I suspect the authorial flourishes might make more sense to me if I were more familiar with the work of Oscar Wilde (the author blurb says they’re kind of like if Jane Austen and Oscar Wilde had a love child). Also a lot of coincidences that I think are supposed to be be obvious. There are a lot of authorial quirks - both narrators occasionally speak directly to the reader, there’s one section that’s 3rd person POV while the rest is 1st person (and the fact that the brief 3rd person POV is necessary is announced at the beginning of the book.) There is also a lot of plot - blackmailing rent boys, dognappers, Oxford bullies and controlling exes. I found the main narrator to be insufferable and almost unbearable at first but eventually got used to the voice and settled into the story which ended up being a lot of fun. That sounds harsh, but Andrew’s overall attitude plays into the tone of the entire piece and becomes repetitive.ģ.5 / B- I enjoyed this mm romance / mystery set in late Victorian England more than I expected to based on the first chapter. There just wasn’t much heat between them and Andrew was basically stuck in a sad sack mopey phase most of the book, so most of the time he seemed to just be going through the motions. I’m not sure I ever really bought into the romance between him and Sebastian, however. This is particularly true for Andrew, as we see a man who has suffered poverty and abuse nearly all his life and, despite this, has managed to rise above it. Andrew and Sebastian are both the kind of stock characters we’ve seen before, but they are saved from being complete caricatures thanks to a bit of depth. It’s technically considered Victorian, but I wouldn’t say there is enough historical content to really get much beyond that. Unspeakable Vice is a historical romance between two men from different walks of life, but who both find themselves outcast for one reason or another.
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