I absolutely adored this!

To be honest, the last few months of 2022 have been rough for me and my depression/anxiety hasn't let me get a lot of what I love done. What I love is reading. So if a book can pull me in and make me want to do nothing but dive into the lives of the characters lives on page, it's definitely spectacular.

I love that this is the story of a reader meeting their favorite author and falling in love. I've met a few of my favorite authors and I have to say Charlie handles it with more grace than I have. I mean, he talked to Miles at least and didn't just nod and smile like a simpleton. Their first meeting was memorable for them and for me that I knew I had to get more of them together and I wasn't disappointed because it happens quickly and often.

I fell so hard for both Miles and Charlie independently and together. I liked that we get to know everyone at The Curious Fox and how important they are to the story. I loved that Miles leaves breadcrumbs to the ghosts in his life and how he hides his writing process. Well, hides it at least until a Charlie sees and appreciates how Miles writes certain scenes.

The romance was exactly what I needed and I did not expect to cry at a few parts. I mean, Miles is an author and definitely has a way with words but towards the end the man tore my heart out telling Charlie who he would be writing for.

I like that this book also taught me a few things that I never considered, like Miles' erotica not having an HEA so it couldn't be prosecuted. That fact still sits heavy in my heart.

I could say more but the fact that I finished this says a lot right now.
Thank you to the author for writing a book that won against my depression.

I really loved this book! I enjoyed the historical setting and learning more about how queer books and "smut" were written, sold, and collected. I also liked the depiction of the Curious Fox - Charlie's queer club - it felt more like a found family situation and a safe place to meet others, and I liked how the staff and regulars looked out for Charlie. The main characters are great! Charlie is a bright, seemingly irrepressible fop who loves to read smut, go out to his club, and gossip with friends. Yet underneath his shining veneer is a heart beset by loneliness and a desperate longing to escape the upcoming marriage forced upon him by his family. Miles is a stark contrast - a grim loner with a tragic history of love and loss, determined to carve out a safe existence at the expense of his own happiness. Together, Charlie and Miles are an odd couple yet one that matches up in every way. I really enjoyed their story and all the sweet, romantic highs and the heart-wrenching lows. The supporting characters are so good and I loved how they all worked together to save the day. Overall, a very entertaining read full of feels!

A fun romp with wonderful characters. Not my usual selection but it was so playfully written that I couldn't resist.

This was a fun read. The humor between the characters is what really pulled me in. The relationship between Miles and Charles was cute and I am glad Miles was able to come out of his shell of isolation.

A man who writes gay smut and the man who loves and collect them meet and sparks fly! They fly first with animosity and then with a sexual tension that will inevitably lead to romance. While I would've loved a bit more scenes with both of them exploring their love growing, I really enjoyed seeing how both faced their lives and the messes in them. The side characters gave the story a bit of what it was lacking. But I did like how it unfolded and how the story ended.

I really enjoyed this. Charlie and Miles and their friends and found family were interesting characters that were fun to spend time with, and the plot was consistent with my expectations. The grumpy/sunshine trope is one of my favorites, and Miles is very grumpy and Charlie very sunshine (on the surface, at least) so I enjoyed their dynamic quite a bit.

I appreciated that although Charlie and Miles' sexual preferences were talked about and insinuated, the actual scenes were closed door. I may be in the minority, but I prefer closed door sex scenes for any gender pairing. I read romance for... the romance. Not the sex.

I thought that Charlie's tendency to sacrifice himself was fitting considering how much he loves Miles' books -- all smut books, yes, but also all tragedies. Yes, his friends' interventions were convenient but they were also consistent and believable for the characters. I don't have a problem with them.

I loved the friendship Charlie and Alma have, even though they're being forced into marriage to "save themselves." There's a real bond there, and it was so nice to *not* have Alma made into a villain. The same could be said about Charlie's parents. Despite trying to marry him off for his own good, they really do love him.

Miss Jo was wonderful, and I appreciated her even more once she revealed who her husband was. Out of all of the characters in the book, she is the one I think I'd most like to know and read more about.

I prefer to read romances that aren't based solely on physical attraction, since I value emotional connections more. And this book definitely hit the spot - there were so many sweet and tender moments, and when things looked like they were going to fall apart they felt oh so bittersweet. There were also many humorous moments and moments of joy.

*Thanks to NetGalley and Carina Adores for providing an early copy for review.

This book was a super fun time! I loved both main characters; they were both well-developed and super interesting. The love story was tough at times but overall came to a super satisfying conclusion. Can't wait to read more from Jess Everlee

Totally enjoyed reading this book. The storyline had me hooked from the blurb and I liked the outcome of the characters stories.

I have read so many mixed reviews of this and couldn't wait to get into it myself. I very quickly realized, how much I loved the writing. I was immediately sucked into the story and couldn't put it down! I am definitely team this-is-amazing and I already want to give this a re-read.

This book is such a fun romp through Victorian London. I am not always the biggest fan of romance, but this book, its story and its characters, were just so compelling. I do love historical romance because, like in other genre fiction, the stakes seem higher, and I am hooked from the moment they’re introduced. It was the same with this book.
I loved reading the development of these characters that I grew to love and will miss now that I’ve turned the last page. For a fun story you can read in a day, please choose this one.

There was a great deal to love about this book - - great characters, a historical setting, complicated situations pushing our hero towards a traditional marriage to salvage his money woes, chemistry that couldn't be ignored. However, there were also a few things that I think fell short. I don't always need explicit bedroom scenes but there is some confusion the first time these characters are together. I believe if the scene been explored in a bit more detail, the reader would have gained a better understanding of Charlie and Miles' relationship. After all, Miles is a "smut writer" after all - - I expected a bit more.

I truly did enjoy the time period that these two were navigating. It was a dangerous time for two men to love one another. In addition, Charlie was planning to marry a woman through a great deal of the book and it had it's own complications. All in all, these book was an enjoyable read and I look forward to more by this author.

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC. I voluntarily chose to read and review it and the opinions contained within are my own.

This was a lovely historical romance for readers who enjoyed Alexis Hall or Cat Sebastian works but wanted something with more queer culture. The settings and side characters are really what made this a stand out in my mind; from the small bookshop where the adventure starts to the gay clubs of London in the 1880's this book was a lovely historical romance with just enough spice to make it fun. I also really enjoyed the strong female roles that were presented throughout the book, and am looking forward to future works by Everlee.

In Victorian London, Charlie is set to be married and is attempting to cram in all the fun he can before he gives them up for good.

Instead he goes and falls in love and his world is thrown awry.

This is smutty, romantic, and a bit hopeful with a perfectly happy ending.

This was a sweet story but also had a lot of spice-y moments as well. It's not often that you see a story set in this time period about two men, and even rarer that it has a happily ever after ending, so this was a refreshing and fun read.

Charlie Price has lived a life of a bit too much fun. He drinks too much, spends a lot of his time hanging out with friends at his molly club, and has ended up in debt from too much indulging. And Charlie’s most favorite indulgence of all is his vast collection of pornography. However, now Charlie is having to get his life together, as while his father is willing to help keep the debt collectors at bay, it comes with a price. Namely, Charlie needs to start working to earn some money, and he needs to get married and settle down. If Charlie is overwhelmed at the change his life is taking, well, he is sure it will work out in the end, somehow.

As a last hurrah before he has to pack his porn collection away from his wife-to-be’s prying eyes, Charlie’s friend, Jo, manages to track down his absolute favorite author for him, the one who writes the dirtiest, most salicious books that Charlie has read over and over. But when Charlie approaches Miles Montague, he never expects to terrify the man so. Miles lost his lover, who died in jail after being arrested for sodomy, and he is extremely careful about his privacy. So Miles is not happy to see that Charlie has somehow connected him to his pen name, and at first wants nothing to do with the man. But as Charlie and Miles spend more time together, they find that despite their quite different dispositions, they are actually a great fit. The sexual connection is intense, but there is also a sense of friendship and comfort they give one another that neither expected.

Even as the men begin to have fantasies of a future together, they are both somewhat trapped. Miles runs a failing bookstore, a shop that his lover opened and adored. He feels guilty even thinking about selling it, even as he knows this was Ethan’s dream, not his, and he is unintentionally running it into the ground. For his part, Charlie has a clock ticking on his bachelorhood, and the wedding is drawing ever nearer. While he doesn’t have any romantic or sexual interest in Alma, his intended, Charlie cares for her deeply as a friend, and he knows cancelling the wedding leaves her in an impossible situation. Charlie and Miles have found their way together and fallen in love, but figuring out how to have a future together is proving to be a difficult hurdle.

The Gentleman’s Book of Vices is the debut romance from Jess Everlee and begins the new Lucky Lovers of London series. The story opens with the men at odds, as Miles is not at all happy about having Charlie show up for his autograph, as he is very worried about discovery and fearful about how seemingly easily Charlie tracked him down. But Charlie manages to win Miles over, particularly as the men are very attracted to one another, and their relationship begins to bloom. I found the pacing of the romance a bit off, as a lot of the relationship development happens off page and it’s just mentioned they are spending time together, so it felt like the guys jump from friends having hot sex to real feelings for each other pretty fast. But the men fit together nicely and there is somewhat of an opposite attract vibe here between them. Once things get going for the relationship, I really enjoyed the way the men help balance each other and particularly how Charlie helps to bring Miles out of his shell a little.

I’ll admit that I didn’t find Charlie particularly likable early on here. He comes across a little arrogant, rudely dismissing men in the club he doesn’t deem worthy. He also has an overall demeanor of not taking much responsibility for his actions and just sort of assuming things will all work out. He has been in debt multiple times, mostly because he just buys things he wants but can’t afford, and his father has bailed him out. This time, he is being held accountable — hence the job and the marriage– but it is something forced upon him, rather than responsibility he is seeking. Even when facing a loveless marriage to a woman he will never desire, Charlie just seems to push forward breezily with an attitude that is it fine. It is all fine. But we get some nice growth for Charlie over the course of the book and much of the character development focuses on Charlie growing up and being accountable and taking some responsibility, which I appreciated. He wants to be a better person, even when it comes at the expense of his happiness.

The conflict that arises he is that Miles and Charlie can’t be together, and Charlie is engaged to a woman he doesn’t want to see hurt. I do wish the resolution to the issue had come more from within from Miles or Charlie, however, as there is almost a fairy godmother effect here as other people sweep in, solve all the problems, and tie things up nicely in a bow. (Which also made me wonder why, if they had the solution at hand, they waited until the last possible moment to do anything about it.) I felt like for Charlie’s character development, I would have liked to see him as the agent of his own success, rather than just the lucky recipient of someone else’s machinations.

While much of the focus here is on Miles and Charlie and the risk they are under being gay at the time, the story also does nice job reflecting the plight of women in this era, both with Alma, as well as Charlie’s friend, Jo. As much as Charlie and Miles are trapped, they still have far more options than Alma, and I appreciated that the story touches on that as well. I also enjoyed the found family Charlie has at his club, as well as how they take Miles under their wing. It appears the second book in the series will feature some of the side characters from the club, and I am interested in their story.

Overall, I found this a nice debut book and and interesting historical. I think it is a good start to the series and I’ll be looking forward to learning more about future books.

Everything I could've wanted and more. The queers deserve more work like The Gentleman's Book of Vices!

So I went into this book with an open mind. Gay Victorian timeline? Yes, please. I was pleasantly surprised and found myself enjoying the book. It isn't crazy edgy, the characters are realistic and enjoyable, so overall I found myself enjoying the journey and ifnished the book rather quickly. I am looking forward to the next in the series!

In the promotion email, 'The Gentleman's Book of Vices' was marketed towards "fans of Cat Sebastian, KJ Charles, Bridgeton and Our Flag Means Death". Being a fan of all of those, I had to read this book to see if it lived up to the description and it definitely did! Sexy, romantic, witty, everything you need to have a good romance plus a little extra umph to make it unique.

I appreciated the bits of reality thrown in to remind us that it's not so easy as just saying 'I love you', there's also work to be put in to a relationships emotionally and also situationally for actual physical protection from the law. But even with that, this is a romance novel and happy endings are for everyone. It also really touches on how important community amongst queer people really is. Charlie and Miles certainly wouldn't have met or had a happy ending without the support of their friends and community.

I'm pleased to see there will be a second one set in this world, focused on some of the side characters we meet and I look forward to reading it and anything else Jess Everlee publishes!

Thank you to NetGalley and Carina Press & Carina Adores (Harlequin) for the eARC in exchange for an honest review.

Final rating 4.5 stars

The Gentleman's Book of Vices is such a lovely romance! Set in London, in 1883, Charlie Price is one of the main leads that has a lot of vices, including a large smut collection. Charlie sets out to meet one of his favorite authors as one last adventure before settling down and getting married. In meeting Miles Montague, Charlie finds an interesting character that he can't help but build a friendship with that slowly builds into something more.

I loved the relationship between Charlie and Miles! The way that they learned to care for each other and look after each other with all of the challenges that they had in their personal lives, that impacted their relationship was so sweet and endearing. Jess Everlee has a fluid writing style and the main conflict was built up and resolved wonderfully.

Even if you're not a fan of historical romance, I strongly recommended The Gentleman's Book of Vices for a tender and heartful queer romance.

Thank you to Carine Press & Carina Adores (Harlequin) and Netgalley for a copy of this eARC in exchange for an honest review.

2.5 stars rounded up

I have yet to discover what the point of this book was. There is not much in the way of plot, character development, or anything really. But it isn't exactly atrocious either. Just kind of nothing.

For example, the main character Miles allegedly writes kinky dirty books and pretends he is kinky dirty in bed but the same scene where Miles says "I'm a sadist" he also gently makes love to Charlie and confesses his love for him? Where is the sadism I was promised! All sex stuff was written vaguely pearl clutching. Like the idea of sex. That's what the whole book is like - the idea of something described from a distance.

And the plot if you can even find it seemed to be centered around Charlie's wedding to Alma? And Charlie flip flopping on going through with it or not. It all worked out very neatly at the end in a ridiculously perfect way because Miles' publisher took everything into his own hands and declared (paraphrasing by me) "ah yes me, your publisher, have been secretly solving all your problems this entire time! Even the problems of these two other people we've known a week!" Please. Why would his publisher bother with all of that! They didn't even seem to be friends!!

In conclusion, mostly harmless and forgettable but perhaps a plotless historical novel with a neatly tied up ending is exactly what someone else wants.