It Takes Two to Tumble

A very loose (gay, Regency) retelling of The Sound Of Music, which should tell you all you need to know. There are hellion offspring who just need attention & affection to blossom. There is a stuffy naval captain who has spent much of his life forced to conceal his emotions/vulnerabilities. There is a sunny curate-turned-tutor who has a deft touch with the children & a confused longing for their not-as-monstrous-as-he-first-appears father. There are well-meaning friends & family who create a community of support and good-natured ribbing. IT WAS, ALL IN ALL, SO GOOD FOR ME.

I tend to like the forbidden love trope, and this has it kinda built right into the foundation. They also have a good excuse not to just marry each other already five chapters in. So there's no need for a huge secret or misunderstanding or some other drama that involves the characters getting in their own way in order to draw it out. Which I appreciate. I like the way their relationship developed, and several times I got that 'aww!' feeling when something was particularly sweet. There's something kind of adorable about them. The children are a definite part of the plot and not just needlessly tacked on, and they're fleshed out, but the story doesn't focus on them to the detriment of the primary relationship.

Such a sweet story--with a bit of a The Sound of Music vibe to it (minus the singing...and Nazis, thank goodness), especially the way that the captain first sees his children when he returns, LOL...

I really liked Ben and Phillip's story. Their antagonism at first, sparked by Phillip's prickliness and inability to get along with his children (loved those kids!) felt spot-on and made for a delicious enemies-to-lovers-type plot. The ending was brought along by some rather quick and easy machinations, but I really enjoyed the characters and reading their story so much that I barely even noticed. :)

Though neither character had any illusions about the risks they were taking in choosing to be together (sacrifices needed to be and were made; show more there was just the right amount of angst throughout, considering) I'm going to continue in my happy bubble where these two, along with all the rest of Ms. Sebastian's heroes. live long and happy lives together and are never caught and punished for their "crimes". (Fictional fingers crossed) Can't wait for the next in the series!

Rating: 4 stars / B+

I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book. show less

Ben Sedgwick is a kind young vicar who has been asked to look after the unruly children of a local widower. Phillip is that widower, on a short leave from captaining his Navy ship, Patroclus (get it??). He believes in discipline and following orders, but he’s been away a lot and his children don’t trust him. They need the softer touch of the vicar…and maybe Phillip does too….

A perfectly acceptable but insubstantial queer historical romance. I don’t think Ben’s backstory quite made sense to me, and Phillip is pretty distraught about Ben’s engagement for someone who was married to a woman until very recently. I did enjoy the inclusion of a learning disability in the plot, especially the outcome. And these dummies do kiss a show more lot, which is the important part.
It’s a fine read, but Sebastian’s more recent work is much better, IMO, so I’ll be sticking with that. show less

No surprise, I liked this! It's probably the most emotionally intense of Sebastian's novels that I've read so far—and what can I say, I have a thing for vicars. I was satisfied by the delivery of a sweet and optimistic love story that still acknowledges heavier issues—a soupçon of realism without devolving into queer tragedy.

I guess I'm now a person who reads romance novels? I'll probably have to switch authors for my next read, since it will be interesting to see which constraints hold true across the genre. Sebastian's seem to be: relatively little character development for supporting characters (I especially wanted more attention to Hartley and poor Alice) and not much description (to be fair, it's hard to capture a landscape show more that looks like this). In exchange, we get a book that you can read in a long afternoon, so I can't honestly complain. show less

I generally love Cat Sebastian's writing and Joel Leslie did it justice with the narration. Even though they went from lust to love in a very short time (two weeks at the most) and I don't usually like insta-love, it didn't feel wrong or forced - just the way this particular couple found love. I loved the kids and Phillip's relationship with them. And I loved Ben - I think he would have been a good therapist if he were born in a different time. :)

3.5 stars

I received this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Phillip has spent most of his life at sea, as the Captain, he knows his place and is effective in managing his people. When his ship finally berths after two years, his shore leave allows him to go home for awhile, a home where letters have informed him that his wife has died and his three children are running wild.
Ben enjoys his job as the vicar; it allows him to see to everyone. When he gets tasked with taking care of the absent Captain's children, he may be in over head.
Phillip and Ben haven't been able to fully admit certain truths to themselves but as their relationship grows, they begin show more to become whole through each other.

Phillip hadn't planned on lusting after the vicar.

The first in a new series, the author introduces us to Phillip, the stern rigid naval captain and Ben, the affable mellow vicar. Both characters were very contained people in their own way. Phillip has dyslexia but has managed to figure out how to hide it and be effective as captain and he also carries around some melancholy which seems to be due to not being able to fully be his self. Ben had to essentially be the father to his brothers as theirs ascribed to a very bohemian philosophy that led to a lack of structure or responsibility. Both acknowledged their attraction to men but kept it in a contained box that as long as they didn't make it personal, putting real feeling in to it, they could lead "normal" lives. When they meet each other and start to develop those more emotional feelings, beyond just sexual, hard truths have to be recognized.

But comfort and ease suddenly seemed like pale and flimsy things.

I loved how Ben and Phillip's personalities played off each other. Ben's effortless charm and lightness cracked open Phillip's hard walls and helped him be at ease more, while Phillip's strength and willing to prod at Ben helped Ben release his more passionate side. They became more themselves through the other and there is nothing more romantic than that. For how much Phillip's children played a part in the story plot, I thought they were strangely more absent from the story than warranted. We get some scenes with Phillip bonding but I never felt like I knew them; they felt like obvious plot elements instead of woven into the story. I also thought Phillip's relationship with his former Lt. McCarthy needed to be flushed out more. It started off like there was a big emotional attachment but then it seemed to be more on the physical side, not quite fully explained well enough.

"When we're together it feels right. I want to go down that path and see what's there."
"With me?" It was a hoarse whisper.
"Together."

This is my first book by this author and I was impressed with the ease of her writing flow, how secondary characters felt complete and added so much to the story, and the historical feel. This had faint whisperings of the Sound of Music to it and I could read all day of Ben taking some starch out of the Captain and Phillip igniting some fire in the vicar. There's a slow burn feel as their relationship starts off challenging, to tentative, to heated and I enjoyed how they both were, somewhat, virgins not only emotionally but physically and we got see them explore and learn together. There's also a hot desk scene that you won't want to miss.

I missed interaction scenes with Phillip's children to get to know them better which in turn would have created more depth in Phillip's character, the middle seemed to meander a smidgen as the outer story took over more, but I delighted in Ben and Phillip's relationship. There's some bitter sweetness to the ending as Phillip and Ben don't quite get the full happily ever after they deserve due to the time period and country they live in, but they worked for and got more than most do. The author's talent with emotions will have me searching out her books from here on out. show less