Fun! Interesting choice to leave the obvious Robin Hood/Maid Marian fanfic for the second book in the series, lol. ( )

Edward Percy Talbot, Lord Holland, heir to the Duke of Clare isn't. That is unless he can find £500 to pay the blackmailer who has proof of his father's real first marriage. His childhood friend Marian, is married to his father and her future is likewise endangered so they plot to enlist the help of the notorious highwayman Gladhand Jack, now retired, who as Kit Webb is leading a boring life running a London coffee house. Kit doesn't want to help, his badly damaged leg being only part of his hesitation, but he does want Edward who can't seem to take his eyes off him. A fun M/M adventure romance that lingers a bit on class different angst, but very little. ( )

The eighteenth century was superior to the nineteenth century, and Cat Sebastian knows this. Actually both centuries were awful, but before the terriblefication of men's fashion, the rise of middle class etiquette, and the decline of the sword duel, at least life was occasionally fun. People respected an aesthetic, is all I'm saying.

Set in the mid-1700s, The Queer Principles of Kit Webb follows a semi-retired highwayman, Kit, and a nobleman's son with a legitimacy issue, Percy, who team up to Do Some Crimes. Oh, and it's a literal coffee shop AU (I am really warming to this trope). I found this slow burn romance very winning, both in its emotional intensity and its smart characterizations—in fact, I'd say it's one of my favorites of Sebastian's novels so far.

Kit, whom I pictured with the visage of young Sean Bean and the affect of Luke from Gilmore Girls, is a sweetheart with a tragic past that's sensitively depicted. The novel beautifully subverts the trope of the "reformed rogue," making it clear that Kit is no bad boy and his principles are a radical correction to the systemic injustices of his era. Earlier this year I finished I Know What I Am: The Life and Times of Artemisia Gentileschi, a book that put me solidly on the side of brigandage as a form of political resistance, so I was delighted to find that Sebastian's novel cosigns this thesis.

Percy, meanwhile, is sassy and sartorially on point—somehow he even makes wigs sexy—without devolving into caricature. I appreciated that the novel gives Kit and Percy space to enjoy the material culture of nobility without consenting to the power structures that shaped it. Our desires are inextricable from our culture; we all have problematic faves.

Percy is also a mean flirt in a way that, to my utter surprise, really does it for me. How, how in the world, has the author reclaimed this most hateful of tropes? All I can say is that Percy's snideness never feels like negging. Perhaps it's because the power imbalance between Percy and Kit cuts both ways, perhaps because Kit makes no secret of his interest in Percy. (Now I'm imagining an alternate Star Wars where, every time Han calls Leia "Princess," Leia is at the same moment openly checking him out. See, doesn't it fix everything?)

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb incorporates some light swashbuckling and political intrigue; the romance plot comes first, but I thought the action/mystery was readable and fairly compelling. Marian, Percy's childhood friend (and stepmother), is an intriguing character and their relationship felt genuine. I was slightly disappointed that a number of plot threads are unresolved or left to our imaginations, but we get enough of the story to be satisfied with the HEA, and maybe a sequel...?

I received this ARC from Avon and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Percy is the son of a duke wanting to rob his father, Kit is the proprietor of a coffee shop. Together they make a great pair. They help each other come to terms with things going on in their life in a sassy, fun, and entertaining way that keeps you turning the page.

I was expecting a bit more from the ending, it was a little lake luster for me, but overall it was a great read. ( )

I know I borrowed this but did I read it? It sounds vaguely familiar but that's all. I must dip into it again,