A Rational Arrangement

Arranging Paradise #1

by L. Rowyn

“But these are vital aspects of marriage. If one cannot discuss them, what's the use in meeting at all? It's like trying to decide what you'll have for dinner without mentioning food."

Wisteria Vasilver does wish to marry. Truly. But though she lives in Paradise, arranging a match is full of traps and pitfalls for the unwary ... or perhaps just for her.

Nikola Striker, Lord of Fireholt, expects he'll wed -- someday. But not now, and never to a rich icicle of a woman like Miss Vasilver. No matter how much his parents might want the match, or his house might need her dowry. Besides, he has his own problems -- most of them people who need his help as a mind-healer.

Lord Justin Comfrey, Viscount of Comfrey, would be more than happy to help Striker with his financial troubles, and not just to ensure that Miss Vasilver's dowry doesn't tempt Striker into marriage. If only he could find some way to make his proud, stubborn friend accept the money!

Can three people of such different temperaments ever find their way to a more perfect Paradise?

This novel is a standalone polyamorous fantasy romance.

Genres: Romance, Fantasy, Polyamory, Queer, Historical, LGBT, Fiction

644 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 23, 2015

Reviews

[Alexis Hall]

I had a couple of misapprehensions about this book going on, which I think might be partly on me and partly on the book itself. The first was that I didn’t quite realise it was fantasy (which, despite the slightly fantastical characters names, isn’t super clear from the blurb). The second was that it was, like, a gazillion pages long.

And, um, I honestly don’t think it needed to be a gazillion pages long? Because a lot of it exposition and a lot of it is character work that doesn’t impel the primary relationships in what I felt was a useful way. With my editor hat on, I’d say this feels a bit like a first draft, when you’re in love with everything you’re doing, and want to share all that love with everyone, but you haven’t actually figured out what the central story is. And I do think there’s probably a satisfying fantasy/Regency-esque/polyam romance somewhere in here?

I also loved the heroine. The heroine is fucking wonderful. Her menz were, to me, less developed – their intimate relationship is long-standing and, frankly, I have no idea what they saw in each other (Nik is a bit of a martyr, Justin is grumpy). But I definitely saw what they saw in Wisteria, and I was glad she got to have everything she wanted.

All of which said, there were a couple of … I guess … for me questionable elements here. For a start, there’s a graphic torture scene sort out of nowhere right in the middle. Which, call me a delicate flower, I was neither prepared for nor okay with. There’s also the fact both Wisteria and Justina are brown skinned, but Nik is blond and pale, and it feels like every time Nik is physically referenced it included a focus on his, err, fair skin. Which … I don’t know … ended up coming across as some kind of weird whiteness fetish. And finally there’s the setting. The basic idea is that a Jesus-esque figure known as the Saviour essentially transplanted a bunch of humans from a dying world to another world, already inhabited by, uh, giant talking cats? And then gave the humans magical powers of healing and whatever—which the humans sort of use for the benefit of everyone, including the indigenous cat people, but also leads to their elevation to a sort of aristocracy that the cats serve (right down to the humans literally RIDING some of the cats, like He-Man and Battl Cat or something).

All of which feels, um, really colonialist? And while I appreciate a Regency-style setting that doesn’t pretend colonialism doesn’t exist, deciding to lean into it hard is, well. It’s a choice.

[Amy · Rating 1 out of 5]

There are two main problems with this book as I see it: 1) there is a significant disjuncture between what this book is being billed as and what it actually is and 2) this book badly, badly needed an editor (and I mean an actual editor, not the half dozen beta readers cited in the acknowledgements). The first issue can be easily rectified. At the time of this review the book is being billed as a regency-esque romance with slight paranormal or fantasy overtones built on the common plot device (particularly for this genre) of boy-and-girl-should-marry-but-won’t-for-silly-reasons-but-their-third-party-friend-is-there-to-chivvy-them-along. This is not, however, what the book is actually about.

In actuality the book is about polyandry in a fantasy universe populated by giant, talking sentient cats (think Cringer/Battle Cat from He-Man) and a small ascot-wearing human population brought to the world by an unseen God who also gifted some of them with unique magical powers. The story is also focused far more on world building and exploring the main character, Nik, and, more specifically, his personal pathos (with his family, with his frankly abusive seeming boyfriend, with his patients, with society’s expectations, etc, etc) than the will-they-won’t-they relationship pitched on the dust jacket, to the point that I’m honestly a little confused as to how that particular summary of the book was even arrived at. I think the author (and her book’s rating) would probably benefit from a more honest description as a number of her more negative reviews reflect reader frustration with what seems like a false bill of sale.

The second issue, the dire need for an editor, is evident in the sheer tonnage of extraneous information heave-loaded into the text. There are perhaps 150-200 pages of relatively unique fantasy romance here, but it is utterly drowning amid the 600+ pages the book actually consists of. It’s obvious that all the excess is the result of an author who dearly, dearly loves her creation (both characters and world), but needs help realizing that her audience might not be equally enamored or interested in so very much minutiae. This is something an editor can and should do. Beta readers are great but they’re often friends (who obviously don’t wish to hurt feelings) or so long involved in the project that their own level of interest far exceeds that of someone who has picked up the final product for a few hours worth of entertainment. For her next project, I hope the author is able to obtain an impartial third party to review her manuscript. The process, though painful, is worth it and will, I suspect, allow L. Rowyn’s creativity (and she IS creative) to shine through.

ARC via NetGalley

[namericanwordcat · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is such a pleasure of a romance. In a Regency flavored culture set after the fall of another world in a new "Paradise," Rowyn meticulously builds cultures, history, religions, a wider world, and a magic systems with as much beauty as the plot, characters, and love story.

I stayed up all night reading.

The heroine, Wisteria, is going right on my favorite heroines list. Wisteria brave, kind, moral, and with the keenest of minds. She falters and is big hearted. She is somewhere on the autism spectrum and thus able to see past cultural norms and mores and be baffled by them. Thus, she is socially awkward and misread as cold. The hero/s come to adore her because of who she is and this romance explores the range of what is "normal" on so many levels and compellingly.

The hero, Nik, is burdened with responsibilities and in love with someone else that he can't have publicly and thinks doesn't really want him out of the bedroom. Nik is a Blessed with gift of mind healing. As he sees Wisteria more clearly, he comes to see himself more fully as well. Their love story is one of honesty and have a safe place. It is sexy as all get out as well.

Our third lead is Justin. He is a charmer who really has to learn to trust, risk and talk to get his HEA with both the heroine and the hero and release old ideas about himself as well as the world. He is loyal and brave.

This is a polyamorous romance that does a wonderful job thinking about the cultural aspects of marriage and sex and human nature. The writer makes you believe in the Happily Ever After because she doesn't pretend it isn't complicated.

The book takes on sex, religion, faith, ability gender roles, and marriage from a global anthropological point of view as well as a biological one (though magic based as Nik can see minds). Wisteria's analytical nature, Justin's realism and Nik's humanitarianism all come together in a moving exploration of all these topics.

All all the while, we have sexy times, conflicts of all kinds, sexual tension, banter, carriage and Great Cats who talk!

Excellent.

I so hope there are more books in this world.

[Sonia189 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very good fantasy story with lots of historical vibes included.
I think the author did a great job creating this world, letting the reader read between the lines about politics, biology, society and religion (of sorts).
The main characters are very appealing, very likable and everything in their slow burn romance was also interesting and addictive.
I just think some situations were dragged a little too much while throughout the more than 600 pages and at the last 100, for instance, things happened very quickly, suddenly something happened, then two months after, then three months after, for us to *notice* the change of time. It just felt rushed in a way. Plus, when it came to the poly-amorous relationship - that makes all sense if one reads the story! - I think the author could have introduced different rules for the way society is built because it felt something was lacking or not as well achieved when it came to the end. I wanted an even more romantic HEA.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked it--until the last 25%

The positives:
1. Wisteria. She's a singular and wonderful character. I don't think I've read another book about someone who is both rational and passionate, but it makes for fascinating interactions between her and the other characters.
2. Blessings. The idea of people being born with certain gifts bestowed on them by the 'Saviour' (which seemed to be another name for God) was intriguing, as was the fact that the same gift varied from person to person. I liked that Rowyn made it so bearers could choose whether and how to use their gifts--that some people chose not to help when helping would be inconvenient just demonstrated that they were human. The idea that some mental illness is due to demon-infestation and some to the improper growth or development of people's mind structures was also very original.
3. The greatcats. I'm always a fan of intelligent felines who can talk, so the greatcat race was a joy, especially in the partnership and mutual appreciation between Ansther and Lord Nikola.
4. Lord Justin. Given Lord Nikola's verging-on-saintly personality, Lord Justin made a fitting foil. I liked that the two men were profoundly different from each other, and that Justin could still be loved despite his evident character flaws.
5. Relationships from the beginning up to 75% into the book. The fears and conflicts that threatened the relationship between Justin and Nikola were also quite grounding and made the way their relationship developed feel very real. Similarly, the way Wisteria and Nikola's relationship grew was fun and seemed quite realistic.

Cons:
1. Justin's relationship with Wisteria. It felt a bit less believable than the way Nikola's feelings for her grew, perhaps because Justin's interest in Wisteria seemed abrupt, and the relationship between them felt rushed.

2. Relationships between the three toward the end of the book. Near the end of the book it was clear that Wisteria understood Justin a lot better than Nikola did--if we'd seen that sooner, Wisteria's feelings for Justin would have made more sense, as would Justin's reaction to her. As it was, it felt like Justin was simply piggybacking onto Nikola's liking and desire for Wisteria, and Wisteria's response to Justin was simply sexual attraction--both of which made the last 25% of the book weaker.

3. The plot. It was obvious halfway through that the book was heading toward multiple marriage. That was fine, but the complete lack of any peril or sense of risk undercut the characters' courage in making their choices. At the end it all seemed to happen too easily and was much too easily accomplished, especially given Justin's fears and misunderstandings with Nikola earlier in the book. "All obstacles can be overcome by talking" seemed the message, and that's just not true in real life. The fact that it all turned out to be so easy for the three of them was disappointing, because it undercut the strength and originality of the rest of the book. It also made their relationship feel too much like a fairy tale "and they all lived happily ever after", rather than the living, growing, challenging lifework that a wholly-committed marriage really is. It takes a lot of courage to embark on a marriage with just two flawed human people involved, much less a marriage with multiple partners.

4. The graphic descriptions of sexual intercourse. The author spent a fair amount of time and detail describing Nikola and Justin having sex early in the book. It seemed excessive, especially as she spent much less time and detail on other partnerings. I guess she could have meant to educate those readers who wonder how sex works between two men, but it didn't really add anything else to the story, other than making it clear that since neither Nikola nor Justin was vocal about their feelings, even in bed, Nikola had every reason not to know how Justin felt about him, and vice versa. At any rate, that early section left me unnecessarily worried the book was going to focus on sex not relationship, when that wasn't the case at all.

All in all, a quite good, very intriguing book, and I hope the author writes more stories in this world she's created.

[Rhode PVD · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNFed at 19% which is quite frustrating as I liked the characters and premise a great deal. But my goodness this book needs a SOLID EDITING. By which I mean pruning out the massive amounts of excess detail about the most dull things possible which weighs down the book.

For example, I don’t need two full pages on the history of someone’s title and why he’s called using one sort of nomenclature whereas his father’s title uses a different sort. It won’t matter to the plot, the characters, or the forward motion of the story. I don’t need all of the author’s worldbuilding, just enough to reassure me it exists so I can and trust you. Honestly I think this sort of writing is terribly indulgent for the writer. They enjoy it, so it’s at the service of their pleasure vs the device of the book itself or its audience.

So, despite enjoying the book, I’m having to work extra hard, skimming to get to the bits of detail that are useful. And I really need a fun read. Not one I have to work so hard to get a bit of pleasure from.

[Jez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pleasantly Surprised

In truth, I am a bit baffled by how this book is marketed as it leaves out all of the things I found most interesting/appealing about the story. Neither the cover nor the description indicates that this is a fantasy, complete with magic and giant sentient talking cats. It's never hinted at that this is a love triangle open to polyamory. While these things came as an unwanted surprise to some of the low score reviewers, I found myself pleased... but even in my enjoyment, I will admit finding the book in conflict with my expectations threw me into unpleasant confusion for the first few chapters.

In terms of story, I'd give this a 4. It's a rather simple plot and has some sudden tonal shifts that I didn't like (particularly the sudden explicitly described torture), but overall I was charmed by the main trio. I especially loved Wisteria and seeing how a woman who does not understand the unspoken language of social interaction would navigate a Regency-esque setting.

The score lowered to 3 because the writing occasionally went on tangents that became a bit tedious for my tastes. Exposition dumps on world building sometimes didn't flow very well or simply went on too long with information that wasn't really relevant to the plot. Sometimes the characters's internal monologues became repetitive and long-winded. Not a major flaw, but I am accustomed to reading very long-winded fantasies without ever feeling the desire to skim... so it influenced my score here. I also really wasn't a fan of how they rendered accent into the dialogue, making it so exaggerated at times that it was difficult to decipher what the heck those characters were saying.

[Sarah Wynde · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book showed up in my also-bought list on Amazon twice and the second time, I clicked. It sounded interesting enough that I read the Look Inside. I came very, very close to stopping there -- there's a graphic m/m sex scene within the Look Inside that goes on forever (or at least it felt like it) and while I know that there's a vast audience of slash readers for whom that would be just the thing, I'm not one of them. But I was interested in the female character, Wisteria, and I wanted to read more about her, and some of the reviews promised that it was really not just erotica, despite the explicit nature of the Look Inside, so I took the plunge. I'm glad I did. The book is a polyamorous Regency romance set in a fantasy world, with a splash of erotica, some religion, and really terrific cat people. It's a book that any mainstream major traditional publisher would run from -- the shelving difficulty alone would be insurmountable -- but yay for modern publishing, because it is interesting, fun, very readable, and both original and comfortably familiar. I disliked the ending, and would probably give it three stars because of that dissatisfaction, except I'm giving it back a star for creativity and ... absorption level, I guess? Meaning once I started reading, I really didn't want to stop. I read while cooking dinner & brushing my teeth and ignored all distractions, which is an excellent quality in a book.

[Susan Kornfeld · Rating 1 out of 5]

Honestly, I was expecting great things from this book. Instead it is a rather steamy affair relying on the old trope of the proper-looking but truly lusty librarian type. Yes, it's nice that despite genders and triangles love finds a way to triumph, but everything was telegraphed so far in advance that it was just a matter of turning pages until the expected events happened. There was a torture scene that caused something of a religious crisis in one of the main characters, but it was easily resolved. The religion aspect of the book is disappointing. There is a Savior who annoints certain people as healers or magically-gifted shapers of things, but that is all we know. What kept me reading the book was some desire to see if things would turn out as expected, and because of the Great Cats -- sapient creatures who typically serve humans but who added most of the interest to me. I can't recommend this book to any of the Goodreads readers I know.

[Liz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read some 3 star reviews for better wording on how I feel about this book.
I appreciate that the author had a story to tell, and I applaud them for writing it. At many times I really enjoyed the pace, but at others I straight up skipped pages because so-and-so's genealogy means nothing to me. It feels like a debut novel.

Found it ironic and fun that the two men who operated their entire life on assumptions about each other's emotions (or lack thereof) fall madly in love with a woman who literally cannot hold a conversation without being explicitly honest. (sounds like emotional labor once again falls on the woman *womp*)

[Jasmine]

So I picked this one up on a whim, free, and didn't look too deeply into what it was about. It's a fantasy with some people, right?

Then I started reading it and went, "oh, regency fantasy of economics! Cool!" and then I kept reading and went "Ohhh, giant sentient cats! Cool!" and then I kept reading and went "OH BOY that's certainly a sex scene I am too young skim fasterrrr," and kept reading and went "Oh, magical healing powers! Cool!". That was most of the book.

Really cool world. Sex that certainly happened. But a really cool world.

I have become that person who reads fantasy romances for the worldbuilding.

[J.L. · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a diamond in this book, but it’s smothered by the occasional downside to self-publishing. On the surface, the author did everything right. Great cover, no blatant typos, solid plot, well-developed characters, unique world building elements. Unfortunately, this is where I plug the need for an impartial substantive or developmental editor IN ADDITION to beta readers. Because this book’s biggest problem is that it’s about a third too long, and not every reader is going to be happy to wade into a 600+ page epic just for the good stuff.

That being said, I’m a crazy fast reader, and I loved the good stuff. The book description makes this sound like a standard real-world historical romance with polyamory. I glanced at some Amazon review headlines and saw something about cats, my favorite animal. I was delightfully surprised when I started reading and found out that the cats were, in fact, a race of giant sentient beings in a speculative fiction setting. Combine that with characters who include representation of bisexuality and autism, and I was more than hooked.

Again, this book isn’t going to be for everybody because of the length (much of which is “I did all this world building! Let me show you it!”) and the surprise fantasy element that is not well advertised by the description. But if neither of those things deters you, this is a happily ever after worth taking a chance on.

[LG (A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nikola Striker, the Lord of Fireholt, is being pressured by his parents to marry. They have settled on Wisteria Vasilver for him. The match would probably save his family from financial ruin, but Nik really doesn't want to marry, and Wisteria's looks aren't to his taste in any case. Her personality, though... After Wisteria inadvertently offends his parents, Nik finds himself thinking about her more than he expected. Her tone and facial expression are impossible to read, but her words are refreshingly direct and honest. Shockingly so, sometimes. Nik can't stop thinking about her scandalous marriage contract, which not only covers how many "marital encounters" she expects them to have, but also, intriguingly, indicates that she'd be fine with infidelity as long as all parties are kept informed and behave discreetly.

Nik has been in a secret relationship with Lord Justin Comfrey for years. He cherishes their time together, a welcome break from his duties as one of the Blessed, those who are able to use the Savior's power to help others. Even so, he and Justin don't always have a good handle on each other. Although Nik still doesn't want to marry Wisteria, he finds himself talking with her more and more freely, and wishing he could tell her his biggest secrets.

Wow, writing my own summary for this book was...not easy. Since it may not be that clear in either my summary or the author's, this is a poly romance. The story takes ages to get to that point - for a while it looks like a complicated love triangle involving Wisteria and Nik, Nik and Justin, and eventually Wisteria and Justin.

I bought this because it sounded like it would focus on character relationships rather than on how often and in how many ways the characters could have sex. When I first started reading it, I thought it was delightful. Wisteria and Nik's conversations were fun, and Wisteria's marriage contract sketched out a way for the romance to happen without anyone having to cheat on anyone else, or so I thought.

Unfortunately, this still managed to have cheating in it. Wisteria married one of the men and found out about their relationship not because her husband told her, but because she found them about to have sex (or actually in the process of having sex? I can't remember and don't care to hunt the scene down). Luckily for them, she'd been having fantasies about them having sex together and thought this discovery was hot. I guess the marriage contract didn't matter that much. They soon invited her to have a threesome with them, she was delighted to accept, and the book wrapped up in a way that left everyone happy.

On the whole, the romance in this just didn't work for me. I'd have been on board with Wisteria and Nik, or even Wisteria and Justin, although Justin didn't seem like the marrying type. Nik and Justin were, however, an absolutely awful couple. Justin frequently inadvertently hurt Nik and Nik didn't seem to be comfortable with talking to him about it. Whenever he did try to talk about it, Justin didn't understand. Justin also lost a lot of points with me after his horrible behavior towards one of the riding cats (large, talking, intelligent cats that the humans in this world hire for riding and other purposes, since there don't seem to be any horses). And his behavior right after Nik tried to break things off with him was an insult to both Nik and Wisteria, even though he didn't take things as far as he could have.

In the end, despite what the author clearly wanted readers to think, Justin came off looking like the guy Wisteria and Nik wanted to have around for sex. His relationship with Wisteria was a little better than his relationship with Nik, but by the time I got to the book's "happy" ending I just wanted him out of their lives, for all their sakes.

In general, A Rational Arrangement was a lot longer than it needed to be. I feel like this would have been a much better and more focused work (and maybe more obviously a poly romance, rather than a love triangle) if the author had cut out maybe 200 pages. As it was, it took ages for Wisteria and Justin to meet, and the storyline involving the little girl, Sharone, went on for so long that it started to feel like pointless filler.

I was also very unhappy with the way the book's tone drastically shifted a little over halfway through. The bulk of the book was regency-ish dances, parties, and conversations (and an occasional explicit sex scene involving Nik and Justin). Then, suddenly, there was a very graphically violent scene in which one of the three main characters was tortured - which, by the way, happened at about the same time that the other two characters went off to make out and strip each other naked. The way the aftermath was handled bugged me as well. It felt like the character's PTSD was just a plot device designed to move things forward in the proper way. Once it had accomplished what it was supposed to, it was magically done away with (literal magical healing) and never really brought up again.

Unfortunately, this wasn't nearly as good as I'd hoped it would be. If I continue on with this series, it'll be because I bought the sequel when it first came out. In my defense, it was on sale and I really did think I was going to love these characters and this world. At least the next work in the series is a collection of novellas rather than yet another badly bloated novel.

Rating Note:

I gave this 1.5 stars on sites that allow half star ratings. I considered rounding up to 2 stars in GR because there were quite a few scenes I enjoyed when taken on their own. However, then I remembered my relief when I finally finished this after spending 6 months slogging through it. Im the end, I rounded down to 1 star.

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Rational Arrangement is as much fantasy as it is romance, with a delightful, well imagined world, vivid characters that are easy to relate to, and a thoroughly engaging story. I will not ruin it with an unnecessary summary when in all actuality you could, and should, just read it for yourself. Though I did need my Kindle's wonderful, built in dictionary (I love that thing) I rather enjoy authors who use language well, and even challenge the reader to learn something, without being over the top and plain difficult to read. My only issue with this book, in fact, was a tendency towards overly long run-on sentences that pulled me out of the story in order to reread the whole sentence to grasp the actual meaning or picture trying to be portrayed. That said, I thoroughly enjoyed the read and hope to dear god that there is more to come in this riveting world, romance genre or not.

[A]

This book has SO many rough edges.


but
BUT

I enjoyed the heck out of this oddly paced, info-dumpy, nine-thousand-page long polyamorous regency-fantasy mash-up with terrible sex scenes ("nether cheeks" lol). It was so clearly having fun revelling in being its pure unfiltered self, and I was charmed. Even by the infodumping - I actually found the world fascinating, since it seems to involve a god post-apocalyptically transporting some humans to this new world a few thousand years ago.

There are giant sentient cats that talk! People ride them! Humans magically made them a few hundred years ago. Because it seemed cool, I assume.

Be warned that although it is mostly cosy in tone, there is a very non-cosy scene of GRAPHIC TORTURE in the middle.

[Kira B · Rating 5 out of 5]

Stayed up until 2am to finish this book--it was so good! I have a soft spot for Jane Austen-style stories, but this was so much more--fantasy/sci-fi, giant cats as servants/friends, magical Blessings, mind healing, a VERY intriguing female protagonist, psychology, business, law, being an outsider, love, trauma, TWO bi characters, polyamory--and some very well-written sexy scenes! Genre-defying and great :D

[Madison Schaeffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed the good parts of this book. Honestly, I'd give it like 4.5 stars, because my opinion was 90% positive. Good characters! Awesome magic! (Some really REALLY thoughtful insights into mental health and the treatment of it.) The protagonists are well characterized and likable. The great cats are, in fact, great. And polyfi? I am all about polyfi! Which was very well done. I was delighted. Basically? This book is delightful.

But. And there must be a but. This book could have been twice as good with a solid editor. (And, as someone has pointed out, beta readers are not, alas, editors.) There were times when the plot ran around in circles, but primarily, there was just too damn much *there* and too much description of every single thing, often repeatedly. Like, okay, I am as up for description as the next girl, but there were at least three scenes - THREE - that involved graphic descriptions of desk layouts. Everyone's general character traits were repeated SO MANY TIMES - Justin is roguishly handsome, Wisteria never smiles, what Wisteria's mother looks like in comparison to Wisteria, the fact that Ansther has black fur, Nikola's hair, Wisteria and Nikola's ability to talk about literally any topic ever... there was a lot here that ended up being ad nauseum. I think this author is genuinely excellent at world-building and in the parts of the story where she uses that skill to illustrate new things about the world, like the entire bowracing course scene, SO COOL SO GREAT SO AMAZING. When this attention to detail is put to, well, desks? It's a downfall. I ended up with the feeling that there was room for so much of this world that I didn't get to see because I was learning about furniture. I kind of wanted to learn more about giant talking cats.

I'm also going to note that while I - apparently unlike some other reviewers...? - was VERY HAPPY at the existence of sex scenes, I think an editor would have been useful here as well. For one thing? Threesomes are insanely hard to write well while keeping track of all three characters, and, er, there were bits here and there where I felt like I needed dolls or barbies or god knows what to figure out who was on top of whom. Also, my more serious complaint - regency romance has a certain vocabulary to sex scenes. Actually, to be honest, pretty much all written sex scenes have a certain vocabulary, but what that vocabulary is differs by genre, and I can universally state that really anatomical language in sex scenes is a thing pretty much everyone passes on. Euphemisms for anatomical parts would have been super helpful in not getting mentally thrown out of a scene by the use of, er, terms I'd be more likely to hear in Anatomy and Physiology. Also, while I appreciate the historical attention to detail, the fact that condoms were made out of intestines was... a bit offputting in a sex scene where someone was putting their mouth on one! (As the saying goes, no one really wants to know how sausages are made.) But, in fairness, I was so thrilled that characters I really liked were getting it on that I was mostly able to ignore the jarring bits?

I feel like this review sort of leans toward the more challenging parts - this really was an amazing book, and I'd HIGHLY recommend it if you like polyfi or are at least okay with it - but that's mostly because I think the author has buckets upon buckets of potential, and I think a good editor could really, really bring out the awesomeness inherent in this world and whatever else Rowyn thinks up.

Thanks for the wonderful read!

[Madison Schaeffer · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really, really enjoyed the good parts of this book. Honestly, I'd give it like 4.5 stars, because my opinion was 90% positive. Good characters! Awesome magic! (Some really REALLY thoughtful insights into mental health and the treatment of it.) The protagonists are well characterized and likable. The great cats are, in fact, great. And polyfi? I am all about polyfi! Which was very well done. I was delighted. Basically? This book is delightful.

But. And there must be a but. This book could have been twice as good with a solid editor. (And, as someone has pointed out, beta readers are not, alas, editors.) There were times when the plot ran around in circles, but primarily, there was just too damn much *there* and too much description of every single thing, often repeatedly. Like, okay, I am as up for description as the next girl, but there were at least three scenes - THREE - that involved graphic descriptions of desk layouts. Everyone's general character traits were repeated SO MANY TIMES - Justin is roguishly handsome, Wisteria never smiles, what Wisteria's mother looks like in comparison to Wisteria, the fact that Ansther has black fur, Nikola's hair, Wisteria and Nikola's ability to talk about literally any topic ever... there was a lot here that ended up being ad nauseum. I think this author is genuinely excellent at world-building and in the parts of the story where she uses that skill to illustrate new things about the world, like the entire bowracing course scene, SO COOL SO GREAT SO AMAZING. When this attention to detail is put to, well, desks? It's a downfall. I ended up with the feeling that there was room for so much of this world that I didn't get to see because I was learning about furniture. I kind of wanted to learn more about giant talking cats.

I'm also going to note that while I - apparently unlike some other reviewers...? - was VERY HAPPY at the existence of sex scenes, I think an editor would have been useful here as well. For one thing? Threesomes are insanely hard to write well while keeping track of all three characters, and, er, there were bits here and there where I felt like I needed dolls or barbies or god knows what to figure out who was on top of whom. Also, my more serious complaint - regency romance has a certain vocabulary to sex scenes. Actually, to be honest, pretty much all written sex scenes have a certain vocabulary, but what that vocabulary is differs by genre, and I can universally state that really anatomical language in sex scenes is a thing pretty much everyone passes on. Euphemisms for anatomical parts would have been super helpful in not getting mentally thrown out of a scene by the use of, er, terms I'd be more likely to hear in Anatomy and Physiology. Also, while I appreciate the historical attention to detail, the fact that condoms were made out of intestines was... a bit offputting in a sex scene where someone was putting their mouth on one! (As the saying goes, no one really wants to know how sausages are made.) But, in fairness, I was so thrilled that characters I really liked were getting it on that I was mostly able to ignore the jarring bits?

I feel like this review sort of leans toward the more challenging parts - this really was an amazing book, and I'd HIGHLY recommend it if you like polyfi or are at least okay with it - but that's mostly because I think the author has buckets upon buckets of potential, and I think a good editor could really, really bring out the awesomeness inherent in this world and whatever else Rowyn thinks up.

Thanks for the wonderful read!

[Elsiekate · Rating 3 out of 5]

it is so hard to know what to rate this book because the parts that i liked, i liked a lot, but overall, i was fairly unhappy with a few things. i went into this book knowing one thing about it--that it had been recommended in a thread about books dealing with polyamory, so i was expecting that part of the plot. other than that, i knew nothing about it and if you are planning on reading it and don't want to know anything more, i would say to stop reading this review now. (i will hide this review for spoilers but if you know the book is about polyamory, the main spoiler is already revealed.)

so what did i like? not all the characters and relationships are heterosexual. the heroine is somewhere on the autism/asperger's spectrum even though that is not part of the vocabulary of the world of the book and spending time in her head is interesting. the magic system/religion are also interesting. (this book is basically a regency romance that does not take place in this world but somehow many of the rules systems of that culture have been replicated in the culture of the world we are visiting. and it has more explicit sex scenes than most regencies.) i am not in love with the giant, sentient cats that are a species on this world but i found them entertaining. the buildup of the first half of the book was excellent.

what didn't i like? here are the real spoilers. there is an episode halfway through the book where one of the characters is kidnapped and tortured. what i would say about that is that if you have read "Outlander" and you can tolerate the torture in that book, then you're going to be fine. unfortunately, i am someone who made it through "Outlander" but never picked it up again and didn't read any of the sequels because the torture there was too much for me, and this is another case of that. i finished the book, but i won't be reading the sequel.

and then there's the way that the relationships are resolved. i know that this is a fantasy world, but i'm sorry--having these three people decide that they all love each other equally and can come together into a perfect relationship together....less believable than giant sentient cats. for one thing, one of them is a terrible communicator who can't share their feelings and gets angry when they are frightened and they get frightened when they think a relationship might be going south. perfect for a situation where you're going to need a lot of explicit communication and patience for misunderstandings, right?

so, i'm not sorry to have read it or to have finished it, and i liked a lot of it, but overall, i don't buy it. ymmv.

[Dani · Rating 3 out of 5]

The synopsis above did not give me a full idea of what I was letting myself in for with this book. At first, I thought it was set in Regency England, but it is actually set in an imaginary world called Paradise that has a similar social structure to the Regency and Victorian periods with fantastical elements added. The main ones are Blessings and greatcats. In this world, certain people have been given Blessings for either healing or working with natural objects. This is where greatcats came from: a person with the Blessing of mind-healing many years ago went into a regular cat's mind and unblocked the parts that would allow them to talk and reason like humans. Although the author didn't mention it, the healer must have unlocked something else, too, because the great cats are as large as horses.

Speaking of leaving stuff out, Rowyn didn't leave much out of this book. She created an interesting world, but the book was far too long for my taste. It was 642 pages and I felt every one! I found myself skimming a lot of the explanations of how the world works and the descriptions of the buildings and the clothing. There weren't any of the problems with grammatical errors or poor word choice that I often come across in indie books, but another pass by an editor to cut down the page count wouldn't have gone amiss.

This was shelved by 27 readers on Goodreads as a romance, and by 26 readers as fantasy. I would definitely side with those labeling it as fantasy (I labeled it as paranormal because I'm too lazy to create a fantasy shelf). There are explicit sex scenes and a happily-ever-after, but the parties in question spend more time apart than together. I think if all the sex and romance was taken out and the author had made them all friends, I would have enjoyed it just as well -- provided she reduced that word count by about 400 pages!

[Moose · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this so much, staying up until 5am reading and then rolling out of bed at noon to finish. I love Wisteria and Nikola and the world building. Justin is a bit of a twat, and I hope there is more about his mind shapes and working on his anger in the next book, but he did show remorse and put in work on his anger issues.

I've seen other reviews that didn't like all the world building but that is EXACTLY what kept me engrossed. It's a lovely magical realism Regency sort of world. I also really loved the fairy tale happy ending. The fantasy that talking frankly of one's fears and passions will save the day is a fantasy that resonates with me.

I will say that most of the sex scenes didn't work for me. The Nik/Justin scenes were rushed and empty of dialogue, leaving then out of place in a novel where the entire point is everyone uses their words. On reflection, perhaps this was on purpose, since Nik and Justin were having an illegal clandestine affair and pretending they weren't in love? I don't know. The rest of the book more than made up for the sex scenes not working for me, though.

OH and the author uses epithets so much. So much! Often in the sex scenes, which may be part of why they didn't work for me.

Warnings: graphic torture, past suicide attempts

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like a significant number of my reviews are opining about how x book is like fanfiction. And if enough books are like fanfiction, am I actually right that this is not a style often found in published literature?
Obviously I think I’m right (lol) and I ALSO think that as writers cut their teeth in fanfic and grow into writers while reading fanfic, the storyshapes more common to fanfic begin to permeate the mainstream.
Fanfic cares about details, fanfic is episodic, fanfic is not a single plot-arc but resolves multiple events over the course of one long story, fanfic assumes you care about the universe, fanfic does not pace the sex but just kind of throws it in regularly.
This is not the storyshape of a romance novel or even epic fantasy, although this book clearly draws on both. If we understand fanfic to be it’s own genre (in the way that novel and novella and interlinked short stories are), then this story makes a lot of sense.
Do I love reading fanfic storyshapes with all new world building? ABSOLUTELY.
I fully appreciate that this book may be hard to market - evidenced by the fact that if I’d known what I was getting myself into, I’d have picked it up much sooner.

[Foxx Writer · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an amazing book filled with supreme spice, amazing worldbuilding, fantastic characters and character growth, and a fantastic plot all wrapped up in a delightful writing pace that leaves a person aching for more at the end. A beautifully written story about how truth can set you free, love can win in the end, and how societal expectations aren’t necessarily morally correct.

Wisteria is a girl like no other. She’s logical to a literal fault, and shows no emotion. This makes her life quite difficult until she meets Lord Nikola, a young man in love with his peer, lord Justin. Which they must hide for such a thing isn’t exactly legal. These three spiral closer and closer, until a wedding proposal threatens to tear them apart. Can they have their happy ever after, or will the Blessing of love, just not be enough

Content warnings

Heavy religious themes (conducive to the plot)
Suicide attempt
Suicidal thoughts
Torture and depictions of torture
PTSD and Panic Attacks

[Cat · Rating 4 out of 5]

First of all, this is an alt-Regency M/M/F set in a world where humanity was freed from Earth by a Savior to live in literal Paradise (though it really isn't that paradisiacal, and there are hints that the Savior isn't all that special, so it's not quite a literal Jesus-But-Real setting, but I digress) and there are enormous sentient cat beings that serve as servants but also horses. (No shifters or anything; all sex is human only.) If any of that doesn't sound good, I recommend skipping since quite a lot of the book is focused on the worldbuilding and it is a very slow burn romance-wise.

But if it does, this is quite fascinating in what it's trying to do, even if it's a little too slow burn for my tastes (and there's a lot of "this problem exists only because no one knows how to communicate properly," which gets a little old even if there are good reasons [trauma] that the communication sucks). I'm glad it exists for sheer originality points.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was definitely For Me. Fascinating world building, the most interesting fictional religion since Bujold's Five Gods, GIANT SENTIENT CATS, Regency-esque manners and mores, and three characters who I have so many feelings about. Wisteria! I love Wisteria, she's the best, I love her brain, her confusion at navigating social situations. Nik! I love Nikola, he's the best, he tries so hard to be good. Justin! I love Justin, he's the best, I want to give him a big hug and I'm so happy he has two people who appreciate him as he deserves. I shamelessly love the Nik/Justin dynamic even though things would have been solved so much sooner if they'd just TALKED TO EACH OTHER. I loved all the proposals and Justin's bizarre sense of fairness that made him tell Wisteria that Nik was going to propose before he proposed himself. And I'm so glad these three idiots found each other.

[Rem71090 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I haven't had this much pleasure reading a book this long possibly in my life (don't at me Asoiaf).

The relationship took so long to develop that at one point I had to walk away from the honest expression of emotions, which is not like me, but I had a lot of fun waiting.

Two things kept this from being a 5 for me:
1) the greatcats. I like giant talking cats as much as (more than) the next person, but I was profoundly uncomfortable with a whole class of creatures capable of speech and reason being mainly servants.
2) There was way too much made up religion for me. It was less unbearable than if it had been a not made up religion (insofar as any religion is not made up [don't at me scientologists]), but it still got tedious.

I also would like to take this moment to remark on how ridiculous it is that our protagonists are Wisteria, Nikola, and JUSTIN

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I didn't realize I wanted more romantic fantasy (fantasy romance?) until I read this. It has everything I'm looking for in a good fantasy: intriguing world building, fascinating magic/religious system, and solid characterization, plus delightfully steamy sex scenes. My only complaint was the jarring tone shift for a section in the middle of the book with intense depictions of PSTD and the events that caused it. With the overall cheerful and relatively low stakes rest of the book, I wasn't expecting the emotional rollercoaster.

As an extra bonus, the romance is queer, one of the leads is neurodiverse, and (spoilers) the happily ever after is poly. I'm looking forward to the next book in this universe.

[Charlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW

As I’ve just finished reading, I’m still putting my thoughts together about this book. It was a delightful read, and Wisteria is a marvelously unique character that I enjoyed very much. This story didn’t unfold the way I expected, but that is entirely to the book’s credit.

If you’d like to read a rather unorthodox romance set in a fascinating world, I highly recommend this book.

[Mardia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid and charming, and the worldbuilding mostly worked for me. My few quibbles are that I'm not a fan of epithets (the blond man, the dark-haired woman, etc) and the sudden veering of the story into graphic descriptions of torture was Not Fun. (Further, and this just might be me, but I wasn't thrilled that the only characters coded as black spoke in a form of dialect throughout.)

[Marsha Valance · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this light-hearted "Regency" romance set on a colony planet where intelligent giant cats serve as both transportation and bodyguards, an autistic young woman declines to choose between a wealthy lord and a poor one with a "blessing" (gift) for mind-healing. Instead, she marries them both--and they then marry each other.