Think of England

By: KJ Charles

Narrated by: Tom Carter

Length: 6 hrs and 50 mins

Publisher's summary

Lie back and think of England....

England, 1904. Two years ago, Captain Archie Curtis lost his friends, fingers, and future to a terrible military accident. Alone, purposeless, and angry, Curtis is determined to discover if he and his comrades were the victims of fate, or of sabotage.

Curtis's search takes him to an isolated, ultra-modern country house, where he meets and instantly clashes with fellow guest Daniel da Silva. Effete, decadent, foreign, and all-too-obviously queer, the sophisticated poet is everything the straightforward British officer fears and distrusts.

As events unfold, Curtis realizes that Daniel has his own secret intentions. And there's something else they share - a mounting sexual tension that leaves Curtis reeling.

As the house party's elegant facade cracks to reveal treachery, blackmail, and murder, Curtis finds himself needing clever, dark-eyed Daniel as he has never needed a man before....

Warning: Contains explicit male/male encounters, ghastly historical attitudes, and some extremely stiff upper lips.

©2014 KJ Charles (P)2017 Audible, Inc.

Amazing characters, wonderful book!

I first read this as an ebook, but now I own the paperback and audio too. I was a bit surprised and put off by the narration first, but it very much grew on me and I believe it fits Archie very well. I have listened to this book many times, it is now one of my comfort reads.

Daniel and Archie may be the epitome of opposites attract., but they are both interesting characters, that feel real - with feelings, motivations and actions one can understand, which is not always the case in romance novels.

Murder. Treason. Blackmail.

Murder. Treason. Blackmail. A house party at a beautiful country estate has never been so treacherous. But both Archie Curtis and Daniel de Silva know that appearances can hide dirty secrets, and exposing those truths in the light of day can be a matter of life or death.

This was a beautiful and enthralling historical, romantic mystery from the fabulous KJ Charles. Curtis and Daniel’s chemistry both in bed and out in the field is intense and fascinating. I adored watching them learn each other’s personalities and how to work together. The plot was intricate and interesting, with action and suspense. Overall, this was fabulous book and I highly recommend it.

Excellent period romance with a mystery subplot

Charming POV character, appealing love interest, dashingly horrible villains and ladies who do more than lunch.

Be aware of period appropriate language regarding male queer behavior and identity but I’m impressed at how well the author handles it. A+ will listen again, will be binge reading all KJ Charles’ other books ASAP

Enjoyable

Very enjoyable and clever story. It is set in a time period I don't often see, and takes advantage of the state of technology of the time, which was a nice touch. Few of the characters are what they seem; even straightforward Curtis is deceived about himself. The narrator does an admiral job with the material, too. I will look for more stories by author and narrator, both.

I was surprised by how much I loved this

KJ Charles does it again, and makes me fall in love with another amazing pair.

Lovely romance; the dark side of the house party

In many ways, this book evoked my growing up years reading English house party mysteries from Christie, Sayers, Marsh and other Golden Age writers. But this added a delightful romance and a leading man in Archie who was very relatable. I enjoyed it both in print and on Audible - wonderful narration!

Really Really Good Book

This book was really entertaining. Usually I find books that are set in the 1800. This was the first MM romance I found set in the early 1900. I definitely highly recommend this book!

Wonderful story

The story was interesting. The characters weren’t superficial. The main characters were well defined and described.

Lovely, Raw (and more)

If you mind epithets or swear words actually being used rather than referred to, you might not find this lovely- it doesn’t come up that much but if you’re offended by appropriately used words which are raw, be warned, this sweet romance does not pull punches when it comes to prejudice.

If you have any problem with characters being profoundly imperfect and solving things in ways which play fast and loose with consent in a way which works in fiction, you might wonder why I adore this and call it a romance. It’s to my taste, it’s funny, violent, clever, raw, delicate, visceral, enchanting *fiction*. And it’s romantic as hell.

I waited to read it because I was not sure if I wanted, as a disabled person, to have to deal with Curtis coping with being injured, even fictionally, but it worked for me. I was fairly relieved about that. Figuring himself out in other ways was charming and straight-forward, as far as I am concerned.

There was as much intrigue and violence as needed for the story, not excessive, and not exactly the point of the story *for me* although I was repeatedly delighted by small touches and twists in the plot which supported this love story.

Realistic for cloak and dagger stuff? No clue, but didn’t seem important. That may have gotten my attention at first but I stayed for an impossibly strong cripple (THANK YOU KJ CHARLES) and the implausibly vulnerable poet who just happens to have an interesting way of paying the rent. Considering that some of Charles’ work seems to fall into meter and rhyme now and then, it was fun to see a poet as protagonist.

The voice acting took me a while to get the hang of, and since some characters specifically change their speech or in some cases imitate or mock each other in different accents, attention has to be paid- it’s worth it. It’s a remarkable performance, which just gets better and better as we see different aspects of the characters portrayed.

I won a bet with myself about the identity of someone, and no doubt that has colored my attitude toward this book. There’s enough there without the Easter eggs though. In my opinion it’s worth tracking down the shorter works associated with this series, but not at all necessary to enjoy this book.

One of my favorites from KJ Charles.

I've loved pretty much every KJ Charles book/audiobook I've read or listened to and this is one of my favorites (along with the Charm of Magpies series). I love both of the main characters and how the novel manages to bring in period-typical homophobia, xenophobia, etc. without (somehow) making it too broody or angsty even with all the drama of the overall story. It's an impressive feat lol. Both of the main characters are well developed with their own virtues, fears, and flaws and I've re-listened to it several times over the last year or so and still enjoy their story as much as ever.