A great romance with a non-binary character
I have read most of Katia Rose’s Sapphic romances and I like her style a lot, especially the balance between sweet romance, hot scenes, and a bit of drama. Add to the mix lovely Canadian settings as a refreshing change from the ubiquitous US-based novels and her stories are very enjoyable.
Dane and Evangeline rent rooms in Dane’s eccentric aunt’s house. Dane’s aunt is a self-proclaimed “cosmically guided matchmaker” who is convinced that Dane and Evangeline are made for each other while in reality, they hardly can agree on house chores. When Dane’s aunt announces that she’s leasing the house to new tenants, Dane and Evangeline decide to fake falling for each other to get some soul mate sympathy and a lease renewal.
This is a fake relationship romance between a non-binary person and a cis woman. In 2017, I remember reading Who’d have thought? by G. Benson, my first book with a (secondary) non-binary character and since then I’ve been struggling to grasp the idea of non-binary gender. I admit that it’s still a work in progress for me because I was raised with very compartmental ideas, but the release of more books featuring NB characters helps me a lot to be aware of identities that are outside the male-female gender binary. This particular book deals with the concept of non-binary in a way that helped me to grasp the idea further.
This is a New Adult romance and both main characters are trying to figure things out about their identities, their growing up, their relationships with their families and their future. Their hangups are a source of conflict between them as they both have a lot to unpack and to grow as characters along the journey. Despite the levity of the fake relationship and the eccentricities of Dane’s aunt, who is a firecracker, the story also deals with the typical difficulties new adults have to navigate in that period of their lives. The romance itself is, at the same time, sweet and hot, typical of this author.
Overall, a very enjoyable fake romance with some food for thought. 4.5 stars.
ARC provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
