+Digital Arc gently provided by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review+
by
K.J. Charles
250 pages
Published
June 6th 2017
by Loveswept
BLURB: In the sordid streets
of Victorian London, unwanted desire flares between two bitter enemies
brought together by a deadly secret.
Crusading journalist
Nathaniel Roy is determined to expose spiritualists who exploit the
grief of bereaved and vulnerable people. First on his list is the
so-called Seer of London, Justin Lazarus. Nathaniel expects him to be a
cheap, heartless fr fraud.
He doesn’t expect to meet a man with a sinful smile and the eyes of a
fallen angel—or that a shameless swindler will spark his desires for the
first time in years.
Justin feels no remorse for the lies he
spins during his séances. His gullible clients simply bore him. Hostile,
disbelieving, utterly irresistible Nathaniel is a fascinating
challenge. And as their battle of wills and wits heats up, Justin finds
he can’t stop thinking about the man who’s determined to ruin him.But
Justin and Nathaniel are linked by more than their fast-growing
obsession with one another. They are both caught up in an aristocratic
family’s secrets, and Justin holds information that could be lethal. As
killers, fanatics, and fog close in, Nathaniel is the only man Justin
can trust—and, perhaps, the only man he could love.
My rating:2.5 the spiritual-guide was out the building stars
My bookshelves: historical-fiction, m-m, mxm-historical-romance, netgalley, situ-1870s, w_con-man-or-grifter, w_journalist
Not as I was expecting. Seriously tempted to put just 2 stars to this book.
Journalist seeks to unmask a medium in Victorian London, the plot is complicated in a tangle of questioning for an inheritance.
Strangely, during the narration of the séance, I keep thinking in Houdini and his own obsession with spiritualism.
My problem with this book is that Nathaniel Roy -the journalist and former lawyer- is an uncharitable character, from a priveleged upbringing , he has never suffered hunger or despair to do everything to survive, but he feels with the right to judge others. In another hand, Justin Lazarus, the subject that deceives those who 'want to be deceived', is a character of gray morality, much more understandable; and I could sympathize with him.
The vision of London wrapped in a tangible fog where Justin manages to navigate is not very subtle, but convincing. I think they are not the type of couple that you expect to stay together for a long time, not with the way Nathaniel thinks.
