An Unseen Attraction

I thoughroughly enjoyed this book, though the main romance had less turmoil, and therefore less payoff than some of KJ Charles' other works. I especially liked the portrayal of Clem's autism (though it's not explicitly called that in the book, it's pretty obviously autism) and how it affects his romantic relationship. It's rare to see an autistic romance novel protagonist, far less a gay one, and Clem felt very true to life to me. The mystery was also compelling and the focus on Victotian taxidermy was interesting.

Really well-written period mystery-romance set in Victorian London. The romance elements are more prominent than the mystery, but both are excellently-written and populated with three-dimensional characters. I had fun with this one.

Well, this book is absolutely amazing. The plot is exceptionally well-crafted, as is always true of KJ Charles' work. But the pairing, wow. It's so loving, and just my personal favorite kind of thing: decent but flawed people doing their best to treat each other well and navigate a dangerous world. The main characters have to figure out how best to love and support each other, so there is some conflict, but overall it is so nice. Wow. I have stars in my eyes.

The novel handles some weighty topics, some of which have relevance to my own experiences, with a lot of understanding. It's a work I'd love to share with people who complain about PC culture - not in a confrontational way, and not as some kind of definitive work about any group of people - but because the lack of empathy I see in the world these days scares me a lot, and I believe that a book that centers marginalized people as its heroes does a great deal towards engendering respect, for others and for ourselves.

I'm so excited for the rest of this trilogy, and I'm glad we got to meet some of the future main characters, who are definitely intriguing. But mostly I'll be thinking dreamily about how much in love these two are. What a great book.

Half-Indian Clem Talleyfer is far removed from aristocratic MCs who strode through K.J. Charles' previous books, such as Lucien Vaudry from The Magpie Lord or Richard Vane from A Gentleman's Position. He is kind but easily overwhelmed by stimuli, slightly clumsy, and unable to keep track of more than one thing at a time. He serves as lodging-house keeper for a small north London boarding house and has been nurturing a crush on his lodger Rowley Green for the past eight months. For his part, Rowley is also growing increasingly fond of his landlord, but his own diminutive stature, his unusual occupation of preserver (the Victorian equivalent of a taxidermist) and his dubious origins keep him from making a move. Until he finally does find the courage to reach out, and things start to look promising. But then the dead body of Clem's most boorish lodger turns up, and everything is suddenly at risk - their relationship, their occupations and maybe even their lives.

An Unseen Attraction features one of my favorite tropes: two misfits/damaged souls who slowly overcome their insecurity and shyness to find more strength together than apart. Clem may be neuro-atypical (the author's FB page labels him as having dyspraxia) but he is surprisingly literate, creative, and loyal to a fault. For his part, Rowley sees both himself and his job as unattractive and off-putting, so he can't imagine that a handsome guy like Clem would want him. Neither have any experience with real relationships, so they are prone to skittishness and misunderstandings, but you never doubt that these two oddballs belong together.

Charles pours on the Victorian atmosphere, making good use of the London fog, but her trademark humor is apparent too, highlighted by a stuffed badger dressed up like a Greek god and a malevolent, ugly cat with the perfect moniker. Clem's two friends from the Jack and Knave gentleman's club will be the MCs in the second and third books of this series, and already I can't wait for the next installment, which promises an extreme enemies to lovers plot. The murderer of Clem's lodger is caught, but there are several loose ends including a missing heir that will carry through this promising series. K.J. Charles is not only one of the top M/M historical authors, she's also one of today's top M/M authors overall as well.

I received an ARC from Net Galley in exchange for an objective review.