books

Ada Maria Soto

Books: Romance | Queer

The Agency: His Quiet Agent (2017), Merlin in the Library (2018), Agents of Winter (2022)

And Everything Nice (2016), Life Saving Dal (2017)

The Agency

His Quiet Agent (2017)

Arthur Drams has worked hard for The Agency and is hoping to move up in the ranks. Unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be happening.

"That's…" Arthur didn't want to rock the boat, complain or seem ungrateful, but it had been four years. "A bit more of a lateral move than I was expecting."

His supervisor sighed. "Agent Drams, no one knows who you are."

"We're a black budget government agency. No one is supposed to know who we are."

"To the general public yes, however, when your supervising agent and the promotion board have to ask ‘who' at seeing your name and don't even recognize your picture, you need to show your admittedly somewhat generic face a bit more. This is your entire file." Agent Brown lifted three pieces of paper. "No notes against, no notes for, no citations, accolades or recommendations, no warnings, no nothing."

So he decides he's going to turn over a new lead and make an impression. Unfortunately, that doesn't work quite as expected.

"Hi, could I-"

"Lesbian." The woman didn't even look up from her yogurt.

"What?"

"You've spent the last two weeks flashing a charming smile and looking over everyone here. Lesbian, you don't stand a chance, so don't bother."

He ends up becoming friends with Carol once Arthur makes it clear he's not hitting on, although it's only lunctime work friends, it's a start.

He then decides to branch out and try to befriend the one person who has even fewer friends he does.

He'd been on the fifth floor a little over a month when there was a lull in the conversation. "Okay, what's up with the guy who's always in the dark gray suit?" It had been niggling at him since day one.

Carol didn't look over her shoulder like most people would. "You mean the Alien?"

Arthur didn't answer. He couldn't help but be aware of the dark suited man who sat across from him. His habits were clockwork. 8: 05 at his desk, 10: 00 a.m. cup of tea, 12: 30 lunch, 3: 00 p.m. cup of tea, 5: 30 leave.

"Our best guess is that he crashed at Roswell and, after poking and prodding, they couldn't decide what to do with him so they gave him a human face and sent him here.

Arthur looked over at The Alien. It was a Go Away sign, but it was a very specific type of go away sign; it was the kind that said ‘Look at Me Just for A Moment. I'm Weird. If you talk to me you're going to decide I'm weird and not like me so let's just save both of us the public discomfort of you feeling the need to reject me.' He'd used that same trick in high school with copies of The Prince and Art of War. There might have also been some eyeliner involved. He could also remember being desperately lonely and wanting someone else's weirdness to match with his.

Then Martin gets sick and things… change.

"I have some library books that need to be returned by tomorrow."

"They need to be returned to the Erikson library on Eighth Street at exactly 11: 55 tomorrow. They must be returned to the Special Collections desk. Tell the woman at the desk that they are from me. Do you understand all that?"

Martin is now complicated in unexpected ways, and Martin and Arthur begin to spend time together outside of work.

And that's all I'll tell you, except that we learn far more about Arthur than we do about Martin, do don't expect to have your curiosity satisfied about him.

But that's OK, because that's how life is.

I really, really liked this one. It won't be for everyone, but it's worth reading.

Publisher: Rookery Publishing

Merlin in the Library (2018)

This is a very short story that follows on the heels of His Quiet Agent. It's not a full-blown story as much as a peek into Martin's mind, and a reassurance that he will, eventually, be ok.

Martin wanted to reassure Arthur that he was fine and send him back to bed, except his therapist reminded him every session that there was nothing wrong in asking for help and he should do so whenever he felt the need. This advice was anathema to the way he had lived his life. Before. But that was then. He was, if nothing else, not stupid.

We only get the barest of peeks into Merlin, but it's enough to know that although things were serious, and although he has years of recovery ahead of him (OMG y'all, concussion is actually treated like the brain damage it is, rather than something to just shake off), he and Arthur will be okay.

But really, this is only if you read the previous story. Do NOT read this if you haven't.

Publisher: Rookery Publishing

Agents of Winter (2022)

Agents of Winter I was slightly worried I wasn't going to enjoy this anywhere near as much as His Quiet Agent, which I adore.

It is different from the first story, His Quiet Agent, and also from the short story Merlin in the Library.

But it is definitely the characters I remember and love.

Martin is still struggling with the aftermath of his The Incident and his concussion.

He needed to focus, and then he could get to the pills and maybe knock himself out before the pain left him curled up on the bathroom floor. The doctors assured him that his brain was healing. That he could get through even a few pages of text without a debilitating headache was a positive sign, but that didn't change the fact that he'd never had a migraine in his life until his second week back at the office when he found himself vomiting in pain and unable to open his eyes due to the light.

Arthur is preparing to head home for Christmas, so his mother doesn't have the spend it alone–and also so he can see his half-sisters.

The two are still also coming to terms with their relationship–as odd as it is to both them and to others.

"I'm sorry, which one is B-837?"

"Romantic or sexual involvement with another agency employee or contractor."

"I… um…" Arthur felt his cheeks flush and didn't know what to say. It had never crossed his mind to fill out the "Fucking Form" as it was referred to by the crasser employees. employees. His and Martin's relationship had slid from friendship into something deeper and intertwined so smoothly that there was never a date he could point to on a calendar and say ‘Yes, here is where our relationship began and I will put that into box 14A.'

"So, who is this Arthur?"

"My friend."

"Don't lie to your lawyer."

"He-" Is the name I put on form B-837.

"Is someone who accepts me exactly as I am and has my heart for it."

We finally learn Martin's history, and although it was in places terrible, there were people who cared for him, and we meet some of those who knew him.

I already want to reread this, and has trouble stopping myself while perusing the book for the quotes I wanted to use.

Publisher: Rookery Publishing

Stand-alone

And Everything Nice (2016)

And Everything NiceThe only way Angelo knows to tell a guy he's interested is through food. Specifically, baked goods.

He held out the plate. He'd gone for his chocolate-chip cookies, always a good icebreaker. They weren't too large, making them harder to justify refusing. He used the vanilla paste instead of extract for a richer flavor, refrigerated the dough for twenty-four hours to allow the flavors to meld, giving it undertones of caramel, dark-chocolate chips to balance the sweet, and baked them just before leaving for work so the chocolate was still semimelted.

Unfortunately, the new guy–Simon–turns down every single baked good Angelo brings in.

Over two months Simon had turned down chocolate-chip cookies, red velvet cupcakes, and warm scones of both sweet and savory varieties. He'd also responded to all of Angelo's requests for early draft documentation, paid attention to him in meetings, complimented his Welcome to Night Vale T-shirts, and joined in conversations about gaming.

So much baking!

SO much adorableness!

And So! Much! Geekyness!

"We used this at my last job." Simon gestured to the training binders on the table. Angelo looked at the binder for some new business tool. He had no idea what it was for. He just knew he had training with a date, time, and location listed in his calendar. The cover of the binder had a stock photo of smiling people in business clothes and gave him no hints. "Is it any good?" "It's Microsoft Access with a trademarked skin and any useful feature stripped out. Cost the company a bundle, and no one ever used it."

This is utterly adorable and there is no boinking and I loved it.

Publisher: Ada Maria Soto

Life Saving Dal (2017)

Life Saving DalIt's been one year since his divorce was finalized, but Nathan still fantisizes things aren't truly over.

"Waiting for the other half of that?" He nodded to Nathan's ring on the bar top.

Nathan shrugged again. "My ex-husband loved movies, the kind with big romantic gestures at the end. The ‘race to the airport to confess love at the last second' scenes."

"And you're looking over your shoulder waiting for him to come racing in." A statement, not a question, but still said gently.

None of Nathan's friends had marked the date and he hadn't mentioned it, not wanting to talk to anyone who already knew the sordid details and would try to talk sense to him. "We had our first date here. I proposed here. I know he came here after we signed the divorce papers."

But his ex is on the other side of the world, so perhaps he should take a chance on this stranger.

This is pretty much not my thing, but I did enjoy seeing Nathan coming to accept that he is deserving of the kindness and gentleness Kris gives him.

Rating: 6/10