Rufus d'Aumesty is the new Earl of Oxney, much to the consternation of his uncle Conrad who, unaware of his older brother's son, thought the earldom was his. But another possible claimant steps forward, Luke Doomsday, scion of the local smuggler family, whose mother may or may not have been married to Rufus' father first. Either way, Conrad won't be the new earl. Rufus tries to hide the fact that he is dyslexic, the estate papers are a mess, the tenants have been neglected for years, and the old earl seemed to have hated his whole family. Rufus needs help to get the estate organized, and Luke happens to be a professional secretary. As Rufus and Luke begin to turn the estate around, it becomes nearly impossible for them to ignore their mutual attraction.

Fun historical LGBTQ romance, set 13 years after the author's previous historical romance featuring Sir Gareth Inglis and Joss Doomsday. Luke appeared as a child in that book, and the reader gets to revisit Sir Gareth and Joss in this one. Ideal for taking on vacation or reading on a beach somewhere.

A fantastic followup in the Doomsday Books series. Luke Doomsday, a secretary from a line of smugglers, is hired to help Rufus, who has unexpectedly inherited an earldom, prove his legitimacy and organize his estate. Charles does a fantastic job of peopling these books with intriguing, funny, and complicated supporting characters, and especially excels in writing villains who get their due. The romance is balanced very well with the plot around running the estate and Rufus navigating tricky family dynamics. If you have read the first book, you will suspect why Luke is especially interested in this job, and that subplot works very well with the major conflict.

I really enjoyed the journey both characters went on—Rufus is a fairly straightforward person, and his arc is largely about gaining confidence and exercising his natural kindness and talent for leadership. Whereas Luke, who has a much more complex family history and personal demons to navigate, follows a less linear path. It is a testament to the writing that these arcs feel balanced and complementary despite being so different.

Author KJ Charles follows up her bestselling novel The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen with another fun and steamy tale of romance and adventure in Regency England, sure to please fans of Cat Sebastian or Alexis Hall.

Oh my goodness, I loved this book. I loved it more than the first Doomsday book, though it had quite a different feel to it, imo.

I’ve had time to sit with this book, and I’m still not sure how to properly review it? I don’t entirely know what to say.

It takes place 13 years after The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen, and I was thrilled to see some cameos from some of the characters in that book. This one is about Luke, or Goldie, and as far as KJC books goes, it had a rather slow burn quality to it, though not in terms of the romantic relationship, but in terms of the action/adventure aspect of it. I’m used to her books just kind of dumping you right into the action pretty quickly, but that wasn’t the case with this one. And while it was very different, I really liked it.

Also, Luke reads gothic novels?!? *swoon*

I sort of feel like I can’t say much else about the book without giving more away, so I think I will just leave it here.