lesbian romance – Bran Lindy Ayres

She is queen and a widow, and an invading army is approaching the castle. The enemy covets the mountain of gold buried under the fortress, and many of the queen’s subjects have fled.

As a bitter wind sweeps over the castle walls and whispers to the queen, a stranger arrives at the gate begging to be allowed in. She’s injured, but Rapunzel recognizes the woman’s face from her visions and her name from ancient tales.

Irmela!

Is she a spy?
Or an enchantress?
Or both?

The queen has Irmela locked in the dungeon, but despite the danger, her majesty cannot resist the stunning woman, and she traipses into the damp freezing recesses of the castle to interrogate her.

Irmela has a dark history but she and Rapunzel are connected as though a web of invisible thread draws them together.

While burning oil, brimstone and hot sand rain down on the castle, the queen is in turmoil. She battles not only an enemy and her family’s disapproval but also her own pride. She’s torn between duty and love and tells herself that giving her heart to an immortal is foolhardy.

But the ever-present wind, never willing to do Rapunzel’s bidding, might – after centuries of being its own master – offer her and Irmela its support.Rapunzel may not be in a tower, but she is a prisoner – of sorts.

tl;dr: Lackluster world building, thin character development along with some unfortunate word choices make Rapunzel’s Surrender feel rough around the edges.

I personally felt a bit imprisoned by this short story. From the first chapter I had trouble connecting with Queen Rapunzel and bouncing from past to present to hazy visions brought on the wind never gave me a chance to get to know her. Unfortunately, this persisted throughout the story with point-of-view changes coming close to head hopping and leaving some scenes a muddled mess.

Then there was some very unfortunate phrasing during the actual sex that immediately turned me off to the whole scene. A woman’s vaginal secretions being called ‘broth’ pulled me right out of the whole story and it took me a bit to return to it and be able to take it seriously.

Throughout the story, Rapunzel worries if she’s worthy of being a queen. Her actions clearly show she’s not. Inviting a known sorceress and possible spy into her room just because the wind once whispered her name and gave her sexy visions seems irresponsible in the extreme to me. Then again that may just be me. Perhaps if I’d been given a chance to get to know her instead of being told about her childhood I might have understood her motivations better. As it is her motivations are conflicting and contradictory. All in all, it felt like reading fanfiction of a fandom I’m not familiar with.

There is so much potential here and I feel bad for being harsh, but a good solid content edit would do wonders to clear up the confusion and put the focus where it should be.

All that being said, Laurenti has a nice lyrical style that needs the polish a good experienced editor could give.

You can get your copy here.

This past week, October 22-28, was asexual awareness week.

Asexual Awareness Week is an international campaign that seeks to educate about asexual, aromantic, demisexual, and grey-asexual experiences and to create materials that are accessible to our community and our allies around the world.

Asexuality is not a widely known orientation so when I realized Holly Drummond in Perfect Rhythm identifies as ace, I was absolutely thrilled. And a little worried.

Pop star Leontyne Blake might sing about love, but she stopped believing in it a long time ago. What women want is her image, not the real her. When her father has a stroke, she flees the spotlight and returns to her tiny Missouri hometown.

In her childhood home, she meets small-town nurse Holly Drummond, who isn’t impressed by Leo’s fame at all. That isn’t the only thing that makes Holly different from other women. She’s also asexual. For her, dating is a minefield of expectations that she has decided to avoid.

Can the tentative friendship between a burned-out pop star and a woman not interested in sex develop into something more despite their diverse expectations?

A lesbian romance about seeking the perfect rhythm between two very different people—and finding happiness where they least expect it.

Thankfully, I didn’t need to be. Jae is a fantastic writer and I’m so glad I grabbed this book. I saw a promo for in on Tumblr and the mention of a lesbian from my home state of Missouri piqued my interest. Granted, I’d never read contemporary f/f before and I wasn’t certain what to expect.

What I got was a lovely, blossoming relationship between two amazing women. When I first started I braced myself, unsure if I’d be able to connect with Leo Blake, the main protagonist. I needn’t have worried. She is wonderfully down to earth and relatable for a pop star. She’s stubborn and full of pride but not so much that she won’t admit mistakes or try her best to rectify things that have gone wrong.

While I love Leo, Holly was the one I really connected with for obvious reasons. I really appreciated how Jae handled Holly’s asexuality, including being frank about how pressured we can feel in relationships.

So many parts of this book hit home for me and not just the setting. It was refreshing to read a story where the asexual character wasn’t ‘fixed’ by having sex or ever pressured into the act at all. I also greatly appreciated the content warning before the chapter that had a sex scene in it.

All the characters were wonderfully fleshed out and made the whole journey with Leo and Holly that much more interesting. I loved having plenty of time to get to know them. I know a lot of people call this a ‘slow burn’ romance, but it is still fast-paced by my standards. xD

Overall, I delighted in reading this book. It was thoughtful, funny and moving.