Gilded Cage

By: KJ Charles

Narrated by: Cornell Collins, Victoria Aston

Once upon a time, a boy from a noble family fell in love with a girl from the gutter. It went as badly as you’d expect.

Seventeen years later, Susan Lazarus is a renowned detective, and Templeton Lane is a jewel thief. She’s tried to arrest him, and she’s tried to shoot him. They’ve never tried to talk.

Then Templeton is accused of a vicious double murder. Now there’s a manhunt out for him, the ports are watched, and even his best friends have turned their backs. If he can’t clear his name, he’ll hang.

There’s only one person in England who might help Templeton now...assuming she doesn’t want to kill him herself.

©2019 KJ Charles (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Past Mistakes and Current Reconciliation

Gilded Cage is the second book in the Lilywhite Boys series. I highly recommend reading the prequel, The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter, and the first book, Any Old Diamonds, before reading this book. This book can stand on its own, but it’s much better with the background those two previous books provide.

Gilded Cage is set in Victorian London with an enemies-to-lovers and second-chance love trope. There is also a mystery to be solved and a personal character redemption arc. The romance between Susan and James is strong with an edge of steel. These two aren’t romantic fools, but grown adults who know how to be practical and ruthless, yet love each other regardless. The mystery was more of a plot device to push James and Susan together again and force them to reconcile, but it was still well thought out and interesting.

The audiobook was a duel narration by Cornell Collins and Victoria Aston. I’m a huge fan of Cornell Collins and found his voice perfect for the narration of James’ point of view. This was my first book with Victoria Aston narrating, and I found her voice pleasant and easy to listen to. I thought she did a very good job with Susan’s point of view. The audiobook production was well done. Overall, I found the audible book extremely enjoyable to listen to.

Plot and Characters

Great plotting and great characters! KJ Charles always delivers fascinating story lines and characters with thoughtful themes!

Why two narrators?

I simply don't understand the choice to use two narrators for a book like this, half of which is dialog between the two main characters. Collins does a superb James and an ok Sukie. Aston does an ok Sukie and a dreadful James. Her James and his couldn't sound less alike. It's just jarring and weird, and took me completely out of the action. A competent narrator should be able to handle all the characters in a book, and Collins is more than competent. I just don't get it.

Perfect

A heroine who can really take care of herself, interesting murder mystery, and great narrators.

I wasn't sure what to expect

I am a fan of KJ Charles' work ever since my first read "A Seditious Affair". I've enjoyed the Lilywhite Boys series but wasn't as interested in reading about Susan Lazarus. I couldn't have been more wrong. This book was such a thrill, so beautifully executed it took my breath away.

The intense raw connection between Susan and James Vane was palpable throughout the story, and at times during this audio production I felt as though I couldn't breathe. I loved the perspective brought by both narrators, I felt Victoria Aston met the standard that is always set by Cornell Collins.

The deep dive into the human psyche, the vulnerability required when loving someone is what brings me back to KJ Charles' work.
There are so many factors that I enjoyed:
1) Historical element - always hugely educational
2) Suspense - Susan and her connections save the day
3) Sex - always so erotic and sensuous
4) Just enough humor to give you the courage to keep listening (or reading)

This book thrilled me and I look forward to ploughing through the rest of her work

KJ Charles knocked it out of the park again

Charles's Any Old Diamonds has been tied (with Band Sinister) for my favorite of her books since it came out, so that was a pretty high bar for Gilded Cage. It managed beautifully, though, coming in at a very, very close second. It was wonderful to see more of grown-up Susan Lazarus.

My only quibble is with the audiobook: I always love Cornell Collins's narration (well, 98% of it, barring a few quirks of his delivery during sex scenes, but IIRC that wasn't relevant here, as all the sex scenes were from Susan's POV) but Victoria Aston's narration just didn't work for me (hence the 3-star rating for Performance). In the early chapters, she sounded like she was practicing elocution lessons; even after a few chapters, once she seemed more comfortable with narrating, her delivery was too flat, as though she was just reading the words and not considering the context or meaning of the sentences.

This was a Surprise

I believe that this was like Book 5 of a series, a M/M series. Which is no longer a M/M series. What? Really? I see the need for a female narrator. Which, by the way, was an amazing performance by both narrators, but the female lover was just wrong to me. Not a bad story just wrong.

K.J. Charles is my new fav!

I love Cornell Collins! He can pull off both genders voices I had to critically listen to Victoria Aston, I felt she was an interloper at first, but I must say she kept my attention and she fid awesome!

Great Mystery Romance

It’s a queer (FMC is bisexual) historical mystery/caper with great dialogue and banter, a lot of humor, and biting social commentary. It’s everything I hope for from KJ Charles. It’s a lot of fun with a densely plotted mystery, some hot intimate scenes, and just a great time. Victoria Aston and Cornell Collins do a great job with the narration, adding another flavor to the mix. I highly recommend “Gilded Cage”.

Is this the end of the Lilywhite Boys???

Gilded Cage is the first book of KJ Charles that I've read/listened to with an m/f pairing, I'm so used to her m/m books that it kind of took me by surprise that she also wrote m/f- I guess I never really looked past the book/series I was reading at the time, to see her full library of work!
I really liked Susan and Templeton/James. I love second chance romances and theirs was a bit of a heart-tugger, with how things happened to cause their separation. But nothing like a little murder to bring a couple back together! I loved how they were able to work together to clear Templeton's name, and the way they worked through what happened in the past.

I have to admit, I was a bit bothered at the start of the book, with how Jerry was treating Templeton- I felt like the way he was acting was a bit out of character from who the one we met in Any Old Diamonds. It frustrated me and made me sad for Templeton. I'm glad that "flaw" didn't last long though, and their friendship was able to rebound from Jerry's treatment of Templeton.

I always enjoy Cornell Collins's narration, he really is perfect for these characters. This was my first time listening to Victoria Aston and I enjoyed her performance as well. The only issue I had was the way they each performed the other's part- they didn't match up in my head with how they voiced their own characters- he made Susan a bit gruffer and she made James a little too prim and proper. But that's just my take, and I did really enjoy their performances!

***Borrowed through AE.