J
Johnny T. Townsend
January 28, 2026
Verified Purchase
Ignore the cover and read the book
Bottom line is that I enjoyed the book. However, I almost didn’t purchase it because the cover seems to show two women and I wanted an MM romance. At the very least, I worried the men might be effeminate. Nothing wrong with that, of course, just not my personal interest. But the men in the book seem “masculine” enough. Next, the character who had to reexamine his principles was mostly Percy, not Kit, so the title isn’t quite accurate. But since Percy isn’t a particularly butch name, I suppose the title “sounds” better by mentioning Kit instead. Though Kit could be a woman’s name, hence my confusion over the cover image.
Don’t judge a book by its cover. Or by its title. But you know, those are the things we see first, so maybe they aren’t totally irrelevant.
Okay, rant over. The characters and story were strong and kept my interest. There were a few turns of phrase that didn’t feel authentic to the period, but that wasn’t a dealbreaker for me. I did like the realization that “there are no good landlords,” that to be a landlord is by definition to exploit other people.
Solid read, great characters
I read this specifically because I wanted to read "The Perfect Crimes of Marian Hayes." It was very good. Sebastian has always been a solid writer but I feel like her writing has gotten even better in her most recent releases, and the balance of humor with good narrative is a strong point here. One thing I really liked here was the character of Percy, who could have been written as a foppish power bottom or as an effeminate man who required education from a more masculine parter. Instead, Percy is fully formed and I think is a great addition to Sebastian's pantheon of cool queer characters.
F
FrubyFrubish
August 13, 2025
Verified Purchase
“I Keep Coming Back For More…”
I have 📖 and 🎧 THIS 📕 over and over and over again. Even though I’ve 📖, 🎧 and finished, which I also loved (excluding all/any references to M/F sex; sorry I’m a 64 yr old, disabled, Gay male widower who prefers his “literary hanky panky” to exist ONLY between MEN). Sorry…
Anyway, everything about this 📕, its story, characters, its period, locale, humor, romance, vulnerability, resilience and sexual are just WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL.
And, Joel Leslie’s is SUPERB and my FAVORITE of the many, many titles that I have and have listened to (so far). That’s including even THIS 📕’s sequel (minus any references to female breasts and vaginas, their uses and any/all visual, oral and/or physical interaction with)…
I chose this book because I thought it was lesbians on the cover. I do enjoy MLM which is why I wasn’t too disappointed. It was sweet, entertaining but not really engaging. The direction was easily enough to figure out. The writing was good but not exceptional. Percy reminds me of Draco Malfoy, which is fun. I think that the characters fatal flaws are best seen and not explained and theirs were explained multiple times. The sex scenes were good, nothing that was libido killing but also nothing really hot. It’s not a book I’ll need to read again and while I’m mildly curious, I’m not interested in the sequel.
First the good. The story and the characters were great. If you are looking for heat this is hardly even a slow burn. Paragraphs (too many) describing clothing and locations but hardly any description of the love scenes. A bit disappointing. However as with all her books the characters were wonderful and the storyline kept me interested until the last page.
