Book Review: King's Man
King’s Man is a second chance historical MM romance that puts its characters through the ringer, causing them to work extremely hard for their happily ever after.
Official Summary
Had there been no war, Sam Hutchinson and Nate Tanner would have lived their lives together as intimate friends, and secret lovers. But when the revolution convulsed America, it threw them down on opposite sides of history…
Five years later, Sam is a Loyalist refugee in London, penniless, bitter, and scrambling to survive amid the city’s shadowy underworld. It’s a far cry from his respectable life as a Rhode Island lawyer, and the last person he wants to witness his ruin is Nate Tanner— the man he once loved, the man who betrayed him.
The man he can’t forgive.
Now an agent of the Continental Congress, Nate is in London on the trail of a traitor threatening America’s hard-won freedom. But the secret mission of his heart is quite different. Nate longs to find Sam Hutchinson—the man he still loves, the man he lost to the war.
The man he can’t forget.
When their lives unexpectedly collide, Sam and Nate are thrown together on a dangerous mission. And despite everything that still divides them, old passions begin to stir...
Can they seize this second chance at love, or is their tangled past too painful to forgive?
Quick Information
Author: Sally Malcolm
Published: March 25, 2021
Genre: M/M Romance, Historical Romance
Tropes: Forced Proximity, Second Chance, Angst, Political Drama, Lovers to Enemies to Lovers
Review
Sam Hutchinson and Nate Tanner are secret lovers who have differing opinions on America’s future when the Revolution violently tears them apart. Years later, they meet again in London and some wounds aren’t easily healed.
The American Revolutionary War has been covered ad infinitum in popular media. However, Malcolm manages to show us the conflict and horror being done by citizens to their own and then the ramifications of the war’s aftermath. This setting was extremely interesting to me because it's always skipped over when media recounts this time period. There is always a great battle and then suddenly everything is fine. But King’s Man sheds some light on the incredibly turbulent period of early American history.
It’s clear that Malcolm has a deep knowledge for the history and culture of this era. Even before reading the author’s notes where she describes writing a master’s dissertation on the subject, it’s clear to anyone who reads this novel that she is deeply passionate about the topic. She is knowledgeable about the political and social divides everyday people faced on both sides of the conflict across the Atlantic. This knowledge shines throughout her novel, creating a richness that I thoroughly enjoy when reading historical romance. The historical backdrop is WHY I love reading books in this genre. I want to feel immersed in the time period, from everything to the way the characters speak to their everyday concerns to the locations they traverse to everything in between. A historical romance is nothing without its setting.
One of my favorite things about this story was how much Sam and Nate knew and understood one another because of their deep history. Even when they were angry and frustrated with each other, they knew what kind of person the other man was and couldn’t help but admire and love all those parts of him, flaws, strengths, and all.
King’s Man does have a prequel short story titled Rebel, and even though it isn’t listed as the first book in the Outlawed series, it should be in my opinion. The first chapter of King’s Man gives little introduction to the characters and immediately brings us to their established relationship and their immediate internal conflicts.
As a result, I highly suggest reading Rebel first because it will twist the knife far deeper when you understand how Sam and Nate met and fell in love. Rebel is a short story and is available for free through the author’s newsletter. It’s worth your time, so you don’t miss out on Sam and Nate’s backstory! It is also an excellent story in its own right, and it depicts how Sam and Nate fell in love during a time when such feelings were considered an “eternal sin”. If you aren’t convinced, check out my full review of Rebel here.
“Nate had once kissed that stiff jaw, been intimately familiar with its contours. He’d brushed his lips over Sam’s delicate eyelids, from beneath which his flinty eyes now stared coldly.”
Betrayal between two love interests is something I dislike reading about immensely, usually because the conflict is dumbed down to create artificial drama and is then tossed aside when the story beats have run their course. The central conflict between Sam and Nate is extremely complicated and nuanced given the historical time period. I devoured each page of this novel because I wanted to know more about what happened in the past. I needed to see when they would eventually be able to talk to each other about everything that happened. These two men went through such a painful journey and at the end I wasn’t angry with either one of them because there was really no “right” way out of the situation they found themselves in. It was heartbreaking. I wish they hadn’t had to go through what they did because all they wanted was to be together and work together towards a common goal. This is a story full of remorse, regret, guilt, grief over missed opportunities, and finding a way back from ones’ mistakes to find forgiveness and healing.
“How is this so easy for you?”
“Being with you was always easy. Easiest damn thing in the world.”
The romance between Sam and Nate is touching, and in some ways resembles a slow burn as both characters navigate their new reality in a changed post-war world. Both characters long for a simpler time before the war broke out, but both understand they can’t go back and change the past. They rediscover why they fell in love with each other and contextualize these feelings alongside their new circumstances. Their love story felt believable, and never once did I stop rooting for them. Their shared intimacy and history enhanced the second chance romance’s drama and propelled me to flip the page over and over.
The second book in the Outlawed series, Thief Taker, releases on October 6th. I have my copy preordered, and I can’t wait to read more about this time period and these characters!
Sally Malcolm has crafted a historical fiction that feels authentic to the time period, with deeply interesting and complex characters, a realistic love story, and a dramatic narrative that will have you reading into the early morning hours because you just can’t put the book down. Pick up King’s Man as your next read, and you won’t be disappointed.
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