In the third installment of Ruby Moone’s Winsford Green series, we once again find ourselves connected to the storyline from the first book, Dances Long Forgotten. This time the connection is through Cross, one of the protagonists, and his work as basically a spy during the Napoleonic wars.
This book took more of a turn than the last book, not in who was written about, but in that this definitely became a MM Romance mystery-spy-thriller-whodunnit versus the strict romance of the previous two.
Mark Dexter, Cross’s colleague, has been forced to return to England and is floundering a bit in finding out what to do with himself having spent most of the last decade abroad. And when their boss sends them to their former boarding school he runs into Felix Brook, his former teacher who was in his first year when they overlapped, and sparks fly! Felix also, just so happens, to have grown up in Winsford Green.
The story overall was well written and I enjoyed it. I found Felix’s relationship with his coworker to be the BFF relationship that was missing in the last novel. And Dexter’s relationship with his boss was also a great addition. When you add in the chemistry between Felix and Dexter you get an even better book!
Moone for the most part stayed away from kink, unlike People Like Us, but there was a bit of roleplay alluded to and I was here for it because of how well done it was. And overall the sex scenes were great, not rushed or too slow, and she walked the walk-on verse characters which is always a plus for me. I think she did a better job than most writing a characters first time from the nerves and anxiety to losing control, she really hit the nail on the head.
Where Moone got me though, was early in the book when Dexter realized how important representation is. Don’t get me wrong, this is a book set in the early-1800s, but I’m sure the idea still existed of finding someone like you who was in a position of authority or power and seeing yourself there making a huge impact.
The very idea that one of the masters he respected and admired above all others could be like him was one of the single most important discoveries during his entire time in the school, nay, in his life. It made him feel marginally less alone, less of a failure, and less of an outcast. If someone as remarkable as Mr. Brook could prefer men, then Dexter mightn’t be all bad. (33)
I’ll talk more about this in the next review, where I think she may have taken it a little too far (but I still very much enjoyed it), but in this book, it really worked and made me appreciate Dexter and Felix’s relationship that much more.
I wasn’t sold on the whodunnit aspect and even though it made the last half of the book go a lot faster than it probably would have, it was still very much just an add-on for me. It did bring in other characters from the first two books through various plot points but, overall meh.
Recommendation: I’m still very much enjoying Moone’s writing style and storytelling. The mystery-thriller-spy aspect is a take-it-or-leave-it for me, but if that’s your jam and you like historical fiction and MM Romance, then then this is the book for you. I definitely need to find a contemporary Moone work and see if her writing still stands.
Opening Line: “It felt like the beginning of the end.”
Closing Line: “Felix laughed. ‘I have no idea. I can’t imagine either of them could ever relax enough to get naked with each other.'” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)