Nikola is a lord in his own right due to his mystic power to heal minds and is heir to his father’s title of Count. But while he can accept gifts for healing, he’s not allowed to bill his clients. That combined with his parents’ abysmal mismanagement of funds means finding a wealthy wife might be a good idea. His family certainly thinks it is. He, however, vehemently disagrees.
Wisteria wants to marry as much as Nikola doesn’t. She has plenty of money to attract interest, but people find her personality off putting, leaving her still single at twenty-six. Within minutes of meeting Nikola and his parents, she’s offended the family and destroyed any possibility of a match. Or so she thinks.
Turns out, the very things that Nikola’s parents found repulsive intrigue Nikola. He’s very clear when he returns to speak with Wisteria again that he has no desire to marry. But he enjoys talking to her and wants to learn more about her refreshingly unusual and entirely unfiltered viewpoints.
One of the reasons Nikola is disinclined towards marriage is named Justin. Justin doesn’t have parents urging him towards anything; they passed away years ago, leaving him the title of Viscount and more money than he knows what to do with. Justin has a long history of shallow sexual relationships, mostly with men. Nikola is different, although Justin’s never bothered to tell him that. And when Justin meets his lover’s unusual new friend, it’s soon clear that she’s different too. Smart, business savvy, passionate, and a woman Justin actually feels physical attraction towards, Wisteria may well be the key to Justin obtaining a life he never dreamed of wanting.
Read This Book If You…
- Believe Regency romances need more polyamory.
- Are interested in seeing a strong and sympathetic autistic leading lady who questions her society’s norms at every turn.
- Are in favor of positive depictions of bisexual men.
- Enjoy romances where lust is present but the leading motivation for the characters to grow closer is them liking each other as people.
- Appreciate solid fantasy world building.
- Think I could have just told you there are giant, sapient cats all over this culture and sold the book on that merit alone.
- Wish to support independent LGBTQ+ fiction.
Did You Say, “Giant, Sapient Cats?”
I did!
Greatcats are the result of a breeding/mind magic program a hundred odd years before our story that took wild big cats and granted them human levels of thought. While most of the greatcats we see work as mounts or security, we also see them being professional athletes, clerks, and healers. They’re a lot of fun to read about, but also well developed as people. Giant cat people.
Autistic in a World with No Word for Autism
It was immediately clear to me that Wisteria was somewhere definitively on the autistic spectrum, although the word is never used.
Early on, her father asks Nikola to cure her and is instantly told there’s nothing about her that needs to be fixed. The notion that her brain could be altered to afford her a more neurotypical experience with life occurs a few times in the story, but Nikola goes from meeting it with a simple ‘nothing’s wrong here’ to seeing where he could make those changes but being horrified at the idea of doing it. Ultimately, her autistic traits end up being a huge part of why both of her love interests fall for her.
I found the depiction of autism to be respectful, compassionate, and affirming. Although I couldn’t relate to every aspect of Wisteria’s experiences from my area of the spectrum, she resonated as true to life.
A Rational Approach to Polyamory
One of the many aspects of her society that Wisteria questions is why she can only marry one person. She’s not the type to accept answers about this being obvious or simply the way things have always been done. It’s not obvious to her, and continuing to do something that doesn’t make sense just because previous generations did the thing doesn’t seem reasonable.
I won’t spoil how she challenges this over the course of the plot, but the happily ever after conclusion to the novel involves healthy relationships I’m optimistic will endure. Wisteria values clear, honest communication, which is a good foundation for any relationship.
Content Summaries
Cozy/Intense Scale: (5 is OMG! INTENSE! And 1 is So Cozy You Can Fall Asleep To It) MOSTLY 2-3. But there is a multi-chapter stretch of 5 that had me incredibly tense.
Spice Level: (0-5) 4 The sex is on page and graphic, but not too frequent. This is one of the rare books where I would argue at least some of the sex is necessary as it supports the central theme of ‘people should talk about things that are important to them.’
Representation: The memorable representation in this novel was limited to bisexuality and autism, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen autism presented this well before. There is also an arc about recovering from trauma, although the mental health struggle there is fairly short-lived and the depicted society is one where most of the time mental health issues are solved with magic.
Advisories: As already mentioned, the book contains graphic sex scenes. They’re a mixture of gay, straight, and three-participant scenes with nothing I’d label as kinky. The setting is a homophobic society, although none of the characters themselves are homophobic. Nikola’s clients suffer a variety of mental health problems which are depicted in varying degrees of detail. And there is a graphic torture scene that blindsided me. It wasn’t terribly long, but it did disturb me.
Sold? Find It Here:
You can actually read the entire novel for free at https://www.rationalarrangement.com/ should you wish. But I encourage you to support the author by purchasing via one of her sales links.
