The Gentle Art of Fortune Hunting
Ratings39
Average rating4.1
My first read with KJ Charles, and definitely not the last. This was an enjoyable, well-written novel with a run-of-the-mill plot.
Our characters and their interactions were what kept this book together, providing a very pleasant read. The ending between Marianne and Giles was realistic to say the least - though KJ Charles provided a bit of a window of opportunity to Giles for the off-screen future. Things may have fell into place a little bit too nicely in the end, but it was a wholesome ending.
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I really don't know why it took me this long to pick this book up. I've never not enjoyed something by KJ Charles. It's a standalone. What could I possibly have to lose here? Well — I'll argue with myself here. I must have saved this for when I really needed a book that I knew I was going to enjoy. The past two books I've read averaged a 3.5 stars. While The Gentle Guide to Fortune Telling didn't rate a full 5 stars for me, it still hit so much better than those previous two books. I was saving this, clearly, for the right moment.
The story is rather simple — Robin and his sister, Marianne — are fortune hunters. They are nobodies — born in the gutter with no family left to speak of. However, they are both beautiful, charming, and quick-witted enough to wiggle their way into the hearts of the ton. There, they do their best to secure fantastically rich matches, so they can have the security of never having to worry about a meal or a roof over their head again. Only thing is — the young lady that Robin's set his sights on is actually a sweetheart, with a slightly-overbearing uncle. Robin and said Uncle almost come to blows over a gamble...and an arrangement comes between them. Look — this is a gay historical romance. An arrangement is the best these two are going to get, if we're striving for realism here.
KJ Charles must have been going for a Robin Hood retelling/reworking sort of feeling here, but it really doesn't fit that story for me at all. Besides the names, there is very little in common with the original story. But, it didn't bother me. I liked the characters, and the general story enough that it didn't matter. Robin is something of a golden retriever — cheerful almost all the time, but desperately worried for his sister's future. His sister, Marianne, is a panther in a petticoat. She's calculated, charming, but ooo does she have a temper. I loved them both. Hart, the love interest of Robin, took some time to grow on me, but once we get the backstory, I was fully in. Their dalliances were hot, with a lot of extremely detailed dirty talk. If you're into that, you'll love this one.
I liked this one, but it didn't quite tip over into the love category for me. I'm not sure why it didn't quite hit the full mark for me, but whatever. I still really liked this. Four out of five stars!
A fun read! I was afraid there was going to be some gross manipulation between Robin and Hart, especially after a debt is produced but no! They were in fact very sweet and cute together. I also like what the author's done with Marianne.
This is somewhere between four and five stars for me. I really like the overall structure of the book. Both main characters believe that kindness and love can't be real, and they prove each other wrong. That's a great romance plot! I also love several of the book's relationships: Robin and Hart, Robin and Marianne, and Robin and Alice. We don't see as much of Hart and James together, or Hart and Lady Wintour, but I enjoyed both of those too.
However, Robin and Hart spend most of their time together discussing their relationship and not really having that relationship. The sex scenes were good, but I wanted more domesticity and cuteness between them. I felt those things were happening off-page, for the most part. I also missed seeing Marianne and Alice forming a friendship. We heard about them being friends but didn't see much of them together.
Maybe my opinion will change when I listen to the audiobook. I did do a lot of highlighting, and I absolutely love the way that Robin brings Hart's emotions out, and shows him he's worthy of love. Overall this is a good read and I enjoyed it a lot, but not quite as much as I usually enjoy KJC's books.
Charles is a master of the regency MM romance and they've done it again with this one. I absolutely adored all the characters and, while the premise itself isn't that unique in the genre, it was a really fun read that I didn't want to put down but also didn't want to finish. Robin is such a loveable character even while his intentions are less than savory.
The inestimable K.J. Charles takes a break from the pulpy post-WWI Will Darling adventures ([b:Slippery Creatures 52237989 Slippery Creatures (The Will Darling Adventures #1) K.J. Charles https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1587519719l/52237989.SY75.jpg 77319427] and [b:The Sugared Game 52237997 The Sugared Game (The Will Darling Adventures #2) K.J. Charles https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1595250042l/52237997.SY75.jpg 77319499]) to provide this Regency era romp with nary a dead body. In fact, the villain of the piece barely makes an actual appearance until the climactic scene. Instead KJC uses the pages to provide a lively romance between two very different men, several heartwarming examples of siblings looking out for each other, and a scathing excoriation of white privilege. Robin and Marianne Loxleigh of Nottinghamshire have come to London as unapologetic fortune hunters (their names are apt; this Robin and Maid Marian are planning to “steal” positions from the rich and give them to the poor, namely themselves). Through the circumstances of their birth, and the limitations forced on them by poverty, they have reached the point where this feels like their only option. Robin sets his sights on a plain, shy heiress while Marianne plots a campaign to win a wealthy but “self-regarding, vindictive, pompous fool” of a marquess (well, you can't have everything I guess.) But when the heiress' uncle, Sir John Hartlebury, steps in to prevent his niece from being fleeced by this immoral fortune hunter, he finds himself furiously angry and of course unwittingly attracted to the charming, handsome Robin. “Hart,” a grumpy misanthrope with a face that only a mother could love (and sadly, his did not) and a fiercely protective nature towards his family, starts the book with a clear sense of right and wrong. Fortunately both his sister Edwina and Robin are able to educate him about life in the grays, especially for women and those who don't have the luxury of judging from the lofty position on their high horse. (Robin, speaking of his sister): She's devastated.(Hart): Why? She has exactly what she wants.(Robin): And you think she is happy about it?(Hart): Satisfied, at least. She has made her choice, and she must be aware that money doesn't buy happiness.(Robin): She also knows that happiness doesn't buy food.(Hart): Your character and conduct are nothing to do with your birth, and you can control those.(Robin): Conduct depends on your options. Yes, you can be poor but honest, except I don't want to be poor. I've tried it and I didn't like it. And if I had the best character in the world, I still wouldn't be a gentleman.Hart eventually realizes that that there's little to no difference between the regular machinations of the Marriage Mart, where society's women try to secure their futures while hopefully finding at least affection and respect, and the duplicitous fortune hunting that he accuses Robin and Marianne of engaging in. And then it's up to him to figure out a way to both use and break society's rules so that he and Robin can be together. As always, the journey to HEA is enhanced by that patented KJC wit, slyly inserted into scenes like this: The entertainment on offer was a chamber orchestra. Wonderful. Robin sat and listened to music for several hours, and was disappointed to learn that only forty minutes had passed on the clock.One of Miss Marianne Loxleigh's most admired features, at least by the kind of people who catalogued beauty rather than reacting to it, was her noble and lofty forehead. She usually emphasised it in the way she dressed her hair. Currently she was emphasising it by banging it on the breakfast table.I haven't said much about the relationship between Hart and Robin, primarily because I don't want to get into spoiler territory about how it evolves. But I enjoyed them together tremendously, and as Hart grows in both confidence about his attractiveness (hint: it's the thighs) and humility in his position, Robin learns to trust someone besides his sister, and realizes he too has value beyond his looks and charm. For KJC fans familiar with her earlier work, they reminded me of a combination of Richard Vane from [b:A Gentleman's Position 25893424 A Gentleman's Position (Society of Gentlemen, #3) K.J. Charles https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1444981863l/25893424.SY75.jpg 45775597] (minus a little priggishness) and Justin Lazarus from [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] (plus a little more conscience). Charles has “apologized” to her readers for writing this book instead of the conclusion of the Will Darling adventures, as if she owes us a given book at a certain time. I'm not at all surprised that the events of the past year have made it harder for her to write; the fact that she can gift us with this charming, relatively light-hearted romp with so many pointed statements that are applicable to our world today evinces sheer gratitude from this reader.ARC received from the author in exchange for honest review.