Slippery Creatures

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I read this in a matter of hours, so that should tell you how much I enjoyed it. KJ Charles's work is always a great deal of fun, and it's so easy to just zip right through one of her books. They're usually on the shorter side, and she really doesn't waste time in any of her novels. Slippery Creatures is set in the 1920's, and is written to be similar to the pulp fiction of the era. I know for a fact that Charles spends a long time researching her books, so I have faith that everything is as accurate to the time period as it could possibly be. Anyway, I really loved Slippery Creatures.

The main characters are Will Darling, a young man who has returned from WWI without a job and without any prospects. He was good at war, but now that he's home he basically has nothing going for him. He finds a long lost uncle, who reconnects with him and leaves him his book shop as inheritance once he passes away. Will is a decidedly stubborn creature, intent on doing everything his way, and hating it when he does have to rely on someone else for something. He's easy to like, but he's also very easy to get frustrated with. We meet the second main character fairly quickly into the book — we have to, there's no room for it to happen anywhere else — and his name is Kim Secretan. He is...as the title of the book says, a rather slippery creature. You want to like him, god do you, but you don't quite trust him all the way either. He's exceedingly nice, and seems quite capable of just about anything. I liked him so much. Kim is clever, charming, and so so sneaky.

The romance is fairly insta-lust as Dini said in her review, but it didn't bother me as it made sense in the context of the story. They had just been through a rather trying ordeal, and well, blood is hot after a near-death experience. The romance is also done in a way that makes sense for the time period. It's hidden away, and very secret except for those who absolutely need to know. (I really also loved Phoebe, who is in a engagement-of-convenience to Kim.) Together, Will and Kim send sparks flying, and they aren't always romantic sparks, either. That's all I'll say there.

The plot was convincing, and easy to follow with a nice amount of peril involved. There was no point where I thought there was no way out for our characters, and while I loved following what they were doing, I had a good feeling things would end happily. Before I wrap this up, I do want to mention that this first book felt less like a romance novel, and more like a historical mystery. There's very little wooing or romance involved. It's mostly lust, and fast-paced sex scenes, which is fine! There was little time for anything else. But, I hope there's more romance in the next books. Onto the next!