Lord Alexander Pyne-ffoulkes, the younger son of the Duke of Ilvar, holds a bitter grudge against his wealthy father. The Duke intends to give his Duchess a priceless diamond parure on their wedding anniversary—so Alec hires a pair of jewel thieves to steal it.The Duke’s remote castle is a difficult target, and Alec needs a way to get the thieves in. Soldier-turned-criminal Jerry Crozier has the … Crozier has the answer: he’ll pose as a Society gentleman and become Alec’s new best friend.
But Jerry is a dangerous man: controlling, remote, and devastating. He effortlessly teases out the lonely young nobleman’s most secret desires, and soon he’s got Alec in his bed—and the palm of his hand.
Or maybe not. Because as the plot thickens, betrayals, secrets, new loves, and old evils come to light. Now the jewel thief and the aristocrat must keep up the pretence, find their way through a maze of privilege and deceit, and confront the truth of what’s between them…all without getting caught.
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For a story about a diamond heist, I expected more heist. Most of this is a love
story. As such, it works well, and it had enough action to keep me reading to a big
twist.
Any Old Diamonds is the first book in the Lilywhite Boys series, a spinoff from the Sins of the Cities series. It is not necessary to have read the Sin of Cities first before enjoying this book, but it was fun to see old characters living out their lives happily. There is also a prequel, The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter, which is a nice introduction to the series, but once again, not necessary to read before starting this book.
Alec is the estranged son of the Duke of Ilvar. The Duke is a cruel man who’s so blinded by his love and desire for his second wife that he’s destroyed all other relationships in his life. Jerry is the thief and criminal Alec hires to help him steal his stepmother’s jewels. The plot seems pretty straightforward: family revenge, a jewel heist, and a simmering romance; however, K.J. Charles takes what could have been any standard jewel thief romance and made it incredible. There are some fantastic plot twists and intrigue that really makes the plot so much more dynamic and complicated. The characterization of the both Alec and Jerry was really well done. They felt mature yet vulnerable. Clever but not infallible. I loved the intensity of their relationship (power dynamic kink) and the underlying tenderness to it.
The audiobook was narrated by Cornell Collins who does a wonderful job. Cornell’s voice was perfect for 19th century London. He did a great job voicing the characters and added the right amount of flair and inflections for all the different scenes. The audiobook production was well done and it was an extremely enjoyable listen.
Loooooved this book. Cornell Collins did a fantastic job on the narration, and I adored the combo of a compelling heist plot with steamy D/s sex and characters to root for. I was captivated.
This was great! I loved the characters and there were some twists that genuinely had my mouth dropping open.
Kept me on my toes all the way to the end! Loved it!
I loved this one. It’s just so beautifully clever and well-crafted – and as usual with a KJ Charles book, it keeps you guessing right to the end.
I pre-ordered this book because, you know, KJ Charles, but I wasn’t able to read it for quite a while. Well, it probably wasn’t that long, but it felt like forever, because, you know, KJ Charles. Anyway, I finally got the chance, and it was definitely worth the wait because I feel like I’ve been hit by a train. You know, a train of FEELINGS and EMOTIONS and TENDERNESS and SHOCKING TWISTS. A very good train, is what I’m saying here.
My thoughts are a tangle of joy and adoration, so please bear with me. First: this book is set 20 years after Sins of the Cities, and WE GET TO SEE OLD BELOVED CHARACTERS LATER IN THEIR LIVES OH GOD KJ WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ME ACK GAH AND SO ON WOW EMOTIONS. Ahem. Okay. Moving on.
I’m very nervous to really explain this book because there are layers and layers of mystery and twists that I am not clever enough to avoid spoiling. So I will keep it brief. Alec wants a gang of jewel thieves to steal his dad’s shiny necklace, because his dad is mean. For the theft to occur, Alec must feign a very public friendship with Jerry, one of the jewel thieves. ROMANCE ENSUES.
The entire book is from Alec’s point of view, which is brilliant for many reasons I can’t explain without ruining things. But one thing I can say is that the lack of Jerry’s POV made him even more mysterious and reprehensible, which was very sexy (lol ok Talia) and also made the romance even more overwhelming, somehow. I just really liked it and you will too.
Another thing you will like is how quietly wonderful and steely and gentle and loving and determined and secretly hurting and ultimately incredibly POWERFUL Alec is. What a character. Oh my goodness. He’s in my Bookish Hall of Fame. Just… what an excellent, excellent character. I would read fifty pages of Alec eating soup. I’m deeply in love with him and we should be best friends forever.
And Jerry, ah, my beloved Jerry. So dastardly. So deviant. Watching him find the strength to come out of his (violent and scary) protective shell was great. These two together were great. Their relationship was great. JUST. CONSTANT FEELINGS. And so many thoroughly good Friendship Moments? Wasn’t friends to lovers, technically, but them building a ‘fake’ friendship was key, and it was just so lovely to watch.
Basically, this book is incredibly smart, BEYONDDD sexy (their minor D/s dynamic had me sweating), and super sweet. It was also really hilarious and fabulous and thrilling and Victorian and wonderful and YOU SHOULD DEFINITELY READ IT.
I love this book– partly because it has an amazing twist!