Review: The Red Scholar's Wake by Aliette de Bodard

The Red Scholar's Wake
(Xuya Universe Romance)
Aliette de Bodard
Release: November 24, 2022
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Xích Si: bot maker, data analyst, mother, scavenger. But those days are over now-her ship has just been captured by the Red Banner pirate fleet, famous for their double-dealing and cruelty. Xích Si expects to be tortured to death-only for the pirates' enigmatic leader, Rice Fish, to arrive with a different and shocking proposition: an arranged marriage between Xích Si and herself.

Rice Fish: sentient ship, leader of the infamous Red Banner pirate fleet, wife of the Red Scholar. Or at least, she was the latter before her wife died under suspicious circumstances. Now isolated and alone, Rice Fish wants Xích Si's help to find out who struck against them and why. Marrying Xích Si means Rice Fish can offer Xích Si protection, in exchange for Xích Si's technical fluency: a business arrangement with nothing more to it.

But as the investigation goes on, Rice Fish and Xích Si find themselves falling for each other. As the interstellar war against piracy intensifies and the five fleets start fighting each other, they will have to make a stand-and to decide what kind of future they have together...

An exciting space opera and a beautiful romance, from an exceptional SF author.

Review:
I've loved Aliette de Bodard's Xuya Universe series for a while now so I was super excited when she announced she was writing a romantic sapphic space opera set in it! I was just excited for a new Xuya book but Y'all! She wrote a book about lesbian space pirates that features a romance between a scavenger bot engineer and a sentient space ship who also happens to be the leader of a band of space pirates.

Y'all. I need Aliette de Bodard to write more space opera romances! The romance in this was a slow burn filled with a lot of will they or won't they and so much sexual tension. I may have squealed when Rice Fish and Xích Si started to get together. Aside from the romance, this book was full of political intrigue, found family, family drama, grief, and lots of queerness. It was also about learning to be brave and how to dream bigger than your circumstances have dictated while finding your place in the universe. It was soft, romantic and I wanted more of this world when I finished. 

My only complaint is I needed more space battles to go along with the political intrigue. I loved the Vietnamese-inspired world building and how beautiful and imaginative de Bodard's writing is. I will say that the world might be a bit confusing at the first if you go into this without having ever read any of this author's other work. One thing I have adored about this world is the sentient space ships and how they are portrayed. I love that they have avatars and bots and can interact with the world! They have feelings and  hopes and dreams and I just love them so much!

I was so excited to see the announcement at the end of the book that there is going to be a sequel/companion novel for this book and its going to be another romance set in the Xuya Universe! I hope it comes out this next year because my hands are itching to get a hold of it!

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.

    

  5 / 5 Stars

 

My reviews of other books by this author:
Fireheart Tiger by Aliette de Bodard

In the Vanisher's Palace by Aliette de Bodard

Of Dragons, Feasts and Murder by Aliette de Bodard
Of Charms, Ghosts and Grievances by Aliette de Bodard

Review: Delilah Green Doesn't Care by Ashley Herring Blake

Delilah Green Doesn't Care
(Bright Falls #1)
Ashley Herring Blake
Release: February 22, 2022
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A clever and steamy queer romantic comedy about taking chances and accepting love—with all its complications—by debut author Ashley Herring Blake.

Delilah Green swore she would never go back to Bright Falls—nothing is there for her but memories of a lonely childhood where she was little more than a burden to her cold and distant stepfamily. Her life is in New York, with her photography career finally gaining steam and her bed never empty. Sure, it’s a different woman every night, but that’s just fine with her.

When Delilah’s estranged stepsister, Astrid, pressures her into photographing her wedding with a guilt trip and a five-figure check, Delilah finds herself back in the godforsaken town that she used to call home. She plans to breeze in and out, but then she sees Claire Sutherland, one of Astrid’s stuck-up besties, and decides that maybe there’s some fun (and a little retribution) to be had in Bright Falls, after all.

Having raised her eleven-year-old daughter mostly on her own while dealing with her unreliable ex and running a bookstore, Claire Sutherland depends upon a life without surprises. And Delilah Green is an unwelcome surprise…at first. Though they’ve known each other for years, they don’t really know each other—so Claire is unsettled when Delilah figures out exactly what buttons to push. When they’re forced together during a gauntlet of wedding preparations—including a plot to save Astrid from her horrible fiancé—Claire isn’t sure she has the strength to resist Delilah’s charms. Even worse, she’s starting to think she doesn’t want to…

Review:
One of my reading goals for 2022 is to read more queer romance, specifically more sapphic romance. There is a lot of good hype around this book which always makes me nervous. I shouldn't have been. Delilah Green Doesn't Care lived up to all of my expectations plus some! I loved it so much! It was tender, funny, sexy, and heartbreaking all at the same time.

Struggling artist, Delilah Green, has been hired to photograph her estranged stepsister, Astrid's wedding which means returning to her hometown of Bright Falls. The one she ran away from ten years ago. She doesn't want to go back to the place where she didn't fit in but she needs the money desperately. Her first night back, she gets hit on at the bar by none other than Claire Sutherland, one of her stepsister's best friends. What follows is a series of swoon-worthy sexy times, snark, hi-jinks, and wedding shenanigans that show Delilah that Bright Falls might not be as bad as she remembered.

Delilah and her prickly edges captured my attention from the start. Despite the title and what Delilah thinks, she did indeed care. In fact, I would say she cares a lot. And OMG! The pining! And the snark! All Delilah has wanted was to fit in and be included and it pulled at my heart strings even though she found a place for herself in the world with her tattoos and her art. I wanted her to have a happy ever after and a forever partner before I was done with the first chapter!

Oh! And I adored Claire and her warmth, curviness (stretchmarks and all) and her awesome bisexual energy! And she runs an independent bookstore! In the last few years I have become a fan of the drama that comes with single parent love interests in romance and I quickly fell for Claire's daughter, Ruby. I loved how Delilah wasn't hesitant to step in and lend a hand. I am practically swooning over this romance still days after I finished it! 

But the romance wasn't the only star of this book! The platonic friendships and the familial relationships added so much depth to this story that I would love for each of the main side characters to get their own books. 

I can't wait to read Astrid's book that comes out later this year! And I really, really hope we get an Iris book! If you're looking for an awesome F/F romance, you must go read it immediately! It will definitely be on my top ten favorite books of the year list for sure!

ARC provided by the publisher via Netgalley.

    

  5 / 5 Stars!