Star and Fire

A nice little romance. I think that this was the perfect length for the story that was told and the pacing was excellent. It was well written, and I like the use of era accurate language. My one complaint was that it felt like this focused on things (like all the 'privy' scenes) that didn't really provide much to the story. I can't help but feel like if that time had been spent elsewhere (like what it takes on a day to day basis to live in the woods away from people, or other time accurate processes that we don't do anymore) it would have given this more substance. You got some of that, for sure, but only a few time and it's kinda vague. Overall, a nice, happy love story

Have you ever thought: “I would love to have my favorite fan fiction published in a book?” If so, this is just that! This short read creates a classic M/M “slow burn,” rich with historical details.

Despite the short format, the characters are well developed and the wealth of research into period specific food, activities and clothing shows in each scene. While this attention to detail makes some exposition feel a bit unnecessary (while the chamber pot/privy details are very period accurate, they are not exactly page turning prose when romance is on the horizon), the author’s obvious pride in historical veracity always shines though.

This books shines as an example of how many talented writers can take OC short fics and translate them well to more traditional publishing. As an avid reader of the fanfic genre, this is a very good thing. I will definitely be checking out this author’s other works.

This was quite an interesting read. It felt as though I was reading fan fiction of a couple I was unfamiliar with, which is not a bad thing.

It is a light read, finished it in a day and didn’t want to put it down! The story isn’t extremely deep, more of a slice of life type of feel which I enjoyed a lot. The setting of medieval times was what caught my attention because I’m a sucker for historical romance stories, and this didn’t disappoint.

Another point, the sex scenes!! Wow! I’ve read some great stories that have me YEARNING for love scenes like these, but all we get is a kiss. I’m so glad the author took things a step further because it really helped convey the feelings between Teo and Lyndon.

The story itself had a nice build up, a cute honeymoon setting that never seemed to end, heartbreak, and an ending that ties it all up without any “what if’s.”

The art was a bit odd, as I’m not used to seeing any type of art within the stories I’ve read, and adds to the fan fiction feel. Not bad, but not really something I’m used to!

All in all, I would, and will, recommend this to anyone wanting to read a historical gay fiction story. The storyline is satisfying and enjoyable for the light read that it is!

4 "adorably sweet, funny and loving" stars !!

Wow ...thank you the author and Netgalley for an ecopy in exchange for a review.

This was a lovely way to start the new year with a medieval M/M romance told in a folksy fairy tale style but only for adults...don't you know. This book is very well written with the minutia of daily life of a banished prince and a somewhat older washerman falling madly in love, caring for each other, ravishing each other, teasing each other and loving life and each other despite some material hardship. The dialogue is oh so very funny and sweet, the antics hilarious and the love so very fanciful yet so very true. Add an adorable cat named Boedicia and you have a domestic family much like my own. I cried, I laughed, I felt twenty one again.

Romance publishing houses should be pounding on this author's door !

Lovely, I mean lovely, did I mention lovely stuff !!

PS the sex is quite descriptive so perhaps this is more a erotic romance...in any case....absolutely delightful :))

I got this book for free in exchange for a review

I didn't actually expect to jump into historical romance because, I have to say, I'm not the biggest historical fiction/romance person. I usually stay away from that genre so when I requested Star and Fire I didn't actually realise it would be historical romance.
However, I still ended up enjoying it. There's always moments when I'm making an exception for this genre and I liked this story. It was written very old school and they way they were living was very old school. I mean VEEEEEEEERY old school. Not just 1950 old school...more like 15th century old and I never read anything from those times. However, as I said, I did enjoy this and I thought the two main characters were adorable and I really liked this little novella.
So we basically have a prince, who is bainshed from his kingdom, because of kissing a guy. On his long journey walking to who knows where, he finds a guy who lives secluded in the woods and thus their story begins. As I said, the setting is very old school, the way they're living is very old school and the way the book is written is very old school. I really enjoyed the two main characters and the bit of humour that has been thrown in there was very good and I definitely enjoyed my time reading this book.

Hopeless romantics who enjoy some m/m action need look no further.
This was surprisingly well thought out and highly adorable.
"Really, the moon was the friendliest face that he had seen in quite some time."
I knocked a star off since it wasn't really an illustrated story.
It had a picture to accompany the start of each chapter, but they felt out of place and the story really didn't need them.
Thanks to NetGalley and R. Parr for my DRC.

The story could have been good but...
The characters were bland, the pacing was weird and I didn't like the writing.

This was a sweet story, with moments of angst and laughter. Just a shame that the two main characters were written so flatly. This had such potential, but neither character was ever in any real peril and by the end everything was wrapped up in a nice little bow and they lived happily ever after. Which would work for a fairy tale, but ever those stories have more danger in them than this story. And because the characters lacked depth, their relationship seemed childish for the most part. Sure, there were on-the-page "scenes of an adult nature", but that doesn't mean the characters themselves acted like adults.

For such a short novella, it took a surprisingly long time to finish. The writing style was so mechanical and the dialogue felt extremely forced at times. I wish I had liked it more. But I didn't.

I was interested in the book from the very moment I read the synopsis. It is a beautiful love story between two guys that have had a hard life and definitely deserved much better.
I was really liking it. It was really cute, the way both characters interact with each other.
However, to me, the final twist and what happens afterwards seemed out of the place. I thought the story was going so well and that change was by no means needed.
Despite that, I did enjoy the novel and would recommend it.

DNF at 30%

I couldn’t really connect with the story. I found the characters to be too bland and with no personality and the narration a little bit to weird for my taste.

I understand that the idea is to make it sound medieval, but this was a miss for me.

The illustrations were gorgeous though.

The romance in this book was cute. I found the language to be a bit abrupt at times. For example, I don’t feel that realistically people are as open as they were in this book with sexual situations. Especially since they are new to sexual situations in general. It also threw me off because there was far too big of explanation on human excrement.