The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen was one of my favorite reads of the year. I adored everything about this book
– the sweet, earnest, and well-developed romance between Gareth and Joss
– the whodunit plot
– the contrast and thoughtful questions brought up on classism, elitism, and gender
– how the Marsh is just as much of a setting as its own character

I cannot gush about this book enough. Highly recommend it for fans of Bridgerton and historical romance. This is my first KJ Charles book and I cannot wait to read more! A big thank you to Sourcebooks for the review copy.

I don't have enough words to accurately describe how much I LOVE KJ Charles! These books are just...chef's kiss!! Gareth & Joss (AKA London and Kent) are just delightful, beautiful characters and I hope they have a series of adventures because I'm here for ALL of it!!

Gareth believes that even though his life has been a constant hardship, he’s an upstanding man. So when he comes across a group of smugglers, one that he had already met, he finds himself at odds. Joss embarrassed Gareth in front of an entire courtroom. With their past, he never would have thought that possible. Now Gareth wants nothing to do with Joss and his smuggling family. Sometimes fate has other plans.

I never read historical romance, but the cover and description drew me in. I enjoyed the mystery element more than the romance, but the lovers, to enemies, to lovers angle was a fun twist on the usual trope. I’m happy I read this because it was such a fun read. Thank you, Sourcebooks Casablanca, for the ARC.

This was such a great historical romance, that really had the feel of a cozy mystery! With plenty of spice, this m/m romance kept me glued to my seat with the mystery of everything.

I loved the side characters in this book, the Doomsday family was so interesting!

Joss and Gareth, I loved that this book mostly centered on them working together, and there wasn’t a ton a drama between the two of them. Yes, there was moments of miscommunication, and other things, but I always enjoy romances more when the couple can work through issues (or mysteries) as a team.

This is the first book I’ve read by this author, but it will not be the last. I’m definitely looking forward to reading additional books in this series.

I enjoyed this book. I had a good time with the romance and I liked both main characters. I would recommend this to fans of Victorian era historical romance.

4 stars

I know I can always count on KJ Charles to do something innovative with her historical romances and The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen is no exception. Set in Romney Marsh on the remote English coast, this book offers a delightful lovers to enemies back to lovers romance between a newly minted baronet longing for connection and the head of a smuggling clan who had been his anonymous lover in London.

The world of Romney Marsh is unlike anything I have read in historical romance with smugglers and lords living side by side in relative harmony under a code of unwritten laws and traditions sacred to all who hope to thrive there. Both the romance and the mystery plot are given equal weight throughout, providing great moments of action and beautiful moments of intimacy. I devoured this book in just a little over a day and I'm bummed that I have to wait until September to read the sequel!

Thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for an ARC of this book in exchange for a fair and honest review!

I’ve only one read book by KJ Charles previously - the novella A Thief in the Night which I loved as one of the only novellas I’ve read where you get full character development and a romping good story packed into a short book, so imagine what she can do with an entire novel! I was excited to find out.

This was, from what I’m understanding, classic Charles. A queer historical with adventure and lovely people finding family and community. I enjoyed it so much!!

Gareth has recently inherited a baronetcy from his estranged father. Joss is a smuggler who lives in the area. They had a bit of a past in a one week no names entanglement in London only to find each other months later when Gareth moves to town after inheriting. There’s hunting for treasure, there’s murder, there’s lovely people finding and loving each other, there’s people standing up for one another. Gosh I really had the best time. I loved Joss’ tenderness for Gareth and I loved Gareth’s growth and when he stands up for Luke I was a total cheering puddle. I shan’t say more so I don’t give away the intrigue across the Kent marshes. But it’s really fun and after 189764490 regency historicals, it managed to give me a new aspect of the war with France to learn about, and that was a treat for me too.

Spice: 3/5 🌶️
Tropes: inheriting an estate, found family, treasure hunt
More: m/m romance, regency romance, historical

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

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen is out March 7, 2023.

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This is such a sweet gay romance about finding family and making a home in the world. Joss Doomsday and Sir Gareth both learn and grow together through what seems like insurmountable circumstances, and their chemistry is fantastic. The book did drag in several places for me, despite the mystery, action, and suspense. Regency romance is a hit-or-miss sub-genre for me, and this one's a hit.

*Received a copy for review.*
A man who was shunted off the live with his uncle when his mother died, finds himself inheriting his fathers title & estate. Gareth has never felt like he belonged anywhere and being a gay man he had to keep things to himself. He met someone away from his normal place but knows that he will be leaving and so he cuts him at the knees as they part.
Joss is disappointed that the man he met has turned out to be an ass but he has so much responsibility at home, he can’t dwell on it.
Whe he & Gareth collide again in Joss’ home town, there is a lot of misunderstanding, some threats, and a missing amount of money that a lot of people are looking for.
I really loved the setting and how these two had so much to overcome.

Didn’t finish. Wasn’t engaging from the startcccccccccccccccccvccvvvvvvggftfdfggftghhyhv. Bbb big bghjnngffghjn

Oh boy, do I ever love a KJ Charles title. Charles has a gift for crafting a historical romance in which the threats of homophobia and racism are not glossed over--hers is not a sanitized version of historical prejudices--but one in which, nevertheless, there is a hopeful horizon for queer and antiracist relationships, Charles trusts this in the hands of her individual characters, not by showing a whitewashed version of British history--it's the people you can count on, not the systems. THE SECRET LIVES OF COUNTRY GENTLEMEN is just so good! Set against the smuggling history of British marshlands, COUNTRY GENTLEMEN pairs Joss, a free trader, and Gareth, a newly-inherited baronet who has been continually let down by his family. It's got healing and love and adventure and drama! You won't want to miss this one.

Perfect for fans of historical romance looking for queer adventure, The Secret Lives of Country Gentleman is an engaging and action-packed story that I really enjoyed. Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen by KJ Charles

Published: March 7, 2023
Sourcebooks Casablanca
Genre: LGBTQ+ Historical Fiction
Pages: 353
KKECReads Rating: 3/5
I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

KJ Charles spent twenty years as an editor in British publishing before fleeing the scene to become a full-time historical romance novelist. She has written over twenty-five novels since then and her books have been translated into eight languages. She lives in London.

“I may have to change my approach to life.”

Gareth hasn’t had the happiest life; his father sent him away at six years old to live with an uncle who didn’t want him. Joss had to grow up fast, but that’s every day living in the marsh. Who knew that forbidden desires would weave their way home?

This was a slow burn. I was not as engaged with this book, and it took me days to get through. It was wordy in parts, which I believe was for the time period.

I wish there had been more about the romance. It was forbidden and taboo, which could have been so beautifully romantic.

The details were deep and thorough. Scenery descriptions were so vivid it was easy to imagine them unrolling before you. I liked Joss a lot, and he was such a fantastic character. I wanted to like Gareth, but he annoyed me more than anything.

Overall, the book was okay. The characters all had moments that made them memorable. This wasn’t my style, but I’m not a big reader of historical fiction.

KJ Charles is such a MASTER at the historical romance craft. The amount of intrigue, adventure, believability of concept and place AND love she can weave into a single book is just incredible.
Gareth and Joss will be tattooed on my heart. I loved seeing their love story develop from page 1. And their teamwork, struggles to be seen and valued… I just love them. PLUS the mystery of smugglers, missing guinneas, family members you don’t know who they’re aligned with… so so good.
Also, the spice was perfection. KJ Charles does on-page m/m love a true justice.

This being my first KJ Charles novel, I thought it gave off similar vibes to “A Gentlemen’s Guide to Vice and Virtue” (just with more smut) and any Alexis Hall novel in that there was adventure, good banter, even better chemistry, and also beetles. The book did take awhile to get started, and even when it did, it always seemed to drag just a bit, despite being a bit more action-oriented toward the end. For that reason, and because the book was incredibly description-heavy at times, I had to dock a few stars. But overall I really enjoyed Gareth and Joss’ relationship, especially their more tender and vulnerable moments. I loved the fact that they could be their true selves with each other and let their guards down in a way they couldn’t with anyone else.

Thank you to Netgalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I was excited for this book, but ended up getting a bit disappointed with it. I thought the premise was cute but once I started reading I found that certain elements of this book made it hard for me to get lost in the story.

Pros:
The idea for the book was very original and despite being a historical it didn't read the way that historicals usually do with reference to the ton and society. I also think it was very creative that this book didn't take place in London for most of the book and it also didn't take place in a super well-known or posh part of the countryside. The whole story was very down to earth.
All the characters were very real and down to earth and I like that the story wasn't super focused on marriage or propriety as many historicals often are. I thought Gareth was such a sweet muffin and I loved that he didn't have any delusions about himself. He knew that he was no rogue or "manly man" and he wasn't really ashamed of it. I had mixed feelings about Joss but I like that he was true to himself throughout the book.
I found it super refreshing that the author didn't make a big deal out of Gareth and Joss' relationship. While it would have been on par with it being a historical, it was also nice to not have to read a lot of angst about whether they would be together and what if people find out and all that jazz. Gareth and Joss were able to be together and while there was an incident it ended up not being a big thing and I liked that.

Cons:
All the language from what I'm assuming is Kent at large if not the Marsh specifically made it really hard to understand what was happening during most of the dialogue. While it helped that Gareth didn't get it either which meant some language was translated, not all of it was and it really took me out of the story.
The entire Marsh vs. outmarsh thing was so weird and it made it difficult for me to get that this book was taking place in England.
Cecilia was an unbelievably annoying character. She was 17 which I understand means she is a teenager, however, in historicals women are typically at marriage age around 17 and her behavior read as though she was several years younger not a woman who was almost an adult.
Gareth being a baronet was also confusing. I didn't know what this position was until I finally gave in and looked it up and by that point it seemed a bit unnecessary for Gareth to technically be part of the ton even if he was like the lowest ranking title. It would've made a bit more sense if he had been a wealthy professional man or had inherited his father's business, or something of that sort.
I found the story to be a bit slow moving even though I was able to get through the chapters pretty fast.

Overall, this book wasn't my preference for the type of romance I like to read. Maybe because it didn't read as super romancey that I wasn't that into it, but it wasn't my favorite book. It was a 3.5 star book for me. Not bad, but also not my favorite. If you like romantic suspense, and possibly if you like India Holton's historical romance books, you'll likely enjoy this, but it wasn't my cup of tea.

Gareth and Joss, under pseudonyms, meet in London and pursue a brief but passionate affair with an ugly ending. They meet again, unexpectedly and in unfortunate circumstances, on Romney Marsh. Gareth, abandoned by his father and nominally raised by his unwilling and unkind uncle, has been thrust into the role of country baronet upon his father's untimely death. Joss, who also lost his father young, is clashing with his own uncle and his mother as he manages his family's smuggling operation.

Both men are complicated, with difficult histories and in challenging circumstances, and have sometimes been less than kind and honest with one another in the past. But in spite of all this, and of their class differences, the two find themselves drawn together. In the midst of the cautious and nuanced relationship building between Gareth and Joss, danger is pursuing them both on the Marsh. Lies, theft, betrayal, and violence surround them, and if they can't trust one another as allies, they may not survive.

KJ Charles is a master at mixing complex, fascinating plots with believable and equally complex romance. Here she offers up a twisty, dramatic mystery inextricably intertwined with the story of two men reaching out from loneliness to find both love and themselves.

A new KJ Charles book is always a cause for celebration in this house and The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen doesn’t disappoint. It’s got that KJC secret sauce mix of heartfelt romance, whip smart dialogue, a fully-realised world, populated by fully-realised people, and a plot that rips along. I read the second half while coughing my way through a bout of Covid, when my motivation to move or eat or keep my eyes open was very low, and yet I still came back to pick up my kindle time and again.

First, let me tell you about the real hero of this story: Romney Marsh in 1810. No, honestly. Maybe it’s the covid brain talking, but the thing I loved most about this book was the extraordinary sense of place and period. It’s set in one of England’s most liminal landscapes, a place caught between sky and sea and land, and peopled mostly by small, secretive creatures, both wildlife and human alike. Its a place of smuggling and sheep. In other words, it’s the perfect setting for a queer love story, played out at the very edges of society, where everyone lives by their own rules and the ordinary laws of nature don’t apply. KJ Charles does an incredible job of invoking this world - I felt like I was there, in the rain, looking for newts.

The story that plays out in this wet, windswept place has all the intrigue of a Daphne du Maurier: rival smuggling clans, stolen gold, murderous cousins, and the threat of the Revenue at every turn. Sir Gareth Inglis, newly-minted baronet, returns to the Marsh for the first time in twenty years to discover that his father - who he hadn’t seen since he was a child - has left him everything in his will. A house, a half-sister, a housekeeper-cum-mistress, and his life times work as a naturalist. Oh, and a tradition of complicity in the local smuggling operations. A barrel of brandy here, a packet of tea there. Gareth is assured that everyone on the Marsh does it but it seems extremely poor citizenship to him. Indeed, there is a war going on and trading for luxuries with France sounds distinctly unpatriotic!

Said smuggling is masterminded by the Doomsday family, led by their Upright Man, Joss and his mother, the daunting Ma Doomsday. When Gareth sees Joss’s sister Sophy leading a late night run and reports it, turning evidence against her with the threat of hanging, it plunges him into a series of events that the quiet, chilly, lonely baronet could never have predicted. Because, as it turns out, he’s been involved with smugglers all along, he just never knew it. Joss Doomsday, going by the alias ‘Kent’, has been his lover in London and now, faced with this realisation in a Marsh courtroom, Gareth has no choice but to stand down.

I can’t describe what follows - the plot on this one is a twisty turning beast; perhaps too much so - but amidst it all we see Gareth and Joss negotiate their feelings for each other, moral, social and personal. The love story is, quite unpredictably, very soft and cozy, against a backdrop of deceit and violence. This is one of those cases where the emotional angst and the plot angst get very tangled, but the emotional angst is always the minor key. Joss and Gareth have their differences but there is never much doubt how much they like each other. This might be a problem on a second reading, when I’m coming at the story without the frantic need to know what happens, and I’ve got more time to dwell on the interpersonal arc. But on this first reading I was utterly swept away.

I dropped half a star in my rating because of some residual discomfort with how threats of forced outing are used to drive the plot - or at least, to raise the stakes - and then allowed to dissipate without being resolved. I need to think more about this on future readings but for now, consider it a question mark in my mind and heart.

I'm such a fan of the way KJ Charles writes a historical romance - it's always so thoughtful and full of heart and actual conversation and growth and that's always a treat. I really enjoyed Joss + Gareth and their story; I thought the plot overall progressed a little slowly until it absolutely didn't (That last 20%!) and I loved how sweet the ending was!

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen is another amazing queer historical romance by KJ Charles. In this story, two men find each other, and themselves, amid the backdrop of dangerous marshes and intriguing smugglers.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Gareth and Joss first meet anonymously at a London molly house. Gareth is looking forward to another evening with his hookup; when Joss informs him that it’s time for him to travel back to Kent, he’s crushed and reacts badly. The next time they meet, Gareth has inherited his father’s title, moved to remote Romney Marsh, and is about to testify against Joss’s smuggler sister. Joss saves his sister, but Gareth isn’t happy with him. Neither of them can ignore their continuing mutual attraction, though, or their other growing connections.

It turns out that 19th century smugglers are a specific story line (micro trope?) that I love. And everyone knows I adore when a mystery is woven into the romance. Joss and Gareth’s relationship is intertwined with this backdrop, from Joss’s family of smugglers to Gareth’s attempts to discover just what his late father was up to. While Joss takes care of everyone’s troubles, he forgets that he too needs someone to trust and lean on. Gareth learns not to be a pushover, and Joss’s regard helps him see a stronger version of himself. Of course, the chemistry between the two is steamy, and it’s no wonder other characters catch on to their feelings for each other.

What a great book. I love it when romance goes hand and hand with adventure. KJ Charles adds in a sense of loneliness and longing, and creates a fictional world I didn’t want to leave. Charming and delightful are overused book review words, but they sum up The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen perfectly.

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