1906. Jonty Stewart and Orlando Coppersmith are off on holiday to Jersey. But soon there is a death but how many suspects will they find. Inspector Wilson is also here on holiday and is helping the local police. Between them can they find the murderer.
An entertaining historical cozy mystery ( )

I so like Jonty and Orlando! They make me laugh; they make me sigh; they make me happy in the sweet lovingness of their relationship. ( )

Book2 in the series. Great fun going along on a holiday with Jonty & Orlando. It is Summer,1906 and they are away from Cambridge, sharing a vacation at a luxury resort in New Jersey. Of course, where ever they go, murder seems to follow these two gentlemen. And their love affair continues as Jonty slowly breaks down Orlando's naivety. So in between stolen kisses, nights of sharing a bed and solving a murder, they fall deeper in love and share intimate stories that bring them even closer. I love these characters and look forward to continuing the series. ( )

THE BLURB

With the recent series of college murders behind him, Cambridge Fellow Jonty Stewart is in desperate need of a break. A holiday on the beautiful Channel Island of Jersey seems ideal, if only he can persuade Orlando Coppersmith to leave the security of the college and come with him.

Orlando is a quiet man who prefers academic life to venturing out into the world. Within the confines of their rooms at the university, it's easy to hide the fact that he and Jonty are far more than friends. But the desire to spend more time alone with the man he loves is an impossible lure to resist.

When a brutal murder occurs at the hotel where they're staying, the two young men are once more drawn into the investigation. The race to catch the killer gets complicated by the victim's son, Ainslie, a man who seems to find Orlando too attractive to resist. Can Stewart and Coppersmith keep Ainslie at bay, keep their affair clandestine, and solve the crime?

THE REVIEW

Ok, before I let a shower of praise rain down on this book and you'll be deafened by the recount of the squees of delight I made while reading it, let's have a look at the basic facts. Lessons in Desire is book 2 in the Cambridge Fellows series and thus the sequel to Lessons in Love, which then is book... no, I think you can deduce that yourself.

But surprise, surprise, the main part of the plot doesn't take place in Cambridge, but on the sunny Channel Island of Jersey. And no, even if at the beginning I was worried that some of that special feeling of Lessons in Love would be missing because of the different surroundings, it didn't turn out to be a bad thing. Instead it turned out to be a very good thing because it made the whole atmosphere of the book just light and fluffy. That's especially true for the beginning of the story when Jonty and Orlando simply enjoy the pleasures of their holiday location, walking on the beach, collecting seashells and romantically teasing each other. With Spring only slowly approaching here where I live, that really made me wish I could join them.

As the story continues it expertly becomes more and more interwoven with threads of mystery and, like in one of those classic Agatha Christie mysteries, the reader is at first totally unaware that under the perfectly sunny sky of Jersey a dark family tragedy and a ruthless killing is looming. But when the resulting storm unleashes it's dark flood it's already too late and the reader has no other choice than to eagerly turn page after page.

Immediately after arriving at their hotel on Jersey two other visitors spark Jonty's interest: young and handsome Matthew Ainslie and his father Mr. Ainslie senior. The young Ainslie seems to be especially smitten by Orlando, a fact that is at once obvious to Jonty, but for a long time Orlando is completely unaware. When Mr. Ainslie senior is brutally murdered, Jonty and Orlando not only have to solve the crime but also have to keep young Matthew Ainslie at bay. But it's the killer they really have to look out for as, yet again, it becomes clear that getting in the way of a ruthless murderer is not without danger to one's personal life.

Charlie Cochrane skillfully develops her characters further in Lessons in Desire. As Jonty and Orlando already have developed a relationship in Lessons in Love, in the sequel the relationship is deepened and especially Orlando is blossoming in this book. At first, afraid of being pushed out into the open, he slowly finds the faith to trust in his relationship with Jonty, even when the two are not in the confines of their rooms at the university.

Oh, and the prose! Let me give you an example:

"It had been a long, dry spell and he’d been constantly searching the sky of Orlando’s demeanor for a cloud of desire which might be persuaded to burst into a sweet rain of passion."

Isn't that just f***ing fantastic? What more can I say?

5 complete stars, thumbs up, roses, coffee cups, etc. from me for Lessons in Desire!

Review first posted at Reviews by Jessewave.
PUBLISHER: Linden Bay Romance
PURCHASE LINK: E-BOOK ( )

Jonty and Orlando go on holiday. It's a nice thing, and so it gives a new light to their story. And it's exactly the feeling I had reading the book, light, in both its meanings, the book is more easier and joyous than the previous one, and, even if the previous setting in Cambridge was a dear one to me, it had a sense of gothic and darkness, that in this new adventure you will not find.

Even if at first Orlando doesn't feel comfortable to be outside the protective shell of Cambridge walls, he in the end arrives to enjoy the sense of freedom and the chance to be alone in a double suite with Jonty. They decide to spend in the Channel Island of Jersey, in a little beach hotel with an upper class clientele. During the trip and on the island, the reader has the chance to see a side of Jonty that I don't remember to have notice in the previous book: he is quite protective of his dear friend Orlando, and he, at the same time, pushes the friend to experiment all the possible joys the life can give them, and to share his past with him, a way to exorcise the nightmares that still prevent Orlando to fully love Jonty.

Even if in the previous book both Jonty than Orlando's past were presented to the reader, I really haven't had an idea of them outside the college. There were some hints on Jonty's family and some memories of Orlando's parents, but it's only in this new book that I have a whole idea of them, and at the same time, understand better the reason why Orlando seems unable to be completely involved with Jonty; I know, and appreciate, that the author is faithful to the period, and I understand that Jonty and Orlando would never be able to have an open relationship, but when they are inside their room, with the door locked, at the college, or at Jonty's house, or even there in the hotel, before reading of Orlando's reasons, I never really understood why he wasn't comfortable with Jonty's proofs of affection. There is that very first night, when Jonty almost implores him to share the bed, and Orlando stearnly refuses, that I would like to knock him on the head; but then he is so tender with Jonty and from that very first night Orlando seems to blossom to new life, accepting Jonty's dares that become every day more challenging and intimate.

There is obviously also a mystery, but I'm not good at describing it, I never know if I'm giving too much details with the risk to spoil the story... so I will let you discover it all by yourself, I will only say that it's good and with a very surprising ending.

Comparing the two books, I have to say that this second is way better than the first. In the first book both characters were nice, but they almost remained captive in themself, like the wall of the college protecting them from the outside world in a way were also shading them from the reader. Instead in this second book both characters shine, they are in the open, they walk in the sun, and in this way they are displayed to the reader. Also the sexual relationship between them evolves and it's more clear to the reader, but always with privacy: it's not necessary to give much details, when a word here and there is enough to give you the idea of the whole.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LLCI3S/?tag=elimyrevandra-20