Two Wrongs Make a Right (2022) Chloe Liese

Queer, Neurodiversity, Boinking

Although she writes other kinds of characters, my favorite Chloe Liese books are the ones with neurodiversity and characters who live with mental health issues.

Rules serve the people who fit readily within their boundaries and gain an advantage in their being enforced.

“I have anxiety, compulsions. I take medication and go to therapy.”

Of course they’re more than that–they are romances–but they have characters who live in the real world and have real issues, so you might want to check the trigger warnings here.

Rating: 9/10

Published by Berkley

(The Wilmot Sisters #1)

The Mistletoe Motive (2021) Chloe Liese

Queer, Neurodiversity, Boinking

This book is less angsty, what with being a holiday novella, but the main character does deal with things that can be hard.

Jonathan glances up and meets my eyes, his gaze speaking some cryptic language that I don’t.

I hate that feeling. It’s old and familiar, and it never fails to scrape open the scab of my social struggles. I’m a neurodivergent girl in a neurotypical world, and my autistic brain doesn’t read people the way Jonathan Tactical-Mastermind Frost’s does. It’s one of the very first things that made me dislike him: I can feel his cunning, his cold, calculating mind. He has what I don’t, he sees what I can’t, and he wields those weapons ruthlessly. It’s exactly why the Baileys hired him.

Because he’s everything I’m not.

And in my worst moments, that makes me feel like I’m not enough.

Rating: 8/10

Published by Kobo Originals

Waiting for the Flood (2015/2024) Alexis Hall

Queer, Boinking *

Alexis Hall has been reissuing his Spires series, and as this is one of my favorites, I wanted to see the changes as well as the second story about Edwin’s ex.

I still love Edwin;s story, and it’s still one of my favorites.

This is the story of my life: standing on the edges of things and worrying, when I’m supposed to just walk through them.

Marius, however, I still struggled to like. And I love how Alexis Hall noted how he struggled with the story.

Alexis: Slightly concerned that opening Marius’s book with him being a dick to Edwin is sort of like DS9 opening with Sisko being a dick to Picard. Like, it’s a lot. But it also felt right.

However, Marius is no Sisko.

Rating: 9/10

Published by Sourcebooks Casablanca

Spires: Glitterland (2018), Waiting for the Flood (2018), For Real (2018)

Do Me a Favor (2024) Cathy Yardley

Boinking

Like Role Playing, this book has older protagonists, people who have lived.

There’s nothing wrong with fresh-faced young characters, but there’s something more about characters who have already lived and know what they like and don’t like.

“I can take care of it,” she countered. “I don’t . . .”

“I can’t tell you how many times I had to do this for the kids,” he said, sidetracking her argument and shepherding her against the counter. “I’m a pro, basically.”

She looked a cross between confused and amused. “Practically a doctor.”

It’s sweet and lovely and I very much enjoy books where there is not a Big Misunderstanding in the third act.

Rating: 8/10

Published by Montlake

Role Playing (2023), Do Me a Favor (2024)

The Siren of Sussex  (2022) Mimi Matthews

Historical

This is the story of a young woman who has a single season to find a husband and (hopefully) change the futures of her younger sisters.

“Because his riding costumes are beautiful. And because they make the ladies who wear them beautiful, too. It’s a sort of magic, I believe. To create clothing that can do that for a person. That can transform them into something extraordinary.”

And it’s the story of a young man who came to London with his young cousin and is trying to make his way in a world that doesn’t accept him.

“The British soldiers often take native women to wife. They have children. Entire families. Nowadays, the soldiers are encouraged to make such marriages legal, but in decades past, the arrangements were nothing more than unlawful conveniences, contrived for the man’s comfort.”

And it’s about horses and dressmaking and falling in love with the wrong person.

Rating: 8/10

Published by Jove

(Belles of London #1)

The Books of 2024