4.5/5 Stars


This book was SO much fun. I really loved the style of writing. It was detailed, but also felt very light, possibly because of the witty narrators. I admit that the plot took a little while to get going, but the characters were so endearing that it wasn’t hard to keep reading. Even if hardly anything had happened I think I could’ve enjoyed this book still. 


That being said, a lot did actually happen. There were some great plot twists that I could never have seen coming. Another thing I liked about this book was the commentary about class and wealth. I thought the author did a great job of weaving such important topics in with the fun. I had a great time reading this and if you want to try romance, but still have some action (there’s a heist!) then I would recommend this for sure. Thank you so much to the publisher for the review copy!

Excellent Regency romance between a highway man and an Aristocrat. Sweet, funny, warm and descriptive, this love story has it all.

Thanks to Avon + Harper Voyager (+ Netgalley) for the e-ARC of THE QUEER PRINCIPLES OF KIT WEBB. Obvi, all thoughts and feelings on this are my own.

There should be more historical m/m romances, especially if they are going to be as fantastic as this one. - the pairing, the romance, the wit, and the historical setting - definitely read this to just make yourself smile - a fantastic summer (or any season) read.

Cat Sebastian has done it again, proving that she is one of the few authors I can rely on for quality historical queer books.

What happens when a grumpy ex-highwayman and a foolish aristocrat meet in a coffee shop? Romance, duh, but also a tender hurt/comfort adventure for a book that's the hands of a man they both hate. It's one last hiest, Kit knows he should be able to handle it and his growing attraction to Lord Percy Holland. So, what if he take Percy under his wing, what if there are some tight quarters and longing loooks....

It's a guarantee at this point that any book by Sebastian is satisfying. As always, she does a wonderful job with writing romantic chemistry that it both piping hot and wonderfully tender, drawing the readers in an adventure full of corrupt aristocrats and the people who rob then. Also: hashtag be gay, do crime.

An ARC was provided by NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Oh, how I loved this book – from Kit and Percy were such opposites yet so similar, and both were that delicious mix of good and bad that makes a person interesting. Let’s start with Kit: a former famed highwayman, one that songs were created for. His last robbery resulted in his wounding, and his partner’s death – and Kit is still suffering the aftereffects of the wound. Now he owns a coffee shop in the city, with the daughter of a long-term friend (and fence) as his second. The interplay between Kit and Betty was delightful, and despite her dire warnings and true anger, she was always in his corner.

But let’s talk about Percy: the purported heir to a dukedom, he and his childhood best friend, now the duke’s wife, are planning a heist. There are rumors that Percy’s father was married before (and still) marrying his mother, or his current duchess. This starts the search for the famed highwayman, one Kit Webb, now serving coffee in the city.

Percy is delightful, if a bit self-centered and clueless, like many of his ‘class’. He’s completely himself and unashamed – a flagrant and obvious popinjay who, at first, seems to have no depth. But when he spots Kit (and vice versa) there is something that keeps the two intrigued and circling one another like magnets and steel. And we get to see everyone’s point of view in this as we have both perspectives, mostly alternating on similar or congruent moments, as we see Kit’s determination to stay aloof, Percy’s questions about Kit, Kit’s questions about Percy, and Betty’s complete and utter disdain of the whole situation.

Unlike others by this author, the flirtation and the getting to know one another through lies, deceptions and moments of truth are the foreplay, and the sexy moments are mostly behind closed doors or reviewed in moments by each character. And, I have to say that it allowed me to cheer on both Percy and Kit, worry about the subplot and heist that was planned, enjoy the twists, turns and tumult that resulted, and find joy and smiles in the end. A lovely story that is character driven with flawed characters trying to reframe their own futures and lives, separately and together.

I received an eArc copy of the title from the publisher via NetGalley for purpose of honest review. I was not compensated for this review: all conclusions are my own responsibility.

Review first appeared at <a href=” https://wp.me/p3OmRo-aVT /” > <a> I am, Indeed </a>

With THE QUEER PRINCIPLES OF KIT WEBB, Cat Sebastian’s newest, we get the full Georgian-era experience: coffeehouses, lace cuffs, noblemen in pastel silks and ballad-worthy highwaymen whose thieving days are almost, almost behind them.

Like Holton’s, this book also features a chillingly villainous father, a life of crime and falling in love with someone you shouldn’t — but this is the realistic version, where pistol balls hurt, love can’t fix everything and the aristocracy is founded on and nourished by blood.

Highwayman, it turns out, is a pitch-perfect role for a queer historical hero. If you’re already risking your neck to steal purses and harry the gentry, you’ll think nothing of risking your neck for someone you love. Both Kit, our thief, and Percy, our silk-clad lord, have to make themselves vulnerable and learn how to trust. They are very good at doing this while pretending not to do it, which is great fun for the reader.

Romances have been equating goodness and nobility since forever, with characters discovering their true aristocratic origins to make sure no class boundaries were crossed in the making of a lineage (looking at you, Georgette Heyer). This story does the opposite: The noble lineage has been a fraud all along, and Percy has to come to grips with the idea of not being who he was raised to be — both in a financial and legal sense, as well as a moral one. The book does not so much tear down class boundaries as dynamite the very idea of class itself, which is becoming a satisfying theme in Sebastian’s work. Laws that exist only to hurt people are unjust; systems that depend on people’s misery should be subverted and dismantled at every chance.

3.5⭐

No writes queer historical fiction like Cat Sebastian. I always fall completely in love with her characters and romances, and this was no exception.

The grumpy/sunshine mixed with different classes was such a fantastic mix of tropes that left me swooning over this romance. I really loved the chemistry between these two characters and how they grew to respect and love each other.

One thing I always love about this author's books is the representation she adds into an otherwise underrepresented genre. Not only is there queer rep in here, but Kit is disabled and dealing with chronic pain. As someone with chronic illness, this is always something I'm looking for in books I thought the rep was absolutely fantastic.

The heist portion itself wasn't my favorite. I thought the concept was fun but there was a lot of slow build up with a somewhat lackluster culmination.

Overall this is a must read for historical romance lovers! It's fun, swoony, and full of amazing representation. I can't wait to binge Cat Sebastian's next release!

This review is live on Goodsreads now!

3.5 stars

Kit Webb delivers on what I love about Cat Sebastian romances: gentle queer historical romance with nuanced conversations of privilege and class that call out the evils of the aristocracy, all while giving us delicious banter and silly humor. This book had an added bonus of disability representation, which I think was well done. Kit Webb isn't my favorite Cat Sebastian romance, I felt like it dragged a bit in terms of pacing. It felt like it was longer than it needed to be. I was also frustrated with loose ends, but am now happy to learn that there is a book planned for the character Marian and [redacted].

Disclaimer: I received a free e-ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This novel follows Percy, only son and heir to the Duke of Clare - or so he thought until recently, when a blackmailer requested to be paid off or they would reveal to society the scandalous hidden marriage of Percy’s father to another woman before Percy’s mother…a woman who bore a son. After investigation, Percy has found that what the blackmailer claims is true, and to protect his legacy as well as that of his friend Marian and her daughter, Eliza, he is now plotting to steal something from the Duke that could secure their financial future… but to do this, Percy will need instruction, so he turns to Kit Webb. Kit is a former highwayman turned coffee shop owner following a heist gone wrong that left him disabled. While Kit likes his new life, he hasn’t settled in yet, and he’s actually quite bored, so Percy’s proposition is perfect, although Kit is loathe to admit it (at first). This is what Kit is familiar with, and he doesn’t anticipate any problems while he is training Percy for this last job - although there are difficulties aplenty, chief among which is that Percy and Kit want each other badly.

The thing about Cat Sebastian is that she’s completely lovely and her books are just as much a delight. She has been on my auto-buy list for several years now, since I read “The Soldier’s Scoundrel” not too long after its release in 2016. I don’t even have to know what the book is about; in fact, I’ve auto-bought Sebastian releases numerous times without even reading a synopsis because she’s just that great. The Queer Principles of Kit Webb is yet another amazing book in an excellent line of amazing books, with hopefully many more on the way.

This book does so much right! My two favorite things: found family and queer love. I adored the found family aspect, a staple of Sebastian’s work at this point, and yet never boring or predictable. This is something that is so huge in queer communities due to actual families not being accepting, and finding families who love and support you always (even when they think you’re being an idiot, looking at you Betty) is so important and meaningful.

Obviously the relationship between Kit and Percy is absolutely delicious because to me it felt very full of mutual pining and slow burn, so when they finally got together it was amazing. But, I also love that these two men were so different not just in terms of their class standing but what they thought about as important and what meant something to them, that they were able to grow with each other and see things from each other’s point of view. Sebastian seamlessly integrates politics into the personal, something that can be very difficult and that I do not always see done well (for an example of done very well, see KJ Charles.)

Although I started to suspect some things that will for sure be very important in the next book of this series, that did not take away from my enjoyment of the book at all. In fact, the mystery was far less important to me than the characters and their happiness and wellbeing, so if you think you know where the book is going - keep reading. You won’t regret it.

A great mystery set in an interesting time and place, featuring gay characters - what's not to love? I appreciated the realism of the navigation of society's mores, while still keeping the story fun and with a happy ending.

I enjoyed this book so much!!! Typical period pieces are set in the regency era so seeing this late baroque era romance was quite fun! Kit and Percy have incredible chemistry from the moment they lay eyes on each other but it doesn’t feel forcefully sexual. In fact it just seems like a really strong crush that just gets justified the more time they spend together which is simply perfect. I wasn’t expecting a heist and mystery either but that made this book all the more interesting. I found that occasionally the writing was a bit awkward and occasionally the plot seemed to skip over things under the assumption they were obvious but I felt needed more explanation. There were a couple of anachronisms too. None of these critiques affected my overall enjoyment of the book though!!

I absolutely loved this book. Cat Sebastian is easily one of my favorite historical romance authors. Yet another book that is a beautifully executed relationship. I’ve been raving nonstop about this one.

I adored this. I thought the characters were so swoony and cute and easily loveable. The story brings you right into their world and the narrative and I absolutely adored them. Thank you for the e-arc!

This is another achingly tender book from Cat Sebastian. Kit, a retired highwayman is hired by Percy, an aristocrat to do one last job - which turns out to be stealing from Percy's father. The two cannot stay away from each other, and their motivations start to morph as their relationship makes them realize new things about themselves. Kit starts to open himself up to the possibility of companionship after losing everything and everyone he loved in the past, and Percy starts to consider that there may be more to life than expensive silks and manipulation. Their relationship takes them both by surprise, and they both must work to figure out to reconcile their pasts with their future together.

DNF @16%

This book just moved too slowly for me. I needed something that hooked me from the beginning, but I have been trying to read this for over a week, and find myself putting it down after a few pages every time I pick it up. The characters aren't that compelling, and I'm not very interested in the plot at this point either.

Maybe I'm being too harsh, but I don't want to waste time on books I'm not enjoying, and unfortunately, I picked this one up one too many times without making enough progress, so I won't be finishing it at this point in time.

Sebastian describes her historical novels as upbeat, and I have to agree.

In this book Percy is in quite an acute situation, which he enlists Kits' help to solve, but the tenor of the book is low key and gentle. I can't explain how she does it. The reader is safe in her hands.

The main characters are delightful and engaging. I look forward to rereading this book, just to hang out with them. The supporting characters are also likeable. I am guessing that this is the first in a series, although most things were sorted by the end of the book.

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

In 1751, when one is a former highwayman - called Gladhand Jack with a bloody ballad written about him - with a fairly devastating leg injury, what does one do? Well, in Kit Webb's case, open a coffee house in London and grumpily serve up his haphazardly-spiced brew to any number of malcontents and radicals.

"All right, you lot. Somebody's been scribbling Tory nonsense in the privy walls." Every eye in the room was on Webb, as if he were a magnet. He wasn't even raising his voice above his usual scratchy growl. "You want to write Tory slogans, you do at it the coffeehouse across the way with the rest of the Tory scum. [...] Here, we serve Whigs and radicals."

When Lord Percy waltzes into Kit's - wigged, powdered, replete with gold braid and brass buttons and lavender stockings - Kit is intrigued, and unsettled when Percy at first does little more than stare (and occasionally wink) at him. But it turns out Percy wants to hire Kit to rob his father of a book, a very important book he keeps with him at all times.

The plot synopsis really grabbed my interest in selecting this book, but honestly, I could have done with quite a bit less ... umm, plotting. There are simply shed-loads of plot here - Kit's backstory, Percy's mother and her Machiavellian child rearing, Percy's horrid father, Percy's childhood friend Marian who is now married to Percy's father and has a small daughter, the blackmail scheme that starts all the plotting, and not to mention Betty and Robb in Kit's sphere. AND Marian seems to have an entirely separate existence as some sort of wall-scaling ninja, and I suspect there may be another book about Marian and her adventures.

Then .... there's the planning and training for the highway robbery, along with a slow burn growing between Percy and Kit, but loads more plot and intrigue and swordplay. I'm somewhat torn between this book - liking the essence of the story, but as I read on, getting rapidly weary of all the tangents. And finally, there is a sex scene, and a rather hurried rush to a short epilogue that leaves me with more questions. A deeply conflicted 3.5 stars, but I'm hurrying off to read more of Cat Sebastian's works to see if perhaps this particular book is an outlier.

Thank you to NetGalley for this electronic ARC! The Queer Principles of Kit Webb is a snarky, mysterious, playful, and heartfelt book placed in (what seems to be) 1700s England. As the title implies, these two leading men find themselves attracted to one another at first sight despite their drastic differences. Percy is a pampered but sweet highborn man and Kit is a good-hearted, mysterious, and bored coffee shop owner with a thieving past that commoners sing about. I love historical romances and this romance trope. Each time Kit and Percy interact, he can't help but feel his grumpiness slip away.

What makes this novel so different from many romance books is that it confronts capitalism through Kit's hatred of nobility. While stealing from nobles gave him a thrill, it was also something he did out of principle. This brought a lot more depth to the character and an overall message against those who hoard wealth. Naturally, privilege is also centered in more than one conversation between the lovers.

Sebastian's writing was filled with clever and funny quips as well as thoughtful character building. All that seemed to be missing was the revelation of Percy's final plan. So as not to provide any spoilers, I'll just say that skipping over the resolution into an epilogue was frustrating. Percy mentioned how smart his plan was multiple times and then the reader is left to only imagine based on a few of his actions leading up to this deed. I would have given this book 5 stars if the plan was included.

Verdict:
The Queer Principles of Kit Webb is a wonderful addition to anyone's collection of queer historical romances! I highly recommend it to those who also enjoy stories of kindhearted criminals.

I read quite a few reviews of this one before I started reading, and I had some doubts it would work for me. I was wrong. I think the opposites attract match up totally works, and I loved the chemistry between our principal characters. A former highwayman and a fop (sorta) who team up to exact revenge against a man they both hate. Both men have secret reasons for wanting revenge, and the author takes her time revealing their stories. The story is well paced, sexy and smart, and feels like a return to form for the author. But.

The secondary characters aren't that well established, and the action scenes are too brief and too underwhelming? After all that build-up, the last quarter of the book falls flat. I loved the romance, didn't love the adventure.

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb was somehow both what I expected and nothing like I expected. I typically love Cat Sebastian’s books, and I really did enjoy The Queer Principles of Kit Webb, but it had darker themes than I would expect based on my experience with her books in the past.

This doesn’t mean that it isn’t still a sweet romance, but the main storyline is pretty serious - Percy is being blackmailed based on some information about his (pretty evil) father, and needs to retrieve a book that his father never lets out of his sight. Obviously the solution is to hold up his carriage, and Percy attempts to hire Kit, a former highwayman, to do that. But Kit was injured in his last job, over a year ago, and so decides instead of doing the job, he’ll teach Percy how to do the hold up himself. There’s a lot of sexy “learning to fight” scenes, and Percy hanging around in Kit’s coffee shop making eyes at Kit.

Percy and Kit are delightful, and the first 75% or so of the book is them being very adorable together. One thing that I typically enjoy about Cat Sebastian books is that I feel like she keeps me guessing as to how the characters can end up together and it’s always very satisfying when the resolution comes about. The same held true with The Queer Principles - I wasn’t sure how exactly Percy and Kit would make it work, but the way that it ended up happening was so sweet. There are some plot threads that are left hanging, but I wonder if that is also a set-up for a sequel.

I think my biggest complaint about The Queer Principles is that the secondary characters are clearly important, and as a reader, I kept trying to puzzle out the relationships but kept getting confused. I felt like I was supposed to be picking up on something, but just kind of felt like it was going over my head. (Honestly, it’s possible this is a me problem and everybody else who reads this book will be fine.) Eventually all is revealed, but I do think there are some very convenient relationships, because some things just work out perfectly.

Percy is a bit of a spoiled aristocrat, not having known anything else in his life. But he grows up a lot during the course of the book. Kit is grumpy but just can’t maintain his grump in the face of Percy’s sheer ridiculousness. Kit’s history is entangled with Percy’s family in a very serious way, and the way that is resolved is well done. The love the two have for each other by the end is very clear, and their interactions are so tender and sweet and gave me warm fuzzies inside as I was reading.

Overall, I just felt so good after reading The Queer Principles of Kit Webb. It is such a satisfying read. Though it is dark at times, I feel like those parts are handled well and I was very emotionally satisfied at the end.

Content warnings: Before the events of the book, death of a child and wife, as well as death of a mother. During the events of the book, blackmail and gun violence.