Title: Nothing of a Son
Author: L.A. Witt
Length: 16,000 words
Publisher: Amber Allure
Genre: m/m fantasy romance
Rating: B-
Blurb:
When a storm forces traveling soldier Daedalus to seek shelter, a wealthy duke takes him into his home. The only condition? Stay away from the duke’s daughters.
But the duke said nothing of a son…
And when Daedalus meets Rauman, the two men can’t help but succumb to their mutual attraction…even if they’ll both be hanged if anyone finds out…
Review:
This fantasy story set in a fictional country similar to Mediterranean France or Italy tells of Daedalus, a soldier who, now that the war is over, is returning home. When a sudden storm arrives he asks for shelter at a grand house which belongs to a duke. The duke offers to shelter Daedalus but warns him to stay away from his daughters, an easy promise to make for Daedalus as he has no interest in women. However, when he sees Rauman, the youngest son of the duke, he is captivated by his good looks.
I like L.A. Witt’s stories and this one was written with the same easy style and eye for great characters. The story is told in alternating first person points of view and so we see how much the two men admire each other from the beginning. Things move quickly for them, and maybe with only three days together some readers might find it too quick, but I felt the ending was sufficiently a HFN to work in the book’s favour.
The part which I enjoyed a great deal was seeing these two characters dance about each other, testing to see whether the other is interested with the fear of reprisals if they are wrong. The scene in the barn where much of this takes place is filled with hope and uncertainty and I was almost convinced that one of them would bow to the pressure and flee rather than take the final risk. I was caught up in this scene and in the suppressed feelings of the two men.
Both characters were honourable and good. Rauman is perhaps a little sulky, raging at his fate and the feeling of helplessness. However, this was counterbalanced with the warm relationship he has with his sister (and I wish we’d seen more of that) and with the fact that he is shown to be respectful and hard working, until fate takes a different turn. I felt I knew less about Daedalus, other than his origins as a commander of soldiers and a vague reference to his life before he joined the army. I wish I had known more of him and to see him in a situation where his thoughts were not so clouded with lust.
The story has a nice balance to it, with some slower scenes which build the tension between the romantic pair mixed in with highly erotic but tender sex scenes, followed by a tense closing action scene. As I said, the ending is more HFN and could possibly lead to more adventures with this couple. I hope so because I don’t feel their story is over yet.
This sounds like an interesting and intriguing story, but I’m curious. You gave the rating a B-, so what were its bad points?
What brought it down to the bottom of the B grade was the lack of background on Daedalus when compared to Rauman. My slight unease at how quickly they are forced to make a commitment – even with the open ended conclusion – and that I would have liked to see more interaction between Rauman and his sister. None of these things are particularly damning though which is why it still retains a B grade which for me is the mark of a very good short story.
Hope that’s helpful
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This is a maybe for me.
It’s definitely worth a read.
This was pretty so so for me. I enjoyed it still, but I think maybe not as much as you. I also would have liked to know Daedalus a little better, but I was frustrated with the romantic scenes. They didn’t work for me because I felt like they didn’t know each other so the slow romance seemed forced. I’m glad you liked it! It was nice getting something short from this author.
The romance worked OK for me because I got the whole ‘we have only three days let’s make the most of it’ mentality, but yes, it moved on quicker than was probably realistic. I’ve liked her short stories and we haven’t had one for a while now.