Can two men build a relationship when one must tear down each stone that the other has worked so hard to build? In the year 1535, after a misspent youth, Brother Mark is a hardworking Benedictine monk toiling as a stonemason at Tavistock Abbey. There he finds himself irrevocably drawn to one of the men [...]
Filed under: 16th Century, England, Fiction, Reviews, Stevie Woods, three stars, Tudor | Leave a Comment »
When Nathan Shern, Duke of Byworth’s, empty sham of a marriage is threatened by a fellow duke he is naturally aggrieved. He cannot allow the potentially damaging contents of his wife’s diary to reveal the depths of their estrangement because exposure of his secret dalliances with other men would taint his innocent children’s lives. Not [...]
Filed under: 2½ stars, ebook, England, Fiction, Heather Boyd, novella, Regency, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
‘… 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 »
Set in the very English suburbia of 1962 where everyone has tidy front gardens and lace curtains, Junction X is the story of Edward Johnson, who ostensibly has the perfect life: A beautiful house, a great job, an attractive wife and two well-mannered children. The trouble is he’s been lying to himself all of his [...]
Filed under: 1960's, England, Erastes, Fiction, five stars | Tagged: 1960′s, England, Erastes, Fiction, five stars | 3 Comments »
Trusting a psychic flash might solve a mystery…and lead to love. Inspector Robert Court should have felt a sense of justice when a rag-and-bones man went to the gallows for murdering his cousin. Yet something has never felt right about the investigation. Robert’s relentless quest for the truth has annoyed his superintendent, landing him lowly [...]
Filed under: 4½ Stars, BDSM, Bonnie Dee, detective, ebook, England, Fiction, Murder Mystery, Reviews, Summer Devon, Victorian | Tagged: 4½ Stars, BDSM, Bonnie Dee, detective, ebook, England, Fiction, Murder Mystery, Reviews, Summer Devon, Victorian | Leave a Comment »
Traumatised by the nightmare of trench warfare in France, Robert Blake turns to rent boy Jack Anderson for solace. Neither man expects their business relationship to go quite so far. It is 1919, less than a year after the end of the First World War with a recovering Britain in the grip of the influenza pandemic. Crippled [...]
Filed under: 3½ Stars, ebook, England, novella, Reviews, Scarlet Blackwell, World War I | Tagged: 3½ Stars, ebook, England, novella, Reviews, Scarlet Blackwell, World War I | 6 Comments »
1748 Lieutenant Conrad Herriot and Seaman Tom Cotton have been master and servant for over a decade, and friends for almost as long. When Tom is injured during a skirmish, Conrad forgets himself and rushes to Tom’s side, arousing suspicion about the true nature of their relationship. All Tom wants is the chance to consummate [...]
Filed under: Age of Sail, Alex Beecroft, ebook, England, five stars, novella, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Two stories, two couples, two eras, timeless emotions. “This Ground Which Was Secured At Great Expense” It is 1914 and The Great War is underway. When the call to arms comes, Nicholas Southwell won’t be found hanging back. It’s a pity he can’t be so decisive when it comes to letting his estate manager Paul [...]
Filed under: 1910's, 1940's, 1950's, 4½ Stars, Charlie Cochrane, detective, England, Essential Reads, Fiction, novella, Reviews, War, World War I | 1 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 »
TWO QUESTIONS HAVE ALWAYS PLAGUED HISTORIANS: HOW COULD Christopher Marlowe, a known spy and England’s foremost playwright, be suspiciously murdered and quickly buried in an unmarked grave — just days before he was to be tried for treason? HOW COULD William Shakespeare replace Marlowe as England’s greatest playwright virtually overnight — when Shakespeare had never [...]
Filed under: 16th Century, England, Fiction, Reviews, Shakespeare, Ted Bacino, three stars | Leave a Comment »
One chilly night just before Christmas in 1922, eighteen-year-old poacher Danny Costessey comes to regret his impulse to climb a tree to fetch some mistletoe for his mother when he falls, breaking his leg. He doesn’t expect his luck to change when he is found by the furious gamekeeper who’s long hated his family. However, [...]
Filed under: 1920's, 3½ Stars, ebook, England, Fiction, J L Merrow, novella, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
Crippled by a devastating stammer, Alfie would prefer to hide himself away in the audience of London’s theaters. But as the perfect Georgian gentleman, it’s his responsibility to find a husband for his ward Eleanor. The pain of having to converse with strangers is lessened by the appearance of the kind-hearted Lord George Caldwell and [...]
Filed under: England, five stars, G S Wiley, Reviews | 2 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 »
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 »
He’s at the end of his rope…until fate casts a lifeline. Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Book 8 The Great War is over. Freed from a prisoner of war camp and back at St. Bride’s College, Orlando Coppersmith is discovering what those years have cost. All he holds dear—including his beloved Jonty Stewart, lost in combat. A [...]
Filed under: 1910's, 4½ Stars, Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Charlie Cochrane, detective, England, Fiction, novella, Reviews, World War I | 4 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 | 55 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 »
In the 1950s Frankie Howerd, the famous radio and film comedian, meets a young waiter Dennis Heymer, who,like himself,is a closet homosexual. Their relationship blossoms into a partnership, rather than a purely sexual one, and Dennis becomes Frankie’s manager. By the early 1960s however things are looking bleak for Frankie. He has lost popularity with [...]
Filed under: 1950's, 3½ Stars, England, films, True Life | Leave a Comment »
Jade Swift has always wanted a man to fall madly in love with him and make him his own. He wants to be mastered. When he meets Marcus Wynterbourne, a dominant man with a passion for the whip, it is love at first sight. Marcus is an MP, gay, and trying to live as freely [...]
Filed under: 4 stars, England, Fyn Alexander, Victorian | Leave a Comment »
The fourth book in the Royal Navy series, Home Is the Sailor is set immediately following Eye of the Storm. After an unprovoked attack during peacetime — was it revenge for their abduction of one of Bonaparte’s top military scientists? — Commander William Marshall and his lover, David Archer, are sent into hiding at David’s [...]
Filed under: Age of Sail, England, Fiction, five stars, Lee Rowan, Regency, Reviews | 4 Comments »
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 »
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 »
London, 1889. Dr. John Williams suspects somebody has been blackmailing one of his patients, Sir Hugh Cockburn. The same day, the body of a young man is found floating in the Thames. Mere coincidence, or is there a connection? Willliams’ eccentric cousin, Cyril Fosterby, turns his mind to unraveling the mystery. Review by Erastes The [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, Anel Viz, detective, ebook, England, Fiction, Reviews, three stars, Victorian | 2 Comments »
Lord James Warren, Viscount Sudbury, lives a quiet, safe, and predictable life alone on his estate in Suffolk, only traveling to London once a year to visit family and satisfy his more forbidden needs. But this year, his routine is shattered when his niece and nephew ask him to help a beautiful young man they’ve [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, England, Fiction, Regency, Reviews, Rowan McAllister, three stars | 1 Comment »
Congo Free State, 1888 On a mission deep in the jungle, Oxford anthropologist James Litchfield comes face-to-face with a local legend: a wild man who wanders with mountain gorillas and lives as one of their own. The chance encounter with the savage, whom James calls Michael, leads to a game of observation and exploration. Their [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 3½ Stars, Africa, ebook, England, Fiction, Reviews, Victorian | Leave a Comment »
Having returned to Elizabethan London after an absence of two years, Hugh Seaton is happy to resume his old job as tailor to the company of actors known as Strange’s Men. He is less content when he finds himself looking for a murderer, and hiding his former lover, playwright Christopher Marlowe, who is suspected of [...]
Filed under: 17th Century, Elizabethan, England, Essential Reads, Fiction, five stars, K C Warwick, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Twenty year old Richard Giles is living on the streets of London in the year 1660, scrounging for food and shelter the best he is able after the closure of his place of employment and death of his mother. After being given shelter for the night by a kindly old man Richard is back on [...]
Filed under: 1 star, 17th Century, ebook, England, Europe, John Simpson, novella, Restoration, Reviews | 3 Comments »
At eighteen Dylan Rutledge has one obsession: music. He believes his destiny is to be the greatest composer of the rapidly approaching twentieth century. Only Laurence Northcliff, a young history master at The Venerable Bede School for Young Gentlemen, believes in Dylan’s talent and encourages his dream, not realizing Dylan is in love with him. [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, England, Fiction, five stars, Reviews, Ruth Sims | 1 Comment »
Henry Chadderton’s father earned his wealth in trade, but he looks to elevate his son to the gentry through marriage into a titled family. And so it is that Edward Montford, the second son of an impoverished baronet, accompanies his twin sister Emma to London in order to introduce her to her future husband. Henry [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 2 stars, ebook, England, Farida Mestek, Fiction, novella, Regency | 5 Comments »
In London during the gross indecency trial of Oscar Wilde, Douglas Shrove finds himself still haunted by memories of his dead lover while skirting violence, blackmail and the affections of two men. There are two who seek you out That is what the gypsy told Douglas Shrove a few months after the death of his [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4½ Stars, England, Fiction, M J Pearson, Reviews, Victorian | 3 Comments »
For readers who’ve loved Jane Austen’s most popular novel—the inestimable Pride and Prejudice—questions have always remained. What is the real nature of Darcy’s intense friendship with Charles Bingley, to explain why he would prevent Bingley’s marriage to Elizabeth’s beautiful and virtuous sister Jane? How can Darcy reconcile his own desire for Elizabeth with his determination [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 2 stars, Ann Herendeen, Bisexual, England, Fiction, Regency, Reviews | Leave a Comment »
He thought he knew who he was. Now he’s a stranger to himself. Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Book 7 When Jonty Stewart and Orlando Coppersmith witness the suspicious death of a young man at the White City exhibition in London, they’re keen to investigate—especially after the cause of death proves to be murder. But police Inspector [...]
Filed under: 1900's, Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Charlie Cochrane, detective, England, Fiction, five stars, Reviews | 4 Comments »
When war veteran Sir Alan Watleigh goes searching for sex, he never imagines the street rat he brings home for one last bit of pleasure in his darkest hour will be the man who hauls him back from the edge of the grave. A night of meaningless sex turns into an offer of permanent employment. [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, Bonnie Dee, ebook, England, five stars, Leslie H Nicoll, Regency, Reviews | 7 Comments »
Patrick, fabulously wealthy and with a good eye for pictures and young men, brings the impressionable Nicholas Milestone to London, intent on reducing him to utter dependence by playing on his naivety and greed. But Nicholas proves to be not quite as pliable as hoped, and a witty social comedy develops as he struggles with [...]
Filed under: 1940's, 4 stars, England, Essential Reads, Fiction, Michael Nelson, Reviews | 1 Comment »
Lieutenant Robert Pierce of the Royal Navy was raised in the shadow of his father, a great admiral, and has spent his life on the high seas fighting the ships of Napoleon Bonaparte. When he loses a leg in battle and is confined to land, Robert is devastated. Taken in by his sister Maria, Robert [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4½ Stars, Age of Sail, England, Leslie H Nicoll, novella, Reviews | 4 Comments »
This time, one touch could destroy everything… The suspected murder of the king’s ex-mistress is Cambridge dons Orlando Coppersmith and Jonty Stewart’s most prestigious case yet. And the most challenging, since clues are as hard to come by as the killer’s possible motive. At the hotel where the body was found, Orlando goes undercover as [...]
Filed under: 1900's, 4 stars, Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Charlie Cochrane, England, Leslie H Nicoll, Murder Mystery | Tagged: 4 stars, Charlie Cochrane, England | 5 Comments »
What does a jaded earl see in a studious, shy man? Everything he never knew he was missing. Their first, scorching hot sessions were about passion, not love, but now Peter is desperate to win back the young man he spurned. Review by Erastes This book sort of took me by surprise. First of all, [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, Bonnie Dee, ebook, England, Fiction, Reviews, Summer Devon, Victorian | Tagged: 19th Century, 4 stars, Bonnie Dee, ebook, England, Fiction, Reviews, Summer Devon, Victorian | 6 Comments »
Brendan Townsend is a young man who is very loyal to his friends. So when Tony—his best friend, occasional lover, and a complete screw-up—comes to him in trouble, Brendan is determined to help. Tony is being blackmailed by the owner of a “molly house”, the private club that Tony—and other like-minded gentlemen—frequent in order to [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, England, Fiction, Lee Rowan, Regency, Reviews | Tagged: 19th Century, 4 stars, England, Fiction, Lee Rowan, Regency, Reviews | 2 Comments »
Cornwall, 1906 After inheriting Trevaglan Farm from a distant relative, Jonathan Williams returns to the estate to take possession, with his best friend, Alayne, by his side. He’d only been to Trevaglan once before, fourteen years earlier when he’d been sent there after a family scandal and his mother’s death. But that was a different [...]
Filed under: 1900's, Donald L Hardy, England, Fiction, five stars, Reviews | Tagged: 1900’s, Donald L Hardy, England, Fiction, five stars, Reviews | 12 Comments »
When Loel Woodbine, Duke of Marche, receives news that his great aunt has engaged him to a young lady he has never met, he’s a little nonplussed. His lifestyle doesn’t exactly lead itself to entertaining the fair sex; in fact, he prefers to devote his attentions to men rather than women. However, Marche owes his [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, England, Penelope Roth, Regency, Reviews | Tagged: 19th Century, 4 stars, England, Penelope Roth, Regency, Reviews | 7 Comments »
Jack saves Nehemiah from drowning, or worse, on the Cornish coast, surprised to find he has an American in his midst. He’s also afraid that his fellow villagers will kill Nehemiah rather than look at him, all for the peridot ring on his finger. He takes Nehemiah in, sharing his home, and eventually his secrets. [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, 4 stars, ebook, England, Fiction, novella, Reviews, Syd McGinley | Tagged: 19th Century, 4 stars, ebook, England, Fiction, novella, Reviews, Syd McGinley | Leave a Comment »
He thinks he has everything. Until someone tries to steal it. Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Book 5 For friends and lovers Orlando Coppersmith and Jonty Stewart, a visit to Bath starts out full of promise. While Orlando assesses the value of some old manuscripts, Jonty plans to finish his book of sonnets. Nothing exciting…until they are [...]
Filed under: 1900's, Cambridge Fellows Mysteries, Charlie Cochrane, detective, England, Fiction, five stars, novella, Reviews | Tagged: 1900's, Charlie Cochrane | 5 Comments »
Reynard is the impoverished son of a cavalier, driven to highway robbery to support his sister, Emilia. But a puritan he robs proves to be his new neighbor–and Emilia returns to the house with her intended fiancé, who demands her promised dowry or the deeds to the family lands. Finally a new sheriff turns up [...]
Filed under: 17th Century, 4 stars, ebook, Emily Veinglory, England, Fiction, Reviews | Tagged: 17th Century, Emily Veinglory | Leave a Comment »
As second son to an earl, Ian Stanton has always done the proper thing. Obeyed his elders, studied diligently, and dutifully accepted the commission his father purchased for him in the Fifty-Second Infantry Division. The one glaring, shameful, marvelous exception: Nicholas Chatham, heir to the Marquess of Carleigh. Before Ian took his position in His [...]
Filed under: 19th Century, ebook, England, five stars, K A Mitchell, novella, Regency, Reviews | Tagged: five stars, gay historical romance, K A Mitchell | 5 Comments »
Running away in 1762 from a dull life in fashionable Georgian Bath, Jesse Sunderland joins an ocean-going merchant ship. Just nineteen years old, naive and keen for adventure in the expanding world where England rules the seas and dominates the colonies, he has to not only deal with the harshness of this life at sea [...]
Filed under: 18th Century, 1½ stars, Age of Sail, America, England, Fiction, Reviews, Steph Minns | 13 Comments »
Wilde Oats celebrates gay and bisexual fiction, embracing the joys and agonies of life for gay and bisexual men,
"Military veteran Mackle's resonant story, set with Catch-22 authenticity against the backdrop of the Six-Day War, spans an emotional spectrum from lusty horniness to nuanced romance with literary polish and story-telling punch." - Richard Labonte, Bookmarks.
Speak Its Name Five Star Read
Buy the book - Captain Harding's Six-Day War
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