What a climax!

My FAVORITE of the series! What a range of characters we’ve seen in these books. The MCs in this one blew me away, especially since they appeared in a historical romance!

Pen is a gender fluid trapeze artist. Mark is a pansexual man of inquiry. Mark sees Pen and he’s mesmerized. Pen sees Mark and is dubious of his seemingly honest attraction to and acceptance of him. I LOVED these two together, delighted in how they navigated understanding each others’ sexuality and creating trust. Only to have it purposefully destroyed.

That’s right, stuff happens and it’s not all good. People get hurt. It’s not all perfect, love and roses forever (well, OK, until the HEA).

This is the finale of a mystery that began two books ago. I’m usually pretty adept at figuring out whodunit. But here, I didn’t have a clue. Not at all. Zero. This both delighted and frustrated me to no end. Well done there, K.J. Charles, well done!

Pen is the likely heir to an earldom. He doesn’t want it. At all. But people are dying because of him. What to do? Read it and find out.

And if you’re hankering for an audiobook, the performance for this one was incredible!

5 people found this helpful

Ick

Penn is unrelatable. I would wear men's clothes everyday to give my family a good future and I am a woman. This sissy crybaby whines about becoming an earl and not one person says anything to him about what an ungrateful brat he's being. Oh, as nd he's really freaking weird. He also seems to be on the super slow side, and not the innocent Forrest Gump way, but the uncomfortably stupid sort of way. I keep seeing Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs.

2 people found this helpful

Series ends on a high note

The final installment of the Sins of the City gives interesting characters, a nice narration and resolution of the mystery in KJ Charles' inimitable style. There is instant attraction between trapeze artist Pen and private investigator Mark that shows how gender fluidity can be beautiful. Pen struggles with being misunderstood and opens up to Mark's compassionate understanding. However, an unwanted title forces Pen to play the gentleman and violence follows in his wake. The mystery begun in the first book has a satisfying conclusion. You also get to catch up with Clem, Rowley, Nathaniel and Justin from the first two books of the series which is fun. The whole series is narrated by Matthew Lloyd Davis who does a fine job in character voice and development. I am beyond thrilled KJ Charles is getting turned into audibles and hope more of her books get the attention they deserve.

2 people found this helpful

*insert obligatory title here*

*insert obligatory 15 word review here even though I only want to rate the book*

1 person found this helpful

Suitably entertaining romantic mystery

There’s an earl’s contested heir and a pile of trouble to keep the heir missing. Because who wouldn’t want to be a fabulously wealthy earl? Sensitively written to explain who’s who & what everyone’s motivations are for finding or silencing the heir, it’s a fine tale of misfits trying to just be themselves. Which means they all have learned to view the world a little sideways, and thus are more interesting characters than in an average story about earls.

Somewhat unexpected (to me) this conclusion to the trilogy was neatly written to overlap the previous two books’ timelines without rehashing more than a moment or two. We see Clem, Roly, Lazarus & Nathaniel while Mark does his best to figure out what is going on. And falls in love.

Steam: Med-Low Some details on page but not a lot of dwell time. Mostly concerns how to be comfortable in a body that doesn’t fit in, in one way or another.

Narration: Same solid narration as previous installments. Emotional moments done empathetically, easy to follow along. Good quality.

1 person found this helpful

Excellent ending for the Sins of the City trilogy!

After a rather disappointing second book in the series, I was impressed and satisfied with the exciting and appropriate ending found in An Unsuitable Heir. KJ Charles writes imaginative historical romance like no other. The characters created through the 3 books are endearing and believable and brought to life by excellent narration.

Alright

The problem I have with this book is that I didn't really like either of the MCs. Also, I understand Pen's issues, but when people are dying left and right the fact that you can't wear earrings is kind of...well...someone should reconsider their priorities...

Anyways, the plot parts were written very well and it was even kind of scary and all the good stuff a book about gruesome murders and terrible families should be, but because I couldn't really connect with either of the main characters made it difficult to enjoy it for me.

story was meh

my favourite was book 2. it felt like the ending was underwhelming. **spoilers** I didn't remember the murder. at all. he was nobody important. I liked the non-binary character. it feels like we don't see those in books. and mark was perfect. Proformance is perfect like always.

very good conclusion

this turned out to be a really good series. the overall plot of the three books was an excellent mystery. I really enjoyed the unconventional characters. They were not typical of most period romance books. it was a refreshing change. My only complaint was sometimes it was hard to tell which character was speaking. The narrator didn't make enough distinction.

What a beautiful book and series.

This might be my favorite in this very lovely trilogy. Excellent narration on all three, and really enjoyable characters.