This was a truly delightful read. I'll admit it took several chapters for it to pick up for me. This is actually my first Cat Sebastian book so it took me a minute to get into the writing style. There are also quite a few names and characters thrown at you at the very beginning, so it was hard to keep track at first. Once it took off, though, it took off! The lead-up to the robbery, rather than the actual robbery itself, is the real meat of the story and the bumbling way Kit and Percy get together is both sweet and humorous. It managed to be slow-burn without being too drawn out, and there were several laugh out loud moments with the banter and teasing between the two. I will say that I anticipated the plot twist, which to me says that the clues for it were laid out well in the story to pick up on. I would recommend this for anyone looking for a fun, high stakes but not stressful read with two low-key softies as the main pairing.

I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

I really enjoy MM romance and historical romance set in the regency era. I had not read a novel that combined the two, so I was excited by the opportunity to read The Queer Principles of Kit Webb. I wasn't disappointed. Kit, a retired highway man, and Percy, a duke's son, were both well rounded characters and I liked watching them get to know each other. They were very different people, Percy was flamboyant and Kit tried to blend in. The set up of the novel was fun, Percy tries to hire Kit for a robbery. He goes about it by watching Kit for most of a day and then following him into his office. Kit tries to ignore the flirting, but finds himself wondering about the mystery man. He also tries to turn down the job, but Percy isn't easily deterred, and keeps coming back.

I tried to read the book slowly so I could enjoy the characters and story for longer, but I read it pretty quickly. There weren't any unexpected plot twists or shocking revelations, but I was in its hold and sad to reach the end. Near the end of the novel there were a few things that took me out of the story. They were resolved, but they made me question the plot, characters, and overall story. That is why this isn't a full five stars for me.

I loved the characters. Kit was grumpy in an endearing way and Percy burrowed his way in. If you enjoy MM and Historical Romances I'd recommend you give this a try. I know I was glad I did, and I'll be looking for more novels by this author.

I'm so excited to see Cat Sebastian get the marketing push she deserves, and I think the premise here is strong--a hot retired highwayman and a hot prissy aristocrat are basically a foolproof combo--but the mystery itself is hopelessly convoluted by the end. I am interested to see where she takes the next installment of the series, and I have some ideas, but I wish she'd simplified the story here and developed the romance out a smidge more.

Delightful, charming and engaging romance between a (former) thief turned coffee shop owner and the son of a Duke. Loved the bits of mystery interwoven and since I am slow on the uptake, I didn’t have it figured out until the very end along with the characters figuring it out themselves. Great banter as well.

It does feel like the ending for some secondary characters has been left open, so whether that will be resolved in a future book or left to the reader’s imagination remains to be seen.

Thank you HarperCollins/Avon and NetGalley for the ARC!

Cat Sebastian writes great queer romance and this book is no exception. I can’t gush too much about what makes this story so special without spoiling the tale, but readers can trust Sebastian to write a romance that is equal parts sweet and spicy. Tropes of “opposites attract,” “tortured pasts” and “secret identities” mix to create a story that ticks all the classic genre boxes while also adding in some action, adventure and even a little mystery. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the slightly unfinished subplot is an opening for another book in this world.

If you're a fan of the phrase, "Be gay, do crimes," oh boy is this book for you! It's the kind of historical that feels genuine without getting the reader bogged down in details, and ahhh the romance! It'll have you shouting "JUST KISS ALREADY," every few pages. Great characters, great plot, amazing romance, I flew through this book and want more!

Such an amazing read!!! I can't wait to review this amazing book on my blog and fangirl over these amazing characters.

There are many wonderful things about Cat Sebastian's latest book. One which may not immediately come to mind is the time in which it is set - by having the action take place in the 1750s, Sebastian's prose has full leave to go all out in describing the clothes noblemen wore with their bright colors, impressive wigs, beauty patches, and sumptuous fabrics. It's not something that has featured in her novels very often, and it's a major treat here. That the clothing descriptions also do a wonderful job of giving us a full sense of the way the class system of the time functioned is a statement on just how well she does with the visuals and tying them into the rest of the story.

Plot-wise, this does feel a little more disjointed than some of Sebastian's other works, but the romance at its heart is strong. As in all of her books, Sebastian does an excellent job of showing how the characters find love for themselves as part of learning to love someone else - both Kit and Percy suffer from issues related to their pasts and what has become of loved ones, and both have talked themselves into believing that they somehow don't deserve to be happy, loved, or secure. As they fall in love with each other, they learn to see that they are greater than the sum of their past experiences, coming to terms with themselves and becoming better than they were before having met. In my mind, that's what a good romance novel should do for its characters, because if you cannot love yourself, how can you love someone else? Both Kit and Percy fulfill this beautifully, and their relationship is the most rewarding part of the novel.

There are some bits and pieces that could stand a little more explanation, but it feels as if perhaps the whole Marian piece (along with someone else who I won't name here for spoiler reasons) may be waiting for a sequel, in which case I'll rescind my complaints. As an apparent stand-alone, however, I'm left with more questions than I would like. Overall, however, this is up to Sebastian's usual standards of heartwarming romance, and I'd heartily recommend it to anyone who likes their endings happy - or who enjoys descriptions of 1750s grandeur.

Cat Sebastian does it again! This latest historical romance is a “vague antagonists” to friends to lovers tale, with thievery, vengeance mixed with justice, buggery (of course), and even a little swashbuckling thrown in for fun. The swashbuckling doesn’t serve too much to the plot, but it does help flesh out one of the main characters.
Lately I’ve read many historical romance authors who force land-owning aristocrats to confront the flaws in the system that favors them, but few characters pull it off with such charming arrogance as the lord in this book.
I would obviously recommend this book, if for no other reason than it’s written by Sebastian.

Cat Sebastian is a must-read for fans of Romance or light-hearted Historicals. I will admit though that this one took me a bit to get through. The plot is both intriguing (highway men! pompous lords! secret marriages!) and very, very long (I thought I had to be near the climax but was only at 40%!). There also was just not enough romance in it for this reader. I feel like Cat Sebastian usually follows traditional guidelines for romances so I was surprised at how long it took to get to smooches. I realize though that that might not be a bad thing for some readers though.
All in all, it will make a great addition to your library's romance and historical collection, but not my favorite in my Cat Sebastian collection.

Kit Webb runs a (mostly) respectable coffeeshop in a middle-class London neighborhood. His patrons would never guess that he used to be a dashing highwayman, until a job gone wrong and an injury forced him to stop. So when a man appears on his doorstep one day and makes him an offer to get revenge with one last job, he's tempted...by the proposition and the man himself. Percy, Lord Holland, needs to protect his family from a dark secret that threatens everything. He definitely doesn't need the distraction of a handsome reformed criminal who won't leave his thoughts.

This book is part heist, part romance, with themes of redemption and found family. It has an old-fashioned feeling. Sebastian is clearly setting up some of the secondary characters for the next book, and I'm intrigued to find out what will happen.

Thanks to Netgalley, the author, and the publisher for the ARC to review. All opinions are my own.

I was already a Cat Sebastian fan, and I think this may be her best book yet. I'll try to come back and leave a more coherent review before publication but in the meantime thank you so much to the publisher for approving me for this title. LOVED it!

5/5

***Special thanks to NetGalley and Avon and Harper Voyager for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review***

UMMMMMM why did I not know about Cat Sebastian?!?!?!? Like what!!!

I really enjoyed this fun book. It has sassy characters and takes a surprisingly deep look at class issues and capitalism (which I was not expecting, but found it an interesting aspect of the story).

I enjoyed this book so much and do not feel that a review like I normally do would do this book justice.

READ THIS BOOK it is so much fun and I would recommend

This is such an enjoyable read, filled with appealing characters and incredible attention to setting and details. Kit, a former highwayman who stopped due to injury and now owns a coffee shop, is approached by Percy, heir to a dukedom whose privileged life is coming to a quick end due to his father's actions. There is a connection in their pasts, and neither man understands why two opposites are so strongly attracted to each other. I loved all the descriptions of Kit's roughness hiding a heart of gold, along with Percy's incredible wardrobe slowly giving way to the realization that he wants a different life. Here's hoping that the secondary characters will have future stories of their own!

Absolutely grand! I’m not going to lie, it took me a little to get into the story, but I’m going to blame that on a stressful week at work. Once I got into the story I could not put it down and slowed down my reading pace to enjoy Cat’s wonderful writing.

Kit is a working class, former highwayman who gave up thievery when he was disabled during an attempted robbery. He is gruff with a hard exterior but a warm nurturing interior (for example, he refuses to disrupt the spider that lives in his doorway). Percy is rich and foppish, and where the book is set in the mid 1700s it provides some wonderful descriptions of the silks, wigs, and face powder with patches he is frequently wearing.

Their attraction grows as they work together to plan and prepare the robbery. It’s a case of opposites attract and I am 100% here for it. I don’t want to give away any plot details but there were some fun twists. Some that I saw coming and some that I were surprised by. I was thoroughly entertained throughout.

One small detail that stood out to me was acknowledgment of that Percy’s money comes from exploitation. So many romances brush over where the aristocrats get their money. In this book Kit actually calls out Percy for loving his family house that was funded by plantations in the West Indies. In addition to this reference to slavery, there is also a lot of discussion about how land owners exploit their tenants. At one point Kit states, “No such thing as a good landlord… There are horrible ones, like your father. And there are ones who manage to refrain from doing actual evil. But I’ve never heard of a good one.”* It was honestly refreshing to read this in a historical romance.

As with all of Cat Sebastian’s books, there is wonderful dry humor found throughout. A few of my favorite lines with no context:*

“He was not an unpleasant-looking man. Maybe even handsome, in a bland sort of way.”

“He wondered if rich meant took of their wigs while f–ing, and then got very annoyed with his prick for not finding wigs sufficiently unattractive.”

“Unchecked power gave a man a certain look; it set him apart from normal people.”

“You think I’m going to pass up a chance to kick a lord? Been dreaming of this since I was a little girl.”

“He took the tie out of his hair. Then he put it back again. There was vanity, and then there was lunacy.”

“How many rings did a man need? He had a dreadful certainty that the answer was zero.”

“Sometimes you need to cry into the bath.”

I really hope that this book is a first in a series because there were several secondary characters that I want more of. Honestly, I can’t wait for whatever Cat Sebastian writes next because most likely I will enjoy it, whatever it may be.

Thank you to Avon and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

*Quotes are based on my ARC copy, and may or may not be the same as found in the final published edition.

Exceptionally lovely! From hilarious snarky dialogue to heartwarming, swoon worthy moments, there’s so much to love here.

Cat Sebastian’s characters are so skillfully crafted and brimming with life that I’m almost mad they aren’t real people. This has to be some sort of long con or witchcraft, they’re that lifelike and enchanting.

Kit is grumpy, irritated and bored after giving up a life of crime — he’s also a secret total softie. Percy is vain, rude, and balks at emotions like a cat held above bath water. They’re fascinating individually, but when they’re together they truly shine and bring out the best parts of each other — watching these two emotionally illiterate men stumble into feelings and then choose hope and love was equal parts hilarious and breathtaking to behold. To cap it off, the heist planning was a lot of fun and a great high-stakes backdrop to their burgeoning romance.

I had a goofy grin on my face the whole time I was reading this and I’m confident this will be my new favorite comfort read. (Cat Sebastian also gets major bonus points for making me misty-eyed over a romantic gesture involving a spider, of all things. Never thought I’d see the day).

This is my first Cat Sebastian and what an amazing first impression! I did think this was a f/f romance at first (and I honestly can't say why?) but I thought this was the sweetest romance between a retired highwayman and aristocrat. I would recommend this one for fans of The Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue - they have a very similar flavor. I hope this becomes a series, because I was very interested in the side characters as well.