Randolph is the last of an ancient line of arcanists, commanding deep secrets and extraordinary powers as he struggles to fulfil his family duties in a war-torn world. He knows there's something odd going on with the haunted-looking man who keeps turning up in all the wrong places. The only question for Randolph is whether Saul is victim or villain.
Saul hasn’t trusted anyone in a long time. But as the supernatural threat grows, along with the desire between them, he’ll need to believe in evasive, enraging, devastatingly attractive Randolph. Because he may be the only man who can save Saul’s life—or his soul.
Comment: KJ Charles is a well liked author by many readers, myself included. Counting this one, I've now read 13 books and of them all, this is only the second one I gave a grade of three stars (or a five/six in my personal blog system). I'm quite glad I have this author whose work I look for to read, but this story in particular didn't captivate me as much as others.
Saul is an archaeologist who was disgracefully dismissed after the war and he is now only able to support himself by working for a man who is more interested in myths and fantasy than actual historic accuracy. He is doing some work for his employer when he meets Randolph Glyde, a man he finds attractive but whom he realizes is showing up in many places where Saul is at as well. While dealing a shared experience, Saul notices that more than their paths crossing, is the apparent supernatural aspect of what happens that drives them closer. But what will happen when he learns that there is actually magic and fantastic situations ongoing around in the world? More so, when something will affect his life too?
It seems that the author's work can be divided into two main genres: historical romance and historical romance with paranormal elements. This book falls into this second "label", let's call it, and I don't tend to prefer one above the other - I've liked both equally so far - but this time, this story lost me there for a while.
I liked Saul and Randolph as individuals and it was certainly very easy to recognize the pattern of personalities found in most books by this author - usually, one protagonist is more self assured/confidant and the other seemingly ore vulnerable but of course the fun part is to see them interact and find a way to complement each other. I do think this was achieved here, for I don't think the author would ever write badly, but I wasn't as taken by these two as I hoped. I liked Saul for his take on life after several disappointments, but while I liked Randolph in general, his personal story failed to captivate me.
I think the romance was fine, I was very glad they found each other, but their relationship seemed too superficial to me. Things were very much similar to what is the method in other books I've read but here it felt less determinant to the overall feel of the story . In part, I've gotten this impression because of the paranormal elements. In other books by KJ Charles where this is included, I've still enjoyed the characters' interactions a lot, but here the paranormal elements seemed they stole the attention and not in the best way.
To me, the magic and paranormal beings mentioned, as well as other things, failed to make the sense I imagined the author intended. Things were a bit vague at times but even when they weren't, I was still left confused by some, and there were elements I couldn't focus on or that I couldn't easily envision. I don't remember having this reaction when it came to other titles, in fact, I've given high grades to other PNR romances by this author... must be that the sequence of situations and information just didn't feel to match, in my perception.
I think the idea of them uniting efforts to battle a creepy unknown entity (my take on this plot) while dealing with attraction and secondary characters' interference is as great as in may other books out there with this idea; plus the author writes well. However, the sequence of situations was confusing like I said and at times I struggled to see the importance of some things, except if they were meant to force the protagonists into a decision/action. I also think there were parts of the plot which were a little too slow, in the sense that a lot is described, not much is explained.
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