Disputed Boundaries

San Juan Islands

by Regina Kammer

A British soldier and an American adventurer test the borders of desire.

San Juan Island, 1869

An international border dispute with no battles or skirmishes? The occupation of San Juan Island was proving to be Lieutenant Braxton Thorne’s most uneventful assignment as a Royal Marine. Which meant plenty of time to fool around with his fiancée Tilda.

American adventurer Gideon Roberts was just passing through San Juan Island on his way to his next job – and his next guy. He could stay, work on a farm, but why? A free spirit craved new experiences, new places, new men.

A chance encounter unleashes unfamiliar desires. Braxton has never been with a man. Gideon has never wanted to be with just one man. Now they find themselves in a war over the boundaries of their hearts.

Disputed Boundaries is a historical male-male, enemies to lovers, bisexual-awakening, polyamorous romance. The story is set during the Pig War—the final conflict between the United States and Great Britain, a bloodless standoff over the boundary between Washington Territory and British Columbia. The novelette is part of Regina Kammer's Stories from the San Juan Islands collection of standalone short reads set in the San Juan Islands.

Stories from the San Juan Islands
* Undamaged ~ A contemporary firefighter romance set on San Juan Island
* Disputed Boundaries ~ A historical romance set on San Juan Island in 1869 during the Pig War
* “Orcas” ~ A contemporary women’s fiction short story set on Orcas Island
All three stories are also available in one volume, The Stories from the San Juan Islands Collection.

Genres: Historical, Historical Romance, M M Romance, Romance, Queer

41 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 26, 2021

About the author

Regina Kammer is a librarian, an art historian, and a multi-published writer of provocative historical romance and contemporary romance with a touch of history. Her short stories and novels make history sexier, whether the era is Roman, Byzantine, Viking, American Revolution, or Victorian. She’s even sexed up contemporary settings, Steampunk, and Greco-Roman mythology. She has been published by Cleis Press, Go Deeper Press, Ellora’s Cave, House of Erotica, Story Ink, Loose Id, The Naughty Literati, and her own imprint, Viridium Press. She began writing historical fiction with romantic elements during National Novel Writing Month 2006, switching to erotica when all her characters suddenly demanded to have sex.

Subscribe to Regina's newsletter, Kammerotica News : https://reginakammer.com/newsletter/

Reviews

[Pamela Gibson · Rating 4 out of 5]

While erotica isn't my favorite genre, Regina Kammer does it well so her books are an easy buy for me. I picked up this one for the setting. Having traveled by boat all around the San Juan Islands, I remembered reading about the Pig war over a disputed boundary and actually visited both American and British camps, now open to tourists. The book is male/male and male/female erotica. It's a short read, but pay attention to the dates at the beginning of chapters. I got lost a few times.

[Sammy Higgins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this historical romance. I loved seeing Braxton discovering who he truly is with the help of Gideon. Braxton is engaged to Tilda, but he's attracted to Gideon at first sight. Braxton has been attracted to men, but done nothing about it. Gideon travels around doing different jobs as doesn't think about settling down. He just sleeps around with men and doesn't think of being in a relationship. But he is truly attracted it Braxton. It doesn't take long for sparks fly and they can't fight it anymore. I always wondered how these two men would get their happy ending, but they do. Tilda accepts it all so well and you see the love there between her and Braxton. It takes Lucas's love story and Tilda for them to finally get their happy ending.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Kkhmonrai · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this short story. It was sexy and steamy with a gay man and another man who is awakening to his bisexuality. I liked the way the author presented a plausible way for the relationship to work in a time when MM relations were not accepted by society and could, at the very least, cause scandal and ruin lives. I don't know how many women there were like Tilda who would share her husband with another man, but at least the author didn't make it sound easy to flout society with no consequences. I also thought Braxton's reactions and uncertainty about being with a man for the first time seemed appropriate for what he would have been taught (no Internet porn to show him the way. LOL) I would love to more about how these three make it work.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Juniper · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a quick read, and depicts an unconventional arrangement between a British marine, his female fiancé, and his male American paramour. There's a nice balance between historical context and romance, and while this isn't the traditional love triangle, there's definitely a bit of angst before everything works out.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Micha (in my DNF era)]

I’m conflicted. My gut reaction was to rate this ⭐️ but after much consideration I’m going to leave it unrated because I don’t want to tank the author’s rating when there are so few reviews.

***Spoilers ahead***


The book is written lovely; however, it doesn’t live up to its description. Per the author “Disputed Boundaries is a historical male-male, enemies to lovers romance.” M/ m readers have certain expectations when they read that description and this book didn’t deliver, in my opinion, on the promise.

This is an unconventional love triangle between the two male MCs, Gideon and Braxton, plus Braxton fiancée, Tilda. Braxton is bisexual, Gideon is gay and the story takes place in 1869. So… you can guess where this going. Which isn’t a problem in and off itself if the book had the proper description + trigger warnings.

There is cheating. Not an issue for me but I know some readers would like to know this beforehand. There’s on page m/f sex. For some m/m readers this is big no-no. It’s not a traditional enemies to lovers story. They’re only enemies bc of their nationalities. Gideon is American, Braxton is British, and the story is set 100 years after the American Revolutionary War. There’s no hostility between them, just a curiosity that leads to friendship than lovers. And, finally the book ends with an agreement between the three where Braxton gets to have Tilda publicly and Gideon privately, though realistic for the time is very unsatisfying as a m/m reader.

I would implore the author to rework the description to get this book in front of the right audience and to avoid a barrage of negative reviews.

[Ana]

DNF @ 10%

It seems like there is cheating in this book. This man has a fiancée that he loves, but is writing letters about a man he's attracted to. It gave me bad vibes.