by
- Heart to Hart
- Sparring with Shadows
- To the Bone
- Thin as Smoke
- Masters of Cane
- Into a Crack
- Gaslight Mysteries Box Set
In six novels, a slow-burn but hot gay romance topped with intrigue and humor, set in 1920s Ireland. Save @70% on the box set…
Michael McCree meets Simon Hart. Fisticuffs fly. And before Simon knows what’s happened, he’s gained a new flat-mate, a new business partner, and a wanna-be lover. It’s the “wanna-be” that drives every novel, from first to last. It takes Michael over 300,000 words to earn forgiveness for his steam-locomotive seduction of Simon, and it takes Simon almost that long to fully appreciate what the damn fellow did.
~Heart to Hart: A roustabout with a secret falls arse-over-bollocks for a surly, angry PI. Together, they solve a mystery but start their own, much deeper one.
~Sparring with Shadows: A man fights his inner demons while confronting his horny flat-mate, a determined swordsman, and a dangerous criminal.
~To the Bone: A pesky newcomer burrows like a tick between the two PIs even as they struggle to fight crime and to understand each other’s most secret desires.
~Thin as Smoke: Hollow-chested Dashiell Hammett stands between Michael and Simon like a blunt revolver, and his presence in a Mafia hunt threatens to dead-end their edgy relationship.
~Masters of Cane: Even Simon is surprised at the true meaning of “cane master” in this novel of sex, crime, and punishment.
~Into a Crack: Michael and Simon’s arch-nemesis slips out of a staunch prison and into a crack. Their job is to bring a pitiless enemy to justice, or die in the attempt.
~gay ~erotic romance ~mystery ~humor ~action-adventure ~forced-proximity ~ 1920s Ireland ~New box set of 6 full novels
- 1 To Be Read list
- 1 Currently Reading list
Publisher: New Dawn Press
Editors:
Cover Artists:
Genres:
Heat Level: 5
Romantic Content: 4
Ending: Click here to reveal
Character Identities: Gay
Protagonist 1 Age: 18-25
Protagonist 2 Age: 26-35
Tropes: Bodyguard/Guardian Angel, Coming Out / Closeted, Criminals & Outlaws, Forced Proximity, Slow Burning Love, Thrill of the Chase
Word Count: 341222
Setting: 1920s Ireland
Languages Available: English
Series Type: Continuous / Same Characters
1...From Heart to Hart:
…They kissed for long moments, while Michael drew Simon’s body close to his groin. When Simon’s tongue grazed his own, Michael groaned into his mouth. “Yes, lad, yes. Come lie wi’ me a while.”
Simon broke free. He turned to the door, not looking at Michael at all. He spoke to the sitting room beyond.
“I rise early. You will find an extra flat key under the wingback seat cushion. Good night.”
He fled, while Michael stood cursing his own adamant need.
READ MOREA heartbeat later, he was following Simon across the plush carpet. He caught him in the middle of the floor and brought him down from behind—hard—laying all his superior weight into Simon’s back and wedging one massive calf between his knees. Simon fought back, jamming his shoulder and elbow into his solar plexus. Michael, laughing, caught his arm and twisted it behind, knowing he had the advantage of surprise and of the other man’s sudden passion.
He twisted the man around to face him. Simon, trying not to breathe hard, lay in front of him, his eyes a molten metal, his robe open. Michael looked down at the jock strap, filled to bursting with Simon’s own insistent erection.
“God, Simon, I want ye.” With both hands he pulled the scrap of cloth down, letting it catch on the bulb of his cock, then sliding it past his balls. He left it somewhere around his calves, a reminder of the man’s athletic promise.
Here on the luxuriant carpet lay the lover he had wanted his entire life. He was tall, muscular, full of storm and fight. His cock lifted like a cudgel, a warning. His knees were up, his balls tight, hiding the sweetest part of the pie. Michael licked his lips and descended on Simon…
2... From Sparring with Shadows:
He knew instinctively that Simon was not just angry. He was full of some kind of unease, some anxiety that had settled into his very fiber.
Handing Simon the tall glass, he found a seat on the leather chair and settled back, again sipping his Bushmills.
“Tell me.” Michael kept his voice light.
“You know.”
It was the answer of a child. Or a very hurt human being who thought he’d been betrayed.
“Damn, Simon, ye knew ye had to play a part. Succumb to me rude advances, in exchange for solving a mystery. Else why agree to come?”
“Not that.”
Michael waited until he saw Simon take a few more drinks from the glass, swallows deeper than sips. He rose from the chair and removed his shirt. Then he sat on the edge of Simon’s bed, a foot from his trouser-clad leg. He could have reached out and touched the inviting suspender, but instead he brought the goblet to his mouth and took another drink, then set it on the table next to the bed.
Simon did not cringe away. One good sign. Michael waited.
“What you called me. What you must think of me.”
Michael knew instantly what was bothering his friend. The word omi-palone, homosexual, once out of his mouth tonight, was forever said. Michael knew he could not—would not—retract them. Simon must be able to solve the mystery of who he was. He had to come to terms with himself before he’d ever wholly accept Michael as a lover. Before he’d be able to solve any other mystery, he needed to start with the secret of who and what he was.
He looked at Simon and saw his head tilted to stare up to the ceiling, a look of anguish on his face. “You called me omi-palone. You think I’m a sexual toy. A ready hole. A piece of flesh. All the things I saw tonight, that’s what I am to you or to any man.”
Michael felt a huge sense of loss threaten him. His throat began to close up, and he tried to clear it, to force air into his windpipe.
“What I called ye? I called ye me love.”
Crap. Simon was forcing his hand one more time, shaking loose the cards entrenched in his sleeve. He struggled to tell Simon something of what was cramped and curled in his gut.
“An’ what I think of ye? I think ye’re the best thing ever happened to a broken down Irishman. An omi-palone is not one to revile. That’s who I am. Proud to be a lover of men. Of a man. One man. God damn it, what d’ye want me to say, Simon?”
Michael, head bowed, saw the limp suspender lying on the bed, a shadow of Simon’s despair. Then his lover’s hand began to inch toward his own.
“I would rather you say nothing. I would rather you lie here with me. Only that and no more. Will you?”
Still in his rude trousers, Michael rolled to where Simon lay on his back. He pulled the naked shoulders into his own chest and let the man’s tangled hair spread there, a dark wound.
3... From To the Bone:
… Michael spread his legs, ever so little. His arms, already splayed above the pillow, moved subtly toward the dowels, before he grasped them and waited.
“Mee-cha-el.” Simon’s voice held all the music of heaven, playing along his ear and down his backbone, on its way to the crack in his ass. His tongue began to trace the cleavage in his buttocks, and Michael began to shake, like a goddamn kid, unable to bear the outright pleasure of his wet mouth.
Simon had never put more than a finger near his asshole. And even then, it had been the kind of almost shy insertion a man like Michael might not even feel, his rear so pummeled for so many years by fingers, even fists of rough trade lovers. But this licking of his butt crack, this lapping and browsing of his most sensitive skin… Oh, God, he rose to it, arcing his buttocks and pushing the rim of his hole closer to the beloved mouth boasting a slick, hot tongue.
It was a few seconds only of outright bliss, but Michael’s mind and body feasted on a deep delight he’d never known. Too soon, Simon moved away. Michael felt his lover’s tangled chest hair grazing the length of his back, then his lips seeking his ear.
A whisper, a murmur, words almost unspoken. He strained to hear them.
4...From Thin as Smoke:
Paddy’s might be the only establishment in the entire city, Simon realized, where real performers gathered to play the very latest in American jazz, that crotch-tightening music he could not listen to without wanting Michael.
And apparently I need to use graphic language to describe my want. Crotch-tightening, yes by God.
He took another sip, allowing his groin to stir and awaken, trying to wish away the tenseness between his shoulder blades.
Hardly believing his own actions, he reached out a tentative left hand and touched Michael’s sleeve.
“Would you, ah, could you knead the muscles…between the dorsal scapulas… So tight, you know…”
Credit Michael McCree, the man betrayed his astonishment by a mere widening of his tiger eyes. Reaching an arm around, he began to massage the exact spot where Simon hurt most, his strong fingers easing the ache, his face suffused by a rare blush. His expression was almost the same as last night, when the husky giant emerged from his own bedroom with such a little-boy expression Simon had wanted on the spot to fold him into his arms.
“Have I ever mentioned my liking for American jazz?”
“Nay, Simon. Where could ye go to hear it?”
Simon could not help a bemused smile, and he put his hand back on his companion’s arm. “Oh, for God’s sake, Michael, I give you one guess.”
Michael chuckled. Then he threw his head back and roared, loud and full. Simon, caught in the joy of the moment, laughed with him, and the pain of months began to seep away.
A muffled cough, a shimmer of silken shirt, the smell of a man’s cologne… Simon felt the presence of a stranger before he saw his shadowed face. A man, a very slender man, was leaning over Michael, his mouth close to his ear. Yet Simon heard his words clearly.
“May I have this dance?”
Michael seemed as startled by the intrusion as Simon. He saw his companion begin to shake his head in automatic denial. And then his eyebrows shot up, and his jaw slackened a little. Leaning close to Simon, he mouthed, “Finally,” and then he lifted his head and grinned at the gangly man.
“Sure. Love to, me dally.”
He stood. A languid hand seized his, drew him away from the table and into the crowd.
Simon sat dumbfounded for a few minutes, not hearing the music or seeing anyone in the cluster of bodies except for Michael groin to groin with a thin, even gaunt, yet not-so-bad-loo king partner.
Even from a three-meter distance, in the wavering light, through a film of smoke, Simon could see the man’s features. The languorous dancer had a shock of dark hair combed straight back from a narrow face, and over his top lip crouched the razor’s edge of a mustache. His eyes were unreadable—black, heavy-lidded, almost deliberately expressionless. Dusky smudges under the eyes bespoke either sickness or sleepless nights, or both. Below the dark circles, his prominent cheekbones reminded Simon of a bird of prey. A raven…or a vulture.
He shuddered. Who is this creature, and why is my gut in knots looking at him?
5...From Masters of Cane:
Bending forward, Michael tried again to accost his chin whiskers. A shimmer of scarlet arrested his eyes. Reflected in the small shaving mirror, he saw the silk-robed figure standing behind him.
He stood rock-still, waiting for Simon to speak.
“McCree. Do not turn around.”
Those words, whether studied or not, forced his cock to instant attention. They were the same ones Simon had uttered a year ago when he’d knelt behind him and stroked his ass, parted the cheeks and licked the honey-hole, then turned him around so he could bury his need inside this man’s hot, unskilled mouth.
And so Michael stood straight as a sentinel, heart slamming against his ribs, tongue thick with surprise.
Simon’s warm fingers slid over the skin of his hips and tugged on the towel. The voice in his right ear was husky, hesitant.
“Don’t make me strike you with my cane. Don’t talk unless I ask. Just listen.”
The towel, loosened, slid to the carpet.
“I want a sparring partner, not a craven straw dummy. Do you understand?”
Michael allowed his head to move a little, a nod of comprehension.
He deeply understood what was happening. The man who ducked his attentions, bolted his door against any possible intrusion, felt the same unquenchable thirst as Michael. But some men downed their whiskey raw, while others sipped it slow. There were times a man would strike in broad daylight, and other times he unsheathed his weapon in the dark of the moon. Michael was a fighter and a trained agent. He knew to his core what was happening.
God, I love ye, Simon. Do it any way ye want. Ye’ll find a worthy mate.
“Are you ready for it? Tell me.” The voice was breathless, to his eager ears almost strangled with lust. Michael felt a sudden hard thud against his crack. Was it Simon’s cock, or his cane? It mattered not.
“Aye, love.”
What happened next was so quick Michael reacted with pure instinct. A sharp rap along his right calf, and the path of a long, hard object up his torso and chest, then almost simultaneously a choke on his carotid.
That bastard Simon had caught him in a state of shock and had taken full advantage of his love-struck weakness.
6....From Into a Crack:
(After Simon complains about Michael’s fast driving… From Chapter 7, “Buggering Around…”)
Tell me, damnit.”
“I love …I love it.”
“How much, Simon?”
“Put me in bed, damn you…damn you…before it’s too late.”
Michael obediently faced him, cupping his butt cheeks, lifting him and walking to the bed, where he threw him on the surface and turned him over. Straddling his back, he whispered, “Kneel, face on the pillow, spread your legs.”
By then Simon was moments from exploding. “Too fast, I’ll come too fast…”
Michael ignored his pleas, Bringing his fingertips around to his granite nipples, he began to pull and squeeze, all the while letting his cock search for its target. In moments, he was inside…somehow…smooth, slow, tight…
“Ye think I’m a bad driver, love.”
He moaned into the linen sheet. “Nooooo…”
“So I’ll try to go slow.”
“Faster, I need you…faster…”
“What about the speed limit, Simon?”
He was almost crying, wanting the hungry cock to devour his secret spot, needing Michael to go fast and hard…
“Fast, you sodding—faster!”
"Remember that,” Michael grated in his ear before his tongue began to fuck its labyrinth too, until both his hot organs probed fast and faster still. His hands had now found the shaft, slick, scorching hot. Simon shouted into the spit-riddled pillow and released his hot seed.
He lay shaking, sobbing, while Michael caressed his back and buttocks.
“Like the Earth needs rain, love, I need ye.”
The comfort of this singular man…the sheer joy and deep fulfillment…
After a while, when his breath returned to normal, he turned over. Michael was a wavering shadow in the gaslight.
"Bring us a bottle, McCree, and turn up the bloody light, will you? Time to talk about the case.”
COLLAPSESusan Wison on Amazon wrote:1...For Heart to Hart
5.0 out of 5 stars Another Winning Series by Erin O'Quinn
Reviewed in the United States on May 16, 2016
Verified PurchaseAlthough I'm usually drawn to contemporary fiction, I decided to give this series a try because I have enjoyed several other novellas and series by Erin O'Quinn. I wasn't sure if I could immerse myself in 1920's Ireland, being only a little familiar with the period and its culture; but I needn't have worried about that. One thing that Erin does exceptionally well is historical and sociological research; another is using vivid descriptions to bring the world of the characters to life, and fully immerse the reader in it from page one.
It was remarkably easy to enjoy Heart to Hart, not only for its catchy plot and well-developed, quirky, and enigmatic characters, but also for its ability to engage every emotion in the process. As always, in addition to humor and mild suspense, there are elements of fear, heartbreak, serious issues of trust, and - and - as only Erin can write it - intensely raw, unbridled passion with explicitly intimate, emotional sexual encounters.
The sexual tension is relentless as the reluctant, fastidious Simon finds himself inexplicably drawn to the overtly sexual, alpha-male Michael, like the proverbial moth to the flame. If he gives in, will he get burned? Consumed? Or is this a new beginning for them both?
Find out for yourself - indulge in this easy-reading, intensely satisfying mystery series. It's truly unique and well worth a weekend of reading!
"Pinkerbell Rex" on Amazon wrote:2. For Sparring with Shadows
5.0 out of 5 stars Shadows You'll Love to Spar With
Reviewed in the United States on August 20, 2013
Verified PurchaseSparring with Shadows, Book 2 in the Gaslight Mysteries series, is a seamless follow-on to Heart to Hart, Book 1. Erin O'Quinn's engaging main characters, Michael McCree and Simon Hart, are still at it -- and each other -- in Ireland of 1923, going after their nemesis, the Brown Man. The Brown Man is intelligent, resourceful, very dangerous, and so well-trained that even Michael's skills may not be enough to bring him in.
As in all her books, Erin tells many stories wrapped up in one. This is not only a mystery, but also a larger, more complex tale of discovery. Both Michael and Simon have some uncharted land to explore, and Erin gives us a full-color topographical map to follow as they do. In the hill country of their working partnership, they each must gain respect for the abilities of the other; in the tidal plain that is their relationship as roommates, the line between "mine" and "yours" ebbs and flows, with neither man having a chart to follow. Both Michael and Simon have an inner landscape to delve into as well, with deep worn ruts of mistrust and doubt, with bogs of accusation and revelation, and with hard-gained groves of acceptance. Throughout this land of Erin's making are twists and turns, the unexpected often overtaking the reader as well as Simon and Michael.
Always, there is Erin's shimmering prose, her love for Ireland, her sense of place and time, her extraordinary ability to paint a full-featured minor character in a few sentences and yet have him remain minor. Her descriptions are velvet-rich but don't stop the action, whether that action be avoiding a watcher or exploring one another's bodies. This book has earned a place on my `read over and over' list, and as with Heart to Hart, I have only one problem: the book ends. But also as with Heart to Hart, there is a sequel in the works, one I'll be waiting for as eagerly as I did this one. Sometimes, sequels disappoint; this one most assuredly does not.
"Bo" on Amazon wrote:3. For To the Bone
First Rate story and great addition to an exciting series!The tremendously satisfying third book of 'The Gaslight Mysteries' series brings our two willful leads, Michael McCree and Simon Hart, full circle in their torrid love affair, and weaves yet another stimulating mystery betwixt its romance. While I hope this is not the last I see of these two charismatic men, Erin O’Quinn has proven that she knows how to wrap a tidy ribbon on the exquisite gift of this engaging series.
Beginning the morning after the endgame of the second book, Michael lies abed contemplating what the previous night's ferocious bout of lovemaking, initiated by his heretofore-reluctant partner Simon, will mean to the future of their relationship. Despite the uncharacteristic show of aggression by Simon, Michael knows that his partner’s absence means that the man is probably off recriminating himself for his blatant display of desire. Attempting to give Simon the space he needs makes peace with the true nature of his feelings toward his own sex, Michael puts his mind to finding out more about his elusive lover, like how he came about his skill of cane fighting, by which he saved Michael the prior evening.
Well-ordered Simon on his part is in turmoil, struggling as Michael imagines, and conflicted about how he can be with Michael and yet maintain his individuality. Michael seems to suck all the air from him simply by entering the same room. And how can his new partner be so easygoing, smart, and sure of himself…and of Simon, when they only met eleven days earlier? Ever the investigator Simon carefully begins to search his soul for the truth of his feelings. When twenty-five paintings are reported missing from a wealthy townsman, the new case affords Simon a temporary respite from his soul search, but an old acquaintance enters the picture and throws the new lovers into a greater turmoil.
The mysterious Moshe, a clever older man with sleuthing skills comparable to Michael’s, seems to have ferreted out the true nature of their fledgling relationship, and worse, appears to be a friend to their vanquished enemy, The Brown Man. What follows is a sublime journey deep into the hearts of Michael and Simon as they try to solve the case of the missing paintings and the mystery of Moshe’s past, while cementing their relationship under the suspended approval of a man Simon had hoped he’d never see again in his lifetime.
This third book of the series sheds an incandescent light on masculine emotion and the uncertainties embraced by all who feel the sparks of love’s tender bite for the first time. The multiple storyline adventure is given additional charm by the witty turns of phrase strewn throughout its pages. It is this tantalizing language of prose which takes this top-notch episodic mystery to a place far beyond exceptional. Once again I found myself rereading phrases and entire passages simply for the thrilling images words like “bone-handled switchblade” and eyes like “sodding British sovereigns”, brought forth. No almost about it, Erin O’Quinn definitely has the Irish gift of the Blarney in her writing. The sublime subtly of the language used to express the two leads' desire to fornicate holds more heat than many actual sex scenes I’ve read in other books; the sentiment of passion bringing the familiar to mind exquisitely with an extra spark of delight by the author’s enchanting delivery.
Poignant romance between two very diverse leads, dynamic emotional tension, scintillating sex scenes and not one, but several mysteries to solve, punctuated with exceptional prose, make for an outstanding and satisfying addition to the series. Oh I know I was supposed to say conclusion, but one can always hope, can’t one? Erin O’Quinn, you’ve done it again, and I heartily thank you for it.
"Pinkerbell Rex" on Amazon wrote:4. For Thin as Smoke
5.0 out of 5 stars Simon Pure
Reviewed in the United States on February 26, 2015
Verified Purchase
The much-awaited fourth book in The Gaslight Series brings us to what is supposed to be the reckoning of the love story of Boston-born Michael McCree and pan-European Simon Hart, private investigators in 1920s Ireland: Michael so head over heels in love with Simon at first blush and Simon denying that he is gay even while fighting his carnal and emotional tangle with Michael.And then she throws in the unlikely appearance of one Samuel Dashiell Hammett (yes, THAT Dashiell Hammett) and dares us to believe the character and story are both viable and worthy of trust. And she delivers on all scores in another romantic, somewhat violent, adventure that like her other works is held together by the richness of her writing and the strength of her characters and storytelling. (How she manages to slip in the title of the book as a descriptive phrase in a conversation that is crucial to the romance is brilliant. Took my breath away!)
For those familiar with the series, please understand that for the most part this is Simon's story, and even at the end his persona and his way of living will bring a pause to your breathing, if not a tingle to your heart. I must say that Erin O'Quinn lifted my spirits here, but also threw me completely off in one respect: If this is the last in the series, what are you planning next? Hopefully she might spin a tale of a character in all these books who seems to be a logical segue to another series in which both Michael and Simon could appear--hopefully hand-in-hand as well as Heart-to-Hart.
Superb, just superb.
"Bo" on Amazon wrote:5. For Masters of Cane
5.0 out of 5 stars "The boys are back...and better than ever!"
Reviewed in the United States on January 24, 2016Marvelous! This latest adventures-in-sleuthing mystery romance finds the Gaslight detective team of Michael McCree and Simon Hart up against a ring of extortionists bent on stealing from the local shopkeepers of the city of Dun Linden. A boisterous, be-still-my–heart, fast-paced, and thrilling addition to a scorching hot, highly entertaining series! Go, Michael! Go, Simon! Go, Michael! Go, Simon! Woot!
Fresh off their run-in with the bootlegging mafia of the last book, McCree and Hart have barely secured the lucrative funds from that job when they take on the pro bono investigation and discover corruption deeply embedded in the local police force. The dirty operation is bigger than expected, so Dashiell “Sam” Hammett delays his trip back to America to help the romantic twosome. Clues reveal that the head of the criminal crew might be a high-ranking officer. Outnumbered and facing both street thugs and armed cops, the detectives look to Copper and his crew of orphans for new recruits. Simon and Michael must use their brains, their brawn, and their canes to outfox their bad apple opponents before sleazy schemes suck the life from the quaint Irish homestead.
Wow! I want to say hands-down the best Gaslight Mystery yet, but all of the books in this series are simply smashing and the pleasure derived from reading each mounts with each tale read. This is largely due to the brilliant handling of the stormy romance between Simon Hart and Michael McCree, which grows and thickens with lust, pride, and love over the course of the now five-book series. Simon and Michael are über-masculine men with very different personalities, and the lifeblood of the series comes from their riveting courtship and effervescent lovemaking, which is hot, tender and gritty with the rawness of masculine passion.
In this book, I especially love that Simon confronts his emotional paralysis and begins to initiate erotic acts that reveal both his lust for Michael and his mastery with a cane. I daresay Michael loved this as well, but the detectives have a town to save from greedy coppers, so their need is expressed in exquisite teases of foreplay while in the company of others. Well, they do have a torrid session in their tiny flat… with a houseguest in residence, no less. But with Hammett and Copper’s urchin crew about, a lot of this book’s charm comes from Simon and Michael’s playful dares and the pure thrill they express while crafting and acting on their scheme to oust the extorting criminals.
The story has a wealth of twists and turns and the adventure travels to a number of destinations. From the detective’s headquarters and the police stations to pubs and backroom betting parlors, the excitement just builds and builds. And boy did my eyes pop at the identity of the accomplice who sat at the side of the criminal kingpin… a lovely extra treat for all who are following this series. My pleasure increased at exquisite turns of phrase from an author who I swear has a golden tongue. Plus I was introduced to “Polari”—an 18th century underground language used by homosexuals, street gangs, and those who didn’t want eavesdroppers understanding their conversations. I learned some new words!
I also loved seeing Copper and the urchin gang taking a larger role in this adventure. Having grown a bit with each book, suddenly I’m envisioning the lads more “Peaky Blinders” than “Oliver Twist.” Love it! All in all an exceptional read from an exceptional author! Missing BBC’s Sherlock Holmes, especially that initial episode when we thought they might play Watson as gay? Pick up the Gaslight Mysteries and put an end to your jones.
Thank you, Erin O’Quinn, for another fantastic adventure with your manly heartthrobs… thumpity-thump, thumpity-thump… twenty-four hours later and my heart is still racing.
“A Must-Read!”
For Into a Crack
Oh My Goodness, Please Don't Leave Us
Reviewed in the United States on May 28, 2021
Verified PurchaseThis is a startlingly paced, beautifully written crime and love story closing out Ms. O'Quinn's brilliant Gaslight Mysteries. This features PI's Michael McCree and Simon Hart, two completely different people who cannot get enough of each other--until one or the other screws up.
Then they usually are targeted to be screwed to the wall by criminals lurking in waiting and would-be associates betraying their loyalties.
Michael and Simon are two of the most extraordinary characters you will ever meet, and their deep confidence in themselves, if not in their bond, has made this one of the great period M/M romances of the past five years.
If you haven't read this series, you are cheating yourself out of a rollicking ride and riveting romance. Get it now.