The Gathering At The Fountains

Will Darling's inherited his uncle's used bookshop and also a secret that everyone in London is trying to beat out of him. After Lord Arthur "Kim" Secretan—handsome, charming, rich—rescues him from one of these numerous thugs, Will accepts his help in searching the bookshop for whatever it was his uncle was hiding. Sex, intrigue, and hats (it's the 1920s) ensue.

I don't know, gang, I just didn't vibe with these two, and the many sex scenes kind of demand that you do. I would have preferred a higher story to horny ratio; as it is, it's pretty much 1:1. But, personal tastes aside, it's not a bad book, and other readers have found it delightful, so don't let me scare you off.

Contains: explicit m/m sex, including some terms so deeply unsexy I can only assume they're historically accurate; violence; references to WWI, trench warfare, infectious disease, and biological weapons.

An Australian epistolary YA novel of extreme tweeness where the format may almost forgive some of the hysteria, as much of the book takes the form of final exams written for a gothic literature course, but I found it childish, not only ridiculous in the way of teenagers, which felt true enough, but even the adults were being juvenile, and the way the privileged teen drama was played for comedy and took precedence over the actual problems of at risk youth irritated me. It does include some surprisingly stylish teen poetry, though.

Contains: references to child harm and sexual abuse; homelessness; underage drinking; suicide attempt; dementia.