men finding love and acceptance in 19th century Britain.

It is easy for me to say that An Unsuitable Heir is my favourite K.J. Charles novel. The stunning conclusion was everything I wanted in the novel and more, and I closed the book with a massive smile on my face. Charles has outdone herself in weaving together three different couples and story arcs, all converging on An Suitable Heir, resolving the clandestine plot that has been simmering since the first book, and concluding the journeys for our favourite characters.

The main characters in this novel, Pen and Mark, are wonderfully complex characters that the reader will quickly fall for. Charles has raised the bar for all other historical and m/m authors out there with the characterisation of Pen, the first genderqueer character I have had the pleasure of reading. I can't tell you how exciting it is to read an historical novel where the characters weren't straight, white, and/or wealthy. Charles has proven that there is not only a demand for characters like Pen, but that all manner of lgbtqiap+ people DID, in fact, exist throughout history, and it is wrong to try to erase them from narratives - as so often happens, especially in Romance.   

Pen is genderqueer - some days he feels comfortable in his male body, and other days he doesn't, and Charles expertly handles Pen's feelings over his identity, without being disrespectful. Although he knows who he is inside, Pen struggles to get close to anyone, aside from his twin sister, because he cannot come to terms with his identity. That is until he meets Mark, the man who has been searching for him for weeks, and who is also pansexual.

Reading a pansexual character almost brought tears to my eyes, because it is such a rarity to read about someone you can relate to. Mark is the most compassionate, understanding character I have ever come across, not just in Romance, but in all literature. He constantly asks Pen where he would like to be touched, whether there is a pronoun that Pen prefers, or which identity he responded to each day. Mark was born with one forearm missing, and is considered by the general society as to be disabled, but Mark proves all of them wrong time and time again, and like Pen, slowly learns to let someone in and see the real him. 

The plot is simply ingenious. Reading this novel, I was practically perched on the edge of my seat, desperately trying to figure out how Charles would tie up all the loose ends, and still give us a happily ever after. As usual, Charles does not disappoint and wraps up the mystery in such a way that the reader will never be able to guess. But the conclusion of the novel is by far the best part of the entire series, which I know will stay with me for a long time. 

An Unsuitable Heir is one of K.J. Charles' best novels and I am making it my life's mission to ensure as many people read this amazing series as possible. Pen and Mark are remarkable characters who are unapologetically themselves. Their dynamic is loving and healthy, and the respect they show one another is incredibly touching. I can't recommend this book enough, but do yourselves a big favour, and read the other books in the glorious series, Sins of the Cities.

5 stars! Amazing, beautiful, fantastic-- everything I wanted from the last in this triology! Pen and Mark were just so adorable together, and I loved seeing Mark's thoughts on the characters we already fell in love with during the first two books. Pen is the first genderfluid (to use a modern term) character I've read as the lead in a romance novel, and I absolutely adored him. I will be recommending this series to everyone I know.

This is my first book that I've read by K.J. Charles, despite so many rave reviews of the author. It is also an incredibly hard book to review.

Clearly, the technical aspects of the writing are intact. On top of that, K.J. is no slouch where it comes to historical knowledge and laws of inheritance etc. This book had some of my favourite moments where characters like Pen and Tim actually said outright what I was hoping they would say to the dastardly and just plain unpleasant characters such as Phineas and Desmond.

At the same point, though, it was a very difficult read for someone who identifies outside of the gender binary. The idea of being pulled into an earldom in these times, to be told to cut their hair to suit what is 'appropriate' for no other reason than its inherent and assumed appropriateness was difficult for me to parse. It didn't work on me when I was hearing that kind of thing as a child, and it doesn't feel any better to see as an adult.

Pen doesn't identify as male or female. These days we'd call them non-binary, but obviously that is something that has come more recently. Pronouns used for Pen within the book, likely because of this, are always male as opposed to neutral. Although I understood all of this, it didn't make it any easier to read.

In addition to that, our romantic lead, Mark, is an amputee with only one arm. I understand that many people were excited to see a book with Mark as the lead character, and he was charming, to be sure. Definitely he understood Pen most out of everyone. I did love most of their interactions. Except.

I did not like the way that Pen identifying outside of the gender binary was compared directly with physical disability. I could see where K.J. was trying to go with that, but it didn't work as a viable comparison to me.

In conclusion, I had many mixed feelings about this book, but it wasn't enough to steer me clear from trying another book by this author in the future. I might just steer clear from any of their historical novels regarding trans or non-binary protagonists.

SPOILER: IT ALL WORKS OUT IN THE END

I didn't know how it would until it did, and I didn't know who did it until just a couple pages before the reveal so I still got to feel just a little bit clever. And for everyone else like me who spends way too much time worrying about the financial security of fictional characters: also, all doing fine.

I can't even describe how amazing it feels to have a genderqueer protagonist in my historical romance. It just feels Right, like setting into place something that should have been visible all along. I'm trying to put together a thought on how in a queer romance series, even when there's a club or some sort of community, it's full of the kinds of people you'd expect to be main characters—mostly cis, mostly white, all fit and able-bodied—and here we have the Jack & Knave, full of the kind of people I actually see in MY queer community, because isn't the point of queer romance (or shouldn't the point be?) to have a place for the people who don't look like capital-P-protagonists to have a voice and take the lead in their own stories. (ALSO QUEER PEOPLE HAVE BEEN HERE ALL ALONG QUEERING UP UR HISTORIES)

Also, I'm just gonna leave this quote here:
“He’s ordinary and plain and not—not enormously interesting, if you were to ask me, and Greta looks at him and sees fireworks. It’s glorious when you think about it, isn’t it? You look at people and you see a boring clerk, just another man in a suit. Or you see someone with one arm, and the one arm is all you see. Or even—you see a man. And it looks like it’s real because it’s what we see, but there’s so much wonder on the inside. As if you had a plain packing crate and it was filled with silks and Persian rugs and things that would spill out and make everything beautiful, if only you took the trouble to open it. Do you know what I mean?”

I freely admit that I’ve been chomping at the bit to get my hands on this third and final instalment of K.J. Charles’ Sins of the Cities trilogy, eager to discover who has been violently disposing of anyone with knowledge of the missing heir to the Moreton earldom and to find out how all the pieces of the puzzle the author has so cleverly devised fit together.

Note: The books in this series could be read as standalones (although I wouldn’t advise it!), but there is an overarching plot that runs through all three, so there are spoilers in this review.

A trail of arson and murder began – literally – on the doorstep of unassuming lodging house keeper, Clem Tallyfer, when the dead, mutilated body of one of his lodgers, the drunken, foul-mouthed Reverend Lugtrout, was dumped on the front steps.  An investigation by two of Clem’s friends – journalist Nathaniel Roy and private enquiry agent, Mark Braglewicz – revealed that someone was trying to do away with anyone who knew that the Earl of Morton (Clem’s half-brother) had committed bigamy.  He entered into a marriage in his youth with a beautiful young woman of low social standing and soon abandoned her, not knowing she was pregnant. She gave birth to twins – a boy and a girl she named Repentance and Regret – who have since disappeared without trace. These facts have set in train a series of events which have led to blackmail, abduction, arson and murder; someone is killing those with any knowledge of the earl’s first marriage and is trying to find his children – most importantly his legal heir – likely with similarly nefarious intent.

In the previous book, An Unnatural Vice, we discovered that the twins – who go by Pen and Greta – have been hiding in plain sight for the past decade, earning money and acclaim as the Flying Starlings, the music-hall trapeze act Clem takes Rowley Green (the object of his affections) to see near the beginning of book one, An Unseen Attraction (hah! Clever, Ms. Charles – they’re an ‘attraction’ and are also ‘unseen’ for who they really are ;)).  Following Moreton’s death, the killer – whose identity and motivations remain unknown - steps up his attempts to find the twins, which is when Justin Lazarus, medium extraordinaire and self-proclaimed, all-round shifty bastard finds himself in big trouble. Forced to flee his home – and London – in fear for his life, when An Unsuitable Heir opens, Justin and Nathaniel Roy are hiding out at Nathaniel’s house in the country while Mark attempts to contact Pen and Greta and keep them safely hidden until such time as Pen can stake his claim to the title.

Readers of An Unnatural Vice will already know that Pen wants nothing to do with the earldom and will have some idea as to why.  Mark quickly discovers this for himself when he manages to meet up with Pen, seemingly by accident at first, and inveigles him into going for a drink.  He pretends to be unaware of Pen’s true identity, and is, for want of a better word, gobsmacked by his physicality and presence. Pen is gorgeous, with an athletic build, beautiful long hair and wears gold earrings and face paint – and Mark is captivated.  He’s a pretty no-nonsense sort of bloke, and to him, beauty is beauty in whatever shape or form it takes; Pen is beautiful and Pen is… Pen. Mark would dearly love to get to know him better, but has to remind himself that Pen is the subject of an investigation and that Pen, Greta and two of his dearest friends – Clem and Nathaniel (because of Justin) – are in danger until Pen is installed as the Earl of Moreton.

But Pen does not want to live as an earl; in fact he doesn’t want to live as a man - or rather, he doesn’t want to live ‘just’ as a man.  Because he isn’t.  Nor is he a woman.  He’s Pen. He’s a Flying Starling. He’s who he is and some days he wants to wear face paint and chiffon scarves; others he’s content to grow stubble and look in the mirror to see his large, well-muscled form and recognise himself.  I can’t claim any expertise whatsoever in this area, but I know K.J. Charles is someone who takes great pains to get things like this right and I trust her  judgement. All I can say is that her portrayal of Pen as gender-fluid is extremely well done and the way she writes him as sometimes being completely uncomfortable in his own skin and his reactions to it ring very true and made it easy for someone like me – a middle-aged, heterosexual woman – to understand his thoughts and emotions.

When Mark acts out of a need to keep Pen safe, it causes a deep rift between them; but it soon emerges that getting Pen out of London and down to the family seat at Crowmarsh might not have been the safest thing after all. A couple of ‘accidents’ point to the killer having followed the twins out of London, and while Pen’s uncle and would-be-earl, Desmond Taillefer, and his son try to downplay the threat, Clem sends Mark to the house in the hope that he will be able to get to the bottom of things and keep Pen alive.

I think it’s fair to say that An Unsuitable Heir is weighted firmly towards the mystery, which wasn’t really a problem, as I desperately wanted to know whodunnit and why.  Pen’s inner conflict – over what it would mean to live the rest of his life as someone else – is extremely well done, as is his confrontational relationship with Desmond, who regards Pen as pretty much an abomination. Fortunately, Pen’s sister Greta is very much in his corner; she’s fierce and determined, and while she freely admits that she would like to have the settled, comfortable life of the sister of an earl, she understands perfectly what being forced to become something he is not will do to Pen and is prepared to stand by him.  But all this – which is extremely insightful and well-written - means that the love-story takes a bit of a back seat and consequently feels less well-developed than those in the earlier books. That said, the pairing works well. Both Mark and Pen are different to the norm; Mark because of his disability (he was born with one arm) and Pen because of his fluid sexuality, so both of them have had to deal with prejudice and suspicion of one form or another for almost all their lives, which helps them to understand and empathise with each other.

The twists and turns of the plot make for an exciting finale, and I didn’t see the identity of the bad guy coming until shortly before the reveal.  As in the all the best sensation novels, all ends well, and we leave our heroes – all of them – safe happy and looking forward to the future.

I love the way K.J. Charles has incorporated the elements of Victorian popular fiction into her plotlines; the writing is sublime and the characters are three-dimensional people with lives of their own whom I imagine laughing over a pint or two and bantering with Phyllis at the Jack and Knave long after I’ve finished reading their stories.  Even though my final rating for An Unnatural Heir is a little lower than my grades for the other two books (principally because of the slightly underdeveloped romance) I am nonetheless recommending it and the entire Sins of the Cities trilogy very strongly.

Buy Now: A/BN/iB/K

Absolutely brilliant. Wraps up all the plot threads from the prior books and manages a believable solution to the seemingly insurmountable central conflict of the book. I'm also pleased as punch to get to read a genderqueer protaganist in a historical romance; it really makes you wonder why there haven't been more of them written already.

My goodreads review is below and will be updated closer to the release date. Right now it's mostly overjoyed screaming :)

A very satisfying ending to this series that brought all characters together again.
I really liked Mark's and Pen's dynamic and how they saw each other which made the romance my favorite part of this book. The author did a great job to show the struggle someone like Pen had in the 1870s, when there was nothing fluent whatsoever about fender roles.

Review will be posted after release day.

An Unsuitable Heir, KJ Charles

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre:LGBTQIA, Romance

KJ Charles is my favourite m/m author, and I love taking a dip back in time with her books.
This trilogy has been another fun read, and what amazes me is when in this final book little clues and things I recall from the previous two make sense now, plot lines that were secondary now fit in as major ones.

I love reading and am always in awe of just how cleverly authors wrap up a story, tie in lose ends, put everyone in the place I want them to end, when halfway through the final book I still can't see how it can be done. This trilogy has been like that with each book.

It was good to catch up with Clem once more, I love him, so gentle and unassuming but so Right all the while. His character seems like he'd be background and yet he has an inner strength to him that others lean on. He's a genuinely kind and caring man.
Julian from book two is here as well. Oh how I disliked him at the start of that but loved him by the finish, and here he's the same slick character, incredibly clever, formed by his upbringing (or lack of it), but now with Nathaniel he can work at a living that doesn't mean betraying the trust of others.
I love when that happens, he wasn't happy at what he was doing, forced into it by circumstance and now with help he can find a way forward to be proud of. That past though, the skills he learned help him here, well, help him aid Mark, Pen and Greta anyway. 
Pen and Greta, what a great pair, relied on each other for so long and have struggled so hard.
Life could be incredibly tough for people in the past, and in KJ's books some of that comes over, making me look at why people do what they do, at the struggles they have, and for anyone like Pen who doesn't fit the traditional roles society believes in, life gets really complicated. Greta understood him, few others did til Mark came along, and quiet, watchful Mark sees what Pen needs. 
Mark, he's been in earlier reads, and always seems the strong, silent type and slightly detached from issues. You get the feeling though that once his mind is set, once he decides to help he won't stop till all avenues are exhausted. But for poor Pen the result Mark needs for his friends, what need to come out into the open to save them, is the one thing that will emotionally destroy Pen.
That tears Mark up, he can't let more people die, and yet how can he condemn Pen to life in the public eye where his differences will be mocked, ridiculed and tear him apart?
I just couldn't see how it could all work out, but luckily i'm just a reader and KJ has the perfect solution for everyone, wrapped up in a very neat way.  


Stars:Five, a clever end to what seemed like an insurmountable problem and a trilogy that will join  the keepers. 

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

You could say I am a K.J. Charles fan and you wouldn’t be wrong. You could say I am a K.J. Charles super fan and you wouldn’t be wrong, not at all. You could say I am a K.J. Charles mega fan and you would see my heart-eyed expression while nodding enthusiastically. I am a fan, that’s 100% right.

What is with K.J. Charles that makes me love everything she writes? Hell if I know, that woman owns my money and me!

This third and last book of this trilogy was the perfect ending to a mystery series with characters that you can’t help but love. Each of them layers and layers of surprises and wonder. The first half of “An Unsuitable Heir” is set at the same time as the second half of the previous book. The events take place simultaneously and you see the story unfolding from a different point of view.

Mark, a man we know because he is friends with Clem and Nathaniel, is the private enquirer asked to find the heir to the Moreton fortune. By the end of “An Unnatural Vice” we know who are the twins, the children of the late Lord Moreton, children he had from his first wife, one of them male so the rightful heir. The twins are the famous Flying Starlings, trapeze artists well known among Londoners.

The real names of the twins are Repentance and Regret. What kind of woman gives those names to their children no matter how much hatred she had for their father? Of course the poor kids went by the names of Pen and Greta, much better alternatives. Greta is a great woman, strong built, she doesn’t left words unsaid, she knows what she wants, and loves her brother with all her heart. She would do anything for him.

Pen is genderfluid; he feels like a man some days and some other days she feels all woman. Mark accepts Pen and everything about Pen is precious to him. Mark is new to what Pen is and asks for directions, for explanations, for whatever may Pen feel uncomfortable. Mark is sweet and the love blooms almost immediately between them yet it doesn’t look forced or rushed. It all feels right. They have some issues along the way, with the heirloom and all but the story is set to have a happy ending so we must enjoy the journey knowing it will end the best way it can.

The infamous Fogman, the killer that’s been murdering people since book 1 is finally revealed and, surprise surprise, I didn’t see it coming. I should’ve seen it but I’ve been distracted by the romance. The romance was really nice, steamy and adorable; it has their flaws but they all know love is not perfect and they have to fight for it to work.. All the characters are trying to be comfortable in their own skin, with their own sexuality, in a world that does not go easy with people like who doesn't resemble their idea of normality.

This series is really worth your time: mystery, nobility, murders, and romance. There’s a little bit of everything and it won’t disappoint. I’m glad I got to read the ending of this story a few months before its release.

I adore this series. I love all the characters and I especially love the style of overlapping the plot from one book to the next. A serial, but with different characters, and you have to read all three to get the full plot. So well done.

Thank you Loveswept and NetGalley for the ARC!

The awaited end to this trilogy is finally out. A satisfactory ending to the story arc and all the characters involved except for the dead ones of course. Trilogies are tricky because like olympians they need to peak at the right moment. Fortunately for books this is subjective to the reader, what does not work for me will work very well for another reader. For me the first book remained the strongest. I was hooked in during the first and then got unhooked during the second and third.  Maybe it's the whole structure and method used that did not convince me. This time round the Pen’s story did not mesh into the overall story and Mark was rather of an addendum when I wanted more.

Charles is very inclusive in her writing and over and over again she has shown that she does not shy away in giving us a varied spectrum of characters. This I like, I love new perspectives, new views. However this time round I did not like the delivery so much as the writing took a soap boxish tinge. I got a lot of what Pen wasn't  but barely touched what Pen was. I think showing me Pen would have worked better for me than trying to teach me.

As the last in the series, this novel ties up all of the loose ends and explores some of the relationships between characters that the reader was left to question in earlier books. As ever this is a tightly written tale with good use of characterisation and contextualisation. The story overlaps somewhat with the other books but this is understandable given that they are different views of the same tale. Of course this book moves the story on to its completion with a largely familiar set of characters.

There is some tension and development of the story but this book focuses on the relationship between two of the central characters. Specifically the author examines gender fluidity and sensitively explores a subject that is not widely discussed or understood. The emphasis is on pro-choice and does so from a personal and societal perspective. There is always a fine line to be tread between storytelling and education and mostly the author is successful in this; however, the point did feel laboured from time to time.

The ending unravelled what seemed to be an intransigent position to provide a neat and positive conclusion. This is not only an enjoyable series but also one that could give the reader pause for thought.

4.5 stars. A great ending to an atmospheric and fascinating trilogy. This book featured a romance between a bi/pansexual enquiry agent (private detective) and a non-binary trapeze artist. As always, KJ Charles' characterization and relationship development is excellent, and the resolution of the trilogy's overarching plot is satisfying. A gripping, sexy read!

A stunning conclusion to an amazing trilogy. I can easily say this one of my favorite set of books by KJ Charles. An Unsuitable Heir was the historical gender queer romance of my dreams. The narrative wraps up the ongoing mystery in a way I didn't see coming, but that has nothing on how wonderful it was to see Pen as gender queer in a historical context. Charles, I believe, deftly handled the complicated feelings many gender queer people have about their identities (dysphoria, etc) without it being exploitative.

An Unsuitable Heir is the third and final book in K.J. Charles’ Sins in the Cities series. The book is centred around Pen and Mark. Pen (sort for Repentance) and his sister Greta (short for Regret) are trapeze artists and, as we found out in the first two books of the series, the legitimate children and heirs of an Earl. Mark is the private enquiry agent who finds them.
The first half of the book focuses on events that lead up to the big confrontation at the end of the second book. However, it doesn’t feel repetitive because we hadn’t seen this side of the story yet. This is also where the romance between Pen and Mark develop. The attraction between the two is pretty much instantaneous and it evolves into love very easily.

As always, Charles has created two complex, interesting characters. Pen doesn’t want to be an Earl because it will stop him from being himself. He doesn’t identify as a man, but not as a woman either. I like how his gender identity mirrored his identity in society. I also liked how Mark accepted him unconditionally. Mark is also an interesting character, but for me, Pen steals the show.

Compared to the first two books in this series, the plot is much more suspense-heavy, to the point where it overshadows the romance. It’s an interesting suspense plot, that kept me wondering until the end, and I especially loved the resolution, but I’m still disappointed that the romance isn’t developed as much as I would have liked.