This week we’ve got a contemporary romance set on the US Carolina cost, a paranormal historical urban fantasy with talking familiars and a space opera romance with fantastic normative gender expression.
The First Step (Coastal Carolina #1) by Shira Anthony
This is a slow burn romance set against a background of the sea. One of the MCs is a pilot–a boat pilot–a skilled, dangerous job whether the sea is calm or rough. He’s part of a team who jump from little boats to the big vessels he brings safely into harbour from the open sea. The second MC is a disgraced reporter on a forced sabbatical from his sexy New York news position. He’s supposed to be writing an article about the seafood industry, but he becomes fascinated with the river pilots and their job. Justin, the pilot, isn’t out at work and their relationship grows against the background of each of the men’s past and insecurities.
I don’t usually get grabbed by stories where the romance is the main driver, but this had me from the start with its description of coastal life and the push and pull between the two MC’s personalities. The coastal setting is a personality in its own right, creating danger and tension that defines their relationship. I really enjoyed it.
Winter’s Orbit by Everina Maxwell
This began as an original work posted on AO3, which is where I first came across it. I loved it then. However, now, it’s even better. A beautifully crafted high-tech universe, normalised queerness, a diplomatic marriage to cement a difficult political situation, two people who think they are doing the best for each other but aren’t communicating very well, a murder to solve with the murderers still after them, and spaceships. What’s not to like? There’s also an ‘ooops, only one tent and it’s freezing’ incident, for which we should all give thanks. It’s a story about a relationship entwined with a complex political/diplomatic high-stakes plot and it is so, so good.
I particularly liked the gender expression, which IIRC is a new addition from when I read the AO3 version.
Honestly, this is brilliant. You should read it.
Marked by Death (Necromancer #1) by Kaje Harper
This ticks all my boxes…historical, paranormal, queer. It’s the first in a new series and it sets the scene for a complicated, magic-is-normal-but-whoah-dangerous universe. One of the MCs is a necromancer–clue in the title there–and the other is a childhood friend who is pretty much having a magic-induced breakdown and goes to him for help. Shenanigans ensue. Their relationship develops against a background of threatening dark things, a threatening magical council and a not quite 1950s USA where the gay is still illegal. There was a distinct whiff of Renaissance Italy in the politics of the magical council that I really loved.
Oh, and there are familiars. Talking familiars.
That’s it for this week!