KJ Charles describes her œuvre as “cravats and smut” in her Twitter biog and, while this is not a “fade to black as they kiss” book, it’s also not porn. But it’s probably not a book to buy for your teenage nibling who just came out.

Exiled to China for 20 years, Lucien Vaudrey comes back to Victorian Britain, unexpectedly inheriting an earl­dom when his father and psychopathic brother die mysteriously. When Lucien starts trying to kill himself, Stephen Day’s responsibility to tackle supernatural threats beats out his enmity for the Vaudreys so he’ll help investigate why. It doesn’t help that Lucien seems to be trying to get Stephen into bed — and Stephen isn’t entirely upset at that prospect.

The Smart Bitches, Trashy Books review is mildly spoilery, but a good analysis; the genre of the Charm of Magpies series (of which this is the first) is more paranormal romance than a paranormal thriller and the 2 POV protagonists complement each other very well. The paranormal aspects are darker than I’d expected, but it’s an entertaining read and both primary plotlines (the para­normal thriller and the m/m romance) are paced well, both in relationship to each other as well as individually. I’ll definitely be working my way through the sequels and looking at some of KJ Charles’s other m/m historical paranormal romance work.

CN from the author: animal abuse/death, suicide (attempted on page, actual off page), violence, questionable consent, power exchange dynamics, occult horrors, deaths, homophobia, references to sexual abuse and incest (off page)

Note: This work does include sexually-explicit scenes.