Title: A Private Gentleman (Second Edition)
Author: Heidi Cullinan
Publisher: Self Published
Release Date: April 17, 2018
Genre(s): M/M Historical Romance
Page Count: 388 pages
Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Read book blurb here
The blurb for A Private Gentleman checked off so many items on my book wish list. M/M historical? Why, of course. A tortured hero? Another check mark. A prostitute with a dark past? Yes, please! Issues to overcome, such as an opium addiction and a heavy stammer? Don't mind if I do!
In 1844 London, Lord Westin (Wes) has a very heavy stammer and spends his time nurturing his gardens and working with the Botanical Society. Wes needs "a dangerous amount of Doctor Jacob’s wicked little pills mixed in with his usual laudanum" just to get out the door, and in society he's treated like an idiot because of his speech, so being gay as well is just the icing on a not-so-tasty tea cake.
Michael had the best schools his courtesan mother could afford, and dreamed of being a scholar of books, or more practically a lawyer, but due to a devastating loss of innocence, became a whore. After meeting Wes at a society ball and following a sizzling sexual encounter, Michael reverts back to the terror he experienced when he was a child and has issues similar to PTSD.
