While I LOVE this author and the intensity she gifts us with, this book felt like too much. It was too morose, too wintery, too stacked against them. I find myself thinking I would not be up for the tone of the second and happy just leaving it here for now. I had a really long pause on this and just kind of needed to finish it to see if it picked up. Lovely, just not for me. No rating. (less) [edit]

When Laurie, son of a wealthy London baronet, takes a homeless young man off the bitter winter streets, he only means to shelter him. But Sasha is beautiful and passionate, and he knows what he wants. Soon the two are entangled in a wild and illicit romance. Sasha, an illegal alien, has dangerous connections and a violent underworld past that won’t let him go. Privileged Laurie has problems of his own -- a brutal father who holds the keys to Laurie’s golden cage and would rather kill him than accept his son and heir is gay, let alone in love with a street urchin. Laurie’s only hope is to run. In a Romani encampment with Sasha, he finds not only a safe haven but sexual fulfilment beyond his wildest dreams.

But their new happiness is fragile. Sasha’s secrets run too deep, and he vanishes, leaving Laurie desolate, as much an exile in his own city as Sasha has been. Now Laurie must grow up and find his own strength. Can he break free of his suffocating aristocratic world in time to save his lover and himself?

This is a beautifully written tale that captured me from the first page. The writing reminds me of Mary Renault. Languid, elegant prose and characters that come alive and beg for your support in their quest for love and peace.
Highly recommended. ( )

I just read this for a second time (after almost a year) and I must write something here this time, although I am not terribly eloquent. If you haven't read any Harper Fox yet, please do; she has published six books in less than two years, all excellent, and is one of the best in the M/M genre. This one is a well-plotted, beautifully written coming-of-age story (and romance), which tells of a sheltered teenager from a wealthy family, who is also a talented actor, and a homeless, mysterious Romani boy after they meet in a London street one cold winter night. ( )