u/samthehaggis

I was so excited to hear Freya Marske's announcement that she will release her debut contemporary romance next year, The Offseason, and it's a sports romance about figure skaters in Australia!!

Per her Instagram: "Friends, this one has been years & years in the making, but I am THRILLED to announce my debut in contemporary romance. THE OFFSEASON is a queer figure skating book featuring an Australian ex-champion trying to reforge a relationship with the sport that hurt him -- and with the old rival he's never been able to forget, who's now a rising star struggling to handle the pressure.

If you adored Yuri!! on Ice, if you've been wondering about the sequin-embellished answer to Heated Rivalry, if you want a skating romance that's actually written by a skater, if you've been craving more stories set somewhere that's NOT the US or UK, or if you've enjoyed my romantic fantasy books and want to see what I can do when Romance is the only genre on the table...

See you in 2027. This one's for you."

To say I'm ridiculously excited about this after loving A Marvellous Light and Swordcrossed is an understatement... and I absolutely have been craving more stories set in Australia and New Zealand!

I just finished {Meetings with the Minotaur by M.A. Wardell}, and I wanted to write a short review for others in case they pick it up with the same misconception that I did.

In short: if you're looking for a fun monster romance, this might not be your cup of tea. It's actually more of an age-gap workplace romance about a boss and his (very junior) employee, where the boss happens to be a minotaur.

Firstly, there's not a lot of development of the fantasy world. You hear about a bunch of different species coexisting in this workplace and city, but little beyond that (intriguingly, humans seem to be the minority).

Secondly, there's that ambiguous age gap. Magnus the minotaur is 49, and at one point he estimates that Jamie the human is in his mid-thirties based on his appearance... but Jamie acts like he's in his early 20s. He's working on the mailroom and looking for promotion opportunities to a junior analyst program, which seems pretty early-career, and we get no explanation of why he might be switching to a new field or starting again.

I had a lot of other quibbles with this book, but I don't want to pile on. I'll finish by saying it also has a strong insta-lust/insta-love element and not a lot of deep character development compared to Wardell's contemporary romances (which are great!).

Has anyone else tried this series? Is the second book different from the first (set in the same workplace)? I'd be interested to hear others' thoughts!

I'm currently reading A Lady for All Seasons by TJ Alexander (I won't summon the bot as it's not MM), and some plot points rely pretty heavily on {A Gentleman by T.J. Alexander}. I read it last year and no longer have my copy handy- could someone spoil the ending for me? How did Christopher end up dealing with the requirement that he marry before the age of 25 if he wanted to keep his inheritance?