Cannonball Read 17

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time
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“Kim was starlight and privilege; Will had his feet firmly fixed in the mud. They didn’t belong together. Except they did.”

Subtle Blood by K.J. Charles

November 7, 2022 by Malin 5 Comments

CBR14 Bingo: Scandal (the book features corruption, blackmail, kidnapping, and murder – not to mention gay people in the 1920s. Gasp!) Spoiler warning! This is the third book in a trilogy. While you can absolutely read this book without the others, you will not get all the beautiful payoff from various earlier storylines that way. Also, this review will contain mild spoilers for earlier in the series. Start with Slippery Creatures. For the last few months, Lord Arthur “Kim” Secretan and Will Darling have actually […]

Filed Under: Fiction, History, Mystery, Romance Tagged With: 1930s, cbr14, cbr14bingo, Class Differences, historical fiction, K.J. Charles, LGBTQIA, Malin, murder, mystery, Romance, scandal, spies, Subtle Blood, The Will Darling Adventures

Malin's CBR14 Review No:36 · Genres: Fiction, History, Mystery, Romance · Tags: 1930s, cbr14, cbr14bingo, Class Differences, historical fiction, K.J. Charles, LGBTQIA, Malin, murder, mystery, Romance, scandal, spies, Subtle Blood, The Will Darling Adventures ·
Rating:
· 5 Comments

The continuing adventures of Will and Kim

The Sugared Game by K.J. Charles

September 6, 2022 by Malin 1 Comment

CBR14 Bingo – Shadow (spies and all sorts of murky shenanigans throughout the story) This is book two in a series, and it really doesn’t work very well on its own. To start from the beginning, read Slippery Creatures first. Will Darling has settled more comfortably into his role as a London bookseller but has seen nor heard anything from the mysterious Lord Arthur “Kim” Secretan for several months. He has done his best to forget all about the man and get on with his life, agreeing to […]

Filed Under: Fiction Tagged With: cbr14, cbr14bingo, historical romance, K.J. Charles, Malin, mystery, shadow, spies, The Will Darling Adventures

Malin's CBR14 Review No:21 · Genres: Fiction · Tags: cbr14, cbr14bingo, historical romance, K.J. Charles, Malin, mystery, shadow, spies, The Will Darling Adventures ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

Fascinating historical fantasy mystery, an okay romance.

Rag and Bone (Rag and Bone, #1) by K.J. Charles

August 17, 2022 by narfna Leave a Comment

Sometimes this happens with K.J. Charles and me—and it’s often in this particular magical world of hers, come to think of it—where I am way more interested in the plot and worldbuilding than I am in the central romance. Here, partly it’s because the couple are already together at the start of the book, and the tension of “will they stay together” is just not as inherently interesting to me as “how will they get together and when”. But also, partly, there’s just something about […]

Filed Under: Fantasy, Mystery, Romance Tagged With: #fantasy, fantasy mystery, historical mystery, K.J. Charles, LGBTQIA, m-m, mysteries, narfna, rag and bone

narfna's CBR14 Review No:122 · Genres: Fantasy, Mystery, Romance · Tags: #fantasy, fantasy mystery, historical mystery, K.J. Charles, LGBTQIA, m-m, mysteries, narfna, rag and bone ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments

“My dear chap, this is a bookshop. There’s never anywhere better to be.”

Slippery Creatures by K.J. Charles

July 29, 2022 by Malin 1 Comment

CBR14 Bingo: Snake (SPOILER: being a thoroughly disreputable sort, Kim also turns out to betray Will at least once during the story) Will Darling has inherited his late uncle’s bookshop and is grateful for the fact. After serving in World War I, most of his skills involve killing swiftly and efficiently, not really a commodity on the post-war job markets back in England. Now he just needs to get some idea of all the books actually in the shop and get on with being a […]

Filed Under: Fiction, History, Mystery, Romance Tagged With: 1920s, cbr14, cbr14bingo, historical fiction, K.J. Charles, kidnapping, LGBTQIA, Malin, mystery, romantic, Slippery Creatures, snake, spies, The Will Darling Adventures

Malin's CBR14 Review No:18 · Genres: Fiction, History, Mystery, Romance · Tags: 1920s, cbr14, cbr14bingo, historical fiction, K.J. Charles, kidnapping, LGBTQIA, Malin, mystery, romantic, Slippery Creatures, snake, spies, The Will Darling Adventures ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

the challenges of an author’s back catalogue

The Magpie Lord by K.J. Charles

June 5, 2022 by wicherwill 1 Comment

CW: suicides (in the past), suicidal actions/ideation (but it’s made clear that it’s a curse which is making the character feel that way), homophobia, mentions of assault, mentions of incest, magic which saps a character’s life energy, and also some magical manipulation of emotions which I found hard to get behind Bereft of Will Darling, I thought I’d give Charles’ back catalog a perusal. While I really enjoyed this novel, there’s a central premise that I felt it hard to get over. As such, I’ve […]

Filed Under: Fantasy Tagged With: A Charm of Magpies, K.J. Charles, LGBTQ

wicherwill's CBR14 Review No:65 · Genres: Fantasy · Tags: A Charm of Magpies, K.J. Charles, LGBTQ ·
Rating:
· 1 Comment

author on the will read shelf for sure

The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting by K.J. Charles

May 30, 2022 by wicherwill Leave a Comment

And then, for something different and DELIGHTFUL. I should have known to satiate my historical romance longing with a standalone novel by K.J. Charles, who had so recently delighted me with the Will Darling series. Here, we go even further back in history and even further into gay with the tale of two scheming siblings, attempt to fortune hunt (as the title would suggest) with the most moral of intentions. Neither of them want to want, and they’re in the game together. If one rises […]

Filed Under: Romance Tagged With: K.J. Charles, LGBTQ

wicherwill's CBR14 Review No:34 · Genres: Romance · Tags: K.J. Charles, LGBTQ ·
Rating:
· 0 Comments
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