Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: Technical Difficulties
SERIES: Lady Troubles #1
AUTHOR: Emily Carrington
PUBLISHER: Changeling Press
LENGTH: 145 pages
RELEASE DATE: September 6, 2019
BLURB:
Sonya is straight. She’s also terrified of werewolves. So, when she’s forced to work with a male-to-female transgender wolf, the last thing she expects is to fall in love. But, hey, not so fast. Falling in love with a werewolf means living in her pack, where first-time sex equals mating. For life.
REVIEW:
Shifter romances have become a popular subgenre over the years, but I’ve never read one quite like this. This story has a cool mythology, well-written leads, and a romance that blossoms slowly and sweetly between two women who need a loving hand.
Sonya, a Med Tech for the shifter law enforcement agency Searchlight, has only been with men in the past and is still reeling after a werewolf attack. But when she meets Maxine, a trans woman and werewolf assigned to the same murder case, the sparks instantly fly. Sonya and Maxine have to work together to solve a slew of double-homicides involving dragon and werewolf couples, and they need to put their unique skills to use to get to the bottom of it—which may involve a basilisk, one of the most dangerous creatures.
I’ve never read a romance with a trans character who does not use hormones or SRS to aid in her transition. This is of course common in the real world, but many romances emphasize physical transitions. Maxine is such a beautifully female character, and Sonya sees her as such, because gender and sexuality cannot be defined by body parts—it’s the energy that Maxine exudes. I also like how Sonya was originally hesitant to date Maxine, not because she’s trans, but because she’s a woman and a werewolf. It’s a story that does not mess around with transphobic conceptions of gender and sex—it just tells a story about two women falling in love. We need so much more of that.
This book is part of Carrington’s “Searchlight” multi-verse, which is pretty expansive so far, housing half a dozen mini-series within the ‘verse. There are a lot of mythologies involved, but I never felt confused in this story. If you’re a fantasy or shifter fan, a lot of werewolf and dragon lore will feel familiar, and you won’t be bombarded with exposition. The story gets right to Sonya and Maxine without too much world-building.
This is an important new romance that a lot of LGBT readers will connect to. Though it appears the other stories in the Searchlight multi-verse are M/M, I enjoy the ‘verse enough to give them a try, too.
RATING: 
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