Bingo: I am counting this for the “White” square in Cannonball Read bingo. I know there isn’t a lot of white on the cover, but technically there is some, and also I just really needed this square so that I could get my first bingo. So there.
“If we limited loving to just the sane, undamaged people, the next generation would have about three people in it and presumably humanity would die out shortly afterward.”
Stephen was once blessed by a god, protecting the innocent and fighting evil as a berserker paladin. But when Stephen’s god dies, he and the other paladins are left traumatized and broken. Stephen struggles to find purpose in his new life and to feel worthy of love and happiness. Grace is a master perfumer hiding a dark past. She lives a stable, comfortable life, but fears that everything she’s worked for could vanish in an instant. When a grisly murder throws them together, Stephen and Grace must learn how to trust each other and themselves.
This book was just so freaking good. The characters feel like real people, even the minor characters (Bishop Beartongue is my hero). The writing is clever and touching. The romance is delicious (even if I did find myself yelling at the characters regularly. I swear, the two leads simultaneously manage to be both the horniest and most awkward people on earth). Also, it wouldn’t be a T. Kingfisher book without a truly upsetting horror element, so there are plenty of severed heads and deeply creepy supernatural entities. Definitely give this one a try if you enjoy creepy fantasy, slow burn romance, or stories about broken weirdos finding each other.