Book Review: Think of England by KJ Charles

Reviewed by Heather C

Title: Think of England
Author: KJ Charles
Heroes: Captain Archie Curtis & Daniel da Silva
Genre: M/M Historical Romance
Length: 194 pages
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: July 1, 2014
Available at: Samhain Publishing, Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Kobo
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads

Blurb: Lie back and think of England…

England, 1904. Two years ago, Captain Archie Curtis lost his friends, fingers, and future to a terrible military accident. Alone, purposeless and angry, Curtis is determined to discover if he and his comrades were the victims of fate, or of sabotage.

Curtis’s search takes him to an isolated, ultra-modern country house, where he meets and instantly clashes with fellow guest Daniel da Silva. Effete, decadent, foreign, and all-too-obviously queer, the sophisticated poet is everything the straightforward British officer fears and distrusts.

As events unfold, Curtis realizes that Daniel has his own secret intentions. And there’s something else they share—a mounting sexual tension that leaves Curtis reeling.

As the house party’s elegant facade cracks to reveal treachery, blackmail and murder, Curtis finds himself needing clever, dark-eyed Daniel as he has never needed a man before…

Product Warnings
Contains explicit male/male encounters, ghastly historical attitudes, and some extremely stiff upper lips.

Review:

Bloody Brilliant!  KJ Charles is brilliant again, and I swear I will forever read anything she ever writes.  The woman knows how to write a romance with the perfect mix of mystery and awe.  It amazes me how brilliant she is at bringing two totally opposite characters together, and making their attraction to each other truly believable, even when their initial reactions are extreme dislike and distrust…and maybe even a little bit of disgust. 

On one hand, you have Captain Archibald Curtis: a wealthy British Military officer who is…urm…missing part of his hand.  A tragic weapons accident, you see?  Or was it?  On the other hand, there is Mr. Daniel da Silva:  the limp-wristed, poetic dago who is way more than meets the eye.  Oh, but he is very appealing to Curtis’s eye, even though Curtis can’t admit it to himself yet.  Invite them to an elaborate country house party for a fortnight and they are bound to get up to some mischief.  Maybe oust a few blackmailers and traitors while breaking more than a few laws themselves. 

There is absolutely no question that I ♥ this book!!!

The Characters:  At first, I had a little trouble getting into the story because there were so many characters being introduced, and I’m horrible with names.  So it took some intense concentration there for a bit to keep everyone straight.  Once I had the characters down, I realized that every freakin’ one of them played a key role in the story.  Who they where and what they did and who they took walks with…every bit of it important.  I had no idea who the love interest would be, since I did not read the blurb.  So every time a young, handsome man was introduced to Curtis I was guessing: “Could it be James?  No wait, it must be Mr. Holt.  Ohmyfuckinggod it is da Silva!!!!!!!”   

The Mystery:  Its set up very ‘cozy mystery’ like, where all the key players are staying under the same roof.  Instead of trying to reveal if it was Ms. Scarlet with the candlestick in the bedroom, Curtis and da Silva are trying to find the evidence to prove their suspicions of treason and blackmail…and then get out of the house alive with the evidence.  Then there is the question of which characters are involved and who can be trusted??  I truly could not figure out how it would all end and it kept me guessing the entire time.  

The Romance:  Curtis is NOT a homosexual.  Ha!  Could the man be more in denial?!  So when he finds himself in a compromising situation with the queer poet in the too tight pants, it turns out Curtis just might be ‘like that’ after all.  Its too hard for me to go into much detail about Curtis and da Silva’s ‘relationship’ without spoiling all the good stuff, but trust me, these guys are good together.  Plenty of sexual tension and lots of provocative dirty talk.  THE QUOTES!!  I highlighted so many of them, but the only one I’m will to share is the one you already know: 

“Then lie back and think of England.”

Gah!  The things these two get up to!   Then there’s the touchy-feely, romantic moments that broke my heart.

The HEA:  Well, its really more of a solid HFN with the promise of a HEA.  I certainly wouldn’t object to a sequel to see what kinds of trouble Curtis and da Silva find themselves in next…

Overall Impression: I Loved It

*I received a copy of this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review.*