Rears & Vices

I'm always on the hunt for historically grounded nautical romance, and this one reeeeeeally hit the spot. There's never any doubt that this book takes place in the 1810s. It has the exact level of historical/nautical detail I like, which is enough that I feel immersed and can believe the setting but not so much that I have no idea what anyone's talking about and stop having fun. The plot: There's a lot of maritime adventure, but it's less Pirates of the Caribbean and more Master and Commander. There's a fair bit of discussing logistics, chatting in cabins, etc., to the point that I suspect this book won't be for everyone, but it will VERY MUCH be for some people. I do think there are some areas where the plot could have been streamlined or reshuffled a bit, not because it drags at all (it doesn't), but because certain plot threads or emotional events would occur and then be put aside in the next chapter while the characters deal with something else. It's not unrealistic, but does make for a sort of choppy read at times. The romance/characters: Rears & Vices is told entirely from the main character Everard's POV, which I think was a good choice. This is a poly romance, so the three main characters are in a throuple by the end of the book, but I will say most of the book feels like a romance about a couple that occasionally throws their poor pal D'Arcy a bone. Everard's dynamic with his former lieutenant D'Arcy, whom he had a previous relationship (situationship?) with…

I loved reading this love story about second chanses and new loves. It's not easy to write GOOD poly romance, but E.M. Caro really surprised me with their unique writing style. I loved how the connection between the men deepend and was explored. It was wonderful, and I wanted more. This author is one I will be looking out for. Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for letting me give my honest feedback

“Rears and Vices” is a difficult book to review, because I both admired it enormously and, at times, found it enormously frustrating. In the realm of admiration and satisfaction: E.M. Caro must have immersed themself in the history of the early US, of Caribbean colonialism, and of privateering and piracy. I don’t think anything less would have allowed them to write a novel so richly textured — you know that sense you sometimes get, that the writer knows much more about the background and the characters than appears on the page? I felt that here, and I don’t know how to describe the resulting experience of reading better than to say that there’s a kind of safety in it, this by contrast with the kind of “historical” romance set in, for example, mid-14th-century England and in which someone survives (and suffers no lingering damage from) an infected crossbow wound to the shoulder. (IYKYK.) Anyway, words can’t express how grateful I am to read a historical novel with a fully realized setting, and with three such fascinating principals: Everard Anderson d’Anglada, a Royal Navy captain with a tanked career, a complicated family history, and a sideline in seditious pamphleteering; Preston D’Arcy, his rather mysterious former first lieutenant, now also a captain, auburn-haired and not so unrequitedly in love with Everard; and Vitaliy Gray / Vitya / Henry Crause / V. Varfolomey, a pirate. Or a privateer. Or a revolutionary. Or all of those, as well as, briefly, Everard’s lover,…

This was such an amazing book. I'm still obsessing over it several days after finishing. Though I did love it, there were a few things that prevented me from giving it 5 stars. First of all, I found the plot a little confusing and hard to follow at times. I am not sure if that is more an issue of my reading comprehension or the author's writing, but I felt like I didn't always know what was going on. Secondly, I wish we would have had more than just Everard's perspective. He was my least favorite character and I would have really liked to have parts of the story be from D'Arcy and Vitya's points of view as they were also main characters. Other than those things, I really enjoyed this book. It is clear that E.M. Caro did extremely thorough research on the time period because it felt like I was reading a first hand account of someone who had lived the experience rather than a modern author writing about it. I was absolutely blown away by the level of detail in the book about ships and sailing and politics. I also helps that I know basically nothing about history so I'm easy to impress in that regard. I also loved the dynamic between the three men and watching them all struggle with vulnerability and talking about their feelings. This book was an excellent queer pirate romance and I recommend anyone who enjoys historical romance check it out. I really really hope the author writes about the all-female ship (that I've forgotten the name of) next because I would LOVE to read…

Deeply appreciated the amount of research that went into this book - and not in a info dumpy way, but just sort of factually dropping relevant information when it was necessary. I loved that Everard's confused morals led him from being a Navy man to piracy - but still trying to be moral. The romance was fun and NOT the central point of the book, IMO, it's very much Everard's journey as the focus and kept the book from being too meandering. The action was intense, the characters unique, and I kept feeling like this was very KJ Charles-adjacent (which is a compliment)! Thanks to the author, publisher, and Netgalley for an eARC of this book.