Now Clem and Rowley find themselves caught up in a mystery, threatened on all sides by violent men, with a deadly London fog closing in on them. Then the brutally murdered corpse of another lodger is dumped on their doorstep and their peaceful life is shattered. Two quiet men, lodging in the same house, coming to an understanding.

Rowley just wants to be left alone-at least until he meets Clem, with his odd, charming ways and his glorious eyes. Green were interested in more than friendship. He’s happy with his hobbies, his work-and especially with his lodger Rowley Green, who becomes a friend over their long fireside evenings together. Lodging-house keeper Clem Talleyfer prefers a quiet life. Cross-posted to Amazon and Goodreads.A slow-burning romance and a chilling mystery bind two singular men in the suspenseful first book of a new Victorian series from K. I also applaud Charles’ characterization of Clem in creating a character on the autism spectrum who is still an adult, sexual being with his own friends and desires.Ĭlem and Rowley’s part of this trilogy’s over-arching plot are resolved to my satisfaction, but be prepared to immediately want to jump into the next book!

As someone quite attached to her glasses myself, Rowley’s visual impairment brought him more to life for me. Rowley getting dragged into the fray heightens the conflict without sacrificing the romance.Ĭharles is great at portraying “nontraditional” characters in her period romances, and Clem and Rowley are no exception. However, the plots and drama of the noble class are still delightfully intrusive in this tale, and Clem’s relationship to the family makes his involvement all the more interesting. So many romances set in this location and time period involved the nobility that genuine connections between characters not as high class are especially intriguing to me. Together, things are made all the more intricate and interesting.

Both aspects of this novel are a joy to read, to the point where I’d have been fine it either halves were the sole focus of the novel. Slow-burn romance and chilling mystery are described in the cover blurb, and it couldn’t be more accurate. I’m so glad that a friend recommended that I check out the Sins of the Cities trilogy next, and I read the first two books in quick succession. Charles is the perfect author for me to binge-read right now. Thanks to real-life drama dragging me down, I’m back on a kick where I just want to read about happy endings.

An Unseen Attraction by K.J. Charles