I’ve discovered such an expected joy of romance novellas. There’s something about that different plot pacing. The ways authors have to build the tension in less space, but work so diligently on the characterization. Keep reading this book review to find out what I thought of my first Courtney Milan romance!
Summary
What do a Black American soldier, invalided out at Yorktown, and a white British officer who deserted his post have in common? Quite a bit, actually.
• They attempted to kill each other the first time they met.
• They’re liable to try again at some point in the five-hundred mile journey that they’re inexplicably sharing.
• They are not falling in love with each other.
• They are not falling in love with each other.
• They are… Oh, no.
Review
This kicks off my “12 Friends 12 Books” series with a recommendation from Dana! Dana has amazing taste in romance books and so I was excited to read my first Courtney Milan book. I am actually a bit behind on this series, because I breezed through this in January….oops!
Excuse me, but this is an interracial historical fiction m/m romance novella? When I first heard that I was hooked. I love reading about BIPOC characters in historical fiction not only because I think they are are so sorely underrepresented (considering that they were THERE), but also I love their existence. The possibilities of using fiction to insert ourselves in spaces and time periods, to (re)imagine. Sorry y’all, I’m on a bit of a Bridgerton kick lately!
But what I loved was how detailed Milan’s characters are from the very beginning. How they have different mannerisms of speech and turns of phrase. I also highly enjoyed that they discuss the racism and privilege differences between them. I would have found it very suspicious for that topic not to have come up at all. The Pursuit Of… is a detailed, charming romance, about the tenderness in their relationship. The banter between them that lights a spark.
We sometimes find it hard to give up proving ourselves to the people we think matter. There are opinions that seem to change us. To challenge us, demoralize us, to make us see an image in the mirror. But what if we discovered that these opinions weren’t what we thought they were? That there are some things worth more? The Pursuit Of… was a charming novella that I loved sinking into before bed.
Find The Pursuit Of… on Goodreads & Amazon.