I keep forgetting it's Friday
Jul. 17th, 2020 06:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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fffridayOnce Ghosted, Twice Shy - Alyssa Cole
This is a novella in Cole's Reluctant Royals series, centred on Likotsi, assistant to the crown prince of Thesolo. The action, however, takes place in New York, where Likotsi has run into the woman with whom she had a brief relationship some months previously. We follow both the previous relationship and the current one. After flipping between the two timelines for a few chapters, it settles into the later one, moving from 'what happened' to 'what happens next'.
This was a gentle story about rebuilding broken trust, with some lovely details of food, New York, and, most particularly, clothes.
The other two both feature Episcopalian priests as one half of the central couple.
This Is My Body - Elena Graf
The priest in this one is also a former opera singer, so overall this might have been designed specifically to appeal to me. The other main character is a professor of philosophy. There were traumatic backstories on both sides (rape on one side, and an escape from East Berlin on the other) which sometimes seemed a little heavy for the narrative to bear.
While I thought this had some pacing issues (it seemed ready to wrap up at the half way point, when an unsignalled twist was unceremoniously dropped in), and I wasn't entirely comfortable with the resolution, this was an enjoyable romance. Nice to see slightly older characters in the limelight, too.
Bobbi and Soul - J. B. Marsden
I was interested to read that the author is a former priest herself - so I assume that the church details are accurate! The other main character is a doctor. I enjoyed the rural Colorado setting. This was, I think, less ambitious than This Is My Body, but possibly more successful as a result. Only one traumatic backstory here (partner abuse in this case).
Both of these were the second book in a series, but worked perfectly well as standalones.
This is a novella in Cole's Reluctant Royals series, centred on Likotsi, assistant to the crown prince of Thesolo. The action, however, takes place in New York, where Likotsi has run into the woman with whom she had a brief relationship some months previously. We follow both the previous relationship and the current one. After flipping between the two timelines for a few chapters, it settles into the later one, moving from 'what happened' to 'what happens next'.
This was a gentle story about rebuilding broken trust, with some lovely details of food, New York, and, most particularly, clothes.
The other two both feature Episcopalian priests as one half of the central couple.
This Is My Body - Elena Graf
The priest in this one is also a former opera singer, so overall this might have been designed specifically to appeal to me. The other main character is a professor of philosophy. There were traumatic backstories on both sides (rape on one side, and an escape from East Berlin on the other) which sometimes seemed a little heavy for the narrative to bear.
While I thought this had some pacing issues (it seemed ready to wrap up at the half way point, when an unsignalled twist was unceremoniously dropped in), and I wasn't entirely comfortable with the resolution, this was an enjoyable romance. Nice to see slightly older characters in the limelight, too.
Bobbi and Soul - J. B. Marsden
I was interested to read that the author is a former priest herself - so I assume that the church details are accurate! The other main character is a doctor. I enjoyed the rural Colorado setting. This was, I think, less ambitious than This Is My Body, but possibly more successful as a result. Only one traumatic backstory here (partner abuse in this case).
Both of these were the second book in a series, but worked perfectly well as standalones.
