{"id":13385,"date":"2020-08-31T15:05:41","date_gmt":"2020-08-31T19:05:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=13385"},"modified":"2026-03-30T19:42:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T23:42:21","slug":"the-sugared-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13385","title":{"rendered":"The Sugared Game"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sugared Game<\/a><\/em> (2020) K.J. Charles<\/a> (The Will Darling Adventures)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Set in London in 1924.<\/p>\n

Will Darling has settled in as proprietor of the bookstore he inherited from his uncle. He’s cleaned out the upstairs so he has room to sleep, and is slowly organizing the books. Unfortunately, all that is not keeping his mind off Kim Secretan, the unreliable aristocrat he met several months earlier, and who has seemingly walked away from Will without a second look.<\/p>\n

But when Will and his friend Maisie visit a popular nightclub, it ends up the kind of mess Kim gets involved in, which throws the two together again.<\/p>\n

I think my favorite part of the story was the subplot with Maisie, who (with Kim’s fiancee Phoebe) is going to start her own clothing line.<\/p>\n

\u201cExcuse me.\u201d It was a woman standing next to her. \u201cMay I ask, where did you get that divine frock?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cMaison Zie,\u201d Maisie said immediately. \u201cThis is an early model.\u201d She spoke in cut-glass English, disturbingly like Phoebe\u2019s accent, with no hint of her usual Welsh lilt.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Kim has proven himself unreliable, however, Will also knows he is in an unpleasant line of work that requires a good deal of lying, which is why it isn’t quite ridiculous for Will to keep giving Kim chances.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat about the perpetrators?\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cConsequences happen,\u201d Kim said. \u201cSometimes officially, sometimes not. Jobs are lost. Bank accounts are emptied. Words are dropped in ears, and decisions are made to leave the country and start a new life in South America. The passive voice does a lot of work in my line.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

To my pleasant surprise, this actually wrapped up the mystery begun in the first book. Kim is at loose ends, and there is another book scheduled. But I was quite pleased to see the Capricorn sotry arc wrapped up.<\/p>\n

Publisher : KJC Books<\/p>\n

Rating: 7.5\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Sugared Game (2020) K.J. Charles (The Will Darling Adventures) Set in London in 1924. Will Darling has settled in as proprietor of the bookstore he inherited from his uncle. He’s cleaned out the upstairs so he has room to sleep, and is slowly organizing the books. Unfortunately, all that is not keeping his mind […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[194,30,33,8,148,26,56,936],"tags":[581,50,697,546,476,544,767],"class_list":["post-13385","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-7-5-10","category-british","category-historical","category-mystery","category-queer","category-romance","category-sexual-content","category-single-point-of-view","tag-bisexual","tag-boinking","tag-book-store","tag-interwar-period","tag-kj-charles","tag-mm","tag-will-darling-adventures"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-3tT","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":26429,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/26429","url_meta":{"origin":13385,"position":0},"title":"The Sugared Game","author":"Michelle","date":"March 29, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"The Sugared Game (2020) KJ Charles (The Will Darling Adventures #2) Set in England in 1924 \u201cYou\u2019re Welsh,\u201d Will pointed out. \u201cYou\u2019ve got no room to talk about spelling.\u201d \u201cNothing wrong with Welsh spelling, thank you,\u201d Maisie said, with an edge on her accent. \u201cCome off it. You put two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sugared Game","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Sugared-Game-200x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24243,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24243","url_meta":{"origin":13385,"position":1},"title":"The Sugared Game","author":"Michelle","date":"February 9, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Sugared Game (2020) KJ Charles (The Will Darling Adventures, #2) Set in London in 1924 \"Do you ever have the feeling the whole world changed while we were away and nobody bothered to mention it to us?\" \u201cI know you\u2019ve thought about this,\u201d Will said. \u201cBut there are men\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sugared Game","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/Sugared-Game.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26432,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/26432","url_meta":{"origin":13385,"position":2},"title":"Subtle Blood","author":"Michelle","date":"March 30, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Subtle Blood (2021) KJ Charles (The Will Darling Adventures #3) Set in England in 1924 \"I might have to buy one, actually, it was such fun. Shall we, Maisie? We can call her Suzy.\u201d \u201cSu\u2014 A Hispano-Suiza?\u201d Kim demanded. \u201cDo you know how fast those beasts go?\u201d \u201cWe do now,\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Subtle Blood","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Subtle-Blood-200x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":24240,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/24240","url_meta":{"origin":13385,"position":3},"title":"Slippery Creatures","author":"Michelle","date":"February 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Slippery Creatures (2020) KJ Charles (The Will Darling Adventures, #1) Set in London in 1923 \u201cMy grateful nation wasn\u2019t grateful enough to give me a job. I pawned my medals to keep a roof over my head and food in my belly, and I\u2019ll tell you what, the Military Cross\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Slippery Creatures","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Slippery-Creatures.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12899,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/12899","url_meta":{"origin":13385,"position":4},"title":"Slippery Creatures","author":"Michelle","date":"May 24, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Slippery Creatures (2020) K.J. Charles (The Will Darling Adventures) Will Darling returned from the Great War at a bit of a loss. Will had gone to the War at eighteen, and come back five years later to find himself useless and unwanted. In Flanders he\u2019d been a grizzled veteran, a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Slippery Creatures","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Slippery-Creatures.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26427,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/26427","url_meta":{"origin":13385,"position":5},"title":"Slippery Creatures","author":"Michelle","date":"March 29, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Slippery Creatures (2020) KJ Charles (The Will Darling Adventures #1) Set in London in 1923 When Uncle William had died, Will remembered an ancient piece of lore about bees, and he\u2019d cleared his throat and told the books, \u201cHe\u2019s gone.\u201d He\u2019d been a working part in the State machine for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Slippery Creatures","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/Slippery-Creatures-200x300.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13385","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13385"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13385\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13385"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13385"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13385"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}