What a quirky little book! Wicked Gentlemen is a paranormal gaslight fantasy romance set in a grimy, noir Victorian city, where the descendants of repentant demons live marginalized lives in subterranean slums while priest-collared Inquisition police the streets above. The novel follows the adventures, and unlikely romance, of two men from these different worlds.

I adored this setting, which felt much bigger than this one story. And I appreciated the author's sensitive treatment of a world in which paranormal beings are also second-class citizens. Belimai is the product of a reform school which evokes the Indian boarding schools of U.S. history, while Harper is the stepchild of a Prodigal who spent his life "passing" as human. While the book draws on plenty of romance tropes, at their best moments these two characters feel like fully realized people with complex pasts.

Hale's writing is lyrical yet spare; she has a prose style that's a little off-kilter and keeps you on your toes, but on the whole it works. The rhythm of this novel, too, isn't what you would expect. It's not at all a linear adventure story, but I think this works too, and meant the narrative held a lot of surprises.

I think I only have two criticisms - I wish the book had been longer so I could spend more time in this world, and I wish that the antagonists had more screen time. I do not demand a mustache-twirling, destroy-the-city villain, but I think the book would have benefited from better defined stakes and a clearer sense of danger.

Finally, I wanted to give kudos to Blind Eye Books. The editing and printing quality were quite high. Hurrah for small presses!