Customer Reviews

The Englor Affair (Sci-Regency)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

So after months of teasers about Payton and Simon the boys are finally here. If you've not already got this weighty tome of an ebook, best you shift your toot and get it now. It is 295 pages of delicious Sci-Regency Romance that is not to be missed.

One element that I kept coming back to in this book is that it is a regency romance. Payton for all intents and purposes has been as cloistered as a nun. Despite the odd foray without a chaperone, also known as the household computer back on his home planet, he is quite innocent in many ways. All this comes to a bit of an end when he hies off to assist the goodness that is Nate on a dangerous mission on Englor. He is certainly more than capable with his mad tech skills. Geeky and cute!

So, here he is far from his home on Regelence and minus duenna. What's a poor boy to do? Fall into the den of iniquity that is the marine base gym of course! Hoo Ahh? Where he meets Simon of the auburn locks and muscular physique. The dynamic between the two men is electric and Payton is like a kid in a candy shop (50 cent song in my head as I write... grubby, bad man) with all the naked men casually undressing, working out and heavens to Betsy showering. But Payton is made of sturdy stuff and does not disappoint with a swoon. Although, he does do a bit of fleeing later in the chapter. JL Langley is just so incredibly good at building that tension and keeping you turning that page till the wee small hours. I totally have bags under my eyes after her books!

The tension was different from My Fair Captain which was cool. I always worry in a series that I am going to get a carbon copy of the previous book. The voice is different from last time. It is certainly not polite regency romance with nighties on and the lamp low either! It was bawdy, hot and definitely fit the the story and for those more delicate flowers avert your gaze. I was most impressed that the scenes did not feel like she had a list she was ticking off with big free for all at end, it just flowed. This book seemed less about the power dynamic in the relationship and more about having one a rather good time and yet it did not overshadow the mystery and action in the plot.

The world building is tight and I enjoyed the almost steam punk feel I got occasionally. Englor is so very much like regency England but with spaceships. It was also so nice to have small cameos from Nate, Aidan and the rest of the family and I am already rubbing my hands together in anticipation of the next one!

I think this has to be one of my favorite series for cover art. As far as slick marketing goes I think Samhain Publishing and the artist definitely got this right. It is gorgeous and I love the colours. Roll on the paperback version because these two books are going to look gorgeous on my shelf!

I did enjoy this book. Immensely. I think JL Langley is a talented author and she just keeps getting better. I am not sure which I like best in the series either, might have to mull that one over!

Until reading My Fair Captain, I hadn't really even thought about the existence of Gay, Regency, Sci-Fi. I had read SwordPoint and the Night Runner series, but they were more fantasy based (you kind of expect sword and horses and carriages there). I must admit my surprise and delight with Ms. Langley's ability to maintain the "Regency" atmosphere through all the bawdyness and technology.

I loved My Fair Captain! And didn't even know there was a sequel. I ordered The Englor Affair, totally independent of the first purchase, because I liked JL Langley as an author.

Enough preamble. This is a rip roaring good book, in and of itself. The universe and characters from My Fair Captain are there. But, the voice is different, and a new story is told. The excitement, adventure, suspense, and eroticism haven't been hurt one iota, though. This is always the concern with sequels; "Will the voice and/or story hold up as well as the first one?"

And, additional applause go out to Ms. Langley for a SUBSTANTIAL e-book. Too many are short stories, that you barely begin reading before they have finished. I can't say enough good things about the author and the book, except I hope there is a sequel to this one as well.

Prior to getting my Kindle, I never read a romance - gay or straight. I picked up J L Langley's With/Without novels and enjoyed them quite a bit and suddenly I have a guily secret. In the months since then, I've read some poorly written stuff - some of which I couldn't finish. This book is not among that list.

The Englor Affair is an interesting mix of science fiction and Regency nobility. As with her other novels I've read, this was fun as well as well written with enough intrique to keep it interesting.

The only think that stuck out for me is the use of words and phrases like 'Galaxy', 'Imploding Planets' and 'Dust' as expletitives; that was just distracting. I'm sure it was done for flavor but I really could have done without it.

That said, I'm looking forward to her next ebook novel.

I have to commend J. L. Langley on the best book so far! I have read all of her previous books and loved them, but this one made me want the book to never end. J. L.'s story telling is outstanding. She gets you so caught up in the story that you can't put the book down. I read this book in record time. I only wish there was another book in the series. I never read a book twice, but I am going to read this one again. If you like a story that has hot sexy powerful men caught up in intrigue, devious plots, romance and above all Hot Sex, then this is the book for you! Pleas J.L. if you read this, please continue the saga of Regelence and Englor and the hot men of Royal Families!

The Englor Affair is number 2 in J L Langley's space Regency series. It's definitely meant to be read as part of that series. A lot of the plot won't make sense if you haven't read Book 1, My Fair Captain, so check that out first. One drawback is that with the first book and with this one the endings feel a bit too unresolved, even for me, who doesn't mind quite an open ending. The romance is resolved, of course, but the rest of the plot doesn't seem to be.

I don't think this is purely down to it being a series though. I just find the endings a little too easy. After setting up the problems nicely for the rest of the book they are too easily solved. Si fears Englor society won't accept his relationship with Payton, but once it's out in the open no big problems appear. He's worried the House of Lords will agree to let the Englor Marines be absorbed into the IN, but talks them out of it - and we don't even get to listen to him do it.

I like sci-fi and I like Regency romance, so putting them together certainly appeals to me. But this second book does feel slightly less successful in exploring the results of what happens when the two are put together. In the first book Regelence society had some very odd aspects, some of which freaked me out a bit, but made me think! So it had more of a twist. This one doesn't explore the potential strangeness as much, which is a shame.

It does repeat the "I compromised you, so I must marry you!" trope from My Fair Captain, which is a bit contrived. I hope all the Townsend brothers don't end up having to get married that way as the series goes on! I know these stories are also playing with the common situations in more conventional Regency romance, but I'm sure people got married for other reasons besides being compromised back in the real Regency.

Speaking of being compromised, they really asked for it - having sex in a gym locker room. And it wasn't the first time they'd had sex in different parts of said gym, which didn't quite make sense to me, since a lot is made of the fact that Si can't be found out to be gay without a scandal, and Payton has the whole "being compromised" issue. Given that, it's a bit odd they'd keep having sex in a place someone could walk in on them any minute - and eventually does! Or rather it's odd that they don't appear worried about that risk.

Of the characters I found I didn't warm much to Si through the story. He's a classic Alpha hero type, and rather arrogant, which is understandable enough with his privileged background. But it makes him hard to like. I didn't dislike him to the extent that I didn't want them to get their happy ending, but I wasn't cheering him on. Payton on the other hand I did like more. He's more complex, more likeable, though perfectly capable of being stubborn and idiotic enough to ensure the romance doesn't go smoothly. (Where would we be if romance characters acted sensibly, eh?)

There's a lot of sex, as usual with this writer. I have oddly mixed feelings about J L Langley's sex scenes. There's no question that they are hot, very explicit. They never resort to purple or flowery prose, and they are always very sensual, even visceral, sight, sound, smell, touch all play a part. However I often find they have a kind of sameness about them, even in the emotional content. As if you could shuffle them to different places in the book and it wouldn't make a huge difference. It's something I've noticed with most of Langley's books. So they're good, but I just feel like I want to see more variety in them and see them used more to display the emotional arc of the relationship.

Dialogue in the sex scenes is one part of them that I don't like! I certainly don't mind when people who are otherwise very polite talk dirty during sex. It's just the way they talk dirty here jars me. It sounds like dialogue from a porno movie and the main issue with that is that it feels too contemporary. It's neither futuristic nor Regency appropriate and I find it unconvincing. I'd find it mildly unconvincing in an actual contemporary story, since I'd think "surely real people don't talk that way?" But at least in a contemporary they could have picked it up from watching porno movies! It was an issue in My Fair Captain too, the Englorian character in that, Nate, had the same kind of pillow talk. I suspect Englor may have a special stash of vintage porn that's passed around secretly.

The rest of the dialogue sometimes slips into a contemporary feel sometimes too. So there's an odd mix between contemporary slang, more formal Regency-style speech and the futuristic dialogue, which is mostly some invented profanities which I'm not very keen on either. The dialogue isn't bad in the "nobody would ever say that!" sense, just inconsistent and occasionally jarring when it feels it doesn't quite go with the setting.

People who have read Book 1 may be pleased to know that Nate has a decent sized supporting role in this story. They may also be pleased to know that his adopted son "Trouble" has no more than a tiny cameo.

One of the things that intrigued me most in the story and that I hope we'll see some exploration of in the future books is the idea that the IN wants to get its hands on the Regelence cloning technology as they've figured out that if you skip all the training in manners and refinement and send the boys it produces to military training instead you've got a race of elite warriors on your hands. Sort of Space-Spartans. I like this idea a lot.

For My Fair Captain I complained about the weird position Regelence society put women in - i.e. non-existent within the ruling classes! It doesn't work that way on Englor, and there were some women characters around. I think there could have been more exploration of how Payton would deal with women, who he just wouldn't be used to relating to as part of the same social class as him.

There is an epilogue, which I'm not certain is needed, but I'm not a big epilogue fan in romances, so that may just be my taste.

Overall, it's well written, good quality easily read prose. High quality editing as I'd expect from this author and publisher. A very erotic story with a lot of sex, but with a complex and dramatic background plot integrated with the romance. But I still feel just slightly disappointed, mostly from small issues like the ones I've talked about here. I never wanted to not finish it, but I was left a bit unsatisfied.

Having been disappointed in Langley's previous sci-fi "Regency", I was a little hesitant about giving her another chance. In spite of the fact that I loved the idea of blending these two disparate genres, I just didn't want to read yet another male/male romance in which one of the males was overly (and even stereotypically) feminized.

Thankfully, "The Englor Affair" was a lot better than I'd hoped, but still not as good as it could have been.

I actually liked Payton and Simon and found them to be somewhat better matched than the wretched Nate and Aidan (both of whom make cameo appearances and Aidan is still very much emasculated). Payton definitely had a lot more backbone, though he those annoying "girly" moments that made my back teeth ache. Still he was a huge improvement over Aidan. Payton didn't behave like some overprotected virgin and in one scene he actually bests Simon in a very HAWT fencing match. He was comfortable in his orientation and at first glance at Simon in the gym, made his desires quite clear.

The erotic scenes were nicely done and passionate and who doesn't like their Regencies with a hefty amount of derring-do? Also, the supporting characters were fleshed out and very enjoyable, especially Simon's friend and confidante Dru, the outspoken duchess.

Obviously there will be a third book, and hopefully Ms. Langley won't be too afraid to write a pair of male heroes who are more equally matched. I have somewhat made peace with the fact that for a Regency society, the characters still speak in a modern tone, but it's still a disappointment. It would also be interesting to learn just how Regelen society came to be and why their preference for one gender over another.

The initial part of the book showed promise since it went beyond he inevitable romance, but the underlying plot that involved the two planets gradually lost steam, and the book degenerated into sex and dropped plot lines. I find the consistent preference in m/m romances for the strong brute and the delicate beauty who gets pounded into oblivion as the bottom screaming for more. Need I add that everyone is stunningly beautiful and hung like a bull? Or the characters who lust so that any kind of self control is impossible? Fantasy, I guess. Why must gay men be portrayed as uncontrolled sex addicts? I suppose it would be nice to be in a world where such was acceptable, or would it?

It's simple, really - if you liked Langley's "My Fair Captain," you'll like this and if you disliked the prequel, well, you'll have the same issues with this follow-on volume.

Langley continues to be one of the better female writers of MM erotica. The previous book had a touch of BDSM, while this one explores (fairly light) raunch. I suspect that gay male readers of the genre will enjoy her books more than most written by women, as she seems to really understand the fringes of what actually turns gay men on and how they truly behave in bed. There's one scene in particular that ranks among my favorites in the MM genre - not something you want to read while on public transportation (enough said on that score).

I'd have rated this book more highly if the tension between the protagonists late in the book didn't ring somewhat untrue. There's the typical misunderstanding of motives and the "Does he love me? If he does, why hasn't he said it?" plot. Yet given the quality of the interaction between Simon and Payton earlier in the book, it's rather unbelievable that neither would have opened the conversation that might have resolved their misunderstanding before it reaches the crisis point.

That said, this was an extremely engaging read and I enjoyed the fact that Payton (unlike his brother Aiden in the previous book) is less passive and more given to aggression with his lover.

Langley has indicated that she plans additional books in this series and I'd be lying if I didn't admit that I check both Amazon and her personal website with some frequency to see if the next installment is ready.

The Book Report: This is a sci-Regency. That means a Regency romance set in outer space, don't bother asking how it works or this whole review will be wasted on you. It's also a smutty gay-sex romp written by a very nice straight lady.

If you're still here, we'll get to the plot: The Queen of Englor, an Earth colony that's chosen Regency England as its societal model, is a nasty, homophobic gambling addict whose son and heir happens to be a big ol' 'mo with a taste for chicken (men younger than the subject). He's also a Marine Colonel, a gym rat, and as heir to the throne, PRIME marriage material. He's been dodging scheming mamas and aunties at Almack's for most of his life. Colonel Hollister, Our Lantern-Jawed (and big-eared) Hero, discovers that his revolting Mama is up to her hiney in badness...she's being blackmailed to deliver to Persons Unknown some schematics for something the Englor Marines have designed that's so secret that even the heir to the throne/Colonel Hollister doesn't even know what it is.

So, it's a romance, and that means a counterparty: Prince Payton Townsend of Regelence, another Regency-based society, is a nineteen-year-old computer genius and son of the King of Regelence and his Consort. No, not Queen, Consort. A Man...and a very studly one. Payton's younger brother has just married a Captain in the Interplanetary Navy (subject of a previous book, My Fair Captain), who also happens to be the heir to an Englorian Dukedom. Englorian spying on Regelence has been discovered, an investigation takes place, Payton meets Colonel Hollister the heir to the homophobic Queen, sparks fly, virginities are lost, tops bottom, and all sorts of runnin' from pillar to post takes place. There is an agreeable amount of very, very dirty sex. The expected miscommunications and misunderstandings and emotional angst takes place, and in the end (pun optional), Our Hero and his little bit of stuff are married and parents and just gooily happy.

My Review: Well, it ain't for everybody, but I really, really, really liked it. Is it a perfect novel? Oh heavens no. Someone needed to guide Ms. Langley to a few of the more obvious embellishments that a spy thriller really needs, and the world-building that a sci-fi novel needs is woefully absent.

But the love story is charming. The sex is waaay smutty, exactly as sex should be. (My father said it best, during his first teenaged-indiscretion talk with me: "If you can do it in front of me, you're doing it wrong. So don't do it until you need to close the door. If you need to *lock* the door, you're doing good.") So why do I like the book so much, given its flaws? Because these characters are not in any way conflicted about themselves. True, the Englorian heir is closeted, but he never feels he's bad or wrong, he feels he's put-upon and wastes little time in angsting over what he wants, just over not being able to see how he can have it. That's an adult dilemma, not a boring coming-out story suitable for kids. I am so weary of coming out stories I could urp. I was never in, really, so coming out didn't make a big impression on me. (Yes, yes, married two women, had two children, but never ever hid my true nature from anyone.) Chacun a son gout, of course, but I for one am not buyin' any more gay fiction with the words "teen" or "awaken" or "life-changing decision" in the sales copy.

So should y'all read it? Maybe. Sex is rampant in these pages. Don't pick it up...heck, don't even look at the *cover*, if you're not into big, hairy-chested semi-nude studmuffins *drifts off to Bermuda for a moment* sorry, where was I, oh yeah so if anything here makes you gag, leave it. If you're squirming a little, try it. The rest of us are waaay ahead of you.

I absolutely loved My Fair Captain, so I was excited for this sequel. Langley has a created a unique world with all the trappings and mood of Regency England paired with the freedom of a futuristic science fiction world. In MFC, readers were introduced to planet Regelence, where the aristocracy is genetically bred to be gay males, and young Lords are treated and protected like young Ladies of the Old World (e.g., chaperons, arranged marriage, etc). The main advantage to these dukes, earls and the like being in the future, other than cool SciFi gizmos and spaceships, is the acceptance of homosexuality. In this sequel, readers are taken to planet Englor, also a regency society, but where homosexuality is not viewed so favorably. Admiral Hawkins has brought Prince Payton along in disguise as a fleet lieutenant in order to use his computer skills to expose the conspiracy discovered in MFC. However, Payton takes advantage of not being under watch by a chaperon to try his hand at spying. Instead, he falls in love with Englor's heir to the throne, Simon Hollister.

While each novel features a different couple for the romance, there is an underlying storyline that began in MFC and continues here. The downside to this is that, apparently, the mystery will span multiple books. The mystery is further developed, but readers are left with a distinct cliffhanger. This is especially disappointing since there is no expected date for the next book. However, the romance is very satisfying - at least for those that like the alpha male/small bottom dynamic, and frequent explicit sex (which I do). I do hope that the next book does not continue the trend wherein the couple ends up being married because the prince was "compromised." It would be nice to see a planned wedding and all the accompanying drama of such that is also often found in traditional regency romances. Overall, an enjoyable sequel.