I have adored all of Freye Marske’s books, and Swordcrossed was no exception. This delightful story follows Matti, a man trying to save his family’s struggling business through an arranged marriage. When it becomes apparent that his intended has a paramour who plans to challenge him to a duel at his wedding, Matti is forced to hire the services of a best man to stand in. Unable to afford the best of the best, Matti takes a chance on a new swordsman in town—and is less than thrilled to discover it is the same man, Luca, who tried to con him at a bar last night. Matti begrudgingly hires Luca and promises not to turn him in for the con on the condition that he also receive sword lessons up until the wedding. As Luca and Matti meet for their lessons, sparks fly, and a mystery around Matti’s family business begins to emerge. They will both need to decide whether or not they can be honest— both with themselves and one another—if they have any hope of saving Matti’s family business…and maybe their hearts along with it.

❤️ What I loved: It’s always thrilling when a book delivers on expectations—and Swordcrossed was exactly what I was hoping for and more! This is an excellent romance with an engaging plot, well-developed characters, and great world-building. The tone of this book is delightfully funny, sexy, and emotional all at once. I adored Matti and Luca’s relationship arc and was eating up all of their tension and banter.

This is an easy recommend for fans of queer romance and fantasy. I would highly recommend Swordcrossed to fans of Marske’s The Last Binding trilogy or authors like Alexis Hall. Marske has quickly become an auto-buy author for me, and I can’t wait for her next adventure.

**Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 (4.5-5)**

**Acknowledgments & Disclaimers** ✨ Thank you to NetGalley, Freye Marske, and Macmillan Audio, for providing an ARC and the opportunity to share an honest review of this book. ✨ All thoughts and opinions expressed in this review are my own. ✨ My reviews and ratings strive to evaluate books within their own age-demographic and genre.

I adore Freya’s storytelling. The hilarity and passion that sizzles between her characters are swoon worthy - and the narration just gives it that extra something. Fake identities, spying, secret trysts, duels, fighting families - I mean this book has it all. Ah to be loved so dearly.

Very pleasant narration by Omari Douglas, who doesn't miss a beat and whose lightly amused tone of voice throughout adds humor and warmth to the text. Kudos for reading aloud all the smutty scenes without sounding like he batted an eye at the explicit content.

A pretty sweet queer historical romance with subplots of business intrigue and family dynamics.

It’s important to note here, for readers who know Marske from her Last Binding trilogy, that this is not a fantasy. The story takes place in a secondary queer-norm pre-industrial world, but there’s no magic.

The audiobook narrator is excellent, but with two male POV characters, I would have appreciated a second narrator to help more easily distinguish which character’s head we’re in.

I really enjoyed this. I love low stakes high fantasy and this was a really fun example of that. I found the characters to be really funny and I appreciate that especially in a fantasy novel. Sometimes fantasy can get kinda full of itself but this one was really fun.