This book spoke to my little gay heart, fulfilled fantasies I didn't know I had, and enthralled me. This is my first read from David Lawrence and it will not be my last!

I DNF’d after about 25%. I Think we were meant to be rooting for the POV character, But I did not like them at all. I probably missed the relevant trigger warnings, so I was not at all prepared. There were a lot of Really concerning behaviours in this book. Not my cup of tea

I was taken aback by the very first scene with Daniel and Clarence. I probably should have looked for trigger warnings. The rest of the book had the same kind of dark romance? Non romance vibes? Either way, I wasn't delighted, you can say.
Thank you to netgalley for the ARC. Opinions are my own.

“I cannot make someone who hasn’t a heart understand what it’s like to break one.”

DNF around 50%.

The book is described as being a “hilarious romantic puzzle” and I struggled to see anything in this read as hilarious.

The combination of the blackmail plot and age gap just wasn’t for me. I understand it’s a miscommunication trope but it all felt rather icky and ridiculous.

I really liked the Daniel and Clarence breakup and the vibe Daniel and Luke had once they met but I really can’t get past the instant love aspect and the miscommunication.

Someone else may really enjoy the story but this just wasn’t for me.

Not the most inventive or gripping Regency romance. While there was some acknowledgement of historical events in the background, the rest was rather full of tired tropes.

02/13/2024 || Blackmailer's Delight by David Lawrence || #BlackmailersDelight #NetGalley

Thank you NetGalley, David Lawrence, and Broadbound Publishing for making this e-ARC available!
Please note: This review may not be reproduced or quoted, in whole or in part, without explicit consent from the author and myself.
All of my thoughts are my own~

3.5 Stars - DNF

I originally was super excited to read this book but coming to find out how extreme the age-gap was going to be, I became a bit hesitant. I love blackmailing tropes, I love age-gaps*, and I love historical, queer romances so overall this was right up my alley!

I DNFed around the 20% mark with the hesitancy for the ages in the age-gap in mind, but plan to listen to the audiobook once it comes off hold via Libby/the library. Once I fully listen to it I will alter this review here to reflect my full reading and officially upload to IG, GoodReads, StoryGraph, and my personal blog as well and update the links.

LOVED the writing style and characters so far and felt bad about being so turned off. Usually I don't mind age-gaps, but this one is not my particular favorite of ages used. Anyone under 25 with anyone significantly older than them is a tad triggering to me.
Being more aware of what is occurring based of other's reviews I think I can handle the contents a bit better but alas the eARC copy on my NetGalley shelf has expired.

I appreciated how the book was not inundated with sex scenes, but when they were there, they helped add depth to the relationship. That said, while the age gap definitely is accurate to the historical time period, for a modern audience I'd wonder if it was necessary—there could have still been an age gap whilst making the character older than 18. The prose was easy to get through, even though the tone and language felt authentic to the historical time period, the prose never felt bogged down, which was great. I found the miscommunication in the book to become slightly redundant which detracted from my enjoyment, however, for the most part it was executed well because the reasons behind the miscommunication seemed believable.

DNF 50%
I think the style is quite pretty, I really do. I cannot deny that this is a well written book and the dialogue alone got me coming back to read a little more every time, conversations flowed naturally and felt accurate to the time period.
I however could not push myself to finish this. This probably stems from personal preferences, and I am aware of this, but I was given an eARC to give my honest opinion and so I will. The age gap was...too much. Different time, different morals, I get that. It doesn't mean reading about a barely legal boy discovering his sexuality through intercourse with a man almost twice his age cannot make me uncomfortable though. Furthermore, and I should have seen this coming, Daniel and Luke's immense misunderstanding (and the actions that stemmed from this) got on my nerves *real fast*. Said misunderstanding was well written however, so anyone who likes this trope will surely be fully satisfied. I just was not the target demographic for this book after all.

Blackmailer’s Delight follows Daniel Thornton as he leaves his relationship with Clarence. After moving to his Uncle’s estate to care for him, he meets Luke Morley. As Daniel enters this new relationship, conflict transpires as he receives a blackmail letter asking that he marry one of Luke's sisters. All signs lead to Luke, and confusion ensues.

This book’s strength is certainly in its prose. It is unique in that the language is similar to that of a period classic—think Pride and Prejudice—rather than a modern retelling of historical events, which I loved. It's witty and lighthearted and won't leave you heartbroken by the end. I felt that the pacing of the novel worked well given its length. I think it would be a great choice for anyone who appreciates a classic romance novel but would like more diversity regarding romantic relationships. I also appreciated the history lesson regarding 'The Revolt of the Housewives,' an event that takes place during the time of this novel.

I admit I had a tough time getting into this book at first, but once I was a ways along, it was much easier to get immersed in the plot. A few of the characters felt flat at times but I felt that this didn’t detract too much from the work as a whole, especially considering that the novel itself is meant to be more lighthearted. I would have loved to see a deeper, more intimate connection between Daniel and Luke apart from an attraction for physical features.

I recommend Blackmailer’s Delight to fans of A Gentleman's Guide to Vice and Virtue who are looking for a tale with similar feelings but less modern language.

Thank you to NetGalley and Broadbound Publishing for sending this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Sadly, this wasn’t for me, DNF at 38%.

“A misunderstanding ties the fates of three men together in this heartfelt, sensual, and uproarious romantic puzzle.”

The age gap between two of those three, Daniel and Luke felt uncomfortable and unnecessary. Luke is very recently 18 and constantly gets referred to as a boy, while Daniel is 34. Daniel is also the rich Londoner, to Luke’s small-town youth. Combined with the miscommunication their acquaintance (relationship?) is built on, I can’t help but feel very sorry for Luke.

Another reason not to keep reading was because I don’t enjoy the old timey language. It’s quite flowery and tends to take me out of the story a lot. I suppose it fits the story and setting (1795), but it kept me from connecting with the characters and story. It wasn’t particularly sensual or uproarious, either.

In terms of setting and marriage plotting, this felt somewhat similar to Pride and Prejudice. I didn’t particularly enjoy either of the main characters’ perspectives, though. One being the grumpy, judgemental character’s, the other a naive boy who gets taken advantage of. A bunch of the side characters also got POVs, which felt rather expository.

As said, not for me. I hope this finds its audience.

I am still not sure how to feel about this book.
On one hand, the story is interesting but in the other, a lot gets confusing.
A few times, when things were being mentioned as memories, it wasn't too clear. It did get better as the story progressed.
Also, I felt, the age gap was not necessary to the overall story at all.
The twists were done great though, as was the prose given the time period.

I liked this well enough. It is a silly but fun m/m Regency romance with several likable characters and a willingness to consider how queer women at the time fared with vastly less freedom but a similarly restrictive situation.

My satisfaction with the MCs varied. Luke is fun but a bit too naive. Daniel is a little too ready to believe the worst of him. I wasn’t entirely convinced of the believability of some of the miscommunications, but I think
Lawrence kept a somewhat overused device from feeling too frustrating. And the ending is terribly sweet.

I’d rate this 3.5 stars, but I’m rounding up (not down) because I’d like to see more from this author.

Interesting conceit but a greater degree of anachronism than my willing suspension of disbelief can fully embrace.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy of this book.

Blackmailer’s Delight by David Lawrence was witty and funny and really spoke to what it is to live in distrust of the world around you. The book begins with a breakup scene between Daniel Thorton and his lover Clarence Ludlow before Daniel receives a letter whisking him away to an estate in the countryside to care for his ailing uncle and to find goodness in the world. What follows is a tumultuous and heartwarming story as Daniel Thorton and Luke Morley try to love one another in a world that forbids them from doing so.

The plot of this novel was driven forward by multilayered miscommunication. Although I typically don’t enjoy the miscommunication trope, I can appreciate the role it played in this story. The factors that allowed this miscommunication to persist for so long were realistic to the time period as opposed to just being the lack of simple communication. I enjoyed the resolution at the end of the novel and the way that it tied together so many of the obstacles faced throughout the story. I thought that it was a sweet and wholesome end to a romp.

Despite understanding the role of miscommunication, it made it so that I struggled a little to believe the romance between Daniel and Luke. There is a 16 year age gap between the two of them and the power inequality was apparent from the very beginning. In addition to this, Daniel and Luke don’t spend enough time truly getting to know one another. This is justified in part given the weight of a blackmail note hanging in the balance but it made it hard to believe the feelings they were developing after so little civil interaction.

The characters in this novel were charming and nuanced. Daniel Thorton is a kind and gentle man made distrustful from years of feeling ostracized in a society that refuses to accept him. Luke Morley is a young man coming to terms with the realities of his orientation, distancing himself from those he loves and standing defiant against an oppressive world. Clarence Ludlow was the image of a man spoiled by overbearing parents, but even he grew and developed wonderfully by the novel's end.

2.5 stars

dnf @ 58%


I feel very mixed about this book. On one hand, the writing style is EXCELLENT -- it's extremely engaging and witty, and was one of the parts of the book that I enjoyed the most. The characters were also pretty fun, tho I do wish we'd been able to delve into the main characters a tad more than we did.

On the other hand, there were many things that really frustrated me. The central conceit of the book (a blackmail comedy of errors) is often so ridiculous that it's difficult to suspend your disbelief, to the point that it irritated me most times it came up. I would have also loved if we got more development of the romance; it felt more like a mutual lust/instalove combination, which is fine for some people, but not to my taste.

I also found the historical setting somewhat challenging. The author has a forward saying how they wanted to play with this specific time period because of the unrest around food prices, but we don't properly engage with that until 50% into the book. At which point that unrest seems to have arrived out of left field, and only serves to confuse the reader. If it had been better incorporated into the book from the beginning, I think it could have been really interesting and successful! But alas.

Overall, I think this is a book that has a lot of bright points that might draw and entertain readers, but alas, it was not a successful book for me.

This one gets ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ out of 5 for me. Very well written in the style of the time period in which it was set but something about the dialogue setup was off for me. Misunderstanding/Miscommunication between the MC and quite a big age gap. Sexy, silly and sweet with a twist at the end that the author wraps up nicely. Would consider reading other works from David Lawrence.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing an ARC copy of this book!

The writing in this book is very solid. The author nailed the dialogue particularly, it felt very accurate to the time period. The prose was fast moving and light, which made it easy to read. The characters were colorful and interesting. Luke was my favorite. He was adorable. The miscommunication trope worked particularly well here, being that the characters were unable to speak about certain things to each other outright.
That being said, I don’t think I would be the target audience for this book but I thought it was cute and I can see how others would like it.

In the midst of the French Revolution, the English "Revolt of the Housewives" erupted in 1795, whereby the mostly female rioters redistributed food stores to those in need, after one of England's coldest winters, setting fair prices for the food and paying the proceeds back to the original owners. I love how the women strived to give all involved a good outcome, and in a sense, this reflects the overall tone of David Lawrence's book.

Throughout the course of Blackmailer's Delight, we find, yup, blackmailers, some perfectly horrid characters, miscommunications and misunderstands galore, and situations where there seems to be no good outcome. And at first, the tone of the writing - for me personally - was a bit much to really digest. There's a certain formal tone and a huge amount of descriptions that bogs down the story and many of the actions and events in the book are told after the fact, or recalled as a memory, resulting in a lack of immediacy.

But once the plot is fully in swing, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it all. Daniel Thornton goes to Grantham to care for his ailing uncle, declaring that he wished to find the goodness in the world. Yet when confronted with Luke Morley "this young man I've joked with, caroused with, argued with, f@cked with, and tried to emotionally blackmail. Everything, it seems, except to speak to properly.") he believes the absolute worst of him, and yet believes most of what his ex Clarence tells him.

Clarence starts out as a simply horrid character who I was eager to write off, and yet Daniel manages to find a good resolution to their former relationship. He manages to circumvent the supposed blackmail plan for his marriage to Luke's sister, and the solution is really a stroke of genius all the way around. The secondary characters are well-developed and fleshed out and as the book come to an end, there is a world of possibilities for all the characters. 4 stars.

A great concept but fell short.

I ended up not finishing this book, I found the writing to be choppy and the dialogue lacking. I think with a bit more polishing and editing I might have pushed through,

This is an unfortunate but a very obvious case of "it's not you, it's me" -- I did not pick up from the blurb that the romance would have such a significant age gap as it does. I don't really care about how era-appropriate that gap could be, but reading about an 18yo figuring out his sexuality with a man in his mid-30s is just not something I find enjoyable. Add to that the significant disparities in power dynamics, and it's essentially a guaranteed turn-off of me. Could have avoided that case of not-for-me if the marketing of the book more clearly alluded to the age gap.

The other quibble I have with the book is the style. It does have a tongue-in-cheek narration which is often funny, granted, but it seemed the kind of funny that's at odds the spirit of romance as a genre. I'm not advocating for dry and earnest narration in romance only, god forbid, but I feel this was more of a romp (and therefore more of an adventure? satire? historical with erotica?) than romance per se.

YMMV of course.

Thanks to publisher and Netgalley for an early copy.