Smugglers! Murder! Beetles! Romance! The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen is witty and sweet, and as delightfully charming as I would expect any book by KJ Charles.

I must have been living under a rock because I’d never even heard of KJ Charles. This is a m/m historical romance, not my usual read. I was sort of thrown by the immediate open door sex scene.

It’s been a while since I read historical romance, though, so I settled in for the ride and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There was a lot of action and spicy romance. The love story between Gareth and Joss was sweet. The past that shaped them both and their family issues ultimately made them perfect for each other. No matter the trials both know will test them, they belong together.

I received a complimentary copy of this book. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca for this ARC.

Enjoyable read! Nice to read a queer romance with adult characters that has a historical romance feel for it. While homophobia is a fear for the characters, it wasn't a main focus. Some trigger warnings for violence and child abuse.

I liked the mix of characters, the setting in a more rural/country area as opposed to a city. The author's attention to the traumas/effects of childhood abuse were a thoughtful touch to the connections between characters.
The ending felt a bit rushed tying up the storyline, but this could be due to a possible plan for a future followup?

I really enjoyed this book! It is very typically KJC: a Regency romance with a body count. The story in this one was great, about a smuggler, Joss Doomsday (what a great name!) and a reluctantly titled Sir Gareth Inglis and how their lives intersect on Romney Marsh in Kent.

I loved both of the characters, I loved the Kent dialect that was thrown in throughout the book (I can't even imagine the work that would have gone into this, as I would imagine the dialect today is quite different from what it would have been in the Regency era), I loved the villains, I loved the Doomsday family, I basically loved everything about this book. Also, how gorgeous is the cover???

It is such a fantastic book and I'm so happy that KJC is finally being published by a larger publisher that will be able to really distribute her fantastic books. This is the first in a duology and I'm already excited for the next one and trying to guess which of the Doomsday family it will be about. I know who I'm hoping for, but will be more than happy with any of them!

KJ Charles is one of of the few authors whose books I read without even needing to know the plot. In this new book, she once again does not disappoint, and in fact, this may be a new favorite. A Regency-era romance set along the Cornish coast, The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen is a delicious mix of romance and intrigue, perfect for fans of Cat Sebastian or Alexis Hall.

This is a book I wish I could read again for the first time. While the beginning of the novel was a touch jarring at its suddenness, it leveled out to make the utmost sense. KJ Charles puts together the most tender of love stories and mixes it up with intrigue, mystery, and the pull of familial ties. Gareth and Joss are two characters I would love to meet in real life and witness the care they have for each other. I never would have thought a book so cutthroat (in terms of murder) could make me feel so warm and fuzzy. I only hope to one day find love like the characters in this book.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen balances the star-crossed love story of Sir Gareth and Joss Doomsday. Sir Gareth has just inherited a title and country estate from his estranged father. He isn't there long before he begins being terrorized by men demanding that Sir Gareth owes them money from shady deals they had with his father. His new home is in the middle of smuggler territory, with dueling families working to control the area. Sir Gareth needs the help and protection of the smuggler Joss Doomsday's family, but he also needs the love and affection he once found with Joss. They risk it all to be together.

I finished it in a day. This author has been on my tbr pile for a while and this book did not disappoint. Both characters were well flushed out and interesting to read. The setting was also fun and less typical then other historicals.

I've seen so many of my friends hyping KJ Charles's books, so I was very excited to finally read one. This is definitely the kind of historical romance I enjoy, with writing that fits the time period without getting dense or too flowery. I really liked the characters, but I have to admit I enjoyed the first part of the story most. We see the romance being set up there, and it worked so well for me and I was so excited to see it play out. And while I did really enjoy reading this, I wish the focus was more on the romance instead of on the smuggling plot. I just felt like the romance ultimately didn't get the attention it deserved.

Having been dismissed from his uncle's legal practice days before his father's death, Sir Gareth Inglis is called back to the family estate in Romney Marsh to take up the family title. Deep in the backwaters of Kent, the Marsh is mostly home to families who specialize in smuggling operations and lower nobility who are perfectly fine taking bribes to look the other way. Nothing is as expected for the new squire who was sent away as a young child to live with his uncle in London, especially not the part where he finds out the true identity of a man he had a brief but significant mollyhouse affair with: Joss Doomsday, leader of one of the most prominent snuggling families in the area. After a rocky start, Gareth begins to settle in - until he starts receiving unwanted visitors threatening him and his remaining family with harm. Then the real fun begins.

Overall this was an enjoyable book that matches the high expectations I have of KJ Charles after the Will Darling Adventures. I particularly appreciated that despite the historical setting, Joss and Gareth mostly had family supportive of their relationship in a way that did not seem contrived. The secondary characters were strong and the mystery aspect of the book kept me interested throughout. The incorporation of Marsh dialect struck the perfect balance of establishing and maintaining setting while accounting for the fact that most readers would not be familiar with it. I honestly found Gareth's journey from odd London duck to proud Marsh naturalist to be the best part of the book, and I wanted to cheer a little when the Doomsdays backed him against the outmarsh antagonists. My only real critique is that as someone familiar with Charles's work, the pacing of the ending felt a bit off because I was expecting it to hit certain beats that it did not, but that may be in part because this is the opener to a new series.

I would recommend this to anybody who likes adult historical romance and would genuinely consider it a strong entrance to the genre for anyone unfamiliar. As always, this has left me eagerly anticipating what Charles has in store for us next!

It’s been an age since I couldn’t put a book down and gulped it down in one day, but a new KJ Charles book is reliable that way. I adored this — the characters, the romance, the setting that’s so finely drawn it feels like a character itself. Lovely from beginning to end! I’m eagerly awaiting the sequel and hoping that KJ Charles continues to expand this series — there are so many characters I’d love to hear more about and the setting is ripe for potential hijinks and love stories.

A fun, queer historical drama. It has all the ingredients period romance lovers will enjoy,
I liked the way this book focused more on the commoners of the era instead of high society, and the struggles that come with a secret romance between a member of the aristocracy and a smuggler.
I did not expect the explicit mature content, which makes me doubt I will add this to our library collection.

I enjoyed this book so much. I like a good mystery and a hot love story and a mystery together YAY!!! Gareth and Kent first meet in London but they truly get to know each other under their true names Sir Gareth and Joss when they both end up in Kent. Gareth is a nobleman and Joss a smuggler and they find themselves wrapped up in family secrets, smuggling and violence. I found I enjoyed all aspects of this book the mystery was very engaging, I enjoyed that aspect of the story very much and I quite enjoyed how Gareth and Joss fought to have an actual relationship although there were so many other things going on but they held onto each other and fought for their love and it was a wonderful aspect of the story as well. There was a wonderful balance in both sides the mystery and the love story and it ended up making a fantastic story full and rich and engaging.

I really really liked this book! I can't wait to read the next one from Charles. Thank you for the early copy!

KJ Charles truly is a master of her craft, and she continues her prowess with this title, no room for arguments. She really can capture the essence of her characters and place and create a singularly compelling tale that draws you in and keeps you there until the very end (and beyond).

Gareth Inglis is living in genteel poverty when he meets a compelling man in an establishment friendly to such encounters. They are immediately taken with each other, though they only know one another by the names London and Kent.

But Kent must leave and the pair part on bad terms, but soon Gareth inherits his estranged father’s title and estate in the marshes of Kent. There he meets his younger sister and her aunt and endeavors to understand the marshlands as well as his absent, cold and neglectful father through his writing on the flora and fauna of the marsh.

When Gareth witnesses some of the notorious smuggling the area is known for one night, he ends up in court, set to testify against of the Doomsday daughters. The Doomsdays run the area’s smuggling business and there’s one Doomsday who always gets his way: Joss, who turns out to be Kent.

Gareth ends up not testifying against Joss’s sister, but he does end up embarrassed and insulted by Joss, which doesn’t get the pair any closer to reconciliation, which they both secretly yearn for.

Joss sets about trying to make amends to Gareth while Gareth deals with trouble leftover from his late father and very alive uncle. He’s embroiled in a scheme he doesn’t understand, and Joss steps up as protection after members of a rival smuggling family start harassing and attacking Gareth and his household. At the same time, Joss has to deal with his own troublesome uncle, who is stirring up trouble within the family.

Along the way, the pair start to grow together again and rekindle the romance that was cut short in London. But can they overcome their differences in opinion, moral standards and class? Will they make it through the growing danger?

KJ Charles weaves together a compelling mystery and romance, with the marshlands a central character as Gareth learns its secrets and Joss learns to appreciate it through new eyes while also teaching its mores to Gareth. The Doomsdays are all compelling characters that each have their time to shine on the page.

This was a great end-of-the-year read that was in turns tender and tense, with all the mastery that KJ has to offer on display.

I’ve yet to meet a book by K.J. Charles that I haven’t at the very least liked – or more usually, loved - and her latest title, The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen is no exception. The story is set in and around Romney Marsh in Kent – a fairly desolate part of the country even today and one that from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, was something of a smuggler’s paradise due to its topography, location and isolation. TSLoCG is a fabulous mix of frenemies-to-lovers romance and mystery boasting a wonderfully evoked setting, lots of interesting historical detail and plenty of the wry humour and sharp observation that I so enjoy about the author’s work.

After the death of his wife, Sir Hugo Inglis sent his six-year-old son Gareth to live in London with his uncle. It very much a case of out of sight, out of mind for Sir Hugo, who married again and ignored his son’s pleas to be brought home. Gareth grew up without love and affection, knowing he was unwanted from the moment Henry Inglis made it very clear to his bereaved, exiled nephew that he had taken him in on sufferance and because he was being paid to. Gareth eventually studied law and has worked as his uncle’s clerk for several years, when, completely out of the blue, Inglis dismisses him for no reason. Just two days later, Gareth learns that his father is dead and that he has inherited the baronetcy, his house in Romney Marsh in Kent and a fairly respectable sum of money.

Going through his father’s books and papers, Gareth finds himself intrigued by his collection of books on natural history, maps of the local area and the collection of notebooks in which Sir Hugo made copious notes about the local birds, wildlife, flora and fauna and his particular interest in insects. Gareth has always been interested in natural history and at first thinks that by reading the notebooks, he might learn something about his father… but there’s nothing by way of personal reflection or insight to be found. Still, his own interest is piqued and he begins to explore his surroundings, starting in his own garden and then going further afield and onto the marshes. Out late one night, he stumbles across a string of ponies laden with packs and barrels; realising immediately what this means, he steps back out of sight, but can’t help overhearing voices raised in argument and then seeing a man pull off the cloth covering his companion’s face. Gareth is surprised to recognise the young woman, but before he can think much about it, she barks a command and the train moves on. The next day, Gareth thoughtlessly mentions this in front of his half-sister Cecilia’s beau, a revenue officer; the young woman is arrested and brought for trial, and Gareth, despite not really wanting to rock any boats, is called to give evidence against her.

The Doomsday family runs a large smuggling operation on the Marsh that provides work, income and goods for many local families, and at its head is Joss Doomsday, who controls the operation with a firm yet reasonable hand. It shouldn’t be his responsibility, though - after his father died, his mother and his uncle Elijah took over, but it quickly became clear that Elijah was reckless, unreliable and too often to be found at the bottom of a bottle, and things were starting to fall apart. So Joss stepped in - much to Elijah’s annoyance - and is now recognised as the “Upright Man”, the de facto head of the family and the go-to for just about everything affecting his family, dependents and those living in and around Dymchurch. Ma Doomsday won’t hear a word against Elijah, so Joss has to put up with the man’s carelessness and his resentment , and his constant complaints to and about him. Joss doesn’t have the time or energy to deal with him once and for all – his responsibilities leave him little time for himself or a life of his own – although when Elijah’s carelessness leads to his sister Sophy’s arrest, Joss has to act quickly to save her. He tries to speak to Sir Gareth privately to ask him to drop the charges, but the man refuses to see him and in the end leaves Joss no choice but to do the very thing he had hoped to avoid. He’s already realised that Sir Gareth is the man he’d known only as “London” during the very pleasurable week of nights they’d spent together some weeks earlier on one of Joss’ regular ‘business’ trips to the city. Joss had felt a real connection with him and had enjoyed his company as much as the sex; he’d even hoped they’d be able to continue to meet on subsequent visits, but those hopes were dashed when his lover became inexplicably cold and dismissive and walked out – leaving Joss angry and disappointed. Since learning the identity of the new baronet, he’s tried to keep out of his way, but now, he’s left with no alternative to a very public confrontation.

When Gareth sees his former lover “Kent” enter the courtroom, it doesn’t take him long to put the pieces together and understand exactly what his presence there means - that he could ruin him with a well-chosen word. Furious and humiliated, he retracts his statement, Sophy is saved and Joss is… tired.

Gareth would be pleased to never see Joss again, but when it becomes clear that he has stumbled into the middle of something both bewildering and dangerous, Joss is the only person he can turn to for help. The Sweetwaters - the gang that operates on the other side of Romney – seem to think Gareth is in possession of something they want, but he has absolutely no idea what it could be and is sure he doesn’t have it anyway. This McGuffin kicks the mystery plot into gear, as Joss and Gareth begin searching for answers, turning up clues and slowly putting the pieces together to reveal a bigger picture that not only reveals what the Sweetwaters are after, but also sheds light on some long unanswered and increasingly disquieting questions about Gareth’s family.

The plot is clever and fast-paced, with a thrilling, edge-of-the-seat climax, and the cross-class romance is beautifully done, with lots of tenderness and moments of recognition between Joss and Gareth, who are both thoroughly decent men dealing with the difficult hands life has dealt them. Both have become heads of their respective families at a young age, and are finding that responsibility weighing on them. Gareth has no idea how to be part of a family and struggles to know how to interact with his newly-found relatives, while Joss is the man everyone looks to for help, for guidance, for a plan, and has little to no time to just be himself. Life at the top is lonely and he has no-one to share his burdens, no one who is really “on his side”. Gareth has never had that either; he’s been alone for most of his life – alone or surrounded by those who didn’t want or didn’t care for him. His deep-seated fear of abandonment is what caused him to reject “Kent” and bring their affair to an end, and he believes himself to be weak because he doesn’t like confrontation. Despite the inauspicious beginning to their romance, Gareth and Joss are drawn together, finding a kind of refuge in each other, a respite from the pressures they face in their everyday lives, and I enjoyed watching them learning things about themselves as they question their assumptions about who they are and who and what they can be. The author explores the dichotomy between wanting a life of one’s own while one bears responsibility for others, and I really enjoyed the way Joss challenges Gareth’s perception of himself as weak, showing him that he’s so much stronger than he thinks, and the way Gareth encourages Joss to set down his burdens while they’re together: “if you can just be you with me - I’d love that.”

The historical background is, of course, impeccably researched and integrated into the story, and the way the realities of ‘free trade’ (smuggling) are presented is very thought-provoking. The theme of the commoner who takes care of his people versus the self entitlement of the aristocrat who doesn’t give a stuff for anyone but himself is a recurring one in K.J. Charles’ books, but given the current political climate in the UK, it’s one that is as relevant now - if not more so – as it ever was. That said, the very valid social commentary never overshadows the romance or the plot; this book is absolutely NOT full of intrusive authorial tub-thumping at the expense of the story.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen is book one in the Doomsday Books duology, with the second due for release later this year. Gareth and Joss are easy to like and root for, and their romance is warm, tender and utterly charming. The secondary cast is beautifully drawn, the mystery is intriguing and the imagery pertaining to the desolate, forbidding marshland where one wrong turn could spell disaster creates an atmosphere so strong it’s almost a character in itself. The author’s decision to take this series to a mainstream publisher rather than to self-publish has meant it’s been a while since we’ve had a new full-length K.J. Charles novel to enjoy, but I can attest that it’s been worth the wait.

While this book was good, it didn't really feel unique in this era of gay romance set in historical england-slash-europe. Like a coworker and I were discussing at the library, it could have really benefitted from early readers pointing this out. I'm not a fan of regency tropes and "they can't be together because it's illegal in their society" eras for romance novels, so I was predisposed to dislike it, but I think that considering the other series I've read by KJ Charles was really good, I think what this was lacking was something of a supernatural element. The Magpie Lord and other books were just so enjoyable, which made this new one noticeably less so. It will probably be popular with current romance readers, but if you were a fan of Charles' previous work, this may be a bit of a miss.

KJ Charles does it again! This book is everything all at once: a heartwarming romance, a page-turny mystery and an atmospheric period novel. I almost finished it in a single sitting, and was only able to put it down because I absolutely had to. If you enjoyed the Bridgerton books but wished they had a bit more crime in them, or are looking for Red, White & Royal Blue set in Regency times, don't hesitate for a second but pick this book up immediately. I promise you, you won't regret it!

This steamy book set in England is fantastic new take on the old time criminals romance. Gareth and Joss clearly have a lot of care for one another and their families. Both of these jump off the page and the banter and true companionship between the two offer a very sweet rendition of gentleman falls for rogue smuggler. Highly recommend.

Not quite as steamy as other m/m regency romances I've read but an equally enjoyable read. The Bridgerton-like setting was immediately recognized and the good side of the track - meets wrong side of the track romance was well developed. That being said, I would have been more invested in the characters if I knew more about them. How did they get to this point? Overall, I enjoyed the book and will be reading more from KJ Charles. Thanks to NetGalley for the free review copy..