Subtle Blood

by KJ Charles

CW: Self-harm (historical), violence, death of secondary characters.

AJ reviewed the first book in the series, Slippery Creatures and enjoyed it and so did I. There is a simple reason for this being a review of the next two books together rather than one: when I finished The Sugared Game I was in agony, desperate for the rest of Will and Kim’s story in Subtle Blood.

This is the second time I’ve read this trilogy. It took me ages to read it for the first time for such an inane reason: I didn’t like the titles of the books. I’ve chosen not to read books for all kinds of ridiculous reasons. I find there are so many books that narrowing down options often comes down to nonsense reasoning out of desperation to make for a manageable TBR. Anyway, in this instance, I was a fool not to devour these books sooner. They truly are excellent.

You can read AJ’s review to get a feel for Slippery Creatures and the general setup, but as this is a lightning review, the blurbs will be included at the end. There will however be spoilers for Slippery Creatures in this review, so be warned.

Will inherited a bookstore from a long lost uncle who fell ill just as they were getting to know each other. Will doesn’t have any experience at all as a bookseller. He has years of experience as a soldier in WW1 though. This is something that (what he calls) the wolf inside him relishes. He’s good at violence. So it is no surprise really that he is continually swept up in Kim’s plots. Will would be bored stiff just selling books.

Kim, AKA Lord Arthur Secretan, is a spy of sorts and is dragged back into the action often, usually in the pursuit of an underground criminal gang with anarchic goals. This group are the antagonists for the duration of the trilogy and disbanding them takes a monumental effort from our lovely duo.

There are some delicious twists and turns across the trilogy and I can’t really go into much detail without liberally using spoiler tags or totally ruining the surprise for those new to the series. So I’m just going to sum up the spying/thriller action as INTENSE. It’s so tightly plotted and I didn’t stumble into a single plot hole. It’s a brilliant, brilliant thriller.

But the part that really gave my heart a workout was the romance. SWOON. Will is this strong man with a wolf inside him and a heart that is so scared to hope for more when for the duration of the war he could only cope with the present moment. He’s sharp and violent and so desperately in love with Kim it kind of sends him off his rocker. Kim, suave and witty, has more experience with men, but is utterly floored by Will and his wolf. The two make such a perfect pair.

The romance and spy work are perfectly balanced throughout. There’s enough spy drama to keep my head engaged, interested and desperate to know more and there’s enough romantic tension to keep my heart committed to Will and Kim. While the mystery subplot is mostly resolved in each book, the romantic arc takes all three to reach resolution.

It was the romantic plot that had me desperate for the next one in the series. Kim and Will had the potential for an epic HEA that’s unique to them and the promise of that HEA had me ploughing through this series at a rapid clip. This story gave me a welcome reprieve from the world around me. I was immersed, body and soul. I cannot recommend this series enough!

– Lara

Will Darling is all right. His business is doing well, and so is his illicit relationship with Kim Secretan–disgraced aristocrat, ex-spy, amateur book-dealer. It’s starting to feel like he’s got his life under control.

And then a brutal murder in a gentleman’s club plunges them back into the shadow world of crime, deception, and the power of privilege. Worse, it brings them up against Kim’s noble, hostile family, and his upper-class life where Will can never belong.

With old and new enemies against them, and secrets on every side, Will and Kim have to fight for each other harder than ever—or be torn apart for good.