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As is her trend, KJ Charles delivers another emotionally complex, witty, and thoroughly researched historical MM romance in How to Fake It in Society.

Colourman Titus Pilcrow is staring ruin in the eye when Miss Whitecross offers to marry him. A sharp, headstrong woman determined her awful nephew will not inherit, Whitecross makes Titus an offer he can’t refuse: marry her on her deathbed, and inherit her vast fortune. In no time at all the Titus is installed in Carey street, a wealthy widower with no sense of society, and a chasm of self-doubt where his confidence should be, enter the unflappable, charming, utterly competent Comte Nico de la Motte.

Nico was meant to marry Whitecross and inherit her fortune, in fact, he’d been banking on it. His beloved cousin has got them into a tight spot, and he needs to get his hands on a frankly obnoxious amount of money if he’s going to get them out of it. Titus Pilcrow is an honourable man, and he’s sure will part with at least a little money, to soothe the Comte’s ruffled feathers, right? Except Titus Pilcrow is not what Nico expects. Kind, enthusiastic, and beautiful, in his way, Titus needs a friend, and Nico wants it to be him.

Packed full of intrigue, humour, French history, society drama, wild characters, family tension, and eventual romance, How to Fake It in Society is a tame, slow-burn romance in comparison to much of Charles’ bibliography. The romance properly kicks off just shy of the 50% mark, with a lot of world building and character building taking up the first half of the work. Although not especially long, this is the longest it has ever taken me to finish on of Charles’ romances: once I got past that 50% mark I flew through the story, but prior to that I was struggling to stay invested. I don’t mind a slow burn, but I think the relatively low-stakes here, in comparison to some of Charles’ other works, made it harder for me keep pace. Spicy, by technicality, long-term readers of Charles will find this a relatively sexless work by comparison, with only one or two on page scenes, kept relatively brief. This is a novel which puts much greater stock in the emotional relationship between the leads, and the development of their personalities individually, and as a couple.

The stand out here, as is often the case with Charles’ works, is the humour and attention to detail. Striking the perfect balance between information and brevity, How to Fake It in Society explores paint making, art, French scandal, and family dynamics with great delicacy, bedding it all into the story seamlessly, and leaving me significantly better informed about a variety of topics at its end. Mixing dry wit with moments of absurdity, Charles crafts a story that is almost Wildean in its twists and repartee, but thoroughly and consistently humorous. A book that will have you exhaling-slightly-harder-in-a-kind-of-almost-laugh throughout!

4 stars, this loses points for the slow start, but remains highly enjoyable! A great summer read.