Contemporary Authors

• The Soldier's Scoundrel - 2016 Avon Impulse, New York, NY
• The Lawrence Browne Affair - 2017 Avon Impulse, New York, NY
• The Ruin of a Rake - 2017 Avon Impulse, New York, NY
• It Takes Two to Tumble: Seducing the Sedgwicks - 2018 Avon Impulse, New York, NY
• Unmasked by the Marquess: The Regency Impostors - 2018 Avon Impulse, New York, NY
• A Gentleman Never Keeps Score: Seducing the Sedgwicks - 2018 Avon Impulse, New York, NY

• Fantastic Fiction -

  Series
  Seducing the Sedgwicks
  1. It Takes Two to Tumble (2017)
  2. A Gentleman Never Keeps Score (2018)

  Regency Impostors
  1. Unmasked by the Marquess (2018)
  2. A Duke in Disguise (2018)

  Novels
  The Soldier's Scoundrel (2016)
  The Lawrence Browne Affair (2017)
  The Ruin of a Rake (2017)

• All about Romance - https://allaboutromance.com/an-interview-with-cat-sebastian/

  QUOTE:
  I really wanted to write the story of a Regency-era fixer. It was a time with rampant injustice: women had few rights, homosexuality was illegal, poverty was rampant, and colonialism was in full swing, just to name a few of the more galling issues. The idea of a man who decides to ignore unjust or useless laws and take matters into his own hands appealed to me. I had a pretty clear concept of who I needed Jack to be: a hard-around-the-edges former criminal with no fondness for the upper classes. Of course, he needed to be paired with a man who had his own entry in Debrett’s and the misguided notion that law and justice were one and the same.

  An Interview and Giveaway with Cat Sebastian
  The Soldier’s Scoundrel, Cat Sebastian’s début novel for Avon Impulse, is a male/male historical romance set in early nineteenth century England. It is also, I believe, the first such book released under the Avon imprint. I was able to get hold of an advance copy to review (look for that next week) and was immediately impressed with the quality of the writing and storytelling. I asked Ms. Sebastian if she’d care to share a little of the background to the novel with us.

  Caz: Is historical romance a genre you’ve always wanted to write?
  CS: A few years ago, when my kids were all pretty much babies, I started reading historical romance as an escape. I don’t think I’ve gone more than a day or two since then without reading romance. So when I started writing, I felt at home in the universe of fictional 19th century Britain. I think I might feel more comfortable and knowledgeable writing about Almack’s than about Tinder!
  Caz: What was the impetus behind this book?
  CS: I really wanted to write the story of a Regency-era fixer. It was a time with rampant injustice: women had few rights, homosexuality was illegal, poverty was rampant, and colonialism was in full swing, just to name a few of the more galling issues. The idea of a man who decides to ignore unjust or useless laws and take matters into his own hands appealed to me. I had a pretty clear concept of who I needed Jack to be: a hard-around-the-edges former criminal with no fondness for the upper classes. Of course, he needed to be paired with a man who had his own entry in Debrett’s and the misguided notion that law and justice were one and the same.
  Caz: I love that distinction – it’s the perfect description.
  CS: Thank you 🙂
  Caz: Cross-class romances can be difficult to pull off, especially in historicals. I was pleased that you didn’t sweep these issues under the carpet, and given that you are writing about a same-sex couple – you certainly didn’t make it easy for yourself! Can you expand on why you chose to write a male/male romance specifically?
  CS: I guess the blunt answer is that I like writing happily-ever-afters for characters who aren’t necessarily the straight, rich, able-bodied white people we typically read about. Don’t get me wrong: I will always love reading about dukes and whatnot, but when it comes time for me to write, I gravitate toward stories about queer pickpockets. I also, personally, find it really comforting to be reminded that throughout history there have been LGBTQ people not only existing but also falling in love and building lives together. Seeing that represented in romance is important to me.
  Caz: You know, that brings me to a point that I wanted to make about the cover of the book. I’m not normally a fan of the “standard historical clinch cover” – you know the sort of thing I mean; her dress is falling off (and there’s no historically accurate underwear underneath), his undone shirt exposes all that honed muscle – but I really appreciate what Avon has done by giving The Soldier’s Scoundrel that sort of cover. It screams “historical romance!” – that just happens to be about two blokes.
  CS: I’m so glad that Avon did a traditional clinch cover. Everything from the backdrop to the half-opened shirts to the way the characters are posed seems like a deliberate callback to old-school romance covers. I love that Avon’s first gay historical romance got treatment placing it as part of that romance novel tradition. In general, I’m ambivalent (at best) about clinch covers, and scantily clad cover models, and that entire aspect of the industry, but in this case it feels right. Basically, like you said, the cover signals that this is a historical romance that just happens to feature two men; that was my goal when writing it, and I’m delighted at the cover reflects that.
  And, to pick up on your question about the cross-class element, I liked writing a love story that, at its heart, is about two very different people hammering out their differences – they both have to decide what really matters and what compromises they’re willing to make. Because, honestly, that’s what love really is, when you get past the honeymoon stage – staying in love means holding onto common ground while managing to exert a great deal of forbearance about everything else. For Jack and Oliver, class is a part of those differences.
  Caz: When you find time to read, what are your favourite genres/who are your favourite authors?
  CS: Historical romance is definitely my favorite, but I also read some contemporary. My favorite authors are Loretta Chase, Laura Kinsale, Sherry Thomas, KJ Charles, Joanna Bourne and Cecilia Grant. If anybody can figure out the common ground between those authors (other than that they’re amazing, obviously!) I’d love to know.
  Caz: Nope, I think their general awesomeness just about covers it. And incidentally – they’re all on my list of favourites, as well.
  What are you working on now? Any other future projects you can share with us?
  CS: I just finished writing Georgie’s story. Georgie is Jack’s confidence artist brother; of course he’s going to fall in love with a man he needs to swindle. I’m also working on an f/f novella about Molly Wilkins, a lady’s maid who has a small role in The Soldier’s Scoundrel.
  Caz: That’s excellent news. Georgie made quite the impression, so I’m really eager to read his story. Cat, thanks for answering my questions, and congratulations on a truly impressive début novel. I can’t wait for everyone out there to read it and agree with me!
  CS: Thanks so much for having me and the kind words.

  Cat is giving away THREE copies of The Soldier’s Scoundrel to three lucky winners! To enter, click the Rafflecopter box below, and be sure to comment, leaving your email address and preferred format. Good luck!

  Cat writes steamy, upbeat historical romances. They usually take place in the Regency, generally have at least one LGBTQ+ main character, and always have happy endings.
  Before writing, Cat was a lawyer and a teacher. She enjoys crossword puzzles, geeking out over birds, gardening badly, and–of course–reading. In high school, her parents went away for a week, and instead of throwing raucous parties, Cat read Middlemarch. Even worse, Cat remembers little of a trip through Europe because she was busy reading Mansfield Park. Her proudest moment was when she realized her kids were shaping up to be hopeless bookworms too. Currently, her favorite genres are romance, mystery and fantasy.
  Cat lives with her husband, three kids, and dog in an improbably small house. After growing up in the northeast, she now lives in a part of the south where every body of water seems to contain alligators or sharks, and every restaurant serves biscuits and gravy. She likes the biscuits, but not so much the alligators.
  By Caz Owens| September 17th, 2016|Categories: Authors, Caz AAR, giveaways, Historicals, Interviews, Romance|12 Comments

• The Muse - https://themuse.jezebel.com/a-chat-with-cat-sebastian-about-writing-queer-character-1823034046

  QUOTE:
  Sebastian uses the setting to write queer romance that she refers to as “Marxist tracts with boning.”
  Obviously it’s a more open field than it used to be, but the books that go on the shelves at the Walmart, it does still tend to be the heterosexual stories.
  I think part of it is that when you read Austen or when you read Heyer, or when you read almost anybody who was writing almost anything, you wonder where the queer people are. Or at least I do. Sometimes there’ll be a character that I feel is queer, but I don’t know if the author knows. Anyway, as a queer person with many queer friends, it is hard for me to look into any historical world and not wonder where the queer people are. And so, when I’m thinking of stories to tell, those are the stories that I gravitate to, because it feels so missing from the narratives that we already have.

  A Chat With Cat Sebastian About Writing Queer Characters in Historical Romance

  Kelly Faircloth
  2/16/18 12:05pmFiled to: romance

  16.4K

  32

  15

  Images via Avon Impulse.
  Of all the longstanding, beloved subgenres of romance novel, among my personal favorites and also perhaps the most specific is the Regency, set around the same time as Jane Austen. Like Austen, the setting has been occupied by everyone from feminists to conservative evangelicals. Author Cat Sebastian uses the setting to write queer romance that she refers to as “Marxist tracts with boning.”
  In an interview, Sebastian told me that she wants “to populate history with every possible variety of queer person—which is totally my goal as a writer and a human.” Thus far, beginning with her first book, The Soldier’s Scoundrel, her characters have been gay and bisexual men; the upcoming Unmasked by the Marquess will include a non-binary character. She’s billed it as “sort of a queer Frederica,” which points to one of the things that’s so fascinating about Sebastian’s work. Frederica is a beloved novel by Georgette Heyer, the Regency subgenre’s J.R.R. Tolkien. Heyer’s books paired a formal prose style with a propensity for madcap antics, the result being an ironic hilarity. She was also an incredibly conservative, prejudiced, downright frightful product of the Edwardian era. Sebastian—like several of her fellow modern Regency writers, such as Rose Lerner—has adapted her style of storytelling to more liberal values, writing with an eye toward the actual class realities of England in the early 19th century and incorporating characters who existed in history, but have often been missing from Regency Land.

  I talked to Sebastian about how she came to the genre and how she handles her characters sensitively. Our conversation has been edited and condensed for length (because I could talk to any romance novelist for three hours).

  “Marxist tracts with boning”

  JEZEBEL: How did you get into reading romance?
  CAT SEBASTIAN: I had three kids in two years, because my younger ones were twins, so I was really not in a good place. Reading cozy mysteries had always been my safe place, but it just turned out that mentally, I could not deal with people being dead or in danger. And I was so upset because I had nothing to read. So I started to read Georgette Heyer and then moved from there to reading Lisa Kleypas and Julia Quinn and it turns out that historical romance made me feel really safe and optimistic and happy at a time when my brain wasn’t generating those feelings on its on.
  And then how I got to queer romance, I actually don’t even remember how I got there. I was reading all the words, all of them, and so I think I stumbled across Swordspoint by Ellen Kushner and I was completely delighted.
  You mentioned Georgette Heyer. I think what’s really interesting about your books is that your style is clearly very influenced by hers, and I really enjoy that. But you write with an eye toward class and the realities of the Regency that she would have thrown a fit about.
  Oh, I remember that you wrote that Rose Lerner and I were writing stuff about class that would make Georgette Heyer roll over in her grave, and I’ve never been prouder. I was so pleased with myself. And also, being mentioned in the same sentence with Rose is always good.

  What if slipping down that rung, or several rungs, is the price they have to pay for being with the person that they want to be with

  Somebody else said this better than me, but all the different elements of privilege are tied up together, right? You have whiteness, straightness, able-bodiedness, and wealth, and a bunch of other things are all tied up together. So once you start to pull one out, you’re left with a structure that isn’t totally solid. Once you pull out straightness, or once you pull out being neurotypical, then you almost have to examine the rest of the structure. At least that’s how it feels like to me when I’m looking at how to create a character and what that character’s going to be like and what their life is going to be like. I don’t feel like I could write about rich queer people without class being an element, and without their mental health being an element. For me, it all works together.
  And also I like class. It’s just there in Heyer. It’s certainly there in Austen. The characters are so very conscious of it—what will happen if they slip down one rung on the ladder. And so, I want to write about what happens when they do slip down a rung on the ladder. What if slipping down that rung, or several rungs, is the price they have to pay for being with the person that they want to be with, or for being true to themself in some other way? I like looking at class as not always going to go up. Sometimes you’re going to go down, and then what happens? What’s that going to be like?
  I’ve read 9 million Regencies and I love them to pieces, but what’s interesting is money almost always solves everything. Almost always, somebody’s rich eccentric aunt from the Georgian era will swoop in and say, whatever, it’s fine, I like you, we’ll fix it. And they do fix it! And they continue to get into spaces like Almack’s, even though the heroine was a governess or whatever. How do you balance the happy ending mandate with the fact that the class system is this brutal machine that does not care about your feelings?
  What I’m trying to create with a happy ending is stability, if not wealth. The book that I just turned in, one of the characters owns a pub. He has a viable, solid income stream there. He’s never going to be rich, but he’s doing okay. His main goal isn’t to become rich. He’s black, and what he wants to do is use the money that he makes to give a leg up to other people in his community. And at the same time, the other character has come by wealth through sort of iffy means. As a teenager, he had a relationship with his godfather, and the godfather leaves him a bunch of money, so he feels really not great about having inherited it. For him, the resolution is getting rid of it. So for both of them, their having a happy ending, in a way, is tied up with class and with money, but it’s not having more money. We’ll see if people buy that. That might not be what readers of historical romance necessarily want in their happy ending. But it’s what I’m writing, and I hope they like it.

  What I’m trying to create with a happy ending is stability, if not wealth.

  Jane Austen wrote in a wider band of social identities than Heyer did, too, and it’s interesting to me how they often take place in this narrow band of society. There’s so much more of London, much less the rest of the country and the world, and it’s interesting how specific that slice is. Also that that’s such a vivid world that people have been able to set books in it for like 80 years.
  With no worldbuilding! As a writer, that’s a huge advantage. To be able to walk right in and not have to explain what a pelisse is and what almack’s is and why it matters. That’s amazing. But at the same time, when I see a world that’s readymade and that rests on a whole bunch of assumptions, the first thing I want to do is ruin it. I want to pull it apart immediately. I don’t think I could write ten consecutive paragraphs set in an un-messed-up Regency world. But there are people who do and they do it really well and I admire that. I just don’t think I’m capable of it.
  Austen was writing about a class that’s more middle class than anything Heyer was writing about. I saw a chart somewhere—because, you know, Heyer tells us what everybody makes, and Austen often does. But the person that Maria Bertram in Mansfield Park marries, I think he’s the richest person in Austen, and he’d just be any old person in Heyer. There’s several spaces on the social ladder between what Austen’s writing about and what Heyer’s writing about, and people in Austen don’t have the convenient rich uncle. Well, in Emma, Frank Churchill has the people who conveniently die for him. But that’s not the norm. They usually have to figure it out on their own. Anyway, it is funny that it’s not Austen and her middle class people we’re emulating in Regency romance today. We’re looking at Heyer and we’re looking at people who maybe are even more well-to-do and influential than Heyer was writing about. We really seem to be gravitating almost to the celebrities of this completely fictional slice of Regency London that we like to read about.
  I recently saw an article arguing that Regencies are inherently conservative form and setting. Which I thought was interesting because—and obviously part of this is my personal tastes as a reader and what I pick to read—but liberal authors often seem very interested in it. Why do you think that is? What do you think it is about the Regency era that attracts people that don’t necessarily share Georgette Heyer’s totally hideous politics?
  I don’t know. I think romance as a genre is—there’s something small-c conservative about it. Obviously we can both name a bunch of exceptions, but generally romance novels, whether they’re historical or contemporary or even paranormal, they reaffirm the social structure, where people pair up and form ties within a preexisting community and often have children. And even in a lot of queer romances, you often have the couple acquiring children, either during the story or in the epilogue. That sense that the romance novel is showing you the building blocks of society, I think that that is small-c conservative. Because it’s not a revolution. You’re not throwing anything over. You’re building within that structure. That said, even as I’m saying those words, I’m thinking of a lot of exceptions. But I do think that the overarching trend is towards that conservatism. And that might make it a safe read. I don’t know.
  It’s interesting how it seems to often be doing this very complicated dance, where the happily ever after is about stability in a lot of ways—these two people are paired up. But there’s also something radical about how it expands the sense of how that stability can be achieved, I think.
  Yes, or who deserves that stability. Who deserves to be happy. So let’s say you have a spinster scientist in 1810, and she feels like she’s an outcast, where she couldn’t possibly get married, because she has to do botany. However, by the end, she’s married an earl, let’s assume, and she’s comfortable, she has children. She’s been enfolded into that preexisting structure. Romance can give that conventional ending to people who might be unconventional. I think that’s part of the power of the genre. is that it extends that happy ending to people who might otherwise feel undeserving.

  When I see burned letters, I just kind of assume everybody’s queer.
  Obviously I have a lot of very complicated feelings about Amazon, but for all the stereotypes about self-publishing, it truly has allowed a real expansion in what a happy ending can look like.
  Oh yeah, and I share those feelings about Amazon, but I feel like without it, we’d be looking at a totally different landscape. I’m so happy that I can go to Amazon and see a romance novel that gives a happy ending to virtually anyone. That to me is thrilling, that people can see themselves in a romance novels and they can see themselves having a happy ending, whoever they are. I feel like there’s a real power in that.
  Queer romance has expanded so much, but it is interesting to me how often that has taken the form of “male/male” romances, many of them written for a female audience. When you sit down to write, how do you approach handling these stories with the right level of sensitivity and thought about your characters and your audience? How do you approach the process to make sure that you land somewhere that’s fundamentally respectful?
  Basically, I don’t want to exploit an identity that isn’t mine. That is a major concern as I’m writing. I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that even though I’m writing about people who lived two hundred years ago, still I’m writing about gay and bi men, and that’s not an identity I share. So I want to make sure that I’m not obviously doing harmful representation—that’s always key. But I also want to make sure that I’m going to keep alive to the concerns that a gay or bi man would have while reading my books today. I want to make sure that no one’s being involuntarily outed, the idea of found family is really key for queer people of any gender—I want to make sure that those things that are important to the identities that I’m writing about today are present in the right degree in my books. I just want to make sure that people can see themselves in a good way in the books. Even though I’m aware that most of the people who are reading my books are women, still, I’m writing about humans and I want to make sure that i get it right.
  You don’t want to write something that anybody’s going to pick up and be like—no.
  Right, and especially when you’re writing about people who would have feared for their lives if they were outed. I want to make sure that I respect that, because there are people alive today who have that same concern. I want to make sure that I respect that. But at the same time, I don’t want that to cast a huge shadow over the story that I’m telling. That’s the major balancing act that I do as a writer. I want to be respectful of the hardships that queer people faced then and face now, but I want to also make sure that they’re as thoroughly happy as they can be.
  There’s such a large audience of women for romance featuring two men. What do you think it is that readers see in that?
  I don’t know, and I think about this all the time! First of all, I don’t know that there is an answer that we can access. This is just me guessing. I do wonder if it’s something about seeing a man through the male gaze. Maybe we are used to seeing women through the male gaze. Maybe the experience of seeing men as beings who are desired by other men is freeing, or novel, or attractive in some other way as readers. I feel like that could be it, and that might explain why F/F doesn’t seem to have taken root, which is a huge source of frustration for me. I don’t understand—where are all my lesbian historical novels? Give them to me! There aren’t nearly enough of them out there, and everybody who’s written one assured me that the reason is because there’s just not a huge audience, and they like to eat food and make money, which is totally respectable. Maybe it’s because in a novel with two women as protagonists, maybe as readers, we don’t know how to look at them without the male gaze. I have no idea, and it’s been so long since I have been in a women’s studies class, but I do feel like that’s got to be part if it.
  I don’t know! I would like for somebody to write a dissertation on that.
  I also don’t understand. Like, Fingersmith is one of the best books ever.

  Image via GoodReads.
  Exactly. One of the best books ever. I feel like romance needs to jealousy claim Sarah Waters as one of our own, because Fingersmith and Tipping the Velvet are models we could use.
  Also, if you look at how people could hide queer relationships around existing structures—two women could live together really easily in the 19th century.
  Yes! And forever. It’s never been hard to hide a lesbian relationship. And I don’t know if that’s because we expect women to live together, or we expect single women to team up, or if it’s just because no one’s thinking there’s anything sexual behind it, so they can do whatever they want. Even if they’re married to other people, they can do whatever they want, and no one looks twice.
  What it is that appeals to you about writing queer romance? Obviously it’s a more open field than it used to be, but the books that go on the shelves at the Walmart, it does still tend to be the heterosexual stories.
  I think part of it is that when you read Austen or when you read Heyer, or when you read almost anybody who was writing almost anything, you wonder where the queer people are. Or at least I do. Sometimes there’ll be a character that I feel is queer, but I don’t know if the author knows. Anyway, as a queer person with many queer friends, it is hard for me to look into any historical world and not wonder where the queer people are. And so, when I’m thinking of stories to tell, those are the stories that I gravitate to, because it feels so missing from the narratives that we already have.

  it is hard for me to look into any historical world and not wonder where the queer people are.

  So much of history is written in that way that’s names and dates and battles and prime ministers, and you have to work hard to recover other stories because it’s not on the paper.
  And also, it’s been deliberately erased. It’s not an accident that first-person testimonials are missing. I’m writing an author’s note for Unmasked by the Marquess, just because I wanted to show that the idea of a nonbinary or trans person or the early 1800s isn’t a far-fetched idea. That in fact this happened, and it happened a lot. I guess everybody knows the story of James Berry, who was assigned female at birth by a doctor, then went to medical school and lived his entire life as a man. It’s almost impossible to read that story and not conclude that James Berry was a trans man. And James Berry was buried under a headstone that said “James Berry.” Okay? James Berry wasn’t living a lie. James Berry was James Berry. People at the time seemed to grasp that, and after James Berry died, there were many people who were like, yeah, I kind of thought there was something going on there, but I didn’t want to say anything and be rude. It wasn’t just like, what a mystery, how did nobody know? People knew, they just kept themselves to themselves. It turns out there’s a bunch of other stories like that, too, that basically follow the same pattern, where you have someone who’s assigned female at birth, dresses as a man for a reason—maybe to go to medical school, maybe to enlist. Then they get sick, go to the hospital, call a doctor, the doctor “discovers” their secret, and then doesn’t tell anyone, and then the person dies and is buried under a headstone with their adopted name. That’s a pattern that repeats itself again and again. And yet, people act like being trans is a new thing, where there are all of these stories.
  That’s part of what draws me to writing them. A lot of these stories are in plain view, it’s just that we’ve been trained not to look at them like that.
  Were you the one who was talking on Twitter about burned letters? God only knows what was in all those letters!
  When I see burned letters, I just kind of assume everybody’s queer.

• From Publisher -

  Cat Sebastian lives in a swampy part of the South with her husband, three kids, and two dogs. Before her kids were born, she practiced law and taught high school and college writing. When she isn’t reading or writing, she’s doing crossword puzzles, bird-watching, and wondering where she put her coffee cup.

• Amazon -

  Cat writes steamy, upbeat historical romances. They usually take place in the Regency, generally have at least one LGBTQ+ main character, and always have happy endings.

  Before writing, Cat was a lawyer and a teacher. She enjoys crossword puzzles, geeking out over birds, gardening badly, and–of course–reading. In high school, her parents went away for a week, and instead of throwing raucous parties, Cat read Middlemarch. Even worse, Cat remembers little of a trip through Europe because she was busy reading Mansfield Park. Her proudest moment was when she realized her kids were shaping up to be hopeless bookworms too. Currently, her favorite genres are romance, mystery and fantasy.

  Cat lives with her husband, three kids, and dog in an improbably small house. After growing up in the northeast, she now lives in a part of the south where every body of water seems to contain alligators or sharks, and every restaurant serves biscuits and gravy. She likes the biscuits, but not so much the alligators.

  Visit Cat at CatSebastian.com

• Cat Sebastian website - https://catsebastian.com/

  QUOTE:
  usually take place in the Regency, generally have at least one LGBTQ+ main character, and always have happy endings.

  Cat writes steamy, upbeat historical romances. They usually take place in the Regency, generally have at least one LGBTQ+ main character, and always have happy endings.
  Cat Sebastian lives in a swampy part of the South with her husband, three kids, and two dogs. Before her kids were born, she practiced law and taught high school and college writing. When she isn’t reading or writing, she’s doing crossword puzzles, bird-watching, and wondering where she put her coffee cup.

QUOTE:
another impeccably crafted, lusciously sensual love story that also gracefully--and quite cleverly--alludes to her previous, brilliant male-male Regency historical romances.-

Unmasked by the Marquess

John Charles
Booklist. 114.18 (May 15, 2018): p32.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
Unmasked by the Marquess.
By Cat Sebastian.
June 2018. 320p. Avon, paper, $5.99 (9780062821607).
Alistair de Lacey, Marquess of Pembroke, made it a rule in life to never grant favors to anyone. However, he just might make an exception for Robert Selby. The surprisingly engaging young gentleman wants Alistair to use his influence to help launch Robert's sister, Louisa, into society. However, what Alistair doesn't know is that Robert Selby is really an orphan, Charity Church, who would do anything to help out her longtime friend. Once Alistair discovers Charity's deception, however, he faces an even bigger dilemma. After successfully restoring his family's name and fortune, how on earth can he ever consider marrying a woman who is far too fond of wearing breeches? Rising romance star Sebastian (It Takes Two to Tumble, 2018) launches her Regency Imposter series on a high note with another impeccably crafted, lusciously sensual love story that also gracefully--and quite cleverly--alludes to her previous, brilliant male-male Regency historical romances.--John Charles
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Charles, John. "Unmasked by the Marquess." Booklist, 15 May 2018, p. 32. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A541400843/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2415398a. Accessed 30 June 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A541400843

QUOTE:
A funny and poignant romance amid a delightful cast of characters makes this a must-read for historical romance fans.

Sebastian, Cat: UNMASKED BY THE MARQUESS

Kirkus Reviews. (Apr. 1, 2018):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Sebastian, Cat UNMASKED BY THE MARQUESS Avon/HarperCollins (Adult Fiction) $3.99 4, 17 ISBN: 978-0-06-282065-5
First in Sebastian's Regency Imposters series, historical romances that explore LGBTQ relationships.
Alistair de Lacey, eighth Marquess of Pembroke, is one of the most powerful men in the region and a model of propriety. He has to be to restore the de Lacey family name and legacy. The late marquess was a gambler who loved drink and bad investments. He left behind a mistress, her three daughters, and shaky finances. Alistair, "always correct, but never benevolent," avoids his half sisters while trying to push his legitimate younger brother, Gilbert, into a very proper career as a clergyman. The appearance in London of Mr. Robert Selby and his beautiful sister, Louisa, rocks Alistair's controlled world in unexpected ways. Not only does Gilbert fall for the entirely inappropriate Miss Selby, but Alistair is enthralled by her brother's impish grin. Robert's laugh, "like the sound of champagne being uncorked, startlingly sudden and bright," belies a complicated history. Robert was born a foundling named Charity Church and was raised a servant with the Selby family in Northumberland. Sebastian subverts the romance trope of the cross-dressing heroine with a protagonist whose presentation as male is not mere titillation but the authentic self-expression of a queer woman. Charity/Robert has to learn how to succeed without manipulation and lies, and Alistair must reconsider his definition of moral rectitude and his singular devotion to his reputation. All this is much funnier and sexier than it sounds. While certain aspects of Alistair's reversal strain credulity, Sebastian (It Takes Two to Tumble, 2018, etc.) has created a world of characters readers will be eager to get to know.
A funny and poignant romance amid a delightful cast of characters makes this a must-read for historical romance fans.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Sebastian, Cat: UNMASKED BY THE MARQUESS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A532700489/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=620b5599. Accessed 30 June 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A532700489

QUOTE:
Sebastian once again gifts readers with the kind of realistically complicated characters, deliciously dry humor, and combustible sensuality they have come to expect from her
powerfully, demonstrates the universal power of love to change lives.-

The Ruin of a Rake

John Charles
Booklist. 114.1 (Sept. 1, 2017): p57.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
The Ruin of a Rake. By Cat Sebastian. Sept. 2017. 280p. Avon, paper, $7.99 (9780062642530); e-book, $2.99 (9780062642523).
Despite what his sister, Eleanor Standish, might think, Julian Medlock is not a miracle worker. Although he would do anything possible to ensure her happiness, rehabilitating the reputation of her friend Lord Courtenay may prove to be impossible. After all, Courtenay is already known as one of the most notorious and debauched rakes in London, and the recent publication of the scandalous The Brigand Prince of Salerno, with a libertine hero rumored to be based on Courtenay, is certainly not helping matters. Yet despite the odds, Julian reluctantly agrees to try, only to find his campaign to improve Courtenay's social status taking an unexpected turn when Julian admits he has feelings of his own for Courtenay, which could create a scandal that may very well ruin them both. In her latest flawlessly written Regency-set historical, Sebastian once again gifts readers with the kind of realistically complicated characters, deliciously dry humor, and combustible sensuality they have come to expect from her while at the same time crafting a love story that quietly, yet powerfully, demonstrates the universal power of love to change lives.--John Charles
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Charles, John. "The Ruin of a Rake." Booklist, 1 Sept. 2017, p. 57. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A509161621/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e8877ced. Accessed 30 June 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A509161621

QUOTE:
Readers will quickly be entranced by the depth of emotion and intensity of sensual desire Sebastian creates between her two protagonists. Pair this up with her flair for nuanced characterization and sly sense of wit, and Sebastian proves she is a new force to be reckoned with in historical romances.

The Lawrence Browne Affair

John Charles
Booklist. 113.13 (Mar. 1, 2017): p47.
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 American Library Association
http://www.ala.org/aboutala/offices/publishing/booklist/
Full Text:
* The Lawrence Browne Affair.
By Cat Sebastian.
Mar. 2017.336p. Avon, paper, $6.99 (9780062642516).

Lawrence Browne has a servant problem: none want to work in a house that could very well explode at any moment. Now, despite Lawrence's best efforts to convince everyone that his experiments on a new type of communication device are perfectly safe, he still finds himself in need of a new secretary. Meanwhile, con man and thief extraordinaire Georgie Turner finds himself persona non grata in London after he refuses to bilk a nice old lady, as gang-leader Jamie Brewster insists he should. Posing as a candidate for Lawrence's secretary job would not only get Georgie out of the city but would also repay a favor Georgie owes his brother Jack. It seems like the perfect plan, until Georgie arrives in Cornwall and finds himself falling hard and fast for his new employer. Readers will quickly be entranced by the depth of emotion and intensity of sensual desire Sebastian creates between her two protagonists. Pair this up with her flair for nuanced characterization and sly sense of wit, and Sebastian proves she is a new force to be reckoned with in historical romances.--John Charles
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
Charles, John. "The Lawrence Browne Affair." Booklist, 1 Mar. 2017, p. 47. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A488689526/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=bdf29195. Accessed 30 June 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A488689526

QUOTE:
In a crumbling castle in Cornwall, two inauthentic men from vastly different registers of Regency society find in each other an authentic and passionate love. Another exquisitely written, deeply romantic novel from Sebastian.

Sebastian, Cat: THE LAWRENCE BROWNE AFFAIR

Kirkus Reviews. (Feb. 1, 2017):
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2017 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Sebastian, Cat THE LAWRENCE BROWNE AFFAIR Avon/HarperCollins (Adult Fiction) $4.99 2, 7 ISBN: 978-0-06-264250-9
A London swindler falls for his mark, a mad earl, in this Cornwall-set Regency romance.As Penkellis Castle falls to ruins around him, Lawrence Browne, the Earl of Radnor, hides in the tower, working feverishly on inventing a telegraphlike device. His servants have fled, the villagers think he's demonic, and Lawrence himself is convinced the madness and depravity that consumed his father and brother will claim his life as well. This gothic setup is punctured when professional confidence man Georgie Turner arrives on Radnor's moldering doorstep, posing as a secretary. Georgie recently aborted a lucrative assignment thanks to a sudden bout of conscience, a development his furious boss would like to properly, and violently, acknowledge. He's not impressed with the Mad Earl: "I had hoped for some good old fashioned howling at the moon, and all you do is build ingenious inventions and eat too much ham." Georgie is beautiful, slender, and graceful to Lawrence's bearded, hulking form. Lawrence dismisses his cool and neat secretary as a London dandy, but Georgie, a swindler practically from his birth in the slums of London, quickly, and astutely, assesses the situation and begins putting Penkellis to rights while at the same time appraising its valuables. Sebastian (The Soldier's Scoundrel, 2016) nicely contrasts Georgie's frankness and sexual openness with the deceitfulness at his core. Sebastian infuses a romance that could have been dark with a constant thrum of mild humor and steady wonder: "Then Radnor flashed him one of his rare smiles, and Georgie felt simultaneously like he had been given a precious gift and like he had been hit in the head with a shovel." Lawrence's character is complicated by social anxiety and sexual shame over his "perverse tastes": a thornier nest of issues than "madness" but an easier one to untangle. Georgie's change of heart is less effective because he was never much of a convincing scoundrel, but readers will be thrilled by the way his empowering love for Lawrence comes back to him in a time of need. In a crumbling castle in Cornwall, two inauthentic men from vastly different registers of Regency society find in each other an authentic and passionate love. Another exquisitely written, deeply romantic novel from Sebastian.
Source Citation (MLA 8th Edition)
"Sebastian, Cat: THE LAWRENCE BROWNE AFFAIR." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A479234769/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a9254f49. Accessed 30 June 2018.

Gale Document Number: GALE|A479234769

Charles, John. "Unmasked by the Marquess." Booklist, 15 May 2018, p. 32. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A541400843/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=2415398a. Accessed 30 June 2018. "Sebastian, Cat: UNMASKED BY THE MARQUESS." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Apr. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A532700489/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=620b5599. Accessed 30 June 2018. Charles, John. "The Ruin of a Rake." Booklist, 1 Sept. 2017, p. 57. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A509161621/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=e8877ced. Accessed 30 June 2018. Charles, John. "The Lawrence Browne Affair." Booklist, 1 Mar. 2017, p. 47. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A488689526/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=bdf29195. Accessed 30 June 2018. "Sebastian, Cat: THE LAWRENCE BROWNE AFFAIR." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2017. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A479234769/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=a9254f49. Accessed 30 June 2018.

• Smart Bitches Trashy Books
  http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/reviews/guest-review-ruin-rake-cat-sebastian/
  Word count: 1576

  QUOTE:
  Sebastian’s writing is breezy and fun. Her dialogue is sparkling. And even her side-characters come fully to life.

  Guest Review: The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian
  by Guest Reviewer · Aug 26, 2017 at 3:00 am · View all 15 comments

  The Ruin of a Rake
  by Cat Sebastian
  July 4, 2017 · Avon Impulse
  Order →
  View SBTB Media Page
  A-
  Genre: GLBT, Romance, Historical: European
  Theme: Opposites Attract, Forced Proximity (stranded, safehouse, etc)
  Today, we have a guest review of The Ruin of a Rake by the much-recommended Cat Sebastian. This guest review comes from Heather Morris, who you may remember from her great guest write-up of the Hulu series Harlots.
  Heather Morris is a cyborg librarian living in North Carolina. Her work has appeared in Shimmer, Strange Horizons, and Daily Science Fiction, among other places. She’s on Twitter @NotThatHeatherM and she blogs sporadically at thebastardtitle.wordpress.com.
  …
  I discovered Cat Sebastian at random, as I was scrolling through covers on my ereader. The Soldier’s Scoundrel jumped right out at me. Most of the m/m and otherwise queer fiction I read is self-published or put out by small presses, the covers a mix of Photoshop and stock models. This is not to knock those covers, many of which are quite good, but to say I had never seen a m/m cover that looked like that. I think I got through about four words of the blurb before deciding that, yes, I needed to read this book, and I needed to read it immediately.
  Thank goodness for impulsive decisions, because Sebastian has quickly become one of my favorite writers. And each book seems to be even better than the last.
  The Ruin of a Rake is the third of Sebastian’s historical m/m romances (they technically do stand alone, but I think it’s best to read them in order to get a sense of all of the side-characters who weave in and out of each other’s stories). Its two heroes made a brief appearance in her previous book, The Lawrence Browne Affair, where they detested each other from the moment they met.
  Lord Courtenay is stuck in England after years gallivanting around the Continent with his nephew and (now-deceased) little sister. He’s suddenly having to deal with the consequences of his infamously roguish ways—he has no money, he’s shunned by polite society, and, after a gothic novel featuring a villain suspiciously like him becomes a sensation, he’s barred from seeing his beloved nephew. About the only thing he has going for him is his friendship with Lady Eleanor Standish, an eccentric woman of a scientific bent, but she’s got plenty of her own problems to deal with.

  A | BN | K | iB
  Eleanor’s younger brother, Julian Medlock, is a prim, utterly proper man obsessed with social position. He knows how to dress, how to act, how to get invited to parties, how to make everyone in polite society forget or forgive that his money comes from (gasp) trade. And he absolutely detests Lord Courtenay. But when Eleanor suggests that Julian use his skills to get Courtenay back into society’s good graces, he reluctantly agrees. Eleanor’s sad, Julian feels guilty about it, and he thinks it will be easy enough to get Courtenay invited to some dinner parties and then get the man out of his sister’s life.
  On the face of it, Courtenay and Julian have nothing in common. But I love a good opposites attract story, and I am definitely a fan of enemies to lovers. The Ruin of a Rake is very much “I hate you, I hate you, I can’t stop thinking about your hair” (sometimes literally).
  Our heroes set off to repair Courtenay’s reputation, and the sparks start to fly. The two realize early on that they are both mutually attracted to one another and extremely sexually compatible, despite reservations on both sides. So most of the conflict in the novel stems not from will they or won’t they (oh, they very much will), but rather from the messy realities of emotional honesty, and from navigating the path to a successful relationship in a world that keeps throwing up obstacles.
  Let’s get one elephant out of this room. Lord Courtenay is pretty much Lord Byron. And I’m a-ok with that, mostly because he ends up being much more developed than a cheap Byronic parody. Anyway, there’s a reason that Byron remains so iconic almost two centuries after his death. He is so dramatic, so capital-R Romantic, so, to borrow the parlance of the youths, fucking extra that he’s an easy template for men of a certain temperament and time. With Courtenay, Sebastian manages to subvert some of the tropes of the Byronic hero, and play with reader expectations. Also, I have to admit that when there was a reference to curling papers, I chortled.
  Julian was the hero I connected with, though, which came as a bit of a surprise to me after his appearance in the previous book. He’s got a highly logical, mathematical mind. He’s been running the family business since he was basically a child, and dealing with chronic illness his whole life. He feels guilty over the state of his sister’s marriage, but he can’t figure out how to talk to her about it. He’s a puppetmaster who steers conversations and events the way he needs them to go—sometimes his manipulations are brilliant, sometimes they lead to disaster. He’s decidedly unromantic—he wants his sexual encounters businesslike, without the mess of feelings getting in the way—and though he knows how to get people to do what he wants, that doesn’t mean he understands them. At one point, he frustratedly exclaims “I ruin everything…I’m not good at people.” And yeah, maybe he’s being all melodramatic and young there, but for me it felt incredibly real, and raw, and true.
  There are a lot of different threads of conflict going on in The Ruin of a Rake. I won’t detail them all, but there’s one spoilery thing I think is worth mentioning. The thing that has finally, irrevocably ruined Courtenay’s reputation is a gothic novel, The Brigand Prince, featuring his supposed misdeeds in unsavory detail. If you’ve ever encountered a piece of fiction before, you’ll pretty soon figure out that…
  Show Spoiler
  What I appreciated most, though, is that this isn’t the main conflict by any means. In any other book it probably would be. Instead, this story’s about each man navigating his emotions, his sense of self, and his place in the world, and figuring out how having a person you love at your side changes your plans.
  The Ruin of a Rake does acknowledge the dangers of having a homosexual relationship in a time and place where it was criminal a bit more overtly than the two previous books. The heroes of those other books were all people who were able and willing to give up their positions in society, step back and basically hide their relationships in plain sight. Neither Courtenay nor Julian can do that. And so they have to figure out how to be together in a world where they could be prosecuted or killed for it. They do work it all out in the end, but for me while it works as a HEA, for some it might feel more like a HFN.
  I do love that there’s no angst regarding queerness, though. Borrowing modern terms, Julian is gay, Courtenay is bi, they’ve both had plenty of previous partners, and neither of them much cares or feels inadequate or faces any existential dilemmas about it. They both have guilt over plenty of things, but it’s never a result of their sexual identities.
  One thing I’ve noticed with all of Sebastian’s books is that, about 2/3rds of the way through, at a point where I feel the conflicts have mostly resolved themselves, she drops in a new conflict that doesn’t quite fit, that feels forced or predicated on characters acting in uncharacteristic ways. That happens here, too, when…
  Show Spoiler
  The resulting conflict didn’t feel earned to me, though the ultimate resolution worked into the happy ending.
  That quibble aside, there are so many things little things that I loved about The Ruin of a Rake. Platonic male-female friendship (as far as I’m concerned there’s never enough platonic male-female relationships in fiction, and if I hadn’t loved Julian so much, Courtenay and Eleanor’s relationship would have definitely been my favorite thing about the book). Sharpshooting and fake duels. Seduction-by-bookkeeping. A frankly excessive amount of kittens. I could go on, but this is already fourteen hundred words. Sebastian’s writing is breezy and fun. Her dialogue is sparkling. And even her side-characters come fully to life. I do feel there are pacing issues, which made me consider a B grade, but I found the writing and characters are so strong that I think it’s fair to settle on an A-.

• Just Love
  https://justlovereviews.com/2016/10/16/soldiers-scoundrel-cat-sebastian/
  Word count: 919

  QUOTE:
  This is an impressive debut that has been rightly popular with bookbloggers since its publication a little over a fortnight ago, and I look forward to reading the sequel next year!

  Book Review by Michele: The Soldier’s Scoundrel, by Cat Sebastian
  October 16, 2016 / Michele

  The Soldier’s Scoundrel, by Cat Sebastian
  Publisher: Avon Impulse (HarperCollins)
  Release Date: September 20, 2016
  Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

  A scoundrel who lives in the shadows
  Jack Turner grew up in the darkness of London’s slums, born into a life of crime and willing to do anything to keep his belly full and his siblings safe. Now he uses the tricks and schemes of the underworld to help those who need the kind of assistance only a scoundrel can provide. His distrust of the nobility runs deep and his services do not extend to the gorgeous high-born soldier who personifies everything Jack will never be.
  A soldier untarnished by vice
  After the chaos of war, Oliver Rivington craves the safe predictability of a gentleman’s life-one that doesn’t include sparring with a ne’er-do-well who flouts the law at every turn. But Jack tempts Oliver like no other man has before. Soon his yearning for the unapologetic criminal is only matched by Jack’s pleasure in watching his genteel polish crumble every time they’re together.
  Two men only meant for each other

  M/M Pairing
  Gay Characters
  Historical (Georgian/Regency)
  PTSD
  Class Differences
  Paragon of Virtue/Charming Rogue
  Secret Relationship
  Warning For:
  Mentions of past/off-page abuse

  Jack Turner is your typical ne’er-do-well – a bit of a rogue and purposefully unrefined, willingly amoral and definitely not a gentleman, but he’s also kind, occasionally selfless and absolutely not the unworthy scoundrel he believes himself to be. Oliver Rivington represents the finest attributes nobility and breeding can offer, bursting with noblesse oblige and as golden-good as his bright yellow hair… and is one of the loneliest men in England. Will these two opposites attract enough to realise how much they not only need each other, but deserve them too? I think we all know the answer is a resounding YES, but in typical romance fashion we figure that out long before these charmingly oblivious boys do. 😉
  I was initially disinclined to read this as ‘shirtless muscled man’, while obviously popular for cover art usually doesn’t hold my interest, but when I saw it was published by Avon (and with the same ‘This is a romance novel’ font as the rest of their titles), I realised it was actually a very traditional historical romance cover, except instead of a maiden swooning into her lover’s arms it has two men instead. And that casual use of known tropes is fantastic; I don’t know if this is the first m/m title from Avon or just the first I’ve noticed, but I’m pleased to see them offering ‘niche’ romance as if it were no different from their regular titles like this.
  There’s a lot to enjoy in this book, from cheeky banter to the inclusion of women in the narrative, especially making the realities of female life a driving force for the action. It was a nice surprise to find a mystery as the central focus of the plot, which wasn’t indicated at all from the synopsis. While the mystery itself isn’t complicated, I was certainly kept in suspense wondering not only who the perpetrator was but their motives as well, which I’m sure the author will be chuffed to know I didn’t guess until almost the final reveal. I don’t have PTSD but I do have several anxiety disorders that share similar symptoms, and the depiction of Rivington’s emotional and sensory experiences and disassociation felt real and familiar to me. I did think the book was a tad over-long, and possibly could have included more socio-political awareness for the period, but I’m certainly not going to hold that against this admittedly sweet (yes, it is!) and sexy romance.
  This is an impressive debut that has been rightly popular with bookbloggers since its publication a little over a fortnight ago, and I look forward to reading the sequel next year!

  Cat writes steamy, upbeat historical romances. They usually take place in the Regency, generally have at least one LGBTQ+ main character, and always have happy endings.
  Before writing, Cat was a lawyer and a teacher. She enjoys crossword puzzles, geeking out over birds, gardening badly, and–of course–reading. In high school, her parents went away for a week, and instead of throwing raucous parties, Cat read Middlemarch. Even worse, Cat remembers little of a trip through Europe because she was busy reading Mansfield Park. Her proudest moment was when she realized her kids were shaping up to be hopeless bookworms too. Currently, her favorite genres are romance, mystery and fantasy.
  Cat lives with her husband, three kids, and dog in an improbably small house. After growing up in the northeast, she now lives in a part of the south where every body of water seems to contain alligators or sharks, and every restaurant serves biscuits and gravy. She likes the biscuits, but not so much the alligators.
  Find her online at: https://catsebastian.com/

• Binge On Books
  http://bingeonbooks.com/historical-romance-review-the-ruin-of-the-rake-by-cat-sebastian/
  Word count: 908

  Historical Romance Review: The Ruin of the Rake by Cat Sebastian

  October 26, 2017 by Judith
  Title and Author: The Ruin of a Rake
  Published by: Avon Impulse
  Format: ARC
  Genre: Historical romance
  Order at: Publisher | Amazon | B&N
  Reviewed by: Anya
  What to Expect: Enemies-to-lovers story with a unique twist. And kittens!
  Plot: Rogue. Libertine. Rake. Lord Courtenay has been called many things and has never much cared. But after the publication of a salacious novel supposedly based on his exploits, he finds himself shunned from society. Unable to see his nephew, he is willing to do anything to improve his reputation, even if that means spending time with the most proper man in London.
  Julian Medlock has spent years becoming the epitome of correct behavior. As far as he cares, if Courtenay finds himself in hot water, it’s his own fault for behaving so badly—and being so blasted irresistible. But when Julian’s sister asks him to rehabilitate Courtenay’s image, Julian is forced to spend time with the man he loathes—and lusts after—most.
  As Courtenay begins to yearn for a love he fears he doesn’t deserve, Julian starts to understand how desire can drive a man to abandon all sense of propriety. But he has secrets he’s determined to keep, because if the truth came out, it would ruin everyone he loves. Together, they must decide what they’re willing to risk for love.
  Review: The Ruin of a Rake continues the story of Lord Courtenay, who first appears in The Lawrence Brown Affair (check out Erin’s wonderful review of that book here http://bingeonbooks.com/historical-romance-review-the-lawrence-browne-affair-by-cat-sebastian/). Enemies-to-lovers is one of my favorite tropes, its promise of juicy angst never failing to draw me in. Add a historical setting with finely dressed, refined gentlemen trying to suppress their longing for one another and yeah, I’m ALL IN. I came to this book good and ready and Cat Sebastian didn’t disappoint me.
  The story starts with Julian and Courtenay forming a hostile alliance after Eleanor, Julian’s sister, demands his assistance in reforming Courtenay’s bad reputation. At the beginning, I was convinced that Courtenay would be the ultimate Victorian bad boy trying to lure Julian with his wicked yet pleasurable ways and Julian would be prudish and boring. However, as the story progresses, the true nature of their characters emerges. Under his immaculate exterior, Julian is full of secrets and doesn’t have any qualms about using anything or anyone for his own gain. His only goal in life is advancing in high society and at times he seems almost machine-like with the constant calculations and schemes. At times I was wondering if he was capable of loving anyone at all.
  Similarly to Julian’s true nature coming into light, we get more and more glimpses of Courtenay’s inner self. He is starved for love, friendship or even basic human affection. His family rejected him (spoiler: his mother is an appalling greedy hag), his sister died and he is being kept away from the nephew he adores. It quickly becomes apparent that under the veneer of a rake, Courtenay is very lonely and bewildered about his own affairs. Deep down, he doesn’t believe he deserves to be loved by anyone, much to Julian’s disbelief. He has been lusting after a fantasy Courtenay for a long time and he isn’t prepared for the real man behind the image of a scoundrel. I think that his desire to see Courtenay happy is what finally cracked Julian’s armor of propriety and isolation.
  There were so many things about their relationship that appealed to me. I loved their banter from the start (grumpy Julian is hilarious) and the way it developed into affectionate bickering. Courtenay’s slowly growing fondness for Julian is adorable as is Julian being very protective of him in return. They blossom into better versions of themselves: Julian realizes that he needs to be more vulnerable and open to love and Courtenay is finally confident enough to go after what he wants. And their sex scenes are delicious. Lord have mercy, I just had to fan myself at the memory. This book is a perfect combo of charming and sizzling to end the series on a high note.
  Now let me rave about Eleanor for a minute. While the romance between Julian and Courtenay is the main focus of the book, Eleanor shines in her own right and I couldn’t help falling in love with her. She has the whole package: the fierce loyalty to her friends who aren’t acceptable in the eyes of society (Lord Radnor, Courtenay), her bravery in the face of public scorn, and her brilliant, inquisitive mind. A total win of a secondary character with this girl!
  What you might not like/doesn’t work for you: You might prefer your rakes on a more villainy side. Courtenay will make you want to hug him, A LOT.
  What you will love: An interesting twist of the traditional rake/his savior trope. Cortenay’s sweet, sweet love for Julian. Julian’s desire to protect Courtenay at any cost. MY HEART, MY HEART. Eleanor is everything. And so many kittens! Any book wins extra cookies from me for kittens.

• Romantic Historical Reviews
  http://www.romantichistoricalreviews.com/virtual-tour-unmasked-by-the-marquess-regency-imposters-1-by-cat-sebastian/
  Word count: 2413

  VIRTUAL TOUR: Unmasked by the Marquess (Regency Imposters #1) by Cat Sebastian
  19th April 2018
  28th April 2018
  Caz
  0

  The one you love…
  Robert Selby is determined to see his sister make an advantageous match. But he has two problems: the Selbys have no connections or money and Robert is really a housemaid named Charity Church. She’s enjoyed every minute of her masquerade over the past six years, but she knows her pretense is nearing an end. Charity needs to see her beloved friend married well and then Robert Selby will disappear…forever.
  May not be who you think…
  Alistair, Marquess of Pembroke, has spent years repairing the estate ruined by his wastrel father, and nothing is more important than protecting his fortune and name. He shouldn’t be so beguiled by the charming young man who shows up on his doorstep asking for favors. And he certainly shouldn’t be thinking of all the disreputable things he’d like to do to the impertinent scamp.
  But is who you need…
  When Charity’s true nature is revealed, Alistair knows he can’t marry a scandalous woman in breeches, and Charity isn’t about to lace herself into a corset and play a respectable miss. Can these stubborn souls learn to sacrifice what they’ve always wanted for a love that is more than they could have imagined?

  OUR REVIEW
  Publisher and Release Date: Avon Impulse, April 2018
  Time and Setting: Regency England
  Heat Level: 2
  Genre: Historical Romance
  Rating:
  Review by Hollis Jade
  While my rating for Unmasked by the Marquess is the lowest I’ve ever given to a title by Cat Sebastian, I don’t want any misunderstanding here: it has nothing to do with the fact that this wasn’t an m/m romance and any disappointment regarding that fact. I’m not disappointed at all. I knew going into this, her first book in her Regency Imposters series, that this story was an m/f pairing with a twist. Unfortunately, I just wasn’t fully compelled by the story, likely because we were pulled in too many different directions by the end of it; nor was I as sold on the romance as I have been with the author’s other couples, even though I liked both principals quite a bit.
  Our first introduction to Charity Church is while she’s in disguise as Robert Selby. Why, you ask? Because Charity is trying to do right by the girl who was raised alongside her, more or less as a sister. The real Robert is two years in the grave, the real Robert was Charity’s sweetheart, the real Robert thought it fine to send Charity to Cambridge in his stead to receive an education he couldn’t care less about, meaning she was already used to dressing like a man and had wholeheartedly embraced the freedom afforded to men in this time period. In the aftermath of Robert’s passing, Charity wants to settle his sister Louisa in a good marriage and so keeps up the assumed identity. Coming from nowhere Northumberland, however, makes an introduction to London society rather difficult when you have neither money nor title. But Charity has pinned her hopes on the new Marquess of Pembroke, who just happens to have been the son of an old friend of Louisa’s late father, knowing their circumstances would change dramatically if only he will make some introductions on Louisa’s behalf.
  Unfortunately for the Charity, she isn’t the only one looking for favours. Alistair de Lacey is just trying to keep his estate afloat and bring back some respectability to the Pembroke title after the damage done to it by his father’s gambling, womanising and spending. He finds it easy to deny the request made by his late father’s mistress to help launch her eldest daughter (Alastair’s half-sister) into society, but not so easy to say the same to the strangely compelling young man who has turned up in his parlour. Nonetheless, Alistair turns him down.
  Naturally, despite the rejection, Alistair crosses paths with Robert again, and this time, instead of resisting the pull, instead of trying to convince himself that he doesn’t find Robert engaging and delightful, the marquess embraces it, embraces this new friendship, even knowing that the longer they are in each other’s orbit, the less he’s able to deny his attraction to the young man, for all his unpolished manners and too-long hair. Likewise, the more time Charity spends time with the well-mannered,, proper peer, the more she notices that his aloofness isn’t the truth of him. Not that she’s one to speak of truths.
  What surprised me about this story was how quickly the lies were brought to light. Sadly we are all too familiar with romances that drag them out until a misunderstanding or discovery blows it up in the characters’ faces, and there’s none of that here. Sure, there are things (a lot of things) left unsaid that we discover along the way, but I appreciated that the author didn’t rely on those for epic over-the-top drama or conflict.
  I truly liked both characters, though Alistair had the better character arc by far – which is understandable, as he was the one who was set in his curmudgeonly ways, only to be changed for the better by falling in love (in fact, one of my favourite scenes features a moment where this same sentiment is more or less expressed, and by a rather unexpected character). And I liked the representation afforded by a character like Charity who isn’t just dressing like a man to hide her identity for one reason or another, but because she finally feels like her true self when not weighed down by skirts or the mantle of her sex. Ultimately though, I wish there had been more focus on her, instead of the drama happening around her, or even some discussion around her childhood and any struggles she might have had prior to discovering her gender fluidity. I felt Charity could’ve been better developed but still appreciate that this kind of story, with this kind of character, exists.
  As for the supporting cast, they, too, could’ve been better developed. I found Keating, a former boxer and fairly disreputable fellow playing at being Charity’s manservant, interesting and yet totally underutilized. I liked the idea of Amelia Allenby, the eldest daughter of Alistair’s father’s mistress, though we learn nothing about her except she’s at risk of becoming a bluestocking and also develops a close friendship with Charity acting as Robert. And while Louisa and Alistair’s brother Gilbert were both a little silly, as were some of the actions they took near the book’s climax, it was harmless more than annoying. But likewise, Louisa just felt like a convenient excuse for the plot, a stunning beauty and nothing more, though Gilbert at least had some personality. even if it wasn’t much of one. I just… couldn’t keep myself checked in. There were a lot of elements at play which had a lot of potential had only a few of them been used and better fleshed out. Ultimately, however, I never felt as drawn to this couple, as of Sebastian’s other couples.
  Unmasked by the Marquess might not be my favourite romance by this author but I did appreciate all the dialogue around how Charity identified and how it was not a choice or a role to play. As I’m sure you can guess, the fact that she is not Robert Selby does come out, and I liked how accepting Alistair was and how, when it came down to it, gender didn’t matter for him. Whether in trousers as a man, or dressed as woman, he was very into Charity/Robert, and Alistair’s bisexuality didn’t allow for any self-recriminations over being attracted to Charity when she was Robert. That being said, I wish more time had been spent on the realistic hurdles they would have to overcome in order to be together instead of just glossing over them and wrapping it up with a convenient bow at the end. In no way am I turning up my nose at the HEA, because isn’t that why we all read romance? I just wish this had ended up being less typical HR fare when all was said and done.
  Would I still recommend this title? Yes. It actually might be the best offering for those readers who love historical romance but aren’t sure about the queer side of things and would definitely be a good introduction to test the waters of the sub-genre. And I absolutely applaud it for the representation it offers. I just wish more time had been spent on what made this novel unique, and that it been given an ending better suited to that uniqueness, instead of fitting it into the standard HR format.
  EXCERPT
  “Regardless,” Charity said, “it would be odd if I refused his invitation to join his club. I didn’t drink all that much, and I didn’t lose any money at the tables. I promise that there’s nothing for you to worry about.” At least, nothing more than the usual. “Besides, since when do you object to a gentleman having a bit of harmless fun?”
  Louisa stared at her, mouth hanging open. “Charity, you are not a gentleman,” she whispered.
  Charity felt herself blush. It wasn’t as if she could protest, but the fact of the matter was that she felt more like a gentleman than she did anything else. Cheeks hot, she said, “You know what I meant.”
  They stood there for a moment, regarding one another—Louisa in her white dressing gown and hair in curling papers, Charity in rumpled evening clothes, cravat rakishly askew.
  “What are you going to do after I marry, Charity?” Louisa asked, breaking the silence.
  “I don’t know.” Charity glanced away from Louisa’s face, taking in the peeling paint on the door frame. “There’s the gamekeeper’s cottage at Fenshawe. I could stay there,” she said, knowing it for a lie.
  Louisa wrapped her dressing gown tightly around her. “But we won’t own Fenshawe after Cousin Clifton inherits.”
  The “we” was generous. Charity had never owned anything, least of all the estate of Fenshawe. Robbie had owned it.
  And since it had been entailed, it ought to have passed to his cousin. But when Robbie died, Charity had already been attending Cambridge under his name. Her thoughts muddled by grief and confusion, it didn’t seem so terrible to keep quiet about Robbie’s death and step into his shoes at home as well. The cousin, living in Dorset, could be kept in ignorance.
  Sometimes when Charity was having a hard time falling asleep, she tried to think of exactly how many laws she had broken, how many ways she ought to have been hanged or transported. But Robbie had scarcely any property that wasn’t entailed. Louisa, not yet sixteen, would have been destitute and homeless. For the two years since Robbie’s death, they had stinted and scraped together enough money out of the estate’s income to fund this season in London and put together a modest dowry for Louisa. The plan was for Louisa to marry and then they would figure out a way to set things right, to let the cousin inherit and to allow Charity to go back to being herself.
  Whoever that was.
  “I could live with you, after your marriage,” Charity countered, already knowing that it could never happen.
  “You know I’d love nothing more,” Louisa said, and Charity believed it. “But I just realized that whoever I marry will recognize you as my brother. You can’t very well put on a gown and hope nobody notices the resemblance.”
  Charity had known that from the beginning. There could be no happy ending to this deception. Even when Robbie was alive and healthy and brash and persuasive, she had understood that if she went to Cambridge in his stead there would be no going back to being plain Charity.
  Even if there were, she didn’t want any part of it. There would be no more gowns, no more floors to scrub.
  Neither could she continue as Robert Selby one minute longer than strictly necessary. Charity didn’t have the stomach for it.
  She would be alone, adrift, with no name and no friends. She would, in fact, be in much the same situation she had been in before arriving at Fenshawe over fifteen years ago. The only difference was that this time her aloneness would be the result of her own choice, a sacrifice she had made to protect the one person who was left to her. She looked fondly at Louisa.
  “Charity, where will you go?” Louisa asked with her eyes wide. “What will we do?”
  She leaned forward and kissed Louisa on the cheek. “Never mind that, my girl. I have it all in hand,” she lied.
  GIVEAWAY
  To win a copy of Cat Sebastian’s THE RUIN OF A RAKE – enter the giveaway HERE
  GIVEAWAY TERMS & CONDITIONS: Open to US shipping addresses only. One winner will receive a paperback copy of The Ruin of a Rake by Cat Sebastian. This giveaway is administered by Pure Textuality PR on behalf of Avon Romance. Giveaway ends 4/22/2018 @ 11:59pm EST. Avon Romance will send the winning copies out to the winner directly. Limit one entry per reader and mailing address. Duplicates will be deleted.
  ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  Cat Sebastian lives in a swampy part of the South with her husband, three kids, and two dogs. Before her kids were born, she practiced law and taught high school and college writing. When she isn’t reading or writing, she’s doing crossword puzzles, bird watching, and wondering where she put her coffee cup. You can connect with Cat at: her website * ~ * Facebook * ~ * Twitter * ~ * Goodreads * ~ * Amazon * ~ * Sign up for her newsletter HERE

• The Good, The Bad and The Unread
  http://goodbadandunread.com/2018/05/15/review-unmasked-by-the-marquess-by-cat-sebastian/
  Word count: 812

  REVIEW: Unmasked by the Marquess by Cat Sebastian
  by Stevie | May 15, 2018 | Review |

  Stevie‘s review of Unmasked by the Marquess (The Regency Impostors, Book 1) by Cat Sebastian
  Historical Genderfluid and Bisexual Roamnce published by Avon Impulse 17 Apr 18
  I’ve seen a lot more novels with non-genderconforming characters over the past couple of years, not that there were many before that – and next to none from mainstream publishers. So it always makes me happy to see another such novel appear on my radar, whether from a new-to-me author or from one whose books I’ve previously enjoyed. In this case, Cat Sebastian kicks off a whole new historical series with a story about an unexpected romance between two characters who manage to defy the conventions of their time, and quite possibly those of most other eras too.

  Alistair de Lacey inherited the marquisate of Pembroke from his father, along with some hefty debts and a number of inconvenient relatives – and other persons – with claims on his time and resources. As a result of that legacy, and the memory of previous Marquess’s reputations, he is determined to be the embodiment of propriety. However, he also feels obliged to fulfil his father’s promises – such as making sure his half-sisters from an illicit relationship are married well. Just as he’s figuring out how to accomplish that task, Alistair receives an unexpected visitor: Robert Selby, who claims that his younger sister was a god-daughter of Alistair’s late father and now also needs help in securing a husband.
  Alistair agrees to help and soon finds himself spending more and more time with Robert, to whom he is inconveniently attracted, introducing the newcomer around town, and inviting him to social gatherings. Robert, however, is not exactly whom he claims to be: the real Robert Selby died two years before, having lived a quiet life on his estate while his good friend, former housemaid Charity Church, attended university on his behalf and received the education she cared far more about than did the real Robert. Still mourning Robert, Charity wants only to see his sister well settled – Robert died without making sufficient provision for her in his will – after which she plans to find a way for the estate to revert to the rightful heir and then to make her own way in the world one way or another. It’s just as inconvenient for her as that the man most able to help accomplish her aims is as attractive as he is attracted to her, especially since Charity has no intention of returning to conventional feminine behaviour once her time as Robert has ended.
  I really enjoyed this book. The secondary romance involving Robert’s sister got a little convoluted at times, and I’d have liked to see a little less of that in favour of seeing more about how Alistair and Charity/Robert negotiated their relationship. There were some fabulous other secondary characters, though. I particularly liked Robert’s valet, who had joined the unconventional household early in Robert’s university career, and had secrets of his own that Charity was happy to keep in return for his continuing her and Robert’s deception. The rightful heir to the Selby estate made a good antagonist, and the elderly aunt brought in as chaperone to Robert’s sister showed a delightfully amoral streak at times. All in all a fun read, and I’m keen to see where this series goes next.
  Grade: B
  Summary:
  The one you love…
  Robert Selby is determined to see his sister make an advantageous match. But he has two problems: the Selbys have no connections or money and Robert is really a housemaid named Charity Church. She’s enjoyed every minute of her masquerade over the past six years, but she knows her pretense is nearing an end. Charity needs to see her beloved friend married well and then Robert Selby will disappear…forever.
  May not be who you think…
  Alistair, Marquess of Pembroke, has spent years repairing the estate ruined by his wastrel father, and nothing is more important than protecting his fortune and name. He shouldn’t be so beguiled by the charming young man who shows up on his doorstep asking for favors. And he certainly shouldn’t be thinking of all the disreputable things he’d like to do to the impertinent scamp.
  But is who you need…
  When Charity’s true nature is revealed, Alistair knows he can’t marry a scandalous woman in breeches, and Charity isn’t about to lace herself into a corset and play a respectable miss. Can these stubborn souls learn to sacrifice what they’ve always wanted for a love that is more than they could have imagined?

• Kirkus Reviews Online
  https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/cat-sebastian/the-soldiers-scoundrel/
  Word count: 425

  QUOTE:
  Sebastian turns in a solid suspense plot, but the impeccably constructed psychology is the winner, with its intricate layers of motives, desires, and fears.

  An accomplished, thoroughly winning debut.

  THE SOLDIER'S SCOUNDREL
  by Cat Sebastian
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  KIRKUS REVIEW
  A familiar Regency opposites-attract romance becomes something freshly seductive in the hands of a skilled newcomer.

  After a decade in the army, shaken by the depravity of the Spanish battlefields and disabled by a gunshot wound to the leg, Oliver Rivington returns gratefully to the social order of Regency London and the cosseted life afforded him as the son of an earl. He doesn’t anticipate having to visit the offices of Jack Turner, a rough-and-ready fixer to whom his sister Charlotte paid 200 pounds for services Oliver shudders to imagine. Turner takes one look at the gorgeous nobleman and is reminded why he went into business in the first place: to help others get out from under the thumbs of men like Rivington. Raised in the slums of St. Giles, the son of criminals, Jack now uses his rather shady skill set for good. He’d like to send Rivington on his way, but the memory of stumbling upon the handsome blond in a rapturous embrace with another young fop gives him pause. "There were few enough men who shared Jack's preferences—let alone sons of earls—that he certainly wasn't likely to forget a single one." Realizing they must work together to help Charlotte out of her predicament, each utilizes tactics afforded to him by his social position. Watching Jack, who has a kind of Sherlock-ian cleverness, pursue his quarry is one of the unexpected delights of this intelligent novel. Sebastian deploys dialogue, especially the men's frequent disagreements, to great and often hilarious effect. When the sexual tension becomes too much to resist, the way forward is clouded by social disapproval, Oliver’s unreflective obedience to the law, and Jack’s distrust of both the nobility and his own heart. Sebastian turns in a solid suspense plot, but the impeccably constructed psychology is the winner, with its intricate layers of motives, desires, and fears.

  An accomplished, thoroughly winning debut.

  Pub Date: Sept. 1st, 2016
  ISBN: 978-0-0626-4248-6
  Page count: 352pp
  Publisher: Avon/HarperCollins
  Review Posted Online: July 20th, 2016
  Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1st, 2016

• All About Romace
  https://allaboutromance.com/book-review/the-soldiers-scoundrel-by-cat-sebastian/
  Word count: 1230

  QUOTE:
  Sebastian has crafted a very well-balanced tale in which the relationship between the protagonists takes centre stage, while also offering an intriguing sub-plot about the blackmail investigation. As I said at the outset, she takes a look at the inequality in a justice system that permitted the upper classes to – sometimes literally – get away with murder while it would hang a starving man for stealing a crust.

  Caz Owens
  Desert Isle Keeper
  The Soldier's Scoundrel
  Cat Sebastian

  Buy This Book
  Cat Sebastian’s début historical romance, The Soldier’s Scoundrel is a thoroughly enjoyable, extremely accomplished piece of work that sees a prickly former-thief-turned-investigator working with the son of an earl to establish the identity of a blackmailer and falling in love along the way. This is no light-hearted romp, however; during the course of the story, the author explores the realities of the class differences lying between the two men and takes a look at the inequalities inherent in a justice system which really only operated in favour of the wealthy and influential.

  Former valet, former thief and former perpetrator of various other illegal activities, Jack Turner now runs his own business working as an investigator and righter of wrongs for those in society – the poor and women – who have little or no recourse to justice via normal means. His life on the wrong side of the law and then as a servant has only served to reinforce his own opinions about the ‘nobs’, the gentlemen of the nobility who largely regard themselves as untouchable and if his work gives him the opportunity to even the score a little, then he regards it as a job well done.

  So Jack isn’t best pleased when Mr Oliver Rivington – second son of the Earl of Rutland – bursts into his office one day, demands to know why his sister recently paid Jack a large sum of money, and refuses to leave until he gets an answer. Realising he can’t get rid of the man without causing a scene, Jack allots Rivington a seat in a dark corner while he interviews his latest client, a young, married lady who is being blackmailed over a series of letters exchanged with a former beau.

  A serious leg wound after a decade in the army has led the former Captain Rivington to sell his commission and he has returned home eager to embark upon a life of quiet predictability, free from the chaos and frequent lawlessless of the army. His experiences with the sort of riot and mayhem wreaked by a victorious force following a battle have made him determined to uphold the law and respect due process, so the idea that Jack Turner could have employed less than legal means in order to help Charlotte sits badly with him, no matter that whatever Jack actually did has kept her drunken, abusive husband away overseas for the last two years.

  Both men are rather surprised to recognise the sudden sexual attraction that crackles between them, and both ruthlessly tamp it down. Jack doesn’t want anything to do with aristrocrats, no matter how pretty they are, and Oliver is most certainly not going to become embroiled with a criminal. Realising that Jack is probably going to resort to law-breaking in order to help Mrs. Wraxhall, Oliver is determined to find a way of getting the lady’s letters back without using illegal means to do so, and begins making inquiries of his own.

  When it seems that a journey to Mrs. Wraxhall’s former home in Yorkshire will be needed to dig up more information on the lady’s past, Jack very reluctantly agrees to accept Oliver’s help. After all, a prettily behaved, good-looking gentleman like him will be able to open doors that are closed to Jack, and Oliver will probably be able to charm people into revealing confidences that Jack’s gruffness would be unlikely to encourage. And while his intense fascination with Rivington irritates him, the attraction is obviously mutual and also impossible to ignore, so Jack decides that he might as well indulge himself while he can. It’s not something he does very often; he doesn’t do emotional entanglements and the only people in his life he trusts are his brother and sister, but he’s certainly not averse to taking Oliver to bed.

  Oliver is similarly captivated by Jack – a man he is coming to know as having his own code of honour that he lives by, no matter how strongly he might deny it. Oliver recognises that Jack’s gruffness is his way of keeping people at arms’ length and he very much wants to break through that barrier and show Jack that he’s worth caring about.

  Cat Sebastian has crafted a very well-balanced tale in which the relationship between the protagonists takes centre stage, while also offering an intriguing sub-plot about the blackmail investigation. As I said at the outset, she takes a look at the inequality in a justice system that permitted the upper classes to – sometimes literally – get away with murder while it would hang a starving man for stealing a crust. And worse, a system that would turn a blind eye to a woman trapped in an abusive marriage or a woman being threatened in the vilest terms. But there is no heavy-handed sermonising or info-dumping; her observations are seamlessly incorporated into the plot, adding richness and colour to an already readable and entertaining story.

  But there’s no question that Jack and Oliver’s romance is at the heart of this book, and it’s by turns funny, tender, sexy, and wonderfully romantic. The two men complement each other in terms of their personalities and outlook; Jack is all rough edges, where Oliver is polished politeness and charm; Jack is outspoken where Oliver is more considered – and they make a terrific couple. I particularly liked their playfulness with each other, and the sense that, in spite of the class difference, they are equals in the relationship. I’ve not read m/m romance very widely, but in some I’ve read there is one experienced character and one who is less so or perhaps somewhat uncomfortable with his sexuality. It’s refreshing to see that isn’t the case here, and I really liked how, despite his blushes, Oliver is shown to be every bit as comfortable with himself and his preferences as Jack – and, when called for, just as naughty 😉 Even though they hide things from each other to start with, once they get to know and accept one another, there’s a lovely honesty to their relationship, a true caring that goes deeper than lust or attraction, and Ms. Sebastian has done a superb job in conveying that depth through their words and actions.

  The Soldier’s Scoundrel captivated me from start to finish and is most definitely going on to my keeper shelf. The central romance is wonderfully portrayed, the characterisation is excellent and I loved Oliver and Jack to bits. I can’t wait for more from Ms. Sebastian and am eagerly awaiting her next book – about Jack’s flamboyant brother, Georgie – next year.

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