Series: Standalone
Genre: Historical M/M Romance
Age Group: Adult
Ebook - 232 pgs
Source: Overdrive
Published: 2017
A note to the Editor
Dear Henry,
I have been Simon Feximal’s companion, assistant and chronicler for twenty years now, and during that time my Casebooks of Feximal the Ghost-Hunter have spread the reputation of this most accomplished of ghost-hunters far and wide.
You have asked me often for the tale of our first meeting, and how my association with Feximal came about. I have always declined, because it is a story too private to be truthfully recounted, and a memory too precious to be falsified. But none knows better than I that stories must be told.
So here is it, Henry, a full and accurate account of how I met Simon Feximal, which I shall leave with my solicitor to pass to you after my death.
I dare say it may not be quite what you expect.
After several books by KJ Charles that disappointed me, I was thoroughly pleased with this one. Not only are Simon and Richard incredible characters, Charles' writing style sinks you into their world and their lives so much that it is difficult to move on after this book. England at the end of the 19th Century is one of my favorite setting and KJ Charles has proven many times she can construct a magical world set in this time period with beautiful precision. The language she uses to describe and the dialogue from the characters are on point.
The novel is set up in a series of short snapshots of our magician, Simon, and his chronicler Richard. The first story is the hook and it does its job well. It is sexy and steamy and totally drew me in. The two of them have fantastic chemistry and when Richard breaks the fourth wall to speak to the reader the story gains a feeling of realness and believably I wasn't expecting. Over the course of the book I became incredibly absorbed in all the characters' lives and stories. I was very attached to our two main characters, of course, and the end of this book wrecked me. It destroyed me. It was incredibly moving and I highly recommend it.
Beyond the romance between our two main characters, are the ghost stories they solve. The cases these two work together are incredibly dark in some instances. I appreciated some of these stories were gruesome while others were dark and twisted in other ways. The stories are short, but all of them are complex and multifaceted. Charles builds up a dark magical underbelly to the world we know just like in her other series and dives even deeper into the grim and gritty side of London in this book.
I could continue to gush. I've picked up a copy of this book for my collection since borrowing it from my library and as soon as I feel emotionally ready, I'm going back to enjoy this again.
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