Since I really liked that one I've been struggling quite a bit with the rating. I’ll make it 4 but it’s more of a 4.5. Just to be exact.

Firstly, both Belimai and Harper are really interesting characters and soon I took a liking to them both. IMO the dialogues between those two are amongst the best scenes of the book.
In relation to the rest of the story the romance part is a bit in the background but I reckon it's just fine the way it is. (With the book being only 200 pages long it also would be difficult to fit more of the romance storyline in…)
Another thing I’d like to point out is the world building, which I really cherish. If it was up to me, there could have been a lot more about the backstory of the demons and Prodigals. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to say that I miss something – just that I would happily read more about it.

To sum it up, “Wicked Gentlemen” was a very enjoyable read and I hope that maybe one day there will be a sequel.

Readathon audiobook. The mood and setting of this was cool, the writing good but with strange pacing where she would focus on details or being bored for a long time, the plot was sort of meh.

This was a really interesting world - one MC is a descendant of demons, doesn't work well with the light, has some magicky elements, has a darker vibe. The other MC is an inquisitor/religious captain. Enemies at the core.

There's an intriguing plot situation going on, some religious shenanigans, world building. Overall, just a really interesting read. I am hesitant to call this a genre romance though. There's a strong romantic element throughout the story, but the plot takes the forefront.

Also POV change midway between MCs and 1st to 3rd person - it worked in the audio, no clue how it would do on page.

Also also, this narrator sounds like John Oliver and I loved it lol.

I... honestly really enjoyed this one! Which, I don't know why I was surprised, as I did net enjoy her Rifter series, but it was sooo long and very slow to build and to make sense, that I had no real idea what to expect for a stand-alone novel, but I thought it worked immensely well!

First off, the book is essentially divided into two novellas + a brief epilogue. While the second half of the book certainly built off the first, each half essentially has its own self-contained plot/case, and there's a bit of a time lapse between the two stories. The POV and tense also changes between the two halves. This was in no way a negative--I actually quite enjoyed it--but it really did read like two novellas, as opposed to one full-length novel.

The writing and world-building, as always, were fascinating, and I quite enjoyed the plot and the characters. Belimai and William were both very interesting (though I though Belimai was particularly captivating) and I very much enjoyed their interactions and the evolution of their relationship. A bit of a dark/bleak world here, as one would expect from Hale, though it didn't feel *quite* as gruesome and depressing as her Rifter world. Overall, quite an enjoyable read!

Re-read: Darker than I'd remembered, but appropriately so, I think, and it makes for some excellent story-telling.

Original review:
I really enjoyed both main characters and their relationship. The perspective switch between books 1 and 2 was well-done, and much appreciated since Belimai and Harper start off being a bit opaque to each other. The world-building is also pretty interesting. I wasn't totally satisfied with the ending, but to be honest I'm not sure what I would have wanted instead -

Spoiler

I am glad that they ended up relatively happy and safe, I just wanted something more from the book.

fast, resonably gritty and completely enjoyable. loved the second story more, since this is where it stops pretending to be a noir mystery and turns into shameless slashfic it clearly wanted to be from the start, complete with love confessions, mutual martyrdom, loving nursing through withdrawal and daring rescues (and also because harper's stoicism is more appealing than belimai's somehow whiny cynicism, but that could be just me). i'm pretty sure i've read this story at least twenty times in twenty different fandoms, and it's still as awesome as it should be.

and awwww, they're so sweet, really:
"Do you want me to cover you with my coat?" Harper asked.
"Harper." Belimai was quiet for a long moment. "You can't keep giving your own things for other people. You need to be a little selfish sometimes."
"It's not trouble. I'm not cold."
"We're both cold..." Belimai drifted into silence. He lay limp against Harper and, at last, fell asleep.

This was a good one. The book has two short stories and an epilogue. At first, I was disappointed that the first story ended and we moved away from the first person POV of Belimai, but the next story was even better.
My two gripes: a fade to black in the first story (I wanted to see! I'm a voyeur) and the abrupt ending. It wasn't a bad ending, just abrupt. I loved these characters and I wanted to be eased out of their lives, not dumped out.
Best part: Ginn Hale's sensual details that pull you right in. From the very first paragraph, her description of the night sky was wonderfully emotive. It wasn't heavily done, just perfectly placed throughout the story to get you right inside the character's skins, to feel, smell, see what they do. Excellent. Makes me envious of her skill.

3.85