This was a great cross between historical romance and cozy mystery - but with plenty of spice and feels.

I love that the drama between Joss and Gareth was kept to a minimum, and they spent most of the story working as a team. While common in romance, it's always frustrating to read a story that's continual conflict between the romantic leads. This was so refreshing in that regard.

Despite not typically being a huge fan of historical romance, I thoroughly enjoyed this one and will look for more books from this author.

I have read a couple of other KJ Charles books this year and enjoyed them well enough, but this was absolutely a delight.

The book starts with a week long affair between Sir Gareth and his mystery man, who he knows as Kent, but then Kent has to return to Kent and Sir Gareth finds out that his father has died and left him an estate… in Kent. Romney Marsh to be exact, an area known to be a hotspot for smugglers, one of which just so happens to be Gareth’s “Kent” also known as Joss Doomsday.

The banter between these two was top tier and I loved the way they both had to overcome their own ideas of independence vs dependence to build a healthy relationship. I love the way Charles weaves in commentary on legality vs morality and racism and homophobia, and how she highlights that diversity has always existed. And I loved the twists and turns of the mystery element.

I loved so much about this book and I cannot wait for the sequel! It seems like it will be Luke’s book and several years in the future so we can see old(er) Gareth and Joss!

You can't go wrong with a historical romance by K.J. Charles. She writes such interesting characters and then puts them in what seem to be impossible situations - case in point, Sir Gareth who inherits a remote manor in Romney Marsh, home to some intrepid smugglers, one of whom is a man he previously met and had a mutually enjoyable anonymous affair. Joss Doomsday is the head of a smuggling enterprise and the last person an upstanding citizen should be lusting after and yet, Gareth and Joss can't keep away from each other. Throw in a dead body, some missing gold, possible treason, action and danger with a steamy romance and you've a perfect way to spend a few hours. Excited to see what's coming next!

I fell in love with the gorgeous cover and then I fell in love with this fast paced story that mixes M/M romance, actions, historical fiction and much more.
Highly entertaining, a page turner featuring well plotted characters, humour and an interesting romance.
I hope to read soon other books by this author.
Highly recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher for this arc, all opinions are mine

I love a good historical romance! This one fit the bill y’all. I loved every moment of this one. It had everything needed. Romance, mystery, action, suspense. 4.5 out of 5 ⭐️

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for my honest opinion.

This is my first book by KJ Charles and it definitely will not be the last. It's billed as a historical M/M romance, but it is so much more.

The action takes place in England in 1810, first, briefly, in London, and then in Kent for most of the story - specifically in area area of Kent called Romney Marsh. It’s a story that involves an extended family of smugglers (actually two extended families of smugglers), a sudden unexpected inheritance and a mystery. The characters were terrific individuals, not stereotypes, from Gareth to Joss to Ma Doomsday to Nate Sweetwater and on and on.

Beyond the wonderful romance between an aristocrat and a smuggler, I learned a ton about an area of Kent, England called the Romney Marsh. You could say that I fell down a rabbit hole, looking up information about it while reading this book!

I bounced between the audiobook and the ebook for this title, which was very convenient. The audiobook was beautifully narrated by Martyn Swain. It was a treat to hear all the different English accents over the course of the book. Warning: there are some very graphic steamy encounters, so if you’re listening to the audiobook, I advise using headphones!

I was excited to find out that KJ Charles is planning a second book featuring some of these wonderful Romney Marsh characters!

Thank you to Sourcebooks Casablanca and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an advance reader copy of this book and to Dreamscape Media and NetGalley for the opportunity to listen to an advance copy of this audiobook - although I was a bit late to both. All opinions are my own.

I know this is a historical m/m romance, and I very much enjoyed that part. Joss and Garett are wonderful main characters, and I loved them together. But I also just really enjoyed the mystery aspects. I found myself reading as much to find out how everything was going to connect together as for the romance. It was a really enjoyable mystery on the Marshes and the romance was icing on a well baked cake.

About the only complain I have is a minor one, which is that the rambling older gentleman felt like he knew more maybe… but it never got followed up on?

Tiny dangling thread and still not worth denoting at all. Enjoyable mystery historical m/m romance. Do recommend.

Heat Factor: We open with sex, then get a whole lotta feelings, and then some more sex toward the end.
Character Chemistry: Both the antagonism and the support hit perfectly.
Plot: Gareth inherits a barony, a house, and a whole lot of trouble with smugglers when his father dies. Luckily, Joss is only too happy to help him out.
Overall: An enjoyable read.

I saw this book promoed elsewhere as “Poldark, but make it gay.” Obviously, that was a one-click. However, since I never actually read any of the Poldark books and the only bit I actually remember about the recent-ish BBC series is the scene where Ross Poldark scythes a meadow, I cannot comment on how closely The Secret Lives of Country Gentleman captures the vibes of Poldark more broadly.

There is, I regret to inform you, no shirtless yardwork. But I guess Gareth and Joss do run around in meadows overlooking the sea. And sometimes remove clothing outside.

Anyways.

Gareth is living a sad and lonely life in London—except for this really great guy who he’s been having anonymous sex with—when his father (who Gareth hasn’t seen since he was a small child) kicks the bucket. Gareth inherits everything and moves to Romney Marsh in Kent. This is a sparsely populated region in southeastern England which means: smugglers. Lots and lots of smugglers. Anyways, Gareth spends lots of time wandering around the marsh looking at insects and happens upon some of these smugglers during one of his rambles. Being the law-abiding citizen he is, he gives a description to the taxman, which results in a young woman being arrested…until he recants his testimony when that really great anonymous sex partner shows up at the courthouse and offers some, uh, persuasion to forget what he saw.

And that’s brings us to Chapter 3.

So the first thing to note about this book is that there’s a lot of plot. There are a lot of characters and a lot of stuff happening. It was also waaaayyyyy more suspense-y than I was expecting. Like, there’s a full-blown mystery here, with various suspicious characters threatening Gareth and his half-sister. The mystery builds slowly—at first, I thought this was an incidental side plot, but the mystery and the resolution of the suspense plot eventually becomes central to the story. This did mean that I wasn’t sure exactly where we were going with the story for the first few chapters, but the seemingly disparate threads do start to come together once things get moving. So Gareth’s and Joss’s family dramas and their relationship with one another and the smuggling shenanigans and the mystery of what Gareth’s terrible dad was up to eventually weave together into one larger story, where if you pull one thread, all of the other pieces move too.

The second thing to know is that while Charles clearly knows her way around Romney Marsh and its history—I loved the density of the local details—this doesn’t read as a purely “accurate” book of historical fiction. The characters are very careful with each other about consent and emotions in ways that some readers might find anachronistic, though I thought that Charles struck a good balance of having the characters make the point without it being overpowering. (Also, what is “historical accuracy” really? Historical fiction reveals more about the moment in which it was written than about the realities of the historical past. Like science fiction and fantasy, historical fiction allows authors to explore contemporary themes in a different setting to highlight these themes in a new way. Anyways.)

As for the romance, Gareth and Joss are facing some truly insurmountable-seeming problems, starting with the fact that Joss blackmails Gareth to protect his sister. Plus there’s the whole “we’re queer in Regency England” thing AND the whole “we are from different classes” thing. But the way that Charles has these two guys work through their problems satisfies the strictures of the time, the characters’ needs and desires, and my own desire as a reader for a happy ending.

I’ll tell you right now that I cried at the end because it was so lovely.

I voluntarily read and reviewed a complimentary copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own. We disclose this in accordance with 16 CFR §255.

This review is also available at The Smut Report.

Steamy romance, wonderful dialects, a proper mystery, and a great dive into the historical, political, and cultural complexities of the period. A slow start builds into a compelling story and characters you care about.

I liked the romance, though the plot did not hook me as much as I had hoped. I LOVED the beginning of the book and I loved the chemistry between Joss and Gareth, but so much about the Cecelia (or whatever her name is) storyline was just annoying and a bit of a pain to get through. I kept zoning out.

I liked this book, but I'm not sure I totally loved it. I couldn't help but feel like something was missing the whole time. I think I was also comparing it too much to "Something Fabulous" by Alexis Hall and while there are similarities, the writing styles and overarching stories are completely different. But that's also on me and I'm sure others won't see it that way. I didn't dislike this book, but I don't know if I'll keep reading the others in the series. Overall, I think people will enjoy this as it has a bit of everything - romance, family drama, and more.

I thought this was a good read that balanced the plot with the romance well. The romance had a clear purpose in the story without reducing the two male characters to tropes. I also found the descriptions of Kent and how different communities led to different mannerisms interesting.

Another excellent novel by KJ Charles. She's never put out a dud and while this wasn't my favorite, it will appeal to her regular fans as well as be a good entry point to her writing.

Thank you Netgalley and Sourcebook for this advanced copy.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen was such a great book, sweet and FUN!! As always form KJ Charles.

What a great balance of a mystery plot and romance! The characters of Joss and Gareth had incredible depth, I feel like I know them so well. Their complexities were continuously unveiled throughout the book, we were constantly learning new things about them.

Another excellent addition to KJ Charles' canon. Highly recommended for fans of queer historical romance. The pacing is excellent and, as always, the plot is propulsive. KJ Charles never disappoints for fans of m/m romance with a twist of mystery.

An enjoyable MLM historical romance set in the Romney Marsh where a newly minted baronet and the prince of smugglers characters get a second chance at love set amongst a backdrop of mystery and shenanigans. The theme of the book appears to be learning and dealing with vulnerabilities in familial and romantic relationships. The B plot outshone the romance A plot in spots, but overall, this was a fun and heartwarming read.

KJ Charles never disappoints!

This was so much fun to read. I loved getting to know Gareth and Joss and all their baggage. KJ Charles excels at writing multilayered characters and this is so evident here. Watching their relationship grow and evolve was so delightfully and I rooted for them every step of the way. The last scene made me so emotional in how true it was to the book and yet delivering swooniness.

The secondary cast was also great especially Asa, Sophy, Luke, and Catherine. They added so much more to this tale and provided crucial support when needed.

While the stakes here were not quite as high as the spies in the Slippery Creatures trilogy, they were equally very real. I hated that there hung an ever present danger of being outed and loved how all that was resolved.

What more can I say, this book had it all. Humor, found family dynamics, STEAM, a plot... I mean KJ is an auto-read for me for a reason!

Huge thanks to SourceBooks and NetGalley for the ARC.

The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen is the first KJ Charles book I've read, and it was delightful!

Two different worlds colliding and merging in a remote marshland of Kent, in a spicy, passionate romance entangled with family secrets, intrigue, smuggling and backstabbing!

Thank you NetGalley and for the ARC!

I'm familiar with the earlier work of KJ Charles. I'm a big fan of the "A Charm of Magpies" series. This prolific author has a variety of books for folks to choose from. While it's been a while for me, I saw this one and wanted to read it. The blurb was intriguing and the book lived up to it!

"London" and "Kent" have met in London where they're safe to be who they really are. For stolen moments in a private room, they enter into an affair without knowing who each other is. Their connection is immediate when they lock gazes and Charles does a wonderful job of building the beginnings of these two characters without initially revealing who they are. I was lost in the not-knowing just like the characters and was equally confused and surprised when "London" abruptly ended everything.

Sir Gareth Inglis is a newly anointed Baronette. Upon the death of his father, he inherited the home he'd never had including some characters from his father's life. He moves to Romney Marsh to begin again and finds a challenging path ahead of himself.

Josiah Doomsday is the head of his smuggling family. He and Sir Gareth collide in court when legal matters come between them. Of course, these men have met before. The world of the marsh is very different from the anonymous world of London. The feelings between these two men may still be there, but they are living in a fishbowl... a fishbowl with crime, smuggling, violence and blackmail.

This is a delicious novel with plenty of spice from the chemistry between the main characters. The plot is purposely driven on two fronts... the forbidden romance and the mystery of missing gold and smuggling families. Charles always writes mystery and intrigue with great skill and I found myself thoroughly engaged throughout the story.