The Bohemian and the Banker by Bonnie Dee & Summer Devon

 "A night lost in Paris finds two hearts changed forever."
Sent to Paris on business, Nigel Warren doesn’t quite understand why his colleagues’ eyes twinkle as they tell him to meet them at a local night spot.

When he discovers it’s a drag cabaret and his acquaintances aren’t there, he realizes he’s the butt of a joke. Yet he finds himself quite undone by a singer dressed in an elegant gown, crooning a spellbinding ballad.

It’s not unusual for Jay, a former Londoner, to bring a new “friend” home from the cabaret, but he’s never had a guest quite like Nigel, whose straitlaced manner hides an unexpected passionate streak.

One romantic night on a rooftop under starry skies, followed by an afternoon enjoying the excitement of the 1901 Paris Exposition, bonds these opposites in a way neither can forget—even after they part.

Their spark reignites when Jay comes to London, but he’s not sure he can go back to hiding his true self, not even for the sake of love…unless Nigel is willing to shed his cloak of staid respectability and take a leap of faith.

Warning: Contains a virgin who doesn’t speak French but is fluent in numbers, and a drag performer who is trilingual in English, French and Love. Not responsible for extra pounds brought on by the urge to dine on croissants au deux.

This is about Nigel Warren, a run of the mill English man in the turn of a new Century, 1901. Works at a bank in London, lives by himself, typical and then we Jay, also an English man but has ran away to Paris to ‘live’ as his true self. A cabaret singer, wearing amazing women’s gowns, makeup and wooing the crowds with his solo singing acts every night.  Nigel is sent to Paris on a business trip and one night Nigel’s co-workers suggest they all ‘meet’ at the nightclub where Jay happens to be working, realizing the joke after the fact but decides to stay. He is mesmerized by the act and wants to thank the singer for such an emotional performance. What they both get is a lesson in quick lust, courtship, and final goodbyes. Or is it?   

Couple of things I want to point out, one I’ve read numerous books by this duo and have enjoyed all of them.  But saying that I actually was on the fence about this one, felt like it was not my cup of tea, not a fan of anything this modern, if I’m going to read historical and two the “bohemian” in the title was a turn off. Wow! Was I wrong, should have known better *see first sentence*.  The descriptions of everything from the food to the dresses to the smells to the art, you felt like you were walking down those streets with Nigel and Jay. The inner turmoil both MC’s are going through. Wanting to please, wanting to have this one thing that makes them truly happy, in a world that doesn’t and won’t.  The compromises both are willing to make and then not make.  The only things that had me scratching my head, Jay clearly has a drug problem but that seems to disappear? And Note to readers, I found that in the first few chapters you couldn’t read and a sentence and then say answer a phone at work too much detail, convo w/characters etc.… So if you are planning to start right before bed, don’t. Or you may be lost and have to re-read.  Or stay up until 3AM. 

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