There comes a time in every woman’s life when she stops giving a stuff what anyone thinks about her, and for Eliza Tricklebank, that time has come. At 28 years old in the Victorian era, without high connections or a large dowry, she’s firmly into spinster territory and she’s decided she’s going to savour the freedom brought by not caring. So when she has a few glasses (too many) of rum punch at a ball and gets the chance to meet a foreign prince, she seizes the day. She never expects to see him again, but strange circumstances conspire - Eliza’s gossip magazine unwittingly comes into a very important piece of information and Sebastian seeks her out.
There’s an utterly fabulous scene where Sebastian finds himself a fish out of water in Eliza’s very ordinary home and he manages to offend her by being officious and, well, royal, and she throws him out on his ear. It’s just perfection and I was giggling so hard by the end of it; it’s no surprise Sebastian can’t stop thinking about Eliza as being absolutely unlike anyone else he’s ever met.
Of course, being a prince, he’s under all sorts of obligations and expectations, not least of which is to make an advantageous marriage to a titled, wealthy, connected Englishwoman. Eliza qualifies on no counts at all, yet the heart wants what it wants. I won’t spoil the ending (though you can probably guess, this being a romance and me not having lost my temper) save to say it’s not completely beyond the bounds of belief, even if it is rather far-fetched.
Eliza is a breath of fresh air, as a heroine; her decisions to tell the truth and stuff the consequences are courageous, and considering where it leads her, inspiring. I really enjoyed this read and look forward to the rest of the series - hopefully Sebastian’s brother Leopold is next to get his own story! Five stars!
“You are part of my existence, part of myself. You have been in every line I have ever read, since I first came here, the rough common boy whose poor heart you wounded even then. You have been in every prospect I have ever seen since – on the river, on the sails of the ships, on the marshes, in the clouds, in the light, in the darkness, in the wind, in the woods, in the sea, in the streets. You have been the embodiment of every graceful fancy that my mind has ever become acquainted with. The stones of which the strongest London buildings are made, are not more real, or more impossible to displace with your hands, than your presence and influence have been to me, there and everywhere, and will be. Estella, to the last hour of my life, you cannot choose but remain part of my character, part of the little good in me, part of the evil.” -Charles Dickens (Great Expectations)
Sunday Snippet from my gay Victorian cross-class romance, Mr Warren’s Profession!
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Mr Althorp nodded smartly, satisfied. “You’re quite welcome, Aubrey. That is, if I may call you Aubrey?”
Aubrey gave a start at the first utterance of his Christian name. In Mr Althorp’s aristocratic accent, it carried echoes of Aubrey’s fantasies. But a twinge of bitterness followed. Of course Mr Althorp might presume to call him Aubrey. It was Mr Althorp’s right as his employer and social superior. He could call him anything he liked—clerk, boy, you there, and a half-dozen ruder terms—and Aubrey would be obliged to answer.
By the second time Mr Althorp said his name, Aubrey had recovered his composure enough to respond with minimal venom. “As it suits you, sir.”
“Lindsey,” said Mr Althorp.
Aubrey allowed himself a confused frown. “Beg pardon, sir?”
“You must call me Lindsey. That is, if I’m to call you Aubrey. It’s only fair.”
It took a concentrated effort on Aubrey’s part to keep his jaw from dropping open. Words failed him. He could only stare.
Mr Althorp, meanwhile, seemed blissfully unaware he’d said anything out of the ordinary. He maintained his placid smile as Aubrey stared in silence, his mind chugging along like an overworked engine to try and to understand what the deuce was happening. His heart beat faster, his pulse reverberating through the calling card case in his pocket.
“Very well,” said Aubrey. Then he added, “Lindsey.”
Lindsey’s smile broadened into a grin.
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Mr Warren’s Profession is a gay Victorian cross-class romance, available now wherever fine books are found!
For the Tales of Old prompt, I went for the obvious and picked up an historical romance I’ve been meaning to read for ages. Mr. Warren’s Profession is set at the end of the nineteenth century and is as much about the difficulties of two people from very different ends of the social spectrum being together as it is about the problems inherent in a relationship between two men at that time. It’s well written – despite a few Americanisms – and obviously well-researched, the wealth of background detail carefully integrated into the story in order to create a wonderfully strong sense of time and place.
Aubrey Warren works as a clerk at a textile mill in Manchester. He’s very good at his job, extremely diligent and hard-working – and used to doing the work of two since the other office clerk is lazy and only has the job because of his family connections. But Aubrey is at least content – and doesn’t expect happiness. He’s come from nothing – he was brought up in the workhouse – to a responsible position that provides him with income enough to live decently, if not well, and has dreams of one day becoming an engineer. His quiet and unassuming life is suddenly blown apart by the appearance of Lindsey Althorp, the son of a baronet, who has won the mill in a card game, and who actually takes an interest in the place, much to Aubrey’s surprise.
Lindsey had no idea of becoming involved in the business of the mill, but that changes the moment he lays eyes on the beautiful, dark-eyed clerk sitting at a desk in the office and is immediately smitten. It’s a defining moment for Lindsey; for the first time in his life, he feels a true and strong desire for another person, and like a bolt from the blue, it crystallises the truth – that he is, and always has been, attracted to men. He’s well aware that’s something that must be hidden, but in the first flush of infatuation, in his overwhelming desire to see and spend time with Aubrey, Lindsey behaves less than discreetly – requesting several tours of the factory and anything else he can think of that will put him into Aubrey’s company.
While Aubrey is every bit as attracted to Lindsey as Lindsey is to him, he tries hard to distance himself, and it’s easy to understand why. He knows full well that Lindsey’s marked attention to him could have serious repercussions and knows how easy it would be for him to lose even the little he has should anyone suspect where his interest lies. The precariousness of his situation as someone of lower social standing, without family or other support system is well articulated and well-contrasted with Lindsey’s; a relationship with another man would be risky for both of them, but Lindsey has the ‘safety net’ of family, wealth and title that Aubrey does not. But Lindsey’s warmth, enthusiasm and sheer joy in their connection are hard to resist; it’s been a long time since he’s allowed himself to feel just about anything – and before long, Aubrey can’t find it in him to deny himself the happiness he longs for.
[…] Mr. Warren’s Profession is an enjoyable historical romance filled with interesting period detail, and Aubrey and Lindsey are a likeable couple who are easy to root for. I really enjoyed their growth as characters and as a couple, together with the story’s focus on their deepening emotional connection and how they surmount the obstacles on their path to happiness. If you’ve enjoyed books by KJ Charles and Joanna Chambers, I’d definitely suggest giving this one a try.
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Mr Warren’s Profession is a gay Victorian cross-class romance, available now wherever fine books are found!
Sunday Snippet from my gay Victorian cross-class romance, Mr Warren’s Profession!
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Lindsey stared.
Mr Warren, appearing scarcely older than Lindsey himself, stood a good head shorter. His heart-shaped face held a small, sharp nose, Cupid’s-bow lips, and a spellbinding pair of large, dark, half-lidded eyes. He wore a black wool suit, which offset the china white of his skin as much as it matched the ebony gleam of his hair, combed back to reveal a high, intelligent forehead.
“Sir,” said Mr Warren in a tone as mechanical as their surroundings. He gave Lindsey a clockwork-sharp nod.
Lindsey hardly heard him, though his hind-brain noted the gesture and may have responded in kind. Alternatively, he might have continued staring at Mr Warren with parted lips and furrowed brow. He couldn’t say for certain.
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Mr Warren’s Profession is a gay Victorian cross-class romance, available now wherever fine books are found!
** spoiler alert ** I love so many things about this author’s writing: their attention to historic detail, the way readers get to revel in characters’ desires and thought processes, their world-building. And all of those elements are here (ESPECIALLY the world-building)… but what I wasn’t expecting out of this book was the whole-hearted embrace of all the different stages of falling in love. This book doesn’t follow the stereotypical beats of a romance novel; the focus is not on the burn of yearning and misunderstanding, but of the triumph of “us against the world.” The lovers–and, by extension, we–are allowed to be happy, in so many different ways. There is struggle, there is hate–but always, always we fight together. And there are so many different reclamations of identity throughout this story that give true meaning and vindication to the struggles. I wish more novels took this approach.
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Oak King Holly King is a gay Victorian fae romance, available now wherever fine books are found!
Sunday Snippet from my gay Victorian cross-class romance, Mr Warren’s Profession!
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“I would be delighted,” said Lindsey, “if you would do me the honour of accompanying me to the theatre.”
Aubrey felt a slight pressure on his thigh. He glanced down to find Lindsey’s hand upon it.
He buried his initial reaction of wild, inappropriate glee deep down where Lindsey would never see it. Yet while he could hide his joy from the outside world, he couldn’t escape it within the confines of his own mind. His imagination presented a whirlwind of vignettes—Lindsey’s fingers brushing the arm of his jacket as they walked to the theatre; once inside, Aubrey taking advantage of the darkness to rest his hand in Lindsey’s lap; he and Lindsey sharing a cab home after the show, Lindsey undoing the buttons of his waistcoat, Lindsey’s mouth on his throat, Lindsey straddling him, Lindsey—
At present, Lindsey’s hand remained on his thigh. Aubrey reined in his fantasies, lest Lindsey encounter more than he’d expected there.
Or perhaps precisely what he’d expected.
Aubrey swallowed hard. Regardless of his tempting offer, Lindsey remained Aubrey’s superior. If Lindsey tired of his companionship, Aubrey would be tossed back in the gutter. The alternate possibility, that Aubrey’s own interest would wane, and Lindsey would demand continued affection as a condition of his employment, didn’t sound any more appealing. And if by some miracle a third path appeared, as the stupider parts of Aubrey’s brain hoped, wherein he and Lindsey remained inseparable in mutual bliss until the end of their days, Aubrey couldn’t conceive of a world in which he became anything more than Lindsey’s pet clerk, a filthy little secret. No. He’d moved on from that role long ago. He had no intention of returning to it now.
Then again, considering all he’d accepted from Lindsey, it looked as if he’d returned to it already.
Realising this uncomfortable truth left Aubrey with only one respectable option. He took a deep breath, gathering courage along with air, and spoke.
“Mr Althorp, I am not entirely comfortable with the position of your hand.”
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Mr Warren’s Profession is a gay Victorian cross-class romance, available now wherever fine books are found!
Paranormal fantasy adventure. Wren works as a clerk in Victorian London when he is approached for help by the Butcher of Blackthorn and is drawn into the fae realm to aid Butcher in surviving his duty as the Oak King. Beautifully descriptive world immersion as Wren travels back and forth from London to the fae realm, spending time with Butcher, both men learning about each other’s lives and introducing Wren to a whole world of people and places he only ever imagined from stories. I especially appreciated Wren’s easy ability to accept all the new experiences with the fae, and especially Butcher’s steady affection and attraction to Wren. A love story with adventure and surprises, and a large and interesting secondary cast of characters. Honestly, I could have kept reading more and more about the fae realm and the constancy, commitment and caring between Butcher and Wren. 4.25.
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Oak King Holly King is a gay Victorian fae romance, available now wherever fine books are found!
hey! suprisingly good! i havent read a huge amount of fae romances bc i know they can sometimes be a bit. iffy. but this was fun.
i liked the world building of the fae relm and i loved Shrike so much. he is such an unintentionally funny character, really well written and just out of the ordinary enough that mortal people think hes like a bit weird, but not so much hes like a complete freak. helped by the fact he is so solemn and serious. i love him.
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Oak King Holly King is a gay Victorian fae romance, available now wherever fine books are found!
What a remarkable book. I devoured it in the span of 3 days, only interrupted by having to work.
All I have ever wanted was queer fantasy. This book was so fun to read. I enjoyed that it took itself serious and it was equally enjoyable to read. The authors writing style is very captivating.
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Oak King Holly King is a gay Victorian fae romance, available now wherever fine books are found!
Though at times the story seemed to go on longer than expected with its endless daily commutes, it was worth the few sections that required patience. The world building was fascinating. The mysteries within the year long story were compelling and the journey to solve each of them were engaging. The ending had a solid payoff. In the grand scheme of things it was a worthwhile read that was both intriguing and imaginative.
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Oak King Holly King is a gay Victorian fae romance, available now wherever fine books are found!
Sunday snippet from my gay Victorian fae romance, Oak King Holly King!
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Yet the second door proved not so unlocked as the first. Wren swore a blistering oath. He began patting down his coat, waistcoat, and trousers alike. These efforts produced a button-hook, but this didn’t satisfy him.
“Have you anything like a hairpin?” he asked Shrike. “Something long and thin, like a needle or—”
Shrike dipped his hand into his cloak pocket and produced a silver awl.
Wren raised an eyebrow. “That’ll do.”
Shrike dropped the awl into Wren’s outstretched palm. Wren crouched before the lock.
“I required the contents of my father’s wine-cellar to survive the holidays at home during my university years,” Wren explained as he probed the mechanism with button-hook and awl. “Neither he nor his butler felt inclined to furnish me with the key.”
Shrike, to whom it had not occurred to demand an explanation for such fortuitous skill in night-work, cocked his head as he watched Wren’s progress against the lock.
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Oak King Holly King is a gay Victorian fae romance, available now wherever fine books are found!
