William Ashton, retained as a gardener by Edward Hillier, discovers his new master to be a detached and driven man. Over the years, as travail and tragedy bring them closer together, he understands that they have more in common than he first realised, but the affection they feel for one another will be sorely tested [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 2½ stars, ebook, England, F.M. Parkinson, Fiction, Victorian | 3 Comments »
London, 1822 It was only supposed to be one night. One night to determine once and for all if he truly preferred men. But the last thing Lord Benjamin Parker expected to find in a questionable gambling hall in Cheapside is a gorgeous young man who steals his heart. It was only supposed to be a [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 3½ Stars, Ava March, ebook, England, Fiction, novella, Regency, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
When royal sartorial adviser Beau Brummell meets a pretty soldier at a ball full of people who have begun to bore him, he’s only thinking of a brief affair and the opportunity to prove that clothes make the man. When Toby turns out to be not only beautiful but kind and a generous lover, Beau [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, Cecilia Ryan, ebook, Fiction, novella, Regency, Reviews | 1 Comment »
It is 1899, and young Andrew Wyndham has accepted a position tutoring the unruly son of wealthy industrialist Duncan Stewart in the hopes that the work will be brief yet provide an avenue to pay for his passage to France to study art. But Seacliff is a dark and eerie mansion enshrouded in near-eternal fog, [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4½ Stars, America, Fiction, gothic, Max Pierce, Reviews | 5 Comments »
Painfully introverted and rendered nearly mute by a heavy stammer, Lord George Albert Westin rarely ventures any farther than the club or his beloved gardens. When he hears rumors of an exotic new orchid sighted at a local hobbyist’s house, though, he girds himself with opiates and determination to attend a house party, hoping to [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, ebook, England, Fiction, five stars, Heidi Cullinan, Reviews, Victorian | 2 Comments »
Rag & Bone is #2 in the Inspector Raft Mystery Series. Scotland Yard Inspector Philemon Raft arrives on the scene of a deadly fire in Whitechapel, only to find a much more sinister force at work, destroying lives with swift abandon – and a lunatic may help Raft capture the master criminal known only as [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4½ Stars, Fiction, Joanne Soper-Cook, Reviews, Victorian | 1 Comment »
Book one in the Past Perfect Series Love stripped down to the bare bones. 1875. The Bone Wars. Dinosaur hunters will go to any lengths to make bigger, better discoveries—and to see their rivals broken. Henry is a man of science—precise, proper and achingly correct. When Albert arrives in his life in a storm of [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 3½ Stars, America, ebook, England, Fiction, Paige Turner, Reviews, series, Victorian | 2 Comments »
‘… The accounts of these cases are too bound up with events in my personal life which, although they may provide a plausible commentary to much of my dealings with Mr Sherlock Holmes, can never be made public while he or I remain alive …’ Although Dr Watson is known for recording some sixty of [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, detective, England, Reviews, Rohase Piercy, Victorian | Leave a Comment »
Gideon Makepeace, a young man of twenty, knows who he is and what he likes: decency, men and women too, horse training, and fun… and in Livingston, Montana, in the lush autumn of 1895, he finds he likes a Lakota Sioux Indian better than he might ought to. Jedediah Buffalo Bird is seriously wounded and [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, America, Fiction, five stars, Margaret Mills, Reviews, Tedy Ward, Western | 2 Comments »
Grayson Drake has been sent by a covert spy agency from the South to break Marx Wellbourne out of Elmira Prison at all costs. Ordered to return Wellbourne to Richmond so the Confederate Army can pick his brain about the maps he’s memorized, Gray soon discovers Marx is courting death from malaria and pneumonia. To [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 2 stars, America, American Civil War, ebook, Fiction, Keta Diablo, novella, Reviews, War | 5 Comments »
Charming rascal Tristan Northwood seems to have it all: an ancient name, a noble inheritance, a lovely wife, and a son he adores. Women love him, men admire him, and it seems there is nothing he can’t do, whether it’s seducing a society wife or winning a carriage race. Little does Society suspect that the [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, Fiction, Regency, Reviews, Rowan Speedwell | 7 Comments »
The Matsumoto twins, or “mirror samurai,” are bound together by a horrible crime committed during the civil war. Eager for a new beginning, the brothers travel to America where they are befriended by the Lennartsson brother and sister, Konrad and Klara. Akeno becomes attracted to the seemingly innocent young Klara, while Aki allies himself with, [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, American Civil War, Fiction, Japan, Reviews, Silupa Jarun, three stars | Leave a Comment »
Mr. Leopold Thornton finally has the man he’s loved for a decade, yet he can’t believe his good fortune. A reformed rake and a conservative solicitor? Can it possibly last? To add to Leopold’s worries, Arthur’s spending more time at the office…with a handsome new secretary. Desperate not to lose Arthur, Leopold does the only [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 3½ Stars, Ava March, ebook, England, Regency, series | 1 Comment »
North Carolina, 1876: Rumors abound about the dark, mysterious Dominic Beresford in Chapel Hill. Their curiosity piqued, their libidos functioning on overload, Craven and Anthony are intent on obtaining answers about the supposed licentious gatherings taking place every weekend. When the duo are caught spying on Beresford Hall, their punishment will be swift and severe, [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, America, BDSM, ebook, Fiction, Keta Diablo, novella, Reviews, three stars | 1 Comment »
Dakota Taylor, the gay gunslinger, is back. Here, Dakota leaves his lover Bennie on the ranch for a short trip into town. But as he heads home, somebody tries to use him for target practice. Soon Dakota finds himself two hundred miles from Bennie, with no chance of returning until he finds out who wants [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 3½ Stars, America, Cap Iversen, Fiction, Reviews, Western | 2 Comments »
Bohemia, 1866 They met in a port-side tavern, their lust-filled moments stolen from days of marching and madness. After eighteen months, Captain Rudolph von Ratzlaff and First Lieutenant Mathias Hofmann have decided to run away from everything they hold dear. Resigning their commissions is social suicide, but there’s no other choice. Someone will eventually see [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, ebook, Erastes, Fiction, five stars, novella | Leave a Comment »
A very early gay novel, originally published in 1900, by a Belgian writer with the first English translation in 1908, set in 19th Century rural Flanders. A gay count returns after years abroad to an isolated uptight community where his love for a peasant boy brings furious attacks by fanatic and bigoted villages whipped up [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, Essential Reads, Europe, Fiction, novella, Reviews, three stars | 1 Comment »
Ever since Cambridge-bound Colin Lancaster secretly watched stable master Patrick Callahan mastering the groundskeeper, he’s longed for Patrick to do the same to him. When Patrick is caught with his pants down and threatened with death, Colin speaks up in his defense, announcing that he, too, is guilty of “the love that dare not speak [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 3½ Stars, Australia, Fiction, Keira Andrews, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
When a series of bizarre murders occur in London’s notorious East End, Scotland Yard’s Inspector Philemon Raft is called on to solve the crimes, but even he is powerless to explain why the victims are displayed in public places — or why the killer insists on drilling burr holes in their skulls. With little to [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, detective, Joanne Soper-Cook, Reviews, Victorian | 3 Comments »
Ashton Laytham came to Fayerweather, his uncle’s estate, as an orphan at the age of seven. Family and servants alike perceived Ashton as an unlovable child and shunned him; as an adult, the occasional illicit rendezvous aside, Ashton remains aloof and alone. When his uncle dies, yet more abuse falls upon Ashton’s shoulders: the estate [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 3½ Stars, England, Fiction, Reviews, Tinnean | Leave a Comment »
London 1889. For Ira Adler, former rent-boy and present plaything of crime lord Cain Goddard, stealing back the statue of a porcelain dog from Goddard’s blackmailer should have been a doddle. But inside the statue is evidence that could put Goddard away for a long time under the sodomy laws, and everyone’s after it, including [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, detective, England, Fiction, five stars, free read, Jess Faraday, Murder Mystery, Reviews, Victorian | 1 Comment »
New York 1888 Jonah Woolner’s life is as prudently regulated as the bank where he works. It’s a satisfying life until he’s passed over for promotion in favor of newcomer Reid Hylliard. Brash and enterprising, Reid beguiles everyone except Jonah, who’s convinced Reid’s progressive ideas will be the bank’s ruin. When Jonah begins to discover [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4½ Stars, America, Fiction, Reviews, Tamara Allen | 1 Comment »
A Civil War veteran and recovered opium addict, Adam Finlay, knows the cost of taking pleasure too far. In life, as in poker, he plays things close to the vest. The only way he knows to survive is to let no one in. Jackson Talbot loves a challenge. And no one is a greater challenge [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 3½ Stars, America, American Civil War, ebook, Fiction, India Harper, novella, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Orphaned Crispin Thorne has been taken as ward by Philip Smallwood, a man he’s never met, and is transplanted from his private school to Smallwood s house on an island on the beautiful but coldly remote, Horsey Mere in Norfolk. Upon his arrival, he finds that he’s not the only young man given a fresh [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, England, Erastes, Fiction, Reviews, Victorian | Leave a Comment »
Years ago, revenge brought Emeric von Gondrecourt to New Mexico. Now, the force keeping him there is loyalty to the Metairie family — and his love for the young Calder Metairie, who has grown up while Emeric watched. A DARING, DEVOTED HEART is a Western with a difference. Not merely an m/m romance, it’s also [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, America, Linda Hines, three stars, Western | Leave a Comment »
October 15, 1898 Dear diary, that’s how you’re supposed to begin these things, or so I assume. I never in a million years thought I’d write in one, let alone under these circumstances. This was Jonathan’s doing. When he asked me to make this entry, it was something I had to do, for him. He’s [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 2½ stars, America, ebook, Fiction, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
Doctor Jude Evans has built a safe but barren life for himself in a small western town where he pours all his passion into caring for his patients while hiding his secret yearning to love another man. Gabriel Fontenot is a drifter who is handy with a gun, prospecting for gold and trying to forget [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, ebook, Fiction, Jan Irving, Reviews, Western | Leave a Comment »
Everyone knows Jack Tulle as a widower, a doting father, and an honest businessman. The problem is, it’s all a lie. For eight years Jack has enjoyed the quiet life in the sleepy little town of Bodey, Colorado where he owns and operates the General Store. He sits on the town council. He dotes upon [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 3½ Stars, America, Jon Wilson, Reviews, Western | Leave a Comment »
By the close of 1882, the inhabitants of the American West had earned their reputation as untamed and dangerous. The line between heroes and villains is narrow and indistinct. The concept that a man may only kill if backed into a corner is antiquated. Lives are worth less than horses. Treasures are worth killing for. [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4½ Stars, Abigail Roux, America, Fiction, Reviews, Western | Leave a Comment »
People look up when Dakota Taylor rides into town. His legend precedes him and if that legend isn’t always founded in reality … well, Dakota’s not about to disappoint folks. Nor does he want to disappoint the handsome Bennie Colson, who has a job for him. Trouble is, Ben’s job means taking on a whole [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, America, Fiction, Reviews, Western | 2 Comments »
London, 1840. At the height of Victorian hypocrisy, two men meet and fall in love. Their romance is forbidden, punishable even by death, but their passion blossoms thanks to a paper Valentine. Saint Valentine’s Day has become a new and very popular day for lovers. Thousands of Londonites are clamouring for the ideal romantic gift. [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 1½ stars, A.J. Llewellyn, ebook, England, Fiction, novella, Reviews, Victorian | 56 Comments »
(From Publisher’s Weekly) A biographical fantasia, White’s latest imagines the final days of the poet and novelist Stephen Crane (The Red Badge of Courage), who died of TB at age 28 in 1900. At the same time, White also imagines and writes The Painted Boy, a work that he has Crane say he began in [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 2½ stars, America, Edmund White, England, Europe, Fiction, Reviews, Victorian | 3 Comments »
Written in the language of the period, this vivid and utterly transfixing love story between two men is set in the nineteenth-century American Midwest. Douglas Fortescue is a successful poet in England who flees the country for America following an Oscar Wilde-like scandal insinuating sexual impropriety; Joshua Jenkyns is a feral young outlaw who was [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, America, Fiction, five stars, Reviews, Western | Leave a Comment »
Sherlock Holmes is called in on one of his most personal cases ever when his young nephew, Bramwell, disappears. Has he been kidnapped by his own father and forced to marry against his nature or is something more sinister afoot? In his search for answers Holmes and Watson will cross swords with the angelically beautiful [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, detective, ebook, Fiction, Reviews, three stars, Victorian | Leave a Comment »
A young man coming to grips with his homosexuality during the latter half of the 19th century, through four years of The Civil War, the Indian Wars with General Custer’s 7th Cavalry, into the rough and tumble town of Cheyenne and up into the Black Hills of the Dakota Territory. *Available in Kindle format, 382KB [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, America, American Civil War, ebook, Fiction, Jack Ricardo, Reviews, Western | Leave a Comment »
When Victorian private investigator Nick Romney’s step-father, an Anglican bishop, is murdered, Nick refuses to get involved. At the urging of his family, though, Nick and his lover Davy step in to investigate. Together they uncover the truth of the bishop’s involvement in the dark and horrifying world of child prostitution, the reason why he [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, detective, Europe, Fiction, five stars, Murder Mystery, Reviews, Victorian | 8 Comments »
Love: it’s a triangle. War: is coming. Betrayal: is inevitable. Sex: watch out for the naughty puppets. Review by Jess Faraday This wasn’t an easy book. I mean this in a technical sense. It wasn’t like sitting down to read a civilized story in which one is introduced to the characters, setting, and story questions [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, Fiction, five stars, Kathe Koja, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
Two fathers, Abelard Bauer and Andreas Schifffer, are brought together through the tragic deaths of their eldest sons. Bauer, a brilliant toymaker, fashions glass Christmas ornaments and his latest creation is a minstrel with a secret molded into its features. When Schiffer sees Bauer’s minstrel ornament in the toy shop, he realizes that Bauer is [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, Fiction, Hayden Thorne, Reviews, three stars | 7 Comments »
Mr. Nathaniel Travers has been visiting Madame Delacroix’s brothel for five years. On every visit, he requests the same man. Stunningly handsome and highly skilled, Jasper not only shares Nate’s fondness for wickedly erotic games and black leather corsets, but he’s become a friend. Someone he can talk to. Someone he can share a supper [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4½ Stars, Ava March, BDSM, ebook, Fiction, Regency, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Home Station on the Prairie The Nebraska territory is a lonely place for young Jamie, who longs to be a Pony Express rider, but only manages to take care of their horses. Still, he has the ponies, and his father, and before he knows it he has Thad, a boyhood friend from back in Iowa. [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, 4½ Stars, America, ebook, Fiction, Kara Larson, novella, Western | Leave a Comment »
To discharge a debt to his friend, Andrew Nash, Lord Thomas Barrington returns to the family estate he fled six years earlier after refusing to marry the woman his father had chosen. To Thomas’s dismay, Barrington Hall is no longer the joyful home he remembers from his childhood, and his young niece has no idea [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, ebook, England, Fiction, Jamie Fessenden, Reviews, three stars, Victorian | 3 Comments »
Lee Masters is fired from his cattle drive when his sexual orientation is discovered. Frustrated and angry, he rides to a mountain lake where he meets Running Buffalo, Tatanka, who is also exiled from his tribe for refusing to adhere to tribal custom for braves who prefer men to women. They strike up a friendship, [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, America, ebook, Fiction, novella, Reviews, Terry O'Reilly, Western | Leave a Comment »
They once faced each other on a battlefield. Now soldier-turned-spy Jonathan Reese must keep watch over the man he’s never forgotten. A close encounter reveals Karl von Binder, the count’s son, also recalls the day he spared Jonathan’s life. Sparks fly between the former enemies and Jonathan begins to lose perspective on his mission. He [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, Bonnie Dee, ebook, England, Europe, Fiction, five stars, Reviews, Summer Devon, Victorian | 4 Comments »
Mute saloonkeeper Donnell knows all about prejudice; he’s had to battle it all of his life. He also knows how self-righteous and judgemental the people of the old west town of Nazareth can be, so he isn’t surprised when he sees them spurn requests for work from a man who walks into town looking to [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 2½ stars, America, ebook, Fiction, novella, Reviews, Western, Willa Okati | Leave a Comment »
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