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Whyborne & Griffin: Eidolon – Jordan L. Hawk
Griffin Flaherty wants nothing more than to create a perfect Valentine’s Day for his lover, Dr. Percival Endicott Whyborne. Dinner at a fancy restaurant, an evening at the theater, and a romantic interlude at home should do the trick.
But a new client with an urgent case puts Griffin’s plans in jeopardy. A magic talisman has been stolen, and if it isn’t returned by sundown, it may unleash disaster not only on the thief but the innocents around him.
Can Whyborne and Griffin track down the thief and return the amulet by nightfall, or will dinner reservations become the least of their worries?
I had to google the title. According to Wiki;
In ancient Greek literature, an eidolon (plural: eidola or eidolons) is a spirit-image of a living or dead person; a shade or phantom look-alike of the human form.
I love how Widdershins is full of creepy, old rich families. I love how this short story had all the usual W&G fare we love in condensed form. Most of all, I am ecstatic that this is from Griffin’s point of view and we can see how deeply he loves his Ival.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
Soundtrack: Love to Get Used
Artist: Matt Pond PA
Album: Spring Fools(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20559250-eidolon)
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Saiaku no Jinsei – Fuji Tobi
Koisuru Sono Jijou wa Story of Miike and his boyfriend who has a nape fetish. Saiaku no Jinsei Kawashima is a 3rd year highschool student who’s always had a shitty life. He has a violent personality so people constantly misjudge him and his actions. One day he meets Sayama, a 1st year who’s good at everything but has zero ambitions in life. Thanks to his easygoing personality, he becomes the only person who’s ever tried to understand Kawashima. These two will have a huge impact on each other’s lives. Eden Story about gods who eat people.
Nape fetish story was stupid. Main story was really sweet. I’m glad they found each other again.
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A Society of Gentlemen: A Private Miscellany – K.J. Charles
A short (7.5K words) free coda to the Society of Gentlemen series, catching up on the main characters a year and a half later.
Available through subscription to the author’s newsletter
Portrait with Fox!!! Somebody make a fanart of that quick!
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bits
Soundtrack: All My Friends
Artist: LCD Soundsystem
Album: Sound of Silver(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/33521283-a-private-miscellany)
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The Trigger – Isino AYa
With a family and a successful career, Mitsui has taken all the right steps to lead a normal life. So when it starts to fall apart, he can’t understand what went wrong. Then a chance encounter with Sone, from his long past schooldays, dredges up memories, and spurs violent reactions to a part of himself he has struggled to deny all his life.
Guy finally learned to accept he’s gay. Guy finally learned to live his life. Mildly interesting story.
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Society of Gentlemen: A Confidential Problem – K.J. Charles
‘A Confidential Problem’ is a 4,000 word scene which takes place between chapters 15 and 16 of A Seditious Affair (after Silas has gone down to Arrandene, but before the finale). It’s not standalone, and won’t make any sense if you haven’t read A Seditious Affair.
Available through submission to the author’s page newsletter.
I still couldn’t get over this series! This short story features the development of Silas and Cyprian’s friendship. Cyprian was his cool, cunning self all throughout the conversation but when Silas turned the tables by asking the pertinent question, BAM! Right at the kokoro!
Rating:
5 Stars – absolutely perfect
Soundtrack: Are Everything
Artist: Buzzcocks
Album: Inventory(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30373933-a-confidential-problem)
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Toritome no Nai Koi no Shi – Ichikawa Kei
What would happen if one day a gaping hole suddenly opened in your chest? The night before this unusual event, your best friend throughout middle school, high school, and college tells you “I’m actually married.”!
Cheesy but still cute.
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A Society of Gentlemen: A Gentleman’s Position – K.J. Charles
Among his eccentric though strictly principled group of friends, Lord Richard Vane is the confidant on whom everyone depends for advice, moral rectitude, and discreet assistance. Yet when Richard has a problem, he turns to his valet, a fixer of unparalleled genius—and the object of Richard’s deepest desires. If there is one rule a gentleman must follow, it is never to dally with servants. But when David is close enough to touch, the rules of class collide with the basest sort of animal instinct: overpowering lust.
For David Cyprian, burglary and blackmail are as much in a day’s work as bootblacking—anything for the man he’s devoted to. But the one thing he wants for himself is the one thing Richard refuses to give: his heart. With the tension between them growing to be unbearable, David’s seemingly incorruptible master has left him no choice. Putting his finely honed skills of seduction and manipulation to good use, he will convince Richard to forget all about his well-meaning objections and give in to sweet, sinful temptation.
I suppose that topless guy up there is Lord Richard Vane. Not bad. Alas, no Foxy. But look, he’s on the Italian edition!
A Gentleman’s Position is my most anticipated book of the series and it was as brilliant as I had expected. There was so much unresolved sexual tension between Lord Richard Vane and his ever loyal and devoted valet Cyprian. Oh, happy goosebumps!
Cyprian or Foxy David is the character I was most excited to get to know. He is an unprincipled, scheming genius whom Richard depends on to deal with unsavory business. He is in love with Richard since forever and when he finally blurted out his feeling to his lord, the damn fool pushed him away.
I’m not really feeling Richard very much. I must be dense but I needed it spelled out: what on earth does David like about Richard?. Richard is so morally absolute and stuck in the mud to the point of being an idiot. He’s a good guy though and would do everything for his friends but apart from that, all he does is roughshod all over people. He means well but he’s a mess especially without Cyprian. When Richard finally did good and they got together, the feels overflowed!
The other part of the story involves the rest of the gentlemen. Their enemy Maltravers stole a letter poor Ash had written to Francis, the contents of which details their affair. Maltravers plans to blackmail his brother and bring down Silas along with Harry which has dire consequences on the rest of the gentlemen. How Cyprian pulled all the strings and made his puppets dance to save everyone was really ingenious and one of the things I really liked about this story and with the entire series in general is that even if you take away the love stories and let it just be about schemes, political intrigue, family scandals and class conflicts, it would still be as riveting as it is with the M/M angle.
Overall, I couldn’t ask for ask for a more perfect conclusion to this great series.
Rating:
5 Stars – absolutely perfect
Soundtrack: If You Want Me
Artist: Graham Coxon
Album: The Spinning Top(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25893424-a-gentleman-s-position)
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Cryptic White – Tamekou
Nachi, who has a reputation as a delinquent, wears a mask all the time. Sasa decides to find out what’s underneath.
I felt like this was inspired by Kakashi from Naruto, that time when the trio of Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke tried to unmask him.
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Society of Gentlemen: A Seditious Affair – K.J. Charles
Silas Mason has no illusions about himself. He’s not lovable, or even likable. He’s an overbearing idealist, a Radical bookseller and pamphleteer who lives for revolution … and for Wednesday nights. Every week he meets anonymously with the same man, in whom Silas has discovered the ideal meld of intellectual companionship and absolute obedience to his sexual commands. But unbeknownst to Silas, his closest friend is also his greatest enemy, with the power to see him hanged—or spare his life.
A loyal, well-born gentleman official, Dominic Frey is torn apart by his affair with Silas. By the light of day, he cannot fathom the intoxicating lust that drives him to meet with the Radical week after week. In the bedroom, everything else falls away. Their needs match, and they are united by sympathy for each other’s deepest vulnerabilities. But when Silas’s politics earn him a death sentence, desire clashes with duty, and Dominic finds himself doing everything he can to save the man who stole his heart.
It should be said that although A Society of Gentlemen is a brilliant historical romance series, the cover designs are terrible. Look at that one on top. Who is that suppose to be? The models don’t look anything like the characters they’re suppose to represent. There wasn’t even any blond guy on the cover of A Fashionable Indulgence.
A Seditious Affair focuses on Silas and Dominic who regularly meets anonymously every Wednesday for some BDSM fun. Silas is a firebrand radical who writes the most libelous pamphlets around and Dominic is a dyed in the wool Tory who works in the Home Office. They never get into their heads to ask each other names and so when the Home Office people raids Silas’ bookshop in search for incriminating materials, they were both in for a surprise. The rest of the book deals with the events after.
This is definitely much better than the first. For one, Harry and Julius from the POV of somebody else, Silas for example, turned out to be more likable, funnier and snarkier than in book one. Second, people often use the phrase “the struggle is real” in memes. Here, the phrase applies in several, heart wrenching levels. I really felt for Silas and Dominic and how they fought to be together and how they dealt with external and internal conflicts. I love how Silas is so non-judgmental and accepting of people and their unique preferences and helped Dominic step out of Richard’s shadow and accept himself. For some reason, I get a kick out of Silas calling Dominic “Tory”.
Third, there were some very real historical events interwoven with the different scandals involving our gentlemen. The author kept some of the dialogue as accurate as possible based on historical accounts. The resolution was complicated but very believable and satisfying. All the gentlemen pitched in even Ash (watch out for a very “Ashish” moment). Of course, it was all Foxy’s doing.
Overall, great love story between two men with opposing political views plus a good historical account of some dark period in Regency England.
Rating:
5 Stars – absolutely perfect
Soundtrack: White Knuckle Ride
Artist: Slaves
Album: Are You Satisfied?(source: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25241403-a-seditious-affair)
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Poolside – Ootsuki Miu
He wants to enjoy his summer vacation with his lover but a businessman’s vacation is too short…?!
What it says above.
