Gilded Cage

By: KJ Charles

Narrated by: Cornell Collins, Victoria Aston

Once upon a time, a boy from a noble family fell in love with a girl from the gutter. It went as badly as you’d expect.

Seventeen years later, Susan Lazarus is a renowned detective, and Templeton Lane is a jewel thief. She’s tried to arrest him, and she’s tried to shoot him. They’ve never tried to talk.

Then Templeton is accused of a vicious double murder. Now there’s a manhunt out for him, the ports are watched, and even his best friends have turned their backs. If he can’t clear his name, he’ll hang.

There’s only one person in England who might help Templeton now...assuming she doesn’t want to kill him herself.

©2019 KJ Charles (P)2019 Audible, Inc.

Why two narrators?

I simply don't understand the choice to use two narrators for a book like this, half of which is dialog between the two main characters. Collins does a superb James and an ok Sukie. Aston does an ok Sukie and a dreadful James. Her James and his couldn't sound less alike. It's just jarring and weird, and took me completely out of the action. A competent narrator should be able to handle all the characters in a book, and Collins is more than competent. I just don't get it.

Past Mistakes and Current Reconciliation

Gilded Cage is the second book in the Lilywhite Boys series. I highly recommend reading the prequel, The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter, and the first book, Any Old Diamonds, before reading this book. This book can stand on its own, but it’s much better with the background those two previous books provide.

Gilded Cage is set in Victorian London with an enemies-to-lovers and second-chance love trope. There is also a mystery to be solved and a personal character redemption arc. The romance between Susan and James is strong with an edge of steel. These two aren’t romantic fools, but grown adults who know how to be practical and ruthless, yet love each other regardless. The mystery was more of a plot device to push James and Susan together again and force them to reconcile, but it was still well thought out and interesting.

The audiobook was a duel narration by Cornell Collins and Victoria Aston. I’m a huge fan of Cornell Collins and found his voice perfect for the narration of James’ point of view. This was my first book with Victoria Aston narrating, and I found her voice pleasant and easy to listen to. I thought she did a very good job with Susan’s point of view. The audiobook production was well done. Overall, I found the audible book extremely enjoyable to listen to.

KJ Charles knocked it out of the park again

Charles's Any Old Diamonds has been tied (with Band Sinister) for my favorite of her books since it came out, so that was a pretty high bar for Gilded Cage. It managed beautifully, though, coming in at a very, very close second. It was wonderful to see more of grown-up Susan Lazarus.

My only quibble is with the audiobook: I always love Cornell Collins's narration (well, 98% of it, barring a few quirks of his delivery during sex scenes, but IIRC that wasn't relevant here, as all the sex scenes were from Susan's POV) but Victoria Aston's narration just didn't work for me (hence the 3-star rating for Performance). In the early chapters, she sounded like she was practicing elocution lessons; even after a few chapters, once she seemed more comfortable with narrating, her delivery was too flat, as though she was just reading the words and not considering the context or meaning of the sentences.

Beautiful story, beautiful voices!

Most of this series involve mm romance. This is the mw one and it’s just gorgeous. Very sexy times, plus evading a criminal gang.

Plot and Characters

Great plotting and great characters! KJ Charles always delivers fascinating story lines and characters with thoughtful themes!