Yes, that’s correct - I’m giving a four-star review to a book with a horse silhouette on the cover. We’re both shocked right now, but I promise if you just read the book you’ll understand exactly why-
Remedy is the first installment in the Tulip Farm queer romance series. Our first couple is Reed (they/them), a non-binary Russian barn manager, and Peter, a bisexual Golden Boy of horse show jumping and son of the McAuley-Griffin family who’s been badly injured during a recent competition.
Honestly, I adored Remedy. I swear I didn’t think I would like it so much, but the queer representation is excellent, and I think I may actually like horses now. Reed, out nonbinary main character, is well-written with their pronouns being written in and it’s no big deal at all. They’re well-respected in their field, confident, and visibly queer (despite being misgendered by several characters) and they stand up for themselves in all of that. I just *love* Reed as a character. I’m not cool enough for them, but we’d be friends if they’d have me. And then there’s Peter, our ex-Olympic-hopeful who is recovering at his family’s farm and meets Reed. He doesn’t bat an eye at Reed’s pronouns and dislikes them until he doesn’t.
The development of Reed and Peter’s relationship felt very natural. It’s somewhat of an enemies-to-lovers, but once the two start to acknowledge their attraction to each other things take off between the two. They flirt, they’re explicitly intimate, they communicate maturely and get to know each other, they heal. We witness the development of their relationship alongside a realistic and inspiring story that genuinely revolves around horses. On top of that, the supporting cast is all fantastic and very distinct - you can already see hints of the relationships to come later on in the series.
The funny thing is that I picked this up because I’m bad with names and thought I recognized the author, but I’ve never read anything from them before. Remedy was really well done. I plan to read more from this author, and if a sweet and spicy queer romance with more to the plot than just the romance sounds like something you’d be into, I say you should too.
I received a free copy of this book. This review is voluntary and reflects my unbiased opinion. I ended up buying my own copy for some reason. I liked it, so it's fine!...more
YA is typically Not My Thing, but I disregarded that sentiment completely after reading the summary for this book.
Sam Sylvester is an 18 year old non-binary kid with autism who moves into an infamous house in a small town after some heavy shit happened at their last school. Told from their perspective, we learn that Sam has always felt connected to kids who died too soon- who had half-lived lives, and this house brings one of those half-lived lives to the forefront. The story follows Sam and the new friends they make as they dig into this 30-year old mystery to find out what happened to the kid who died in Sam’s house all those years ago.
So within our main character we have non-binary, pansexual, autistic, adopted representation. What!? And our author is queer and autistic as well. We love to see it.
I found the writing really chill and easy to follow. Sam’s narration didn’t feel juvenile like some YAs do (which is why i avoid the genre because i’m old now), so it made this really likable for even a cranky adult person like me! It did take me a bit to get into the story as the pace starts slow and then ramps up around 40% and keeps going from there. It’s a supernatural mystery- the supernatural elements were done pretty well. I was worried I’d find them tedious and hand-wavey, but I think that was handled well! The characters are all wonderful. I wasn’t queer in high school (if you know, you know) but I think if we aged down my queer friend group and our one straight friend, it would be a lot like this.
Honorable character mention is Junius Sylvester, Sam’s black adoptive father who is basically dad of the year. He’s here with the passive aro ace rep that we love to see! I’ve also decided that he’s a dilf.
So yeah, loved this. I’ll probably buy a copy once it actually comes out because the cover is neat and I just want to support a story this good and queer.
Thanks to NetGalley and Astra Publishing House for providing an advance copy for review....more
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