#proper english

[stone-cold-groove]

Get off the Earth!

[lgbtqreads]

Fave Five: Historical F/F Romance

Feminine Pursuits and Hen Fever by Olivia Waite Don’t Want You Like a Best Friend by Emma R. Alban The Spinsters of Inverley by Jane Walsh That Could Be Enough by Alyssa Cole A Little Light Mischief by Cat Sebastian Bonus: For cozy mystery/romance mashup, check out Proper English by KJ Charles Double Bonus: These are all realistic fiction, but for historical fantasy, try Heather Rose Jones’s…

[runawaymarbles]

So what I'm learning from all these KJ Charles books is that one should never attend a house party while single. You'll meet the love of your life but at what cost

[magickkart]

The best part about Think of England for me has always been the dynamic between Archie and Pat, and Daniel and Fen.

KJ Charles writes female side characters like no one else, and I always get excited every time they come up in the book or they interact with the main characters.

when they’re center stage in their own book however…well…

[poisindonottouch]

Queer reads: K.J. Charles

As we leave fantasy, I bring you the last category of my recommendations: smutty smutty smut. 

Okay, these are romance novels, but in my reading of romance novels, I’ve discovered that I thoroughly enjoy the spicier end of the spectrum. The smuttier the better. 

So, for day 22, I bring you my favorite romance author KJ Charles. 

I’m putting this under a cut, because it’s going to be long. 

KJ Charles has written loads of books, but I’ve narrowed it down to my favorite 9. 

I’ll take these by series. 

First off, I give you the Will Darling Adventures. These books take place in 1920s London (and surrounding environs.) They are post WWI. Will Darling served in the war, came home to no one, and ended up inheriting a book shop. He’s gruff, manly, and really a giant cinnamon roll. Kim did not serve in the war (it’s a whole thing), and he’s anything but a manly cinnamon roll. He’s sharp and devious and manipulative. And of course, they fall in loooove. This trilogy follows the same pairing over three books, and it’s nice to see how KJC handles the deepening of their relationship from HFN to HEA. (That’s happily for now & happily ever after.) 

The next two books, Proper English and Think of England, are actually in the same world as the Will Darling books, and you’ll see a cameo or two in the later trilogy. Proper English, set in 1902, tells the story of Pat and Fen meeting at a house party that involves a murder mystery and some sexy times. After all, if a murderer is on the loose, you can’t sleep alone, right? Think of England, set in 1904, tells the story of Archie and Daniel, at a different house party. Archie is there to investigate some shady business, but he’s a straightforward kind of man, and he is woefully out of his depth. Luckily, Daniel is there. 

Any Old Diamonds and An Unnatural Vice are set in the same world, about 20 years apart. They aren’t the only books in their series, but they are my favorite of each. Any Old Diamonds follows Alec and Jerry as Alec hires Jerry to steal some jewels. There’s a great twist to this one, and I love Alec and Jerry. I want more of them. An Unnatural Vice is book two of the Sins of the City trilogy, but Justin Lazarus is the very best character ever, and Nathaniel is good for him. I recommend the all the books in both series, but these two are my favorite in the bunches. 

Band Sinister is a stand alone novel, telling the story of Phillip and Guy, who have some bad history between their families, but unforeseen circumstances bring them together, and chemistry does the rest. I would love to read a book series about every side character in this book, but alas. I’ll keep reading fanfic instead. 

Which brings us to The Secret Lives of Country Gentlemen, the most recent book out by KJC. It’s the first of a duology, and I’m super excited for the next one to come out in September. It’s marked on my calendar in my kitchen. This is a dual pov book switching between Garath, who recently inherited his late fathers title, home, and secrets, and Joss, the boss of the local smuggler family. This is a lovers to enemies to lovers book, and I love it. Really, one of KJCs best. 

(Ack! I missed Spectered Isle, which is also fantastic. I really enjoy the relationship in this one, and I’d happily read a bunch of books set in this world, but alas, I think this series is over. Spectered Isle follows after The Casebooks of Simon Feximal (also good. Think smutty, magical Sherlock Holmes.) Like the Will Darling books, Spectered Isle takes place post the Great War, and everyone in the novel is scarred from it. It’s not a shared universe though, because this one has magic, and the Will Darling books are not fantasy, but similar time frame.)

[do-you-know-this-queer-character]

Do you know this queer character?

Pat is a Lesbian and uses she/her pronouns!

[a-ramblinrose]

JOMP BPC || September 21 || Representation:

England World Series by KJ Charles

[shiraglassman]

Do you have any recommendations for sapphic and/or Jewish cosy mysteries?

I wrote one that is both, called A Harvest of Ripe Figs! It's about a stolen violin.

A sapphic cozy (at least, cozy in the vein that it's stylistically similar to Agatha Christie) is Proper English by KJ Charles. I have a review floating around if you Google my name and the title.

For a historical Jewish mystery series, try Libi Astaire's books. I'm partial to the one called The Vanisher Variations. I reviewed that one too at some point.

I haven't read a tremendous amount of recently-written cozies, though, so other people might have more to say!

@piercedsky

[avuncularwalt]

Ok I am SO EXCITED to read about Miss Carruth and Miss Merton. I hope their backs have since healed after they carried “Think of England.” And I get a whole book? About them? 😭

[cartograffiti]

Your Kindness and Your Time

Fandom: England series, Proper English - KJ Charles Rated: E No archive warnings apply Word count: 5,000 - Featuring: Fenella Carruth/Patricia Merton - “I would very much like to try. I’m afraid I won’t be any good, but I’d be grateful for your time if you would teach me.”

“I don’t imagine you will be any good,” Miss Merton began, eyes dancing above a disarming smile, “when you’ve never taken a shot before—”

“We can’t all be the All England Ladies’ Champion.”

“Oh, you’ve heard?”

“I hear a lot of things. Most people don’t take me seriously enough to mind their tongue.”

“Most people are idiots.”

** Miss Fenella Carruth and Miss Patricia Merton meet at a shooting range.

This fic was a collaboration with @rainbow-0bsidian for the Battleship Exchange 2024!

[rainbow-0bsidian]

@cartograffiti and I teamed up and wrote a thing!

Your Kindness and Your Time

A Proper English fic, featuring competency kink, a convenient summer storm, semi-public sex, and a lil cameo from Bill and Jimmy.

Summary:

“I would very much like to try. I’m afraid I won’t be any good, but I’d be grateful for your time if you would teach me.”

“I don’t imagine you will be any good,” Miss Merton began, eyes dancing above a disarming smile, “when you’ve never taken a shot before—”

“We can’t all be the All England Ladies’ Champion.”

“Oh, you’ve heard?”

“I hear a lot of things. Most people don’t take me seriously enough to mind their tongue.”

“Most people are idiots.”

**

Fenella and Pat meet at a shooting range.

Read it now on AO3.

[thevampirearchive]

I believe in accents and to read the Twilight Saga without a single mention of an accent is actually so irritating. Where is Jaspers Texan accent? Where is Carlisle’s slight Italian accent that he thinks has faded but then he’ll say Italian words in Italian and everybody is wondering why he’s saying Spaghetti with his hands too!

And Bella was clearly supposed to have a Cali accent, and go huh whenever Edward came in with his proper east coast English! And don’t get me started on the Volturi! Have y’all met old Europeans? There’s no WAY they speak English volunteering! Why isn’t Bella learning Italian so she can listen in on the big confrontations because I doubt Adonis translating so she can follow along!

[findmeagreenlight]

I've been reading Proper English by KJ Charles and one of the characters has the single best reaction to being accused of murder

[netcryptid]

Fun Fact: You know how in Spanish there’s a formal you (tú) and informal you (usted)? English used to have those too!!

The super interesting part is that thou is actually… informal! While you is formal. So the informal form of you is the one that became obsolete.

A real pity, because if I could be a passive aggressive gremlin by using the wrong version of you on people of higher social standing than me my life would be complete :/

So anyway, if you’re a peasant you’d be addressing a Lord/Lady using you, unless you were mocking them or rebelling or something.

NO ONE knows how to use thou/thee/thy/thine and i need to see that change if ur going to keep making “talking like a medieval peasant” jokes.

They play the same roles as I/me/my/mine. In modern english, we use “you” for both where the subject and the direct object/object of preposition/etc, so it’s difficult to compare “thou” to “you”.

So the trick is this: if you are trying to turn something Olde, first turn every “you” into first-person and then replace it like so:

“I” →  “thou”

“Me” →  “thee”

“My” →  “thy”

“Mine” →  “thine”

Let’s suppose we had the sentences “You have a cow. He gave it to you. It is your cow. The cow is yours”.

We could first imagine it in the first person-

“I have a cow. He gave it to me. It is my cow. The cow is mine”.

And then replace it-

“Thou hast a cow. He gave it to thee. It is thy cow. The cow is thine.”

[littlemizzlinguistics]

Studying linguistics is actually so wonderful because when you explain youth slang to older professors, instead of complaining about how "your generation can't speak right/ you're butchering the language" they light up and go “really? That’s so wonderful! What an innovative construction! Isn't language wonderful?"

[someonedonehiding]

"I am unable to can" is my new fav sentence ever read