Review: Enjoyable Historical
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 20, 2014
*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.*I've read a few books by these authors before so when I read the blurb for this one I was very excited to read it. I've always been terrified of (and fascinated by) insane asylums, so I was a bit afraid this was going to rip my heart out and make me go cry in a corner, but it was actually fairly light given the setting. Things could have been much much worse for John. Not that I wanted to bawl my way through this book, but I think a little more darkness would have served to highlight how much joy John's relationship with Tully brought him.I liked John and Tully as a couple. Tully was very empathetic and kind toward all the patients, and I enjoyed the way John encouraged him to open up his mind and think for himself about the treatments the patients were receiving. The novel was fairly light on the sex side, which I also enjoyed. It was very sweet and seemed to fit the time period, when sodomy was a very dangerous act to engage in.The suspense plot didn't work as well for me. I felt it came a little late in the story and some of John's attempts to trick the doctor read a little over the top to me. By this point I also had no worries that Tully was going to save John somehow, so I wished the plot had been able to scare me a little more on that front.I usually struggle a little with HEAs in historicals, since I think they are so hard to write realistically, but this one actually pulled it off. I think the time period of the 1880s helped with that, as well as neither character being part of the aristocracy. It was much more believable that they could give up their jobs to live together somewhere safe.As I've come to expect from these authors, this was a well written, enjoyable, and accurate (as far as I can tell) historical. However, The Gentleman and the Rogue remains my favorite by this duo.