Discussion for original M/M works, both professionally published and free online.
The Soldier's Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian
The Soldier's Scoundrel by Cat Sebastian
Description:
A scoundrel who lives in the shadows
Jack Turner grew up in the darkness of London’s slums, born into a life of crime and willing to do anything to keep his belly full and his siblings safe. Now he uses the tricks and schemes of the underworld to help those who need the kind of assistance only a scoundrel can provide. His distrust of the nobility runs deep and his services do not extend to the gorgeous high-born soldier who personifies everything Jack will never be.
A soldier untarnished by vice
After the chaos of war, Oliver Rivington craves the safe predictability of a gentleman’s life-one that doesn’t include sparring with a ne’er-do-well who flouts the law at every turn. But Jack tempts Oliver like no other man has before. Soon his yearning for the unapologetic criminal is only matched by Jack’s pleasure in watching his genteel polish crumble every time they’re together.
Two men only meant for each other




Regency - and I don't mean just an Eighteen-teens setting; this book reads an awful lot like a het regency by Loretta Chase or Sarah MacLean, except that it stars two heroes instead of a hero and heroine. The main plot is the slowly developing romance between wounded solider (and gentleman) Oliver and reformed criminal/former valet/current "problem fixer" Jack, who have to overcome the impossibility of being openly gay in Regency-era England and the sizable class barrier between them in order to get their HEA. Both characters are likable, their relationship progresses in a reasonably developed fashion rather than insta-love, and there are abut the same number of sex scenes as there'd be in a het romance of the same style/genre.
The B plot is a relatively light caper-style/mystery investigation plot involving a wealthy woman who's hired Jack to recover stolen blackmail letters, and while I could see its resolution coming (and also guessed who was responsibly for an extremely minor character's suspicious death pretty much instantly), it was still entertaining to read, and to watch Oliver try earnestly to be a detective and Jack try resentfully to pretend that he totally doesn't care about the poor potentially-blackmailed client and her husbands' feelings or find Oliver's assistance useful, so there.
Huh. I often get really frustrated at the characters if they don't see the really obvious villain for what s/he is. But if this is just a b-plot maybe I can put up with it anyway.
I often get really frustrated at the characters if they don't see the really obvious villain for what s/he is.
There wasn't actually any obvious clue they missed - I just immediately guessed it based on a long familiarity with mystery novel tropes ("in X kind of murder it's always Y kind of character that does it, so I bet Z did it").