I received a copy of this book to review from Netgalley and all opinions are my own.
A sweet novella with some good ideas and inclusion. I liked the writing and the characters in the story. However, the romance was quite insta love which was frustrating as a slow burn romance could have given rise to a much more realistic and intriguing story. It was quite forced at times which took away from the romance aspect of the book.

I loved this book more than I was expecting. It's impossible not to feel for Hynd. He grabbed at my heart immediately and I had to know how his story played out. The only thing that could have made it better was a little more world-building.

I’m glad I decided to give this novella by a new-to-me author a try; I really enjoyed it.

Hynd has been left horribly disfigured by illness (imagine something like leprosy), and he has accepted that no one will ever be able to look past the horrors of the disease and his scars enough to care for him. He’s starved for human contact, and when Julius comes into his life because of a shared interest in Hynd’s historical research, Hynd hardly dares believe that they can become friends. He doesn’t want to let himself hope for more, even when Julius seems to be flirting with him. Of course, Hynd’s appearance isn’t the barrier he thinks it is, but his research project has to take quite a dramatic turn before he allows himself to believe that Julius has feelings for him.

The story is relatively simple, but it very effectively grabbed my emotions. Hynd’s loneliness and pain at the cruelty of the people he encounters made me ache for him, and it was sweet to see him bloom when Julius starts to flirt and show affection for him. When Julius finally convinces Hynd that he genuinely cares for him—sigh. After all his suffering, it was so satisfying to see Hynd get his happy ending.

I do wish the author had done a few things differently. The setting is a little vague; it’s a fantasy world that seems roughly similar to historical Europe—Regency England, maybe. I would have liked more detailed worldbuilding, which would have helped anchor the story more firmly in its own reality. I also think the relationship between Hynd and Julius unfolded a bit too quickly. At their first encounter, Julius is so shocked at Hynd’s appearance that he can’t even bear to sit at a table with him, but after a few more meetings, he’s clearly interested in Hynd. To me, what’s described on page didn’t really seem to square with such a swift change of heart. I think showing their friendship deepening a bit more first would have set the stage better for their romance.

Overall, though, I liked it, and I’m looking forward to checking out some of the author’s other books.

A copy of this book was provided through NetGalley for review; all opinions expressed are my own.

"Seventh" is set in an alternate universe that reads very much like 19th century England. However, in this world, homosexuality is not illegal or stigmatized and there is an incurable disease - Rymald's Blight - that withers and destroys skin, although it goes into a noncontagious remission.

Hynd Perrent had the Blight ten years ago and has learned to expect leers and disgusted glances as well as having to show his remission documentation. Hynd is a Royal Scholar researching the mysterious disappearance of the Seventh Dragoons, a unit of 30 men training in the Colwynn Mountains during the Lily Wars. The unit went missing, with its lone survivor branded a traitor.

The unit's commander, Jeardon Walsh, wrote extensively in his journeys of their maneuvers and battles, as well as extremely detailed, explicit details of his love affair with a man identified only as PA. Julius Ocere - tall, golden and leonine - is the great grandson of the man that returned - Pellam Athaby - and is determined to prove his ancestor is not a traitor.

As the two men work together to uncover the truth, what grows is a slowly unfurled romance, coupled with a heartbreaking resolution to the mystery. I'm a huge fan of regency romances, and this book is completely in my wheelhouse with an intriguing mystery and a gentle non-explicit romance. 4 stars.

This was so good! I didn't know how i was expecting with this book but it was such a good surprise!
I really like the main characters, the way their respective world sorta collide and then intertwined. How their relationship changed from being friends to something more. It was adorable to see.
Also the mystery plot i really liked as well as the world building and "history".
Overall it was a lovely surprise and read.

I often find myself not exactly knowing where to begin when reviewing a book, especially one where I liked quite a lot of what was going on but where it didn't (for me, at least) completely stick the landing. Seventh is one of those books.

For starters, it has a lot going for it in that it's very much focussed on the mystery plotline within it - this is a fantasy world not a million miles from our own but one where there has been a devastating disease which our hero has had and been disfigured by. Hynd is a solitary person now, a little fixated on his current research project which is to find out the truth about a missing group of soldiers. As the story goes on, we discover that Hynd had been hounded out of university and now works from home with only his very supportive sister for company, so it's quite natural that when an offer comes to help with the research, Hynd is suspicious.

Especially when Hynd is attracted to men and the offer comes from Julius, who pretty much ticks all the boxes for Hynd on what he finds attractive. Which is where the problems began for me because while I was invested in the overall mystery plot, I found the romance side of things so much less convincing. Either Hynd's self-image of himself is inaccurate and he's not as terrible as he imagines or believes (quite possible) or Julius is a saintly individual willing to look past this. Maybe it's because we're so much in Hynd's head that he's also projecting an image of Julius too, which is why he comes across as a little unconvincing.

This is also a fairly chaste relationship and the decision when to finish the book comes into that - the mystery is solved and a curtain is drawn over the relationship and its realities. I suspect I wanted a little more flesh on the relationship bones, around how the outside world is going to deal with this and the impact of that on the two men concerned.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

The novel follows Hynd, a researcher, who is attempting to uncover the truth behind a missing military unit from a century ago. Ultimately, he finds assistance from an up and coming social climber, Julian, who has a personal reason for helping solve the case. The story moves at a fairly quick pace, as the hunt is on. The story has a nice balance of romance and mystery to maintain intrigue. Ultimately, the mystery proves to be quite satisfying.

A major plot point entails an illness that Hynd was affected with a decade prior. The story does have some solid moments of showing the social challenges that Hynd encounters by those who presume his condition is still contagious. White is seeking to highlight the experiences for a person with a virulent illness and disability in this way, yet it's a condition that isn't fully developed/explained beyond noting Hynd's disfigurement and ostracization. This seemed to be a missed opportunity to get into the pain and educate an audience that may not know what it's like.

I have mixed feelings about this book. On the one hand, it was a nice easy read and I came away feeling generally positive about it. On the other hand, the 'mystery' was barely there in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it sort of way, the romance developed far too quickly, and Dent's rapid about-face from snarling insults to apology wasn't really believable.

I really liked Hynd's willingness to stick up for himself (even when it was hard for him) when he felt Julian was treating him poorly. However, he was also quick to judge Julian harshly and too willing to ignore other people's mistreatment of him.

Julian was really hard to pin down - I had a hard time telling if Hynd's scars troubled him or not, if he was interested in Hynd romantically or not, etc.

I really enjoyed Hynd's sister and her determined championing of him. She's willing to call people out for mistreating him even if he isn't. However she doesn't get a lot of screen time.

I started out enjoying Hynd's research, then that got put on the back burner for a while, then suddenly he's solved the mystery. I just feel like it could have been developed a lot more and I would have rated the novel higher.

In the same way, the relationship went from 0 to 100 so fast I had whiplash and I just feel like there were chunks of text missing. I wanted to *see* them becoming closer, finding clues, etc. Basically just having it be twice as long would have bumped my rating up a star or two because I *did* enjoy it - it just doesn't feel complete.

I enjoyed this for the most part.
I really liked Hynds character. He was left disfigured after a blight and I understood why he chose to keep to himself. I really felt for him when he did decide to go out and about in public. He was a very guarded and cautious person which made sense due to how he was treated. It hurt my heart, that people were so cruel. His personality and actions were relatable.

I felt like the story was a little predictable as it went on. The mystery element wasn’t really all that mysterious. And, while some parts of the relationship between Hynd and Julius was sweet, it felt a little forced.

I did find the world compelling, and I enjoyed the adventure.
However, I wish the ending had a bit more meat to it. It was too perfect. Suddenly everything that had happened at the beginning was obsolete.

Thank you NetGalley and NineStar Press for a copy of this book. All thoughts are my own.

This was a fun and entertaining read with likeable and well fleshed out characters.
The world building was unique and compelling. The author's writing style appealed to me.
Overall this was short, sweet and engaging and left me wanting for more!!

This was a fun read. Overall I liked the characters and story line, I just wish the fantasy world it was set in had been introduced more thoroughly. It was also over a bit too quickly for my taste. I think the book as a whole had more potential. The characters, love story, and the whole "world" weren't quite as developed as I would have like. Still a quick sweet and fun read!!