I’ve been wanting to read K.J. Charles for a while, and to be honest, this wasn’t the book I thought I’d start with. But when the Fated Mates podcast said this would be the next deep dive, I figured it was time to finally get around to reading this author. I have mixed feelings about this being my first experience with their writing.

There are many things I love about this book. There is witty banter, mystical evil forces, a gothic manor, and some wonderful characters. Yet, the flow of the story was not working for me. There were sections I breezed through, and others that felt bogged down. At this point, with no frame of reference with this author, I’m going to chalk that up to the world-building that needed to be done here. This is the first of a series. And, unlike with a lot of romance series, this one seems like it will be a “read in order” type of series. Magical mysteries that tie into one another as the relationship between Lucian (an earl) and Stephen (a magician) grows.

I adore Stephen. He’s very good at what he does, but in the non-magic world, he is a commoner whose family name was ruined by Lucian’s father. Stephen takes a job to help Lucian because he’s one of the only people who can handle the dark magic that is plaguing the earl. He figures he can eventually get his revenge after stopping the dark forces. But Stephen is so morally good and upstanding, and Lucian is so charming and witty, things don’t go to plan.

These two, from their first meeting, start falling in love. They, of course, think of it only as an attraction in the beginning. But it’s obvious how protective they are of one another almost instantly. It’s an interesting dynamic with the time period it takes place. Lucian doesn’t much care what anyone thinks of him, but that doesn’t mean he’s reckless or would want to do anything to put Stephen in danger. There ends up being quite a bit of yearning before these two can be unleashed on each other.

While I’ve heard wonderful things about the romance this author writes, I felt there was a bit too much telling in this book. Again, I feel it was because of all the magical explanations and back story of Lucian’s family that needed to be crammed into the story. There was enough connection there to have me interested in reading more from this author, something without the need for as much world-building. And the world-building in this book did its job of leaving me wanting to read more of this series. So, while this one didn’t knock it out of the park for me, it piqued my interest. Plus, I believe this was the author’s debut publication, which leaves me to hypothesize that the pacing of her stories has only gotten better over the last 12 years.