Proper English; KJ Charles

This was my first Edwardian historical fiction romance and I have to say, it was kind of charming. You still have the formal gowns and bodices of regency romances, the demure courtship practices, and the flowery language that makes historical fiction romances so delicious, but there are just enough modern touches (like cars) to give it a bit of a twist. In “Proper English” we follow Pat, who is about to embark on a new adventure with leaving her family home now that her brother is married. With no desire to marry a man, Pat needs to figure out what her new purpose is now that she’s not managing a household estate. She has dreams to open a shooting school for women, or perhaps becoming a lady’s companion, but nothing is grabbing her yet. She hopes that a house party where she can shoot and show off her marksmen skills with her brother, their family friend, and a few others will be just the break she needs to figure out what new direction her life will take. That’s until the house party gets crashed by her friends’ fiancée, and a slew of guests neither she nor her brother were expecting. As Pat’s passions kindle for Fen, a locked door “whodunit” murder mystery threatens to destroy not just her blossoming romance, but her brother and her friends' life as well. You’ll come to this book for the sapphic romance, but stay for the murder mystery, trust me.

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If you don’t already like historical romances, this book isn’t going to change your mind on that, sorry to say. But I really enjoyed how the queer romances in this story were handled, even if I could guess everything that was supposedly “hidden” by the main characters. It’s a romance, so the romantic bits weren’t meant to be that secretive the way the murder mystery was, despite how dangerous queer love was during this time period. The romance between Fen and Pat is super cute and sweet and I love how supportive the women were of each other, despite only knowing each other for a few days. But the thing that surprised me the most (in a very pleasant way) was the murder mystery. It felt very much like “Clue” with the main characters trying to figure out who was where and had access to what given that everyone in the house had a motive (and good reason) to do the deed. The romance gets established and set fairly early—no slow burn here!—but the Agatha Christie style mystery more than made up for it.

Which is where things get tricky.
 
This book is primarily a sapphic historical fiction, but the romance gets set fairly quickly, and there is no satisfying epilogue after which helps establish what happens with Pat after this disastrous house party, let alone her brother and her friend. It seemed like, once Pat and Fen made their plans, the police arrived to clean up and take the murderer away, and that was it. The ending came abruptly for no reason. The book is pretty short; an epilogue would have done wonders to scratch that HEA itch I come to romances to fulfill, not that this didn't have it, but I wanted to see the characters enjoying their lives together after the events of this book. I like murder mysteries though, so even though the romance didn’t overwhelm me with the feels I wanted, I still had fun with the book. I just wish that the two aspects of this story didn’t feel so separate from one another, hence the 4 stars. Still, if you’re looking for a sapphic twist on the Edwardian historical fiction romance with a murder mystery for flavor, give this quick little read a chance!