My memory of this novel's companion piece, The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, was that I quite enjoyed it and found it very sweet, but it was very slow. The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes is, if possible, slower. It took me ages to read this, not because it was a bad book, which it definitely is not. It's thoughtful and sweet and a bit sad, with a hopeful ending that is a perfectly satisfying HEA. That said, the pacing of both the plot and the relationship was so glacial that I had trouble making it to the end. I stalled out about halfway, because nothing seemed to be happening, but when I came back to it, I found things really picked up after that. I could have done with more crimes, and more plot wrap-up. It doesn't feel like there will be a third book, but I feel like there's so much action that could take place in one that I'm a bit let down. Cat Sebastian is one of my favorite authors, and there are quite beautiful passages in this contemplative romance, but it may just not have been for me. 3.5 stars, rounded up to 4.

YES, CAT!! Absolutely. Fucking. Yes. Traditional gender roles, who!? I don't know her!

This book and these characters could not be more perfect. I wouldn't change a single letter. Rob is a sweet, animal-loving cinnamon roll of a man who also happens to be a thief who knows how to handle sharp and dangerous weapons. Then there's Marian, a weapon in her own right and as sharp and dangerous as they come - with ice in her veins and a backbone of fortified steel. My god, that woman is such a bitch, and I worship her.

Cat Sebastian is extraordinarily skilled at creating well-rounded characters with beautifully realistic and relatable imperfections. What's more, her characters don't become "perfect" by the end, nor do they seek to "fix" each other. Rather, they accept each other's flaws in a way that allows them to accept their own, and it's stunning!

The biggest triumph of this story, though, is what I mentioned in the beginning. Cat Sebastian doesn't just knock down the walls of gender norms - she pulverizes them, and fucking hell if that wasn't refreshing. And in a regency romance, no less!

This book has it all! It's cunning, funny, sweet, with the perfect amount of gloom. There's something so seamless about how the dialogue can go from being witty and fun in one moment to squeezing your heart in the next.

In summary...Read it, read it, read it!

Thank you, NetGalley and Avon/Harper Voyager, for the eBook in exchange for an honest review!

Link to review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4573168229

Another gem from Cat. You do need to read "The Queer Principles of Kitt Webb" as actions from that book carry over here. I vaguely remember Robb in that book but can't recall his depiction to see how much his character pivoted for this book.

The Prologue and Interstitial of blackmail letters between Robb and Marian hilariously sets up the the banter that will continue between them throughout the book. I laughed out loud many a time. I loved their chemistry, and the depiction of two bisexuals in a sub/dom relationship, with praise kink tossed in. It's a steamy yet wonderful, even heartwarming blend, really. She's not a fan of certain levels of intimacy, and him doing anything she wants him to do is really what does it for him. He appreciates a partner's bodily autonomy, as well as appreciating that not every couple in love automatically has children (nor, it is implied, does he necessarily want to). Still, scenes of him sneaking glances at a pocket watch counting down the minutes until Marian's daughter, Eliza (and technically his half-sister?) is passed off to him to hold is adorable. It's ultimately a story about creating the relationships and families that works best for someone.

Such a delightful sequel! All the charm of the first book with familiar characters and new and greater plots!

I love how so many things happened in the book. I could not keep myself from the book because it was so good

I had so much fun with this book! I enjoyed The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, and this installment definitely delivered as a follow-up. I think I enjoyed this one even more. The characters are believable and their attraction feels real and heartfelt. I loved Marian so much as a character. It was really refreshing to read sex scenes between a cis man and a cis woman that didn't focus on penetration. I also really identified with Marian as a character. I don't have much else to say other than I loved this!

Why had I never heard about this author before???? If you love yourself some regency romance, but are disappointed at the lack of queer stories in those; this is the book for you! This action packed adventure had me laughing and smiling all the way through. I’ll be checking out the author’s other books!!!

A sequel as delightful as the first, The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes is in fact perfect. We check in on Kit and Percy towards the end, fear not, but focus in on Marian and Robb’s twisting relationship. If you love heart crimes as much as heists, don’t hesitate to pick this one up. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher.

I dnfed this book... this book wasn't it for me... I could not get hooked to the plot or the characters and its probably because I am a mood reader but this book kind of got me into a slump even more

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes by Cat Sebastian is a historical romance. It is the second book in the Queer Principles of Kit Webb series, and while returning readers will have a head start on knowing the characters I think newcomers like myself can fully enjoy the read even if they missed the first book.

Marian Hayes, the Duchess of Clare, just shot her husband. Of course, the evil, murderous man deserved what was coming to him, but now she must flee to the countryside. Unfortunately, the only person she can ask for help is the charismatic criminal who is blackmailing her—and who she may have left tied up a few hours before. A highwayman, con artist, and all-around cheerful villain, Rob Brooks is no stranger to the wrong side of the law or the right side of anybody’s bed. He never meant to fall for the woman whose secrets he promised to keep for the low price of five hundred pounds, but how could he resist someone who led him on a merry chase all over London, left him tied up in a seedy inn, and then arrived covered in her husband’s blood and in desperate need of his help? As they flee across the country—stopping to pick pockets, drink to excess, and rescue invalid cats—they discover more true joy and peace than either has felt in ages. But when the truth of Rob’s past catches up to him, they must decide if they are willing to reshape their lives in order to forge a future together.

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes is a fun and highly engaging read. I love that even though all of the characters have their own trauma to deal with all of the major players are still genuinely good people, despite their less than legal actions, and are doing their best to prevent trauma to others. I also like how they Marian's daughter and all the emotions involved in the complicated pregnancy, birth, and aftermath are handled. Not everyone has the same experiences, and seeing something that falls outside the fairytale ideal felt right here, and might help some process their own feelings and experiences- and their expectations for themselves and others. Admitting, there were moments that I felt Rob was too perfect, but it really worked for his situation, past, and ideals so I was quickly able to move past it. This book was just good fun and a pleasure to read, with a nice dose of sexy times mixed it with the humor and adventure. I think just about everyone can enjoy this read.

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes was simply a joy to read. The book was well written and the characters made me smile no matter how badly things were going. Now I need to go back and read the first book in the series.

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes picks up right where The Queer Principles of Kit Webb left off. Marian Hayes is on the run after murdering her husband and she needs to leave immediately. The unlikeliest person - Rob Brooks (ahem, the one blackmailing her over the past several months via letters) - is the one that ends up offering her help and she is in no position to refuse.

Rob decides to help Marian, because he oddly wants to see her safe and sound. After conversing through letters for the past couple of months, he feels like he knows her and oddly cares about her. He tells himself he'll only get her to where she needs to go before he leaves her for good. Except Rob is seriously starting to adore Marian and her prickly ways. But Rob is keeping his own secrets, secrets that may threaten his blossoming relationship with Marian.

I really enjoyed reading The Queer Principles of Kit Webb last year and was excited to get Marian's story. Marian is such a strong and confident character and I loved getting to see more of her. I also loved Rob's vulnerability and how he thinks he's this tough guy - but underneath he's this softie who only wants what's best for Marian and his friends. My only qualm with this book is that I do feel like at times it did feel to drag as the plot moved rather slowly.

Overall, I enjoyed this epistolary, grumpy/sunshine historical romance!

Loved this book! I was so excited to get another book in the Kit Webb series and I was not disappointed by this book at all! Loved the characters and plot in this book. Marian and Rob were such an enjoyable couple and I really enjoyed the chemistry between the two. I've been recommending this book to all of my friends, what a pleasure to read a great historical romance book.

The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes is the sequel to The Queer Principals of Kit Webb, which follows Marian, the supposed Duchess of Clare, and Rob, the only legitimate offspring of the Duke of Clare who also happens to be a former highwayman. On the run after killing her not-quite-husband, Marian turns to Rob, who blackmailed her with the truth of the late Duke’s bigamy. She kidnapped him, so they’re mostly square, but Marian needs help to stay safe, and Rob finds it difficult to say no to her. For reasons neither of them really want to interrogate, both Rob and Marian start to enjoy each other. However, any relationship they might have is doomed by their disparate class statuses. How will the Dukedom be settled, and what does the future hold for the queer found family at the center of these books?


I’ll start with what I love- Marian is a darling. She’s deeply devoted to the people she loves without really letting people take care of her, or love her back. Marian is supremely competent, dashing and clever. Rob is also a dear, I love how open he is with his emotions and his desires. He basically personifies “be gay, do crimes,” in both the queer and happy contexts. I think both of them have really great internal conflict and their relationship is well-built. There aren’t a lot of present secondary characters in this book, but the ones there are fleshed out and have purpose. I also loved the conflict set up with the Dukedom and Rob, I think it really presented a difficult problem for all of the characters to work through. I also like that they don’t get married, I think that it makes sense for Marian’s previous struggles.

Unfortunately, there are considerable narrative problems. For starters, the central plot-point of this duology is the bigamy of the Duke of Clare and how that leaves his various children. The pre-existing marriage of Clare to Rob’s mother makes the heir, Percy; and Eliza, Marian’s daughter; illegitimate. We learn that Rob is the legitimate heir, but while a lot of the book sees him reckoning with that truth, the resolution leaves a lot to be desired. Rob has a few conversations with Percy, which were mostly good, but nothing is really decided. The big problem in his life, that made him disappear for a year and let his friends think he was dead, is basically resolved without really dealing with it. He says “I guess I’ll take it if I have to, but I won’t be the Duke.” It feels like a half-measure. I like the conversations that Rob and Marion have about the Dukedom, and its responsibilities, but because there isn’t really a solution that everyone would be happy with, the problem is kind of hand-waved away. I don’t think this really does it justice.

Another problem starts with something I really loved- Eliza. I think we don’t see enough depiction of heroines who have trouble with motherhood, or have difficult pregnancies, but it’s a very real experience for many. I think we saw a lot of Marion’s internal conflict about motherhood and parenting, but it never fully came around. At the end, we have a lovely scene where everyone is all together as a family, but I don’t think we got enough of Marian coming to terms with her feelings about being a mother, or how she plans to parent her daughter in her blended family. It’s just kind of a throwaway line, “Oh, she’ll be spoiled, everyone loves her.” But this story isn’t about everyone- we know Percy and Kit love Eliza, and Rob adores babies. I wanted to see Marian decide what kind of relationship she plans to have with her daughter, whatever that might be. I loved the scene where Marian talks with Rob’s mother, about how she was a good parent despite not conforming to common standards for a good mother. I think that could have been a great jumping-off point for Marian to evaluate her own needs and goals. She obviously has complicated feelings, but I think the story would have been a lot stronger with some closure there.

Of course, Marian’s secret that made her marry Clare is a dependent family member, her father. I loved the relationship between her and her father, and how Marian schemes to protect him, but dependent relative is the oldest trick in the book. I do buy that she would have kept it a secret, though, due to her aforementioned prickliness and difficulty opening up. I kind of wish there was more a resolution about her brother, and essentially giving him no choice but to let her be in charge. I like seeing Marian take her power back, and I think that could have been helpful.

There’s another huge issue with the book: we really get no clarity about the late Duke of Clare, at all. I assumed that there would be more about his motives and his plans in this book, but we barely got anything. Marian shows us that the Duke was a bad husband and a rapist, aside from being abusive generally speaking. But there are huge plot-holes here, which persist from the first book. Unfortunately, there are enough to make a list.

What was the Duke’s plan for the bigamy? If the duke hated Percy and his former wife, why did he wait until she died to disinherit Percy and throw her out? The former Duchess was at war with the Duke for their entire marriage, so why didn’t he just pull the trump card and say “Ha, we’re not married, you’re a strumpet and your son is a bastard.” What was the point of keeping this secret if he hated his son and didn’t want him to inherit? And if he wanted to keep Rob a secret, he could have done some kind of dirty work to take care of the problem, like murder or bribery. Is he so foolish to think that no one would find out? We discover in this book that he knew about it, so how did he think it wouldn’t come out? Isn’t this why dukes have lawyers? The Duke has a ton of money and a scary amount of power, so it makes no sense that he doesn’t have a plan.
How did the former Duchess not know? Percy’s mother was a conniving, clever woman who befriended Rob’s mother at one point, so how did she fail to discover that her own marriage was invalid and make a contingency plan? Why didn’t she ensure that Percy would get her money when she died? She can’t have really been that clever, can she?
Why don’t they just stay quiet? The crown would have no interest in investigating the marriage of a dead duke to an unknown woman, and it’s not like the paper-trail is iron clad. Unless Percy shows them all of the paperwork, there’s no reason why they can’t just shut up and let one of Percy’s cousins inherit. Once a title is conferred, it can’t be taken away (except I think for treason.) So if they just keep mum for a few months, there’s no reason to uproot all of their lives and Rob can just not deal with Duke stuff.
Why did the Duke marry Marian? The duke remarried pretty quickly after Percy’s mother dies, but why? Marion marries him for the reasons we see in the book, but we have no idea why he wants a new wife. If it’s for the succession, Eliza or another son would have been just as illegitimate as Percy. Marian doesn’t have any money, she isn’t interested in moving in society, so why did the Duke want to marry her? What is his motivation? He could have easily married an empty-headed eighteen year-old debutant, and maybe gotten some money out of the deal. There’s no real reasoning here, unless the reasoning is “The Duke is evil and likes to mess with people.”
I really did enjoy the book, but I couldn’t really suspend my disbelief. It’s not up to the quality of the first one when it comes to plot. The romance is great, it’s just that the plot doesn’t hold water. I think this book actually explores some darker, more complex themes, but they’re not unpacked very well and that detracts from it. I just found the ending to be a bit hollow. I love the idea of a found family of queer criminals out for justice, but it kind of felt like a plot beat that was outlined ahead of time but doesn’t really fit with the book we ended up with. We didn’t see Marian start to get along with Betty and Kit, and open up to them. It just jumps to a time when everyone gets along and takes care of each other, fitting into each other’s lives. Again, I found the book very enjoyable, but ultimately the plot is really lacking and a lot of questions are left unanswered.

Well I fell hard for the first book in this series and I fell just as hard for the second. Marian is MY FAVE. She's quick-witted, smart, and never hesitates to do what she thinks is right. These bisexual icons taking on the aristocracy was everything. This book is truly so charming and I don't know what else theres is to say so I'll leave you with my favorite quote: "There is something inexpressibly masculine about expecting to be believed."

I LOVED THIS. I enjoyed THE QUEER PRINCIPLES OF KIT WEBB last year, but I think Cat Sebastian’s follow up is somehow even better. THE PERFECT CRIMES OF MARIAN HAYES is the perfect witty, fun, and swoon-worthy queer historical romance. I loved our leads Marian and Rob so much!

I recommend this book if you are interested in any of the following:
- Dual POV, grumpy/sunshine pairings
- She’s grumpy and he’s sunshine itself (and one of the biggest simps I’ve ever read)
- M/F romance with two bi leads
- Excellent love scenes rooted in consent and communication
- A fast-moving plot with lots of travel and setting changes
- Found family but make it a group of queer thieves
- Whatever the 1750s version of “eat the rich” is… THAT is a running theme
- Love at first blackmail note

I surely need to check out more of Cat Sebastian’s backlist. This was a delight!

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC

I loved it just I much as the first book. I enjoyed a lot the dynamic between Marian and Rob, they make such a great couple. I also loved reading Percy and Kit again, they are adorable. I don't have much to say, but It's definitely worth reading, I wish I could read more from both couples, maybe a third book with the four POVs <3


Muchas gracias a Netgalley por la copia avanzada

Me ha encantado al igual que el primer libro. Amo la dinámica que tienen Marian y Rob, hacen una pareja muy genial. También me encanto leer a Percy y Kit otra vez, son adorables. No tengo mucho que decir, creo que tal vez puede leerse de forma independiente al primero, aunque se perderían bastantes datos. Definitivamente, vale la pena leerlo, quede con ganas de leer más de ambas parejas <3

What can I say about this book? It’s wonderful. It’s funny. It’s cute. This book is so many things. I adored the first one, and this one is a wonderful companion. I truly couldn’t have hoped for a better follow up.

Rob and Marian shouldn’t be drawn together because of their circumstances, but they are. Seeing them grow from enemies to lovers is fantastic. Every single moment was a great build up, every kiss perfection. There was nothing about this book I didn’t love wholeheartedly. Two awesome bi love interests, along with one of them who is ace. So fantastic!!

Seeing the rest of the story from the first book come to an end was great. I just loved it so much. I’m sad it’s over, but I would love to see more in this universe if possible.

Thank you NetGalley and Avon Books for the digital review copy.

I love this so much. She's got a hard shell, he's the kindest criminal, and the banter is delicious. It filled my heart right up. She grumpy, he's soft. Their chemistry is so good.

The epistolary blackmail sequence is divine. I don't have very good words for this, but if you liked Kit Webb and wanted to know what Marian was up to all that time, here's your answer.

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

Cat Sebastian’s superpower is telling contemporary love stories in historical circumstances, and The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes is no different.

SUMMARY: Marian Hayes has just shot her bigamist ducal husband. Now she’s laying low with the help of (unbeknownst to her) his true heir, a local highwayman with a heart of gold.

So fun. I loved these characters! It’s grumpy woman meets sunshine man. He falls first and is all about supporting her, even though it means leaving behind his life of crime.

There’s not a ton of drama, it’s more of a road trip story as the couple falls in love first via correspondence (here for it 🙌) and then over the course of a journey to the country.

I recommend it if you’re into historical romance, but you’ll definitely want to read the first book in the series, The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, first. I read it a year ago, and it still took me a minute to remember what was going on.

Thank you to NetGalley, Avon and the author for an ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Cat Sebastian (and the absolutely lovely narrator Joe Leslie) did NOT disappoint!

A tale of adventure, crime and passion set in 18th London. A highwayman, a duchess, a blackmail and complicated past family ties that resurface to bring pain to everyone’s ass!

It gives tavern vibes, pirate vibes (but no, there aren’t any pirates), summer fun vibes. No better time to pick it up and have a jolly good time in the madness of Robb and Marian’s affaires.
The humor and steaminess were absolutely on point!

The reason why I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 is something that made me feel a bit uneasy and rubbed me the wrong way.
There are very explicit sex scenes in this book, which is good and dandy. However, if in the first book we had two men falling in love (Kit and Percy, bi and gay), here we have a man and a woman (both bi), which is also very good and dandy.
The problem is that when Marian goes down on Robb, the scene and Robb’s anatomy are written in painstakingly accurate details (I’m talking shaft and tip and cock and balls and so on, you get the idea) but when Robb goes down on Marian… nothing. No vagina or clitoris or labia. His mouth was busy between her legs? She was wet? She reached climax? … and that’s it?

Being Cat Sebastian a female author, the attention paid to the male body and the carelessness and vagueness reserved to the female body felt wrong. It made me pause and I’d be lying if I said feticism wasn’t a thought that crossed my mind. So… there’s that.

Still, it was such a fun book to listen to and I hope there will be more books to follow in this series!

PS.
I would call this a sequel, more than a companion novel. I think that in order to fully appreciate it and understand what's happening without missing out on clues here and there and rejoice when Kit and Percy make their appearance again, it would be better to have read the first book!