Review: Yield Under Great Persuasion, by Alexandra Rowland

Tam Becket has hated Lord Lyford since they were boys. The fact that he’s also been sleeping with the man for the last ten years is irrelevant. When they were both nine years old, Lyford smashed Tam’s entry into the village’s vegetable competition. Nearly twenty years later, Tam hasn’t forgiven the bastard. No one understands how deeply he was hurt that day, how it set a pattern of small disappointments and misfortunes that would run through the rest of his life. Now Tam has reconciled himself to the fact that love and affection are for other people, that the gods don’t care and won’t answer any of his prayers (not even the one about afflicting Lyford with a case of flesh-eating spiders to chew off his privates), and that life is inherently mundane, joyless, and drab.
And then, the very last straw: Tam discovers that Lyford (of all people!) bears the divine favor of Angarat, the goddess Tam feels most betrayed and abandoned by. In his hurt and anger, Tam packs up and prepares to leave the village for good. But the journey doesn’t take him far, and Tam soon finds himself set on a quest for the most difficult of all possible prizes: Self care, forgiveness, a second chance... and somehow the unbelievably precious knowledge that there is at least one person who loves Tam for exactly who he is—and always has.

"But if you want to be loved, really loved, first you have to be you."

Alexandra Rowland's Yield Under Great Persuasion is a cozy adventure of self-exploration, featuring an unlikable protagonist who becomes less unlikable as he starts working on himself and experiences love and acceptance. It's a soft story about second chances, coming to terms with all the ugly parts of you, and coming out willing to do the work to become the better version of yourself.

On the others side of the equation is Lyford, hopelessly in love with the main character, a paragon of understanding. He, too, learns something: to challenge the one you love and allow yourself to get angry sometimes and stand up for himself, and to stop just accepting whatever's sprouted at him. Together, the two will learn to complete each other and coexist, accept and challenge each other.

The worldbuilding is exquisite, featuring a meddling hearth goddess and her equally meddling siblings. Gods have people they favor, and they bestow upon them gifts that can help others; learning to navigate this favor and find community and acceptance is also a main theme of the book.

But most of all, this is a book about working on yourself and features therapy lingo very heavily.

Yield Under Great Persuasion will drag you to therapy kicking and screaming.

✨ 4 stars

ARC Review: Running Close to the Wind, by Alexandra Rowland

Avra Helvaçi, former field agent of the Arasti Ministry of Intelligence, has accidentally stolen the single most expensive secret in the world―and the only place to flee with a secret that big is the open sea. To find a buyer with deep enough pockets, Avra must ask for help from his on-again, off-again ex, the pirate Captain Teveri az-Haffar. They are far from happy to see him, but together, they hatch a plan: take the information to the isolated pirate republic of the Isles of Lost Souls, fence it, profit.
The only things in their way? A calculating new Arasti ambassador to the Isles of Lost Souls who's got his eyes on Avra's every move; Brother Julian, a beautiful, mysterious new member of the crew with secrets of his own and a frankly inconvenient vow of celibacy; the fact that they're sailing straight into sea serpent breeding season and almost certain doom. But if they can find a way to survive and sell the secret on the black market, they’ll all be as wealthy as kings―and, more importantly, they'll be legends.

My thanks to the author for providing an ARC copy.

Alexandra Rowland's Running Close to the Wind is a cozy low-stakes pirate adventure set in the same world of the excellent A Taste of Gold and Iron, loosely connected to it by a plot point. The two books couldn’t be more different, as Running Close to the Wind is funny. Hysterically, being-in-stitches, laughing-on-the-floor funny. It’s so funny that it’s too funny sometimes, but it’s a joy to read a book that doesn’t take itself so seriously while simultaneously delivering some very profound reflections in the more serious segments.

The trio of main characters is a delight, their banter on point as the dynamic between Avra and Teveri expands with the arrival of the mysterious Julian and his wiles. The characters are unapologetically horny, but the book is surprisingly chaste in that regard, while also being incredibly tender in parts. I especially enjoyed the few conversations about having and defending one’s boundaries. The rest of the cast, from the colorful crew to the pirates on the island, were all painted in deft strokes, resulting in vivid characters with so much to say. It really was reminiscent of Our Flag Means Death, as it was pitched, and it was an absolute romp.

The world gets expanded in a really clever subversion of what we know from A Taste of Gold and Iron, showing what the outside world thinks exactly of the choice to keep for themselves the only way to sail safely during a certain time of the year. There’s sea serpents and giant turtles and ghosts that need a complex reference guide to be handled, and it’s all so delightful. This choice to have loosely interconnected stories where the world is explored more and more is an intriguing one, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

Running Close to the Wind is a fun adventure with hidden depths.

✨ 4 stars

List: Best Books of 2022

2023 is almost here and here I am, attempting to list my favorite books of the year! This is going to be hard: to avoid a headache, I've decided to list only five titles; but having to choose was excruciating.

Without further ado, in no particular order of appreciation save from this first title who's already among my all time favorites:

You can find my review here. This book has so much heart, and it's so complex and beautiful, that it truly is a must read. If you can read only one book from the many I reviewed this year, make it this one.

You can find my review here. This stunning novel isn't for the faint of heart, exploring the cruelties of Old Hollywood with a dash of faerie, beautiful and dangerous and just as much cruel.

You can find my review here. A delicate exploration of trauma and endurance, of healing despite all odds, of intimacy and acceptance. A lovely book that must be read with caution.

You can find my review here. A perfect second volume for a perfect series, rich and complex and terrifying in parts; love isn't enough when the fate of the world is at stake.

You can find my review here. Perfect for fealty enthusiasts, this book is a loving comfort read set in a richly detailed world and features a thorough exploration of anxiety and power differentials in a relationship.

Review: A Taste of Gold and Iron, by Alexandra Rowland

 

Kadou, the shy prince of Arasht, finds himself at odds with one of the most powerful ambassadors at court—the body-father of the queen's new child—in an altercation which results in his humiliation.
To prove his loyalty to the queen, his sister, Kadou takes responsibility for the investigation of a break-in at one of their guilds, with the help of his newly appointed bodyguard, the coldly handsome Evemer, who seems to tolerate him at best. In Arasht, where princes can touch-taste precious metals with their fingers and myth runs side by side with history, counterfeiting is heresy, and the conspiracy they discover could cripple the kingdom’s financial standing and bring about its ruin.

It's all about the yearning. Alexandra Rowland's A Taste of Gold and Iron was easily my most anticipated book of the year and oh, it did deliver! This delicious fantasy romance had it all: two well-rounded protagonists, the slowest burn, a good tight-knit plot, and a thorough exploration of consent and power differentials. I truly enjoyed the many discussions of the concept of fealty and the incredible care shown by every character around the protagonists.

It's also always nice to find a queer-normative world where the conflict doesn't come from the queer romance. The counterfeiting plot is resolved quickly and efficiently, as the book focuses more on the romance; it's there where it takes its time, truly exploring the characters' fears and history. Kadou will stay in my heart as an incredibly relatable character suffering from anxiety and not being fixed by the narrative. Evemer is the perfect contrast and I also read him as demisexual; regardless of that being true, I appreciated that his lack of experience seems to be a non-problem. This book also excels with the interpersonal relationships outside of the romance, and I especially liked how the relationship developed with Kadou's old paramour. Evemer's relationship with his mother is incredibly sweet.

The world is well-developed, an intriguing Ottoman-inspired setting that isn't well-understood by the people coming from other countries. I especially enjoyed the figures of the kahyalar, more than mere guards, and the intricate descriptions of their work. I'm a bit sad that the touch-taste isn't fully explored, but the existence of this power also gives way to a truly tender moment towards the end of the book.

In fact, let me get back to this: this novel is incredibly romantic and sensual. There's a million little scenes that show that touch is truly the most important sense in this world; there's hair-brushing and hair-washing and comforting embraces. It's delightful.

A Taste of Gold and Iron is the perfect comfort read for fealty enthusiasts.

✨ 5 stars