Cannonball Read 13

Sticking It to Cancer One Book at a Time

Search This Site

| Log in
  1. Follow us on Facebook
  2. Follow us on Twitter
  3. Follow us on Instagram
  4. Follow us on Goodreads
  5. RSS Feeds

  • Home
  • About
    • About CBR
    • Getting Started
    • Cannon Book Club
    • Diversions
    • Fan Mail
    • Holiday Book Exchange
    • Book Bingo Reading Challenge
    • Participation Badges
    • AlabamaPink
  • Our Team
    • Leaderboard
    • The CBR Team
    • Recent Comments
    • CBR Interviews
    • Our Volunteers
    • Meet MsWas
  • Categories
    • Review Genres
    • Tags
  • Fight Cancer
    • How We Fight Cancer
    • How You Can Donate
    • Book Sale
    • CBR Merchandise
    • Supporters and Friends of CBR
  • FAQ
  • Contact
    • Contact Form
    • Newsletter Sign Up
    • Newsletter Archive
    • Follow Us
> FAQ Home
> Genre: Romance > ”My name, since you raise the topic, is Arthur Aloysius Kimberley de Brabazon Secretan. What would you do in my place?” “Leave the country … You poor bastard, you never stood a chance.” #CBRBingo – The Roaring 20’s

”My name, since you raise the topic, is Arthur Aloysius Kimberley de Brabazon Secretan. What would you do in my place?” “Leave the country … You poor bastard, you never stood a chance.” #CBRBingo – The Roaring 20’s

Slippery Creatures (The Will Darling Adventures, #1) by K.J. Charles

September 2, 2020 by narfna 2 Comments

I loved everything about this.

K.J. Charles is honestly spoiling me for other historical romance authors. There’s just something about her style (very detailed, historically accurate, flawed but compelling characters) that gets me right in the pleasure center. She also doesn’t just write in one time period or keep it to straight-up romance. She’s always messing around with spy fiction or mystery or golden age pulp (here and Think of England) or jewelry heists or homages to Georgette Heyer regency fiction. Sometimes many of these at the same time! She self-publishes all her books, and there’s a freedom in that to explore whatever her writerly heart desires. All her writing is also very feminist and queer-centered (all along the LGBTQIA spectrum, including ace, trans, bi-, and nonbinary protagonists), and there’s a sensitivity to class and social structures that provides all her stories with strong backbones.

What I’m saying basically is read K.J. Charles, and this would be an excellent place to start. This is the first in a trilogy, and if it finishes as good as it starts, this series will be in my top five for her, right up there with Band Sinister and Think of England.

Will Darling is in his early twenties, and just home from five years service for Britain in WWI. He had a really rough go of it, and when he came home, despite being lauded for his service, found his job prospects to be nil, and he was quickly destitute (the narrative makes clear his plight was far from uncommon for returning soldiers at that time). Luckily, a friend badgers him into contacting an estranged uncle who he hasn’t seen since he was a child to ask for help. The uncle takes him in and Will begins to work for him, but the uncle soon develops a fatal illness, and after nursing him on his death bed, Will inherits his uncle’s used bookshop. Which is when strange and sinister characters start badgering him for information he doesn’t have, and doesn’t know how to find. His kindly uncle and his inheritance windfall also seem to come with some baggage of the espionage variety, and soon Will is in over his head. This is when Kim Secretan walks into the bookshop. Adventures proceed from there.

I really liked Will as narrator. He was sharp and observant, yet also stubborn and willing to do what’s right at the cost of his own safety. He insists to his own detriment on handling the information his uncle left him in his own way, even as the British War Office and various unsavory parties are all coming after him. The way Charles handled his relationship with Kim was really smart, and she leaves them in just the right spot to make it clear that more story is coming, yet there’s just enough resolution to keep you satisfied. It feels like there’s a lot left there to mine in terms of Kim’s emotions and ability to be in a functioning relationship, and how to build trust with someone after a betrayal. It’s a slow burn across three books, essentially.

The secondary characters here are some of my favorite from Charles yet. Kim’s fiancé Phoebe was a breath of fresh air, and if I’m not mistaken, there will be a f/f pairing down the road for her and Will’s friend Maisie, who is a black woman living in 1920s London. Lots of fun dynamics to explore there.

And the next two are out in August and September! So you barely have to wait at all. (ETA: Posting this in September and book two is already out, and I have read it, and it is good.)

CBR Bingo: The Roaring 20’s

Filed Under: Romance, Suspense Tagged With: 1920s, adventure, British, cbr12bingo, espionage, historical fiction, historical romance, K.J. Charles, LGBTQIA, m/m, narfna, post wwi, Romance, Slippery Creatures, The Will Darling Adventures

narfna's CBR12 Review No:117 · Genres: Romance, Suspense · Tags: 1920s, adventure, British, cbr12bingo, espionage, historical fiction, historical romance, K.J. Charles, LGBTQIA, m/m, narfna, post wwi, Romance, Slippery Creatures, The Will Darling Adventures ·
Rating:
· 2 Comments

About narfna

CBR13 participantCBR13 CommentsCBR12 participantCBR11 participantCBR10 participantCBR  9CBR 8CBR 7CBR 6CBR 5CBR 4

Good evening, everyone. I'm Leslie Monster, and this is Nightline. View narfna's reviews»

Comments

  1. Emmalita says

    September 2, 2020 at 6:48 pm

    I am reading The Sugared Game right now and really enjoying it. I probably won’t review them until the third one is out and read.

    Reply
    • narfna says

      September 2, 2020 at 7:27 pm

      That seems smart; then you can talk about the story as a whole.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.



Recent Comments

  • Ashlie Daigle on CBR Diversions – It’s Never too Late to Have a Happy ChildhoodDid you see the news that the Nimona film adaptation was cancelled? Sob.
  • markabaddon on CBR Diversions – It’s Never too Late to Have a Happy ChildhoodSame. Her interpretation of vampirism was soooo cool to me as a teenager.
  • esme on CBR Diversions – It’s Never too Late to Have a Happy ChildhoodOMG- the Great Brain- I wonder if it holds up? I’ll have to see. I also used the love the Three Investigators. And Encyclopedia Brown....
  • andtheIToldYouSos on CBR Diversions – It’s Never too Late to Have a Happy Childhoodalso- Louis Sachar's HOLES! it came out when I was in middle school and I loved it, and my current students love the movie, but...
  • andtheIToldYouSos on CBR Diversions – It’s Never too Late to Have a Happy ChildhoodHOW DID I FORGET PINKWATER?! aggh! Lizard Music, Snarkout Boys, Worms of Kukimilia... I re-read that section of the library over and over again
See More Recent Comments »

Want to Help Out?

CBR has a great crew of volunteers, and we're always looking for more people to help out. If you have a specialty or are willing to learn, drop MsWas a line.

  • How You Can Donate
  • FAQ
  • Shop
  • Volunteers
  • Leaderboard
  • AlabamaPink
  • Contact

Help Our Mission

You can donate to CBR via:

  1. PayPal
  2. Venmo
  3. Google Pay
© 2021 Cannonball Read | Log in