A gentleman's gentleman

Alexander (Second Chances in New Port Stephen, 2023) presents a sweet Regency romance. Lord Eden must pull himself away from his reclusive life in the country and venture into London to acquire a wife so that he can inherit his fortune per the rules of the estate. The problem is, Lord Eden needs to find someone who will understand his "eccentricities" and who won't ask for love, because he will not be able to provide that, believing that a love match is not for him. But as he gets to know his newly hired valet, James, Lord Eden starts to wonder if maybe love is on the horizon, after all. In this story of two people unexpectedly finding themselves and each other while learning to share their deepest secrets, Alexander crafts characters who are as socially awkward as they are lovable as they discover what love means for them and the sacrifices needed in order to live their best lives. Fans of queer romance and slow-burn and friends-to-lovers tropes will enjoy Alexander's charming tale.

Lambda Award finalist Alexander (Triple Sec) delivers another extraordinary addition to the queer romance genre. This time, the story is set in Regency England and stars His Lordship Christopher William Fitzwilliams Winterthrope, the Right Honorable Earl of Eden, who is secretly trans ("a man of unusual make," as he puts it). Christopher, who has been successfully living as a man for many years, partly by avoiding the prying eyes of high society, must find a wife before his next birthday, per his father's will. To do so, he will have to go through a London season, and for his season to be successful, he'll need a valet. Enter James Harding--young, handsome, and endlessly intriguing. The ensuing slow-burning romance between the two men comes with plenty of surprises that land just on the right side of believable. Meanwhile, Christopher's awkward joviality combined with Harding's extremely proper comportment makes for a pairing that is laugh-out-loud funny, as well as devastatingly tender. This is an unadulterated delight. Agent: Larissa Pienkowski, Jill Grinberg Literary. (Mar.)

A valet helps his earl find a love match. Christopher, Lord Eden, doesn't mind at all that he has a reputation for eccentricity. He's happy to live far away from London society on his estate, with just a cook and a butler who are more like family than staff. He had decided to live the rest of his life like this, in fact, until his lawyers notified him that he absolutely has to get married before his next birthday, or he'll lose his inheritance. He's anxious about this for several reasons, first and foremost because he is a "man of unusual make"--other people would see him as a woman, even though he most decidedly is not. For the sake of the estate, though, Christopher decides to do his best to find a match during the Season that's already well underway, and, hoping to seem more typical while in town, he asks the lawyers to hire him a valet. When that valet, James Harding, arrives, it seems that the two men couldn't be more different. Where Christopher prefers to eat breakfast in the kitchen with his staff, James doesn't even allow himself to joke with his employer. For Christopher, it doesn't help matters that James is "too perfectly formed to be alive." As they relocate to London and sort their plans out for the Season, the gentleman and his gentleman start to settle into a tentative friendship, but even though both are working toward finding a match for Christopher, the more they learn about each other, the less either wants to focus on a wife. With Christopher and James' story, Alexander's first historical romance takes a daring leap into the Regency, providing a thoughtful, wholehearted exploration of trans life in another era. An agonizing slow burn tumbles into a quick climax, in more ways than one, the suddenness of which detracts from the tale; in addition, given how well-drawn Lord Eden is, it's disappointing that the story never shares Harding's point of view for balance. Alexander's witty writing and excellent imagining of both the challenges and fierce joys of trans life in 1819 England are enthralling, though, and well worth the time of any historical romance fan. A charming, compelling, and very queer Regency. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.