My Fair Captain

YIKES is there a lot of sex in this book. Lots. And it's all steamy as hell. NOT recommended for straight men or the squeamish about anal interactions. The Regency-ness of the book is interesting because it's deliberate; that is, this is a society that DELIBERATELY chose to model itself on Regency period England despite the fact that the story takes place 3,000 years after the Regency ended. Yee-haw! Let slip the dawgs of war as our fair Captain meets, woos, and marries the lad of his dreams. Ms. Langley, a straight lady, seems to know a good deal about the world of man-on-man sex and has a pretty damn good grasp (pun optional) of what's likely to excite and titillate her male audience. I have no idea what might be in it for the show more straight women who would read the book, but then I'm not a straight woman. show less

I have eagerly purchased all of Langley’s published work, and enjoyed every one. Her M/M romance leans heavily toward erotica, but she always creates well-drawn, likeable characters that make the stories special beyond the hot sex. However, in “My Fair Captain” she has created a rich science fiction novel full of mystery and adventure with a beautiful romance at the heart of it. I was astounded at how good a writer Langley is beyond the romance. Her world-building is intricate and detailed, and the cast of characters full and diverting.

The story is set in the distant future when humans have colonized many worlds and travel between them on starships. Langley has chosen a convention that I have seen before in scifi that works well show more here – individual worlds based on old-Earth societies set among high technology. Two worlds are at the forefront of this story – Englor and Regelence. Both societies are based on Regency England. So you have dukes, earls, swords, waistcoats and cravats intermingling with spaceships and faser-like weapons. The main difference between the two is that Regelence has become a truly patriarchal society. The aristocracy is male and have been genetically engineered to prefer same-sex unions (whereas on Englor homosexuality is taboo). This was a wonderful twist from Langley, as old conventions are uniquely and humorously applied. Young men are considered minors until they reach majority at age 25, and are expected to remain pure until they are married. They are also expected to attend balls in search of a suitable consorts. This made for a wonderful opening to the novel as the king’s sons outsmart the house computer system in order to sneak out without their chaperones! Later at a formal ball, they come up with clever ideas for disposing of their electronic dance cards. The story is full of little details like this that add humor and make this world seem real to the reader.

At the heart of the story is Nate Hawkins, captain of a ship in the IN fleet. He is the son of an Earl from Englor, but was disowned after killing someone in a duel. But it is because of his familiarity with the customs of regency society that he is selected to go to Regelence to investigate a stolen weapons stash. He takes his adopted son with him to act as his valet and an additional spy. The weapons were stolen from the royal castle, so someone inside must have been in on it. Could it be one of the princes? This causes Nate a problem when he finds himself falling in love with one of them – Aiden. In fact, he comes to like and befriend the entire royal family. The main characters are completely three-dimensional, but Langley also expands upon minor characters. The king and his consort are loving parents to the princes and theirs is a happy family that I quickly came to like. Langley gets readers invested in more than just the main couple. The romance is very slowly built compared to Langley’s previous works. I was quite surprised that nearly a third of the book passed before there was any sex! But, there is plenty of other action (and angst) to keep a reader turning the pages until Nate and Aiden finally get together. After that, the sex scenes are explosive. Langley has added BDSM to the couple’s relationship, but it’s not extreme by any means. Just added a little spice to the romance. The overarching plot is well developed, with several twists and turns. The romance is strong, but does not eclipse the plot. Unfortunately, the story ends with a cliffhanger, but not the kind that has you screaming in frustration. The stolen weapons are part of a greater conspiracy that reaches to other worlds, specifically Englor. Aiden and Nate’s romance gets closure, but a greater adventure is still to come. Highly recommended, and I can hardly wait for the sequel. show less

I've read this book almost seven (7! has it really been that long?) years ago and I all I remember is that I didn't really enjoy it. But, the feed hype over the new re-release made me want to try again, so I did.

Regency in space sounds like an interesting concept, but if you're expecting any kind of world building in this book you're out of luck - there is none. There are so many missed opportunities I can't even. It helped that I went in with very low expectations so I wasn't really that frustrated about it though, only mildly annoyed.

Asynia made a great point - this should have been either an AU or a fantasy historical, it would have made the setting more believable. As it is, it feels like despite the supposed technical advances show more humanity made in terms of space travel, laser pistols, AI butlers and lube dispensers in bedroom walls (*snort*), we went backwards as a society.

It's implied that there are all kinds of planets with different period settings, but no reason was given as to why someone would choose to go back to regency societal norms - and that's including the misogyny (they found a way of tube growing male gay children, so women are now irrelevant - since our only use in the ruling class are our wombs apparently). There's a half-assed explanation about societies of male warrior lovers in old Greece which could possibly explain some aspects of the setting, but it was one paragraph in the whole book and not nearly enough to satisfy me.

And may I just throw in that if someone wrote a sci-fi fantasy where all children were genetically modified to be hetero, that book would get so much shit. But since they're modified to be gay, apparently that's a-ok.

If you ignore the absence of world building, it's just a basic regency insta-love story with nothing exceptional going for it, not even an original plot or characterization or dialogue worth a mention. Just a bit of fun fluff that would have gotten 2 stars from me, but considering all the other stuff I'm gonna lower it to 1 star. show less

This is the book that introduced me to the wonder of J.L. Langley! She has created a world that captures your undivided attention, so much so, that you cannot put the book down. The planet Regelence is just like London in the 1800's, where girls used to have chaparones to be with unwed males. But on Regelence? There are no women! Men marry men, and have children by way of cloning. The sexual tension between Captain Nate and Prince Aiden builds and builds. And when they finally get together? An explosion happens. The good kind. If you're looking for a male/male romance novel, that doesn't have every single page with raunchy sex, then this is for you. The mystery surronding Regelence's stolen weapons causes Nate to go undercover as a Lord show more of Regelence. But when Prince Aiden literally falls into his arms, how can he not mix business with pleasure? A must read for any m/m fan! show less

Not as good as the first time around, maybe 3.5 stars.

Insane amount of characters with nick-names, titles and birth-names drove me almost to the mad house this time. How did I keep up in the first place, I have no idea - this is clearly some kind of name porn read. Chadwick, Coldwell, Cony, Jeremy, Jensen, Benson, Braxton.... what the hell happened to all the other letter in the alphabet? Why so many of them have to start with the same letter?

In contrast, Nate calling Aiden "boy" in the second part drove me crazy, too. It's your spouse, you moron! And a prince! Show some respect! :/ Arghhh!

There are inconsistencies and holes in the story, but - whatevers, it was still a fun read (even tho for the life of me I can't understand why not show more install a gps on your lift or a tracker app on your tablet).

Rounding up to 4 stars here on GR :) show less

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book and it pretty much blew me away. Regency, space, science fiction, subterfuge, military, romance, fun characters, and so on and so on - many, many wonderful things in one book. I adored all of the characters - especially Nate and Aiden - and found this one to be extremely difficult to put down. Definitely looking forward to what happens for everyone in future books (and how the overall plot progresses, too)...

All of J.L.Langley's books are guilty pleasures, but this one is one of her best. It has it all, a society based on 18th century England, yet set in the future--3000 yrs in the future--where the "Norm" is Male/Male marriages....It's a mystery and at the heart of the story is a romance and in between the pages, she fills them with some of the hottest sex scenes...the pages are on on fire....it's a fun read, and hope she writes a sequel...her characters are very warm, human and likable. Ms langley is a straight lady, but I don't know how she does it, but she gets the gay sex scenes so right...an enjoyable read.