RELEASE DAY REVIEW: 'An Unnatural Vice' by K.J. Charles
Title: An Unnatural Vice
Series: Sins of the Cities #2
Author: K.J. Charles
Published: June 6, 2017
Genre: Erotic Romance; Historical Romance
Length: 250 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; Enemies to Lovers; Historical; Mystery; HEA
About An Unnatural Vice
In the sordid streets of Victorian London, unwanted desire flares between two bitter enemies brought together by a deadly secret.
Crusading journalist Nathaniel Roy is determined to expose spiritualists who exploit the grief of bereaved and vulnerable people. First on his list is the so-called Seer of London, Justin Lazarus. Nathaniel expects him to be a cheap, heartless fraud. He doesn’t expect to meet a man with a sinful smile and the eyes of a fallen angel—or that a shameless swindler will spark his desires for the first time in years.
Justin feels no remorse for the lies he spins during his séances. His gullible clients simply bore him. Hostile, disbelieving, utterly irresistible Nathaniel is a fascinating challenge. And as their battle of wills and wits heats up, Justin finds he can’t stop thinking about the man who’s determined to ruin him.
But Justin and Nathaniel are linked by more than their fast-growing obsession with one another. They are both caught up in an aristocratic family’s secrets, and Justin holds information that could be lethal. As killers, fanatics, and fog close in, Nathaniel is the only man Justin can trust—and, perhaps, the only man he could love.
5 HEART READ
REVIEW:
An Unnatural Vice, by K.J. Charles’, is unnaturally splendid.
The second in her Sins of the Cities series it can be read as a standalone romance. But the core mystery is much richer if read after the first in the series. If An Unseen Attraction was pure delight, this second novel is even finer.
Nathaniel Roy, a crusading journalist, is set on exposing spiritualists who supposedly contact the dead. “Others found such trumpery amusing; he saw nothing funny at all in selling falsehood to people in despair.” Perhaps he’s angry that his lover, who died five years earlier, has never “crossed the veil” to make contact, leaving Nathaniel’s existence chaste and cold.
Justin Lazarus clawed his way from workhouse and gutter to become a spiritualist. His success emanates from a refined talent at reading human nature. However, he has little use for mankind, who he certainly doesn’t consider “kind.”
Here is how he views his clients:
“In fact, when he thought about it, the client he loathed most at any given time was whichever one was sitting in front of him.”
“There, there. You saved for two years to look for your lost children, and you’re spending the money on a spiritualist instead of a detective. You hopeless, soggy mopstick. There, there.”
“Conscience makes flats of us all. How lucky I don’t have one.”
When Nathaniel attends Justin’s séance, his inability to explain witnessed supernatural feats infuriates him. Peeved by Justin’s attractiveness, Nathaniel is further incensed when Justin accurately labels his grief, loss of faith and loneliness. And yet,
“Nathaniel thought he could weep from gratitude…just to be seen, even in such a way, even by such a man, because the recognition was so much better than invisibility.”
Thus, when Justin encounters danger that dovetails with another of Nathaniel’s ongoing investigations, the chance to work together is aggravating and exciting in equal measure. “He had never in his life been with anyone whose will was as strong as his own. This didn’t feel like a flirtation; it felt like stags circling, antlers ready to clash.”
Slowly, Justin and Lazarus come to appreciate one another's skills. “He wanted Lazarus, and-the true danger here-he wanted to believe Lazarus was worth wanting.” But are Nathaniel and Justin fooling themselves? With a murderer at loose, will their infatuation dull them to danger?
K.J. Charles’ charms as an author are too numerous to list. In my opinion, she’s the best contemporary series writer. Her meticulous attention to detail weaves plots between novels so perfectly that An Unnatural Vice truly enhances An Unseen Attraction!
Much like Charles Dickens, her intricate plots leave me tingling just anticipating the next edition.
As the above quotes exemplify, Ms. Charles is a master of Victorian dialect. I frequently smiled that her droll humor never taxed my ability to comprehend the lingo. Likewise, her descriptions of the era are enlightening. “Clean air. It tasted odd.”
Justin and Nathaniel’s flaws are entertaining and relatable. K.J. perceives the perfect foil for each of her characters, the one eccentric man who would enhance his lover’s quirky personality, generating unique and extremely intimate love scenes.
Her off-handed comments always educate: “A wise man proportions his belief to the evidence.” And most importantly, her insights are breathtaking:
"He’d always wanted to stand alone; he’d always thought of reliance on others as a house of cards, a fragile structure that could be pushed over at any time. And that was true; people betrayed, and left, and died. He hadn’t been wrong. Only, he hadn’t considered that a card on its own couldn’t stand at all.”
At this juncture, I feel I owe Ms. Charles an apology. I’ve assigned a four heart rating to some of her books. That was in comparison to my favorite of her books, like this novel, or A Seditious Affair. When I compare her to other 4 star authors, K.J. would always rank at least 4.5.
For flawless story lines, impeccable prose, delightful humor, hot love scenes, terrible villains, and rascals we must love, put yourself in K.J. Charles incomparable hands and read An Unseen Attraction and An Unnatural Vice in order.
A copy of An Unnatural Vice was provided to Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, by Loveswept, at no cost and with no expectations in return. We offer our fair and honest opinion on behalf of our readers.
For a peek at book 1 in the Sins of the Cities series read Annie’s recommendation for An Unseen Attraction.
About the Author
KJ Charles is a writer and freelance editor. She lives in London with her husband, two kids, an out-of-control garden and an increasingly murderous cat.
KJ writes mostly romance, gay and straight, frequently historical, and usually with some fantasy or horror in there. She specialises in editing romance, especially historical and fantasy, and also edits children’s fiction.
For more from K.J. be sure and visit her website.
