Gilded Cage

KJ Charles is an amazing author, so the three stars is relative to her other books and not an objective rating. That said, having read almost every book she has every published, this one is firmly my least favourite. Maybe I'm biased because it's her only straight romance, but I found that Susan's "practical" personality frustrating rather than endearing and the constant focus on the gender dynamics of the relationship prevented me from getting swept up in the romance. Plus the main characters seem to have foot fetishes, which wasn't sexy to me and struck me as an odd choice. I know people made similar criticisms about KJ Charles' female characters in Proper English, but that one at least had a good mystery plot. Which leads me to my other criticism, that I didn't really enjoy the mystery in this one either. The pacing was a little odd and there were no twists. It all resolved exactly as you would expect. This book is still an enjoyable read because of KJ Charles' usual fast-paced and witty writing style, but this is the only book of hers that I considered not finishing.

I'm going to try to write this review as someone who randomly came upon this book, and not as a fangirl who felt like she won the lottery when she scored an ARC from the author (disclosure: I scored an ARC from the author). So if you're new to KJ Charles, why should you read this book? There are so many reasons, but here are just a few:1) Her writing is impeccable. Every word feels like it was chosen with great care. Just marvel at the first time we meet Susan Lazarus in the opening of Chapter 2: Susan Lazarus glared at the remnants of the kipper on her plate as though the fish had done her an injury for which being gutted, smoked, and eaten was insufficient penance. The kipper looked back with a single blank-white eye.Doesn't that just tell you everything you need to know about Susan and her emotional state? The whole book is like that, full of passages to slowly savor.2) The characters jump off the pages. Even if you haven't already encountered Susan “Sukey” Lazarus in [b:Any Old Diamonds 42925241 Any Old Diamonds (Lilywhite Boys #1) K.J. Charles https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1546949049l/42925241.SX50.jpg 66705142] or even earlier in [b:An Unnatural Vice 32161804 An Unnatural Vice (Sins of the Cities, #2) K.J. Charles https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1480582018l/32161804.SY75.jpg 52798546], you will not be able to resist her. She's tough, smart, loyal, fearless and just a teeny tiny bit vulnerable although she will never admit it. She knows that “the world would always hold her negligible unless she forced it to do otherwise” and she makes sure she is not ignored. Templeton Lane starts out as a desperate jewel thief on the run and turns into so much more, a man with a surprising past that includes a disastrous first love with Susan. It's to KJC's credit that she shapes his character so finely that he redeems himself for some very bad behavior without losing himself in the process. And his treatment of Susan is just about perfect, from his acceptance of her bisexuality to his willingness to let a woman take charge of the situation and ultimately decide what qualifies as her own happy ending. The secondary characters who starred in previous books are integral to the plot; there's no fan service of having them show up just to demonstrate how very happy they are. 3) The dialogue sparkles like the best Hollywood screenplays in movies like The Sting, It Happened One Night, His Girl Friday, etc. If only real life were like this, I wouldn't have to spend so much time with my nose buried in a book. But then again, most writers don't have KJC's ability to wring humor, chemistry, poignancy and every emotion in between into a single exchange between two people. 4) Finally (and this is just personal to me) thank you KJC for creating a singular, remarkable character named Susan. Until now my name was primarily associated with the one character in Narnia who chose makeup over Jesus (I mean Aslan). You have my undying gratitude.KJC fans don't need any encouragement to read this book, but I will just say that there are plenty of Easter eggs from earlier books, including a lovely tribute to a major character in the Society of Gentlemen series. There are so many books and so little time, but reading this has made me want to go back and start over with KJC's backlist. I've never given less than four stars to any of her books, and this one is five stars all the way.