ARC REVIEW: ERRANT VOL. 1 | L. K. Fleet

 

★★★1/2

PUBLICATION DATE: 15 FEBRUARY 2022

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SYNOPSIS:

Aspen Silverglade used to be a force for good, but now she’s just a sword for hire. On the run from the people she once trusted most, she needs to keep her head down and keep moving.

But old habits are hard to quit. One night in a tavern, Aspen tries to save a woman from some unwanted attention. The woman, Charm Linville, is in the middle of a subtle and delicate act of thievery, and she does not appreciate Aspen blundering in.

The disastrous and public rescue-gone-wrong makes the townspeople think Aspen and Charm are a couple. This mistake sets Aspen’s bloodthirsty betrayers on Charm’s trail, tying the two of them together.

Even if Aspen can’t run from her past any longer, Charm shouldn’t have to suffer. Despite Aspen’s determination to work alone, Charm insists on helping—and she has a past of her own. The two of them don’t care for each other’s methods, but as they journey through the villages and wildernesses of Falland, solving problems and meeting magical friends and foes, Aspen and Charm grudgingly come to care for each other. Can these two guarded, stubborn women admit their feelings, or will Aspen’s enemies kill them first?

This book is... a romp.

I cannot think of any better word! It's a romp. It's a delightful, exciting, fantasy romp which is fun to read and leaves you wanting more.

I'm obsessed with Charm and Aspen and their back-and-forth with one another. The way they slowly reveal more and more of themselves as the novellas go on is so *chefs kiss*. 

Also, as a fat lesbian, having Charm be both fat and desired is so soul-soothing to me. She is frequently the most beautiful person in the room, not despite her size, but in part because of it. She is wanted (in more ways than one, but I digress), and it is so rare to have a fat woman be the romantic interest that I just ate it up with a spoon.  And Aspen is the older (I think she's in her mid-thirties?) butch of my dreams. 

Volume One consists of two novellas about Charm and Aspen, the first two in a series. Volume Two is being released in March. So far, it's all build-up. Delicious, delicious build-up. Each novella follows its own little story - the only constant is that Charm and Aspen are wandering around together, flirting (Charm) and brooding (Aspen) their way across the country - and in each novella, they have a mystery or a crime to solve. It gives Dungeons & Dragons/RPG vibes, so if that's what you're into, I think you'll thoroughly enjoy these novellas.

Look - is it the most polished writing of all time? No, not really. Is it fun and sexy and mysterious? Yes. Does it leave you wanting to devour more books in the series? Absolutely yes. I'm thoroughly looking forward to the next one, which I will be reading as soon as it's released. I need to know if they get together! I need them to kiss (properly)!  It's killing me!

Reading Errant is a fun and sexy way to spend an afternoon/evening, and I will be there with bells on when the next one is released. If you like fat, brazen, bolshy femmes and lithe, greying, fighting butches, and if you like them both with secrets, pick up volume one of Errant. Then you, too, can be like me - shaking my kindle and desperately wanting these two women to just kiss, already!

Thank you to Felicia Davin for providing me with an ARC of this novel.