Regency Nights by Kitti Bernetti

Story: 6
Presentation: 6
Total: 12
Publisher: Xcite Books
Historical Erotic
To Purchase

Blurb: It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. But, unlike the wealthy D'arcy, Cavendish De Courcy's family is broke and he must marry an heiress to save the De Courcys from ruin. When, two weeks from his wedding, he meets the superbly proportioned Nathaniel and succumbs to all the illicit joys that gay 18th-century London brings, how on Earth can Cavendish face his nightly duty to his new wife? And how will he and Nathaniel ever find their happy ever after?

Review: Obviously from the blurb, this is a predominantly M/M story, though there is a menage scene as well. The sex scenes aren’t as explicit as I would prefer, since they gloss over sensory details I feel are necessary to make an erotic story. To me, the story is really about the journey one man takes to discover his sexuality. In that respect, it is well-done and completely believable. Kitti Bernetti captures the social expectations and biases of the time and uses them to show the conflict between desire and duty.

The average rating is due to a couple of factors. First, the writing is a bit melodramatic and could have been polished better. Second, the blurb says the story is set in 18th-century London, but there are distinct references to a period in the early 19th-century. I’m not sure if this is just a misunderstanding on how to classify centuries or just poor research. Either way, it was distracting to not know exactly what time period the story was set in.