Heaven sent was great. This story felt too convenient in parts. I hoped for a bit more drama at the last part, but then Reese told Tyler all the "right things".
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I'm very much not a fan of historical romance or any other historical subgenre, but I'm a huge fan of the Heaven Sent series, so I was extremely happy to realize this really was another incarnation of Johnnie and Tyler, not so very historical. The liberties the author has taken with inaccuracies was a breath of fresh air, in a manner of speaking. They made the setting fit the characters instead of trying to force the characters to fit the mold.

I'm excited to continue reading the series! ( )

If the men on the cover of ‘Valet’ look just a tiny bit familiar to some of you, as they did to me when I first laid eyes on it, that turns out to be entirely intentional. As became apparent when I read the letter from the author at the beginning of the book, Tyler and Johnnie are "reincarnations" from the ‘Heaven Sent’ series. I loved those books, so I was interested to see what Jet Mykles had come up with. The ‘Rose Family Chronicles’ take place in an alternate reality version of the early 1800s, in England, and that made a huge difference in the feel of the story. It did nothing to reduce my enjoyment when reading the novel.

Tyler is in dire need of a well-paying job so he can help support his widowed sister and her baby daughter. They lost their parents a while ago, and while their uncle can help out, he is not rich. Tyler decides to apply as a footman in the household of the Earl of Rose, and gets hired partly due to his prior experience as an assistant concierge in a big hotel. Tyler is a hard worker, but when the earl himself requests his services as a personal valet, a position Tyler is totally unqualified for, Tyler balks. Not that he can resist the earl’s charms, and it isn’t too long before he succumbs in every way and ends up in the earl’s bed. The tension between his position in society and the way that Johnnie treats him is significant, and I was glued to the pages wanting to find out how Tyler was going to deal with it.

Johnnie has only recently become the Earl of Rose, following his father’s death. He likes taking over the management of Rose Hall and the estate that goes with it, especially the theaters his family supports. He prefers men to women and has been quite a player, but when he meets Tyler all that changes. He will do almost anything to get Tyler to share his bed, but his butler makes sure Tyler is protected – much to Johnnie’s initial annoyance. The better he gets to know Tyler, the more Johnnie realizes he has to be very careful and more patient than ever before in his life if he doesn’t want to chase the man away. He doesn’t even know if Tyler is gay! The chase that follows was a lot of fun to watch, and I admired Johnnie for his (mostly) restrained and considerate approach.

The vast chasm between Tyler ad Johnnie’s positions in society is not the only obstacle they have to overcome. While, in this world, the King and Queen of England have taken a male lover and make no secret of it, gay relationships are still frowned upon. There is the threat of Johnnie having to marry to get an heir, and even though he has no intention to do anything of the kind, there is a woman who has a very different view of things – and she causes quite a bit of mayhem. Added to all the details about running a noble household, the social events, and organizing the theater season, this novel was an absolute delight to read.

While Tyler and Johnnie may be (mostly) the same men, but the fact that they live in the past changes everything. The plot is not the same as the one in the first volume of the ‘Heaven Sent’ series either, and I quickly got involved in this new setup. Some of the characters from ‘Heaven Sent’ have already appeared, in very different positions, and some are still to turn up, I am sure. Whether you read the previous books or not though, the ‘Rose Family Chronicles’ looks like a very promising series in its own right. With the somewhat changed history, the slightly different order of historical events, and a setting that reminded me of steampunk in some instances, it is entertainment of the best kind as far as I am concerned.

If you like historicals set in an alternate version of our past, if you want to know what an earl and his personal valet might get up to behind closed doors, and if you’re looking for a read that is entertaining, suspenseful, full of beautiful clothes and nobility, and a heartwarming ending that had me sigh, then you will probably like this novel as much as I do. I can’t wait for more stories set in this new universe that Jet Mykles has created!


NOTE: This book was provided by Loose Id for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )