I hope that my life continues to be full of K.J. Charles books that do not disappoint me. I know I’ve still got about half her back catalogue to go through, and I hope all those unread books are just as fun to read. This one is a romance, of course, but it’s also a heist novel featuring Alec, the estranged son of a duke out to make his father pay for the damage he’s caused Alec and his siblings, so Alec hires two notorious thieves to take priceless jewels from a practically uncrackable safe, in a hard to reach castle where escaping undetected seems impossible.
The Lilywhite Boys, so called because they always manage to escape with clean hands, take the job, their plan being to infiltrate Castle Speight (nicknamed “Castle Spite”) through Alec. Jerry Crozier gets the job of new BFF, and in order to make the ruse believable, the two men get to know one another. I’m not going to do this part justice so I will just say: It is good. The dynamic between them is all the more delicious because the novel is told from Alec’s POV, and he’s never entirely sure whether the things Jerry says or does are part of the act, or if they’re real.
There are great twists and turns, as befits a heist novel, with the added benefit of some hot sex; basis in actual history (Charles always gets her social details right, and this time the main plot is based on an actual, historical crime); and a sweet, sneaky little love story. We also get to catch up with some of the characters from the Sins of the Cities series, as this novel only takes place twenty years later, and unlike sometimes happens, it didn’t feel like she was shoehorning those characters in where they didn’t belong.
P.S. This is only $1.29 on the Kindle store right now, you have no excuses.
[4.5 stars]