A Gentleman Never Keeps Score: Seducing the Sedgwicks

I've enjoyed every book I've read by Cat Sebastian, but I think A Gentleman Never Keeps Score is her best. Both heroes were utterly delightful, in a way that just makes you root so hard for their happily ever after. But it's not just their regency charm, witty dialogue, or slow burning sexual tension that made me love these two....it's that both heroes clearly had so much respect for each other. Their relationship is fundamentally built on kindness, and thus you can imagine their love lasting, long after the book is through (too often I read romance novels, whose H & H have such a fraught relationship that I can't help but think "wow, you two are going to hate each other in 10 years!") As always, Cat Sebastian does her research, not only making the little-seen world of working class Regency London vividly alive, but also making this MM, interracial love story completely historically credible. Well done!

Even with a slightly more serious tone A Gentleman Never Keeps Score is another great Cat Sebastian book full of wonderfully soft heroes and a deeply caring relationship. Sebastian's writing always sucks me in at the beginning of a story and keeps me hooked until my heart is ready to burst with happiness. Hartley Sedgwick wasn't born a gentleman so the sacrifices he's made to bring respectability to himself and his brothers are weighing on his soul. As a teenager, Hartley made the decision to become involved with his Godfather in order to get financial support for his brothers. Though he didn't originally feel like he was being taken advantage of, this early decision has had a long lasting effect on Hartley's self-worth and his comfort with intimacy. This book was especially poignant because of the issues that were being addressed and I felt Sebastian handled them all really well, especially Hartley's history. Being outed as gay during this time period was very dangerous so Hartley is fortunate that the worst thing that happens is that he's abandoned by everyone he knows. But that loneliness is compounded by Harley's difficult sexual "hangups" that have made finding partners too hard for the minimal amount of satisfaction it brings. But even though Hartley can be grumpy and defeatist about his situation his true nature shines through in the way he treats his household staff and others he cares about. I absolutely loved the little family that Hartley ends up creating and how…