I was offered a review copy of the LGBTQ+ paranormal romance anthology
Longsummer Nights and encouraged to be entirely honest, so I'm going to write reactions as I read.
Thus far I've read the first three stories and the hit rate has been pretty good, considering that I bounce off a lot of paranormal romances
and short stories. It's all felt more like AO3 original fiction than commercial (Paranormal) Romance, which for me is definitely a plus.
Heat is on a scale from 0 to 5.
SEEDS OF SOLACE by RIEN GRAY Pairing: F/NB Heat Level: 3
The love interest and relationship felt like paper-thin devices to write the (more fleshed out) protagonist having cheerfully weird, kinda vague xeno sex. I need more emotional connection even in erotica, and didn't find it very sexy, but I
did enjoy the evocative fantasy Southern Gothic weirdness.
ANNIVERSARY by A.K. FEDEAU Pairing: F/M Heat Level: 3
Bittersweet noir about an established couple. A bag of slightly cheesy noir and fantasy tropes, and not a classic romance, but I enjoyed it.
VIRGIN COCKTAIL by FISHER STRUNC Pairing: M/NB Heat Level: 4
Delightful "Oh god they were roommates, and also one of them is a vampire" romance with all the standard AO3 slash tropes, except the bottom is an afab non-binary character and the sex is PIV. I tend to have Messy Gender Feelings about that sort of thing but the blood drinking made up for it >.>
Longsummer Nights was created by VOW, a collective of writers who met working for the US division of the Japanese otome company Voltage. When they unionised Voltage
shut the US division down and they've been working on finding new ways to support themselves and other writers ever since. I am thus very happy to discover that I thus far like their writing as well as their politics, and hope they sell lots of books! It's $15US for 15 stories in a variety of formats.
Content note: I quote some violence. Spoilers for all three stories!
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