The Romance Quest!: 'Think of England' by KJ Charles

[wolffyluna]

It's a fun little novella, what can I say?

Archibald Curtis, a veteran of the Boer War who is missing a large chunk of his hand thanks to a faulty gun, has been invited to a house party. He accepts the invitation-- but he has an ulterior motive. He's concerned that the faulty guns that laid waste to his company may have been sabotaged, the host of this party had motive and means. At the house party, he meets Daniel da Silva -- camp, Jewish, a poet, a font of witty reparté... and also skulking about the house for mysterious purposes.

It's good fun, mostly. Daniel is charming from the start. Unfortunately, he's not the viewpoint character. Curtis is eventually charming (and wonderfully unobservant, which does make the ending a trifle odd, but whatever)-- but in the first part of the book he keeps referring to Daniel with what I'm reasonably sure are slurs? There was a point in the book where I was like "Look, I can only give the character so much leeway for being literally Edwardian, if this doesn't stop quick smart I'm putting down the book." But to Charles' credit, that's exactly when Curtis' internal monologue becomes way less insulting.

Though this book is leading me to the conclusion that I might... actually like Romantic Suspense. Which is unfortunate, because a) I had a bad experience with the genre, thanks to an English teacher with some frankly bizarre priorities† and b) I'm not a big fan of contemporary things, and I have the sneaking suspicion that 'Historical M/M romance with suspense aspects' is just a KJ Charles thing :P

So, I've noticed a pattern with romance novels: Right at the end, There Is A Big Problem With The Relationship, Oh Noes How Will They Solve It In 20 Pages. During this big problem, the last sex scene happens. I like to call this 'The Last Minute Fuck in the Last Minute Fuck Up.' The thing is, it always strikes me as... less than ideal, because it means the last sex scene is always emotionally fraught. KJ Charles manages to avoid that, by making the Last Minute Fuck the resolution of the Last Minute Fuck Up. (I'll admit I am using an eccentric definition of 'sex scene' here, but whatever.) So that's nice.

Also, if KJ Charles ever writes a spin off for Fenella Carruth and Pat Merton, I am so there.

†She assigned Fetish by Tara Moss as a text to analyse. I had to analyse the theme of Power in goddamned Fetish by Tara Moss . (I could have written an essay on the book's bizarre-if-you-actually-thought-about-it attitude to sex, but nope, gotta analyse it to a set theme. THANKS.)

Comments

[lb_lee]

Sneak: We might have to try it! We've been meaning to read more KJ Charles since the one we read first we liked quite a bit... but we're also usually not into historical, which is a shame. But Charles is good enough we might be willing to give it a shot!

I had to analyse the theme of Power in goddamned Fetish by Tara Moss.

Mori: I imagine your English teacher was just trolling the whole lot of you.

[wolffyluna]

It's good fun! (Though, a word of warning: in the first sex scene in that book, the main characters are being coerced by a third party. So.)

Trolling is a distinct possibility. The stated reasoning was along the lines that she was sick of teaching 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo', she was sick of students not finishing it because it was so long, and it'd be nice to read something by an author that was Australian and/or a woman-- which when you add the twist that this was a class specifically about Crime Fiction*, apparently 'Fetish' by Tara Moss becomes the front runner?

*In the last few years at my high school, you could pick what English units you took, and crime fiction was one of them.

[lb_lee]

Rogan: Ooh, thanks for the coercion warning! That's a big squick for me.

In the last few years at my high school, you could pick what English units you took, and crime fiction was one of them.

Sneak: That's so cool! *_* I wish our school had something like that!

[wolffyluna]

No worries! The rec I got for that book myself skipped that warning, and while it's not a full on squick for me, it felt like a good idea to pass a warning on.

Being able to pick our English classes was really nice. Where I lived, in the last few years of high school, you got to pick what your classes would be-- except for English, which was mandatory. So it was nice to at least be able to pick what we did for English. (It was probably nice for the teacher's too, because it meant they could focus on what they're favourite thing to teach was, instead of going "I guess they need to read at least one Shakespeare thing this year... *sigh*")