firewhiskeyreader

These reviews are various amounts of delayed, but if y’all have TBRs like mine, you may not have gotten around to reading The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian or The Rebel and the Rake by Emily Sullivan yet, so hopefully these reviews can still be helpful! Thank you to netgalley for both of these review copies, but surprising no one, I wound up reading audio copies. I know I purchased The Rebel and the Rake and I think I borrowed The Queer Principles of Kit Webb from my library to read it that way.

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb by Cat Sebastian

The Queer Principles of Kit Webb was good, but slow. I listened to this book on 2.5x speed and felt like I kept waiting for things to happen because the pace just wasn’t working for me. I had tried to read it with my eyeballs several times and struggled to get into it. Once things picked up though, I rather enjoyed the dynamic between Percy and Kit. Percy has this persona that’s almost untouchable in a way, like no one can get through to him, but at the same time, you know from his perspective that actually he feels a lot of things. And Kit could be so grumpy, but the way he cares about people is so deep and wonderful. I wished their backstories would have unfolded just a little quicker because I felt like once I knew more about Kit, I really understood him in a way that I wished I had the whole book. But also, there’s something that happens toward the latter half of the book and it was like a bombshell that just… fizzled out? Which was weird. So basically, the middle of the book was pretty lovely and well-paced but both the beginning and the end were a little lackluster. All in all, not my favorite Cat Sebastian, but not one I would necessarily steer anyone away from either.

The Rebel and the Rake by Emily Sullivan

The Rebel and the Rake is the follow up to Sullivan’s incredible debut and I was extremely excited about this one. Rafe is a spy who has carefully cultivated his reputation as a rake so that no one really looks at him twice. He’s sent off to this house party to investigate the guests of the rich man host. One of those guests is Sylvia. She is being blackmailed because her past of advocating for equal rights for women and against some of the policies of the Crown means that she’s not exactly approved company for her best friend who married a stodgy viscount. The two have immediate sparks that they try to ignore, but they keep finding themselves drawn back to one another. 

Ultimately, this book was an enjoyable romp, although I don’t think I loved it as much as the first one. Rake and Sylvia keep secrets from one another for obvious reasons for quite a bit of the book and I think I would have enjoyed it more if they had been honest with one another a bit sooner and spent more time working together. That said, I really loved the book and the way it ended and Emily Sullivan definitely has a fan for life!

Have you read either of these? If so, what did you think?

xx