A Rulebook for Restless Rogues: A Victorian Romance – A Paste Must-Read MM Historical Fiction Story of Found Family (Lucky Lovers of London 2)

SERIES REVIEW: Am I glad I read it? Absolutely! Overall, I had an excellent time with this series and definitely recommend it to fans of queer historical romance. What stands out most to me now that I have finished the series is how Everlee entangles her couples in particularly snarly situations, where the threat of legal, financial, and social repercussions for the characters’ relationships and activities loom particularly close - even more so for the MM couples in books 1 and 2 - lending a compelling sense of tension to the stories. Though the tone of book 3 is decidedly lighter than the others, all of our characters, are pushed into corners where they feel they have no recourse but to do the thing they desperately don’t want to when their safety and survival are threatened. BUT - and this is what makes this series special, I think - Everlee subverts expectations by insisting that the extreme solution - a marriage of convenience; returning to the grasp of your wealthy, awful ex-lover; running away (again!) to start a new life - to a complicated problem is not the only option when you allow yourself to rely on your community, on the people who love you. Each couple learns this lesson, and oh! I loved it. Jo and The Beast play important roles in aiding Miles/Charlie and Noah/David, and it was so satisfying to see the story come full circle in book 3 with Jo being the recipient of her community’s support. I may have clutched my chest a time or two. So while these books…

I enjoyed the first book from this author and was excited to see that this one would follow two of the supporting characters from that story. One of my favorite things about The Gentleman's Book of Vices was the found family environment at the club, The Curious Fox. David and Noah were a huge part of that family, and I loved the idea of getting to see their romance blossom. I can confirm that I did, in fact, enjoy spending more time getting to know them and their history. However, there were some things about this book that made me love it less than the first one. First off, I still loved all of the characters. David and Noah were fun to follow, and I liked how the story switched between their past and present to give the reader a clear picture of their journey. Their best friends to lovers romance was super angsty and full of years of mutual pining finally coming to a head. David had some abandonment and self worth issues that Noah helped him work through, and Noah had so many walls up that David needed a sledgehammer to slowly chip away at them. I understood David's reticence to express his feelings because of the terrible things he'd experienced in the past, but Noah's emotional constipation seemed a bit unfounded. It made sense that he wouldn't want to lose his best friend if things didn't work out, but the lengths he went to avoid his feelings just seemed over the top at times. It did make for good drama, though, and I can't deny that I ate it up. lol. The plot was…