Reviewed by Carissa
TITLE: Winter’s Bees
SERIES: Mechanical Universe #3
AUTHOR: E.E. Ottoman
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 33,000 words
BLURB:
Lord Marcel de la Mont de Anges, the Marquis de Montespan is a brilliant mathematician, member of the mechanical animation movement and all around dandy. He’s been in love with shy, quiet entomologist and youngest member of the royal family, Prince Gilbert André XVI, since they were children. The Emperor’s plans to arrange a marriage between Marcel and Gilbert should have been the answer to all his secret fantasies.
But Gilbert is still reeling from a nasty breakup, and he cannot picture the man he regards as a brother becoming his lover. The order to marry has thrown their relationship into disorder, and if they cannot sort out the changes there may not even be a friendship left for them to save…
REVIEW:
This series just keeps getting better and better.
Marcel and Gilbert (both of whom have ridiculously long titles that I am not going to reproduce) have been the best of friends for a long time. Marcel has been gone for the last several years, studying abroad, but they have kept in contact through letters. Those letters didn’t however contain some rather pertinent information: One, that Marcel has been in love with Gilbert since they were still teens, and Two, that Gilbert had fallen in love with someone else–someone who ended up breaking his heart. When Marcel returns home, and find that the Emperor has proposed that his son, Gilbert, and Marcel become married, Marcel thinks it is his dream come true. Unfortunately, Gilbert, still heartbroken, can’t even think about loving anyone else, let alone a man who he has only ever considered a brother and a friend.
But the Emperor has had his say, and married they will be. They can only hope that this marriage will not be the thing that breaks what has taken years to create.
I had picked up the first book of this series on a whim. I hadn’t known the author, and had no idea what to expect. As the series has gone on, I have come to love this world created here, and I look forward to each new book written. This one is slightly different than the previous two. Not only is it a bit longer, but it also has much less sex. Instead it focuses mainly on the relationship between the two characters–both the old friendship and the new growing attraction. The first two books were smoking hot, and I loved that about them, but this one is a slow-burn romance that leaves you happily sighing at the end, instead of panting for breath. Both have their merits, but I find I am more of a slow-burn type of gal, so this was a nice surprise.
And of course the world here is just fantastic. I absolutely love how it isn’t just a bunch of cookie-cutter MCs, all white and tall and practically perfect in every single way. Different races, different genders, some differently-abled…you are never left bored with the characters given to you in this world. It is a enchanting fantasy world that I am not sure has its equal anywhere else (or, atleast, not that I have read).
I truly hope that E.E. Ottman has many more stories planed for this series, because I have a feeling I will be happily reading them all.
RATING:
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