How To Fake It In Society by KJ Charles

TL;DR: Not my favorite of KJ Charles but still has some great strengths.
Source: NetGalley, so many thanks to the publisher!

Plot: Titus comes into unexpected wealth and Nico appears to help him manage it.
Characters: I did like our primary characters, sadly the surrounding ones were very thin.
Setting: Not the strongest I’ve seen from this author.
Romance: Again, not my favorite from this author but I do love a more dominant short love interest.

Summary:

It is 1821 and Nicolas-Marc, Comte de Valois de La Motte is making a splash in London Society. The son of Jeanne de Valois de La Motte, infamous for stealing a priceless diamond necklace meant for Marie Antoinette, Nico hopes to restore his wronged mother’s reputation, if only he can raise the funds. But he must operate with great secrecy, because the Bourbon dynasty murdered his mother, and he fears for his life.

At least, that’s what he tells Titus Pilcrow. Titus was a simple shopkeeper, making and selling artists’ paints, when he found himself suddenly married to an immensely wealthy woman who wanted to disinherit her nephew on her deathbed. As word spreads of his fortune, Titus finds himself a target of every scammer and beggar in London . . . including one Nicolas-Marc, Comte de Valois de La Motte.

Nico is on his last legs, out of money, and on the run from some terrifying gangsters. When Titus offers Nico a space in his household, it’s the perfect chance for him to exploit London’s newest golden purse – until he falls in love with the man he needs to cheat. Still, Nico is sure they can have a happy ending together. If he can just find his way out of his own web of lies . . .

Thoughts:

KJ Charles has been a go to author for me for a long time. In general I always enjoy her work, some more than others, and this one was on the low end of the scale for me. And to put it quickly and simply, I think it was just much more slower paced than I wanted.

Titus is a colorist, someone who makes paints and colors for artists, who ends up marrying a dying client to help her keep her fortunes out of the hands of her nephew. Nico is the French ‘con man’ who was going to do the task and help both himself and her, but was simply not available at her death. So Nico approaches Titus first to get some money from him, then begins to help him and the two become friends and of course more.

Now I loved parts of this. The historical details, especially about paints and colors (my college degree is in art) really tickled my buttons. My biggest complaint is just that it felt a bit to slow and long. Perhaps if we’d trimmed 50-60 pages this would have been the perfect cozy romance read.

Overall I definitely do recommend this one but I say go in expecting the slow and steady pace and you’ll be fine. If you expect too much, too fast you’re going to be disappointed. But as always KJ Charles is always a great author to pick up.