Playing around with tropes is part of the fun of reading in any given genre. Seeing how an author chooses to put the pieces together, which ones they decide to leave out of the equation entirely, how they create an entirely new thing using components that are eminently familiar is what keeps us coming back.
Following reading Next of Kin earlier this year I trusted Hannah Bonam-Young to play around with the romance tropes in unexpected ways, and in reading Out on a Limb rewarded that trust. Bonam-Young writes an incredibly personal story in this book, focusing on two main characters with limb differences, the female MC sharing the same limb difference as the author. From her Author’s Note Bonam-Young explains how she was inspired to write a story about a woman approaching motherhood which also means that this book features one of the more unpopular tropes in romance – the unexpected pregnancy.
Our leads are Win and Bo who have a delightful meet-cute at a Halloween party and a one-night stand which leads to the aforementioned pregnancy. The book tracks the way these two explore the instant chemistry that led to the baby in the first place but put the priority on being good co-parents. As they get to know each other, so do we. Bonam-Young creates richly developed characters with the kind of messy backstories that make the characters come to life, and then plots the action based on the types of emotional reactions and choices that those backstories would indicate. Which sounds basic, but it was such a joy to read a book where every character beat felt earned and real, even when you could see the irrationality from the outside.
I always appreciate an author who has her characters talk to each other, especially in a mature way that acknowledges their traumas and any very hurdles on the way to their version of a happily ever after. I am also going to be SUPER excited every time a romance resolves its third act tension without a break-up as this one does.
Bingo Square: O.