Jess Everlee
Carina Adores
22 July 2025
304
eBook - EPUB
Historical Gay Romance
ARC via NetGalley
London, 1886
Barkeep Warren Bakshi is happy with the secrets that he keeps—those of the patrons he serves at underground queer club The Curious Fox, and his own.
But when Warren’s long-lost brother returns, bringing unexpected wealth to the Bakshi family, his elevated status requires more dignified pursuits. An art class seems an ideal way to keep questions at bay, until it reunites him with the subject of his recent fantasies—a man Warren’s boss has expressly forbidden him to pursue.
Detective Inspector Matthew Shaw has brought some of London’s worst criminals to justice. With laws against homosexuality on the books, meeting Warren could detonate his undercover case—and his career. But when his artistic deficiencies prove a greater threat than his desire, Warren is the only person he can turn to for help.
Private drawing tutorials give way to an affair that may put more than their jobs in jeopardy. But real life is infinitely more complicated and surprising than any lessons could prepare them for…
To Sketch a Scandal is the third book I have read in the Lucky Lovers of London series, and once more the action revolves around patrons of the queer club The Curious Fox. Overall, I enjoyed Warren and Matthew's tale. They made a nice couple, and the story to get them there moved at a good pace, with a few twists and turns along the way. I felt the ending was perhaps a little rushed, but that is a minor complaint. The only way this one fell down for me is that I wasn't quite as engaged with these two characters as I was with the pairings in the previous books. Also, there were moments when I wondered if some of the language and phrasing the characters used was period appropriate. Although, I didn't have time to stop and look things up to confirm, so that could just be a mistaken impression on my part. It did pull me out of the story a few times, though, when my eye scanned a sentence that made me pause. Overall, though, I enjoyed it, so I am giving it 3.5 stars. This is book four of a series, and some older events are references; however, you could read these as standalone volumes, so the stories will still make sense even if you read them out of sequence.
I received this book as a free eBook ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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