Staff Writer: Kathleen
Published Date: March 11, 2025
Number of pages: 336 pages
Format (physical book/e-book/audiobook): Physical book
Genre: Romance
Tags: Historical Fiction, Regency, Slow Burn, A Little Spicy, LGBTQ+, Transgender Main Character, LGBTQ+ Author
Cardigan rating: 4.5 out of 5
Yes, I’m back with another TJ Alexander book, but this one is different, I promise! A Gentleman’s Gentleman is Alexander’s historical debut and was my introduction to their books last year, so I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to reread it for February- after all, what’s better for Valentine’s Day than sharing a romance novel I love?
I’m going to get this out of the way: this is a very slow burn. If you want pining, presumed unreciprocated affection, not even kissing until the last 50 pages, all that jazz, then this is your book! There’s an explicit open door scene in that last little chunk (which made me debate hard about tagging this as “spicy” or what I ended up going with, “a little spicy”), but if that’s not your cup of tea, once the clothes start coming off, you can fully skip ahead to the epilogue and not miss any plot, which is my preference.
Our main character, Christopher, is charmingly awkward and lovable, and the way he uses humor in uncomfortable situations is so familiar. I mean, who doesn’t do that? Speaking of familiar, the whole “need to marry by a certain time” plot is nothing new, but the way Alexander handles it is. That plot point has led to many a marriage of convenience in many a novel, but being transgender and gay in the Regency era will definitely throw a wrench in that plan! It was a little amusing to have the love interest attempting to play matchmaker. Harding found the perfect candidate for Christopher’s lavender marriage (and maybe had his own reasons for wanting the marriage to occur…), but I love how once Christopher found out she was in love with someone else, he was going to stop at nothing to get her married to the man of her dreams. We love a man who puts other’s happiness before his own! He still got his happily ever after- this is a romance novel, after all- just not as planned. Not that I’m going to tell you how- I can’t spoil it for you, you’ll have to read the book!
My one complaint is that it’s rather slow at the beginning, but once the plot gets moving, it gets moving fast and I wish it had been more evenly paced all along. I like the slow burn romance, but the slow burn plot made me a little impatient.
Alexander has a follow-up coming out in March of this year, A Lady for All Seasons, that focuses on one of the side characters, which I absolutely can’t wait for, and you can bet that I’ll be reviewing it as soon as we have it! But for now, give A Gentleman’s Gentleman a read, and I hope you enjoy it just as much as I did!