Title: Tangled Web
Author: Lee Rowan
Publisher: Running Press
Genre: Historical/Regency
Length: Novel
Rating: 4.75 stars out of 5
A Guest Review by Aunt Lynn
THE BLURB
Regency London… Brendan Townsend is a young man who is very loyal to his friends. So when Tony—his best friend, occasional lover, and a complete screw-up—comes to him in trouble, Brendan is determined to help. Tony is being blackmailed by the owner of a “molly house”, the private club that Tony—and other like-minded gentlemen—frequent in order to indulge their entertainment needs. Brendan is disappointed in his friend, but goes to seek the help of his older brother’s military commander. Philip Carlisle is a gentleman to Society, and also a man Brendan’s brother trusted completely and told his younger brother to seek out if he ever was in trouble. Philip is a 40-year-old widower, and finds himself charmed, for the first time, by an attractive young man. Brendan is likewise besotted with hero-worship, especially when Philip turns the tables on the blackmailer and saves the day for many of Society’s closeted sons. What follows is a tale of desire, regrets, cross-country pursuit, hidden identities, lovers torn asunder then reunited, clever cover stories, and the requisite pistols at dawn
THE REVIEW
It is no secret that Lee Rowan is one of my favorite authors. Her Articles of War series (reviewed here) made my Top 10 list of 2009, and the more contemporary Walking Wounded (reviewed here) was a very good read for me as well. I was thrilled to be asked to review this latest work of hers through the Running Press’ new M/M line, and though I had a single issue and I cannot speak to the authenticity of the period — I’ll leave that up to the experts — I thought it was very well done.
Set in 1816 London, Tangled Web opens to Brendan, the youngest son of a not-wealthy Viscount, incredulous that his former Oxford roommate, friend, and sometimes lover Tony has tricked him into visiting a club that caters to men of their persuasion. He does not want to be seen anywhere near other sodomites, especially when those men are cheering on nude sex performers on-stage, and especially when hanging is the punishment for discovery. When the situation develops even further into a terrible mess, and Tony gets himself — and possibly Brendan as well — blackmailed, Brendan turns to his eldest brother, who directs him to his old Army commander, Philip, to whom he has immediate attraction. Philip is a master of strategizing and fixing problems, and agrees to assist the youngest brother of someone from his Calvary unit. As they work together on several fronts and discover mutual interests, Philip, a forty-year-old widower, finds himself unwittingly drawn to young Brendan, recalling long-buried desires that have been forgotten for decades. Is there any way for these two can save the day and find a reasonable way to be together?
Though not as angsty or melodramatic as some other Regency-set books I’ve read, this one does have its share of emo and worry, especially as Brendan is at times plagued by apprehension over what Tony will do, his attraction over Philip, trying to keep Philip from being contaminated by the the blackmail and sodomy, Philip’s actions and what to do about them, plus Philip’s own concerns over “the boy.”
The writing is lovely, the dialog wonderful, and there is plenty of story that kept me interested. In fact, it is very plot-driven with the blackmail, smuggling and murder in horse country, equines themselves, marrying off Brendan’s sister (which allows for reflection of how “normal” people should be), what Brendan is to do professionally with his life, and of course the building romance between Brendan and Philip all vying for attention as the story progresses.
That is not to say, however, that it lacked character development. I found both protags sympathetic, likeable and believable. Old soul Brendan was lovely as the twenty-two-year-old who is generally accepting of his nature, though wishes it would be otherwise to make his life easier. An avid and natural horseman who wants nothing more to tend to his equine friends and cannot because of his station in life, poor Brendan can’t seem to catch a break now with this Tony business. I felt for him as he tries to work through justifying involving Philip after both the initial wave of attraction he feels, then after he realizes what a good man he is and the mutual interests they share. I liked that, once he got done angsting about it, he showed some cojones in dealing with Philip after Philip’s reaction to their initial smexual time together.
I thought Philip to be an interesting character as the rescue-minded widower who really didn’t realize he was lonely until he met Brendan. I felt that the feelings and attraction he developed for Brendan were handled well, and we were spared a possible GFY story by his reflection of the forgotten inclinations he had as a much younger man, as well as his overall tolerance of “sodomites” as the blackmail case was dealt with.
The smexxin, when it does appear, is spare, both in terms of the overall amount in the story and the details, which fit well with the rest of the book. The reasonable, probably realistic HFN/tentative HEA worked for me as well.
A single, very subjective issue: although I thought that these two had many things going for them — several mutual interests, including horses and wanting nothing but the quiet life, made them a good match that way — and although I, myself, am in a relationship with someone significantly older than I am, I had a teensy bit of discomfort in the age difference (almost twenty-years) here. After a good amount of reflection, I think this is brought on because of the intense hero-worship quality of Brendan’s feelings and Philip’s almost fatherly regard of Brendan in much of the story. In fact, Philip is often making comments, either out loud or in his head, about how young Brendan is (he takes to calling him “the boy” and “my dear boy”), which added to this feeling. Even when I accepted Brendan’s love for Philip, I still had a niggle in the back of my head about Philip’s return feelings. As such, I was challenged into believing in their romantic relationship until the end, when after some discussion, the two convinced me and I felt it worked. There may — and will — be other readers where this will not be a problem at all and actually think I am wrong, and I welcome those differing views.
OVERALL
Despite my single issue, I thought this was a wonderful book that I would not hesitate to recommend. If you are looking for a Regency-set historical and/or are fan of the author, this will be one for you.
Regency romance, it does not get much better then that!
I love GFY so I would not have mind it being one. But I know it is not to everyone’s liking.
Great review Lynn, it sounds definitely worth picking up. Too bad it is paper only.
It’s not paper only, Ingrid – available as Kindle at the moment and SHOULD be – like the other RP titles, on All Romance ebooks but isn’t right now – Lee’s chasing the publisher to find out what the hold up is.
Hi Ingrid. It is a lovely Regency book. I think it could have been a believable GFY, if she took it that way, but it needn’t be. Definitely pick it up. And I see in other comments that there is a Kindle version, if that is your eReader.
This is another one that’ll be put on my TBR soon list.
Thanks for the review!
Good morning Merith, and you are welcome. It’s a goodie.
Lynn
>>their initial smexual time together.<< This made me giggle. I had never seen this in one of your reviews before. 😀 * I would have no concerns about the signioficant age difference if Brendan were mature enough and Philip didn't see him as his kid. I read quite a few contemporaries where the relationship was definitely unbalanced in terms of the age difference, but the characters seemed to work it out in the end. Maturity is, I think, the key to any May/December relationship and happily, no one needed to be concerned with having babies and the age of the eggs. 😀 * Great review Lynn - I really like it.
Hiya Wave. Glad to entertain you! *g*
My problem wasn’t necessarily with Brendan here, although the hero-worship aspect did negatively color some of my opinion about that. There are times when he does display maturity — his brother makes comments about him “always having a old head on his young shoulders” (or something very similar) regarding things like wanting the quiet life and knowing the difference between imbibing some and drinking entirely too much, among other things. I think my problem comes with Philip, who until even late in the story, felt Brendan was too young. Like I said, they made me work to believe the romantic element and only after there were several conversations between them about it that, in the end, made it okay for me. And again, other readers will probably not have this problem at all.
That sounds better Erastes. I don’t have kindle (not available here).
you can download a kindle reader for your pc i discovered last week!
Fab! Thanks for the note. One more option for ebooks for me, then!
Ingrid, the Kindle is international now (finally!) and you can get it in the Netherlands. As Erastes said, you can also download the Kindle app for the PC (free) and read Kindle books on your computer.
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I am thrilled the Kindle version of this has appeared on Amazon. I just bought it. Hooray! I have my fingers crossed that Lover’s Knot by Donald Hardy will appear very soon.
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L
Thanks for the review, Lynn! I do like Lee Rowan’s previous historical romance and heh, the age difference doesn’t really concern me that much. I am more “irk” about other things 🙂
you sealed the deal for me. this is my first Kindle for iphone purchase!
Hi Eve, and you are welcome. If you like Lee’s books, then you will like this one as well, I suspect. Have fun reading the ebook, and let us know how you like it after.
This one didn’t work nearly as well for me as Ransom. Brendan is just too damn young…. compared to Will and Davy, I just found him annoying!
There’s nothing *technically* wrong with the story…. and if you like reading about very young and naive men, you’ll probably enjoy this. Personally, when I’m reading romance, I want to read about a romantic hero, not someone who reminds me of my kids (god…). 😛
Good morning Phalene, and thanks for chiming in as someone who read the book already.
All readers are different — which I love! — and there will be those, like you, who feel that the protags here were not suited for any number of reasons. Yours is Brendan’s immaturity; there will be those who feel Philip is too old. Comments like this help other readers determine whether or not they want to move forward and buy, so thanks for your opinion.
LOL! Poor Brendan… Nobody takes him seriously.
Honestly, I have reservations about significant age differences myself, even though I know it can work for the right people. I do think this couple will have some adjustments to make, especially as Brendan’s career starts to blossom, but he’s the kind of kid who learns from his mistakes and isn’t likely to repeat them. And since they won’t often have the chance to spend the night together, he isn’t likely to be put off by Philip’s snoring, even after the hero-worship wears off and mellows into real friendship.
Philip has reservations about the age thing, too, big ones. If Brendan had been under 21, it would have been hands-off, no matter how pretty and earnest he was. Philip really expects that Brendan will grow up and leave him one day–it will probably take a decade before he accepts that he’s got a permanent lodger.
I had thought this was going to be GFY early on, and I wasn’t at all happy about it. Then some of Philip’s repressed adolescent urges started making themselves known. He really is bisexual–it isn’t the body for him, it’s the person. Brendan’s the opposite. He’s the perfect big brother, but not husband material. This was an interesting experiment, and I’m trying to figure out how to give them cameos in another story somewhere down the line.
Thank you for the wonderful review. I’m very glad you enjoyed it!
ps — I’ll post back when the e-book becomes available in non-kindle formats. As of ten minutes ago, it’s still lost in e-space.