5 out of 5 stars
Kindle Edition. 1st edition. 50 pages. Published December 1st 2018 by Dreamspinner Press
Blurb:
Lord protector of whores, thieves, sorcerers, and deviants.
Owning a parcel of land the railroad needs to cross means
Edward gets to run the border town around the station as he sees fit. What
starts as a place to indulge his varied appetites becomes a haven to society’s
castoffs, and if Edward encourages legends about its founder to flourish, well,
he’s not so much a liar as a man who wants to protect all the cultures living
in peace. Being mayor means folks might ignore his vices, but they also expect
him to fix what goes wrong.
When a crushing heat wave and drought threaten not only the
town’s diverse holiday celebrations but its very existence, Edward must turn to
the one man he’d rather french kiss a timber rattler than face—the icily
elegant Cantonese mage Edward walked out on but never stopped loving.
A Story from the Warmest Wishes: Dreamspinner Press 2018 Advent Calendar
Likes:
- Completely different feel from the other stories.
- A good mashup of cultures and ideas.
- Edward really went through a transition.
- Hopeful ending.
- Well written.
- The history between Edward and Shu.
Dislikes:
- The world wasn’t well explained.
- It felt like literally anything could happen.
- I wanted more information on Shu.
I’ve had August Li on my radar for a while but never got around to reading anything by him. I’m realizing now that I should bump him up the ‘to read’ list.
This story was really interesting. It’s got a completely different feel than the other stories in the anthology. At the outset, it almost seems like the romance isn’t central to the plot. But it’s actually the other way around. The unnatural drought is what leads to Edward’s transformation, and it’s only after that transformation that he can be with Shu again. It all fits together seamlessly.
The magical/mystical elements in the story were both good and bad. It added this great dimension, but it also felt like literally anything could happen. And while I enjoy world building, I like to know the limits.
The mashup of cultures was fun, and also fit the feeling of the town. A place where outcasts and misfits could all live together, the various festivities made sense. Again, I would have loved to see more of the town and the people. The story itself is well contained, but the world its set in is interesting enough that I want to read something else set in Colina de Lavanda.
Having Edward and Shu have a history meant that the core of the romance could be saved until the end. And it was a satisfying and hopeful ending. This is definitely a HFN story. I could see a follow up of Edward and Shu. They aren’t perfect, but their chemistry was great.
Find the Warmest Wishes anthology review here and the full list of stories here.
Love is Love Reviews 