Sword Dance by Qeturah Edeli
Publisher: Loose Id
Genre: Historical
Length: Full Length (279 pages)
Other: M/M, anal sex
Rating: 4.5 stars
Reviewed by Lilac

Lord Duncan Friseal knows little about courting men, but he knows something about his affair with the mysterious and seductive William is amiss. Despite his sexual bravado, William remains guarded and refuses to fully embrace their erotic magnetism and Lord Friseal’s unequivocal affection. Complicating matters are Lord Friseal’s impending nuptials to the conniving Lady Moira MacKenzie and the repercussions of his father’s sudden illness. Even amidst such adversity, Lord Friseal is inspired to fight with everything he has to win William’s love.

Scarred by his past, William is determined to protect himself by keeping Lord Friseal at bay. But even as he begins to accept the sincerity of Lord Friseal’s devotion, some demons just refuse to die…

A direct sequel to Prick of the Thistle, this continues the love story of Duncan the laird of Faoltaigh Castle and William the feminine actor.

To be honest, this book should have been a part of the first which was rather slow and ended practically mid-scene, everything up in the air and unresolved. However, your opinion of the first book might change or be tempered if you read this second book right after it. I guarantee that several things will become clearer. In short, this book is better than the first in the series.
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One of these things becoming clearer will be Duncan’s wife, Moira. In the first book, she’s pretty much vilified as a conniving, power-hungry woman who blackmails Duncan into marriage. But in this book, she’s transformed. We learn why she behaved the way she did, and the marriage takes a turn toward… an emotional threesome of sorts? In fact, a word that didn’t exist back in her day to describe what she is gives her a layer that breathes life into a relatable, three-dimensional character. I despised her in the first book, liked her in this one.

As for the main characters… Man, at times Duncan really needs to grow a pair. Sometimes he’s strong and confident and decisive. Then at other times, for example with his mother, he’s an indecisive coward. Her reaction was to be expected, given the times and religious influence, but his was not. Duncan has a perplexing inconsistency to his character, sometimes sure, other times weak. That discrepancy shows here a lot. It’s not just about internal conflict with different people, but a definite disparity.

The same disparity appears with William, the second hero. We learn a lot more about him in this book which is good. But he’s a bit of weather vane, if you get my drift. He claims to want to stay at the castle with Duncan—yet at the very next scene he runs away. He does this a couple of times. He vows to stick around, but then doesn’t. After the first few times this aspect got a little aggravating.

In this book, one of the main schisms actually comes from Duncan’s mother who finds out about her son and William. This results in a major plot development, related to my point above. However, the main story revolves around freeing William from his past, namely the abusive monster who’s still hunting him after all this time. The climax was well written and satisfying as a conclusion, if somewhat vague about the motivation of the villain. I didn’t really understand why this beast was so intent on getting William back. But figuring that out was a small matter.

In any case, what I liked about this story the most was William and his transformation. He changes from a cold-hearted man who liked nothing but sex into a man who learns to love after a lifetime of abuse. He goes from an actor lost on the moors to a fine clothier at the castle. He comes to accept that running away isn’t the solution. In the first book, William remained a mystery all the way to the end. Here we discover what makes him tick, what he fears, what he dreams of.

As an historical story, this isn’t perfect. The language is awfully modern at times, but I did appreciate all the different languages, how they gave a window into the Highland culture and way of life. It seemed organic and flowed nicely. In fact, the writing style is quite beautiful, with lovely use of words, if a bit slow at times, but I think that is the author’s unique voice at work. High marks from me.

In short, I recommend this story to everyone who likes their historicals with their heroes facing both sweet and trying times but enjoying a happy ending. And there’s more sex here than in the first book. As for the future, I don’t know if this series will have more books but if so I will be checking them out. As stated already, recommended—read both books, one right after the other, for the best experience.

Prick of the Thistle by Qeturah Edeli
Publisher: Loose Id
Genre: Historical
Length: Full Length (281 pages)
Other: M/M, Anal Play
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Lilac

Despite Lord Duncan Friseal’s surly disposition, William finds the heir to the wealthy highland thanedom of Faoltaigh irresistible. After Lord Friseal saves William from a fate worse than death, William grows obsessed with his penetrating fuck-or-kill gaze and aches to discover what lies beneath his great kilt. Lord Friseal appears ignorant of William’s affections, but no matter; William has dealt with his fair share of capricious men and it will be only a matter of time before Lord Friseal succumbs and gives him what he craves.

Lord Friseal realizes too late how dangerously attracted to William he is. He cannot resist the temptation of a man who knows exactly what he wants and where he wants it. Constrained by his station, clan, and religion, Lord Friseal must decide if his passion for a sensuous but traumatized Englishman is worth risking his family’s future and the fate of his immortal soul. Circumstances continue to thwart his swelling sentimentality as William proves to be emotionally distant for all his sexual appetite, and Lord Friseal’s intrusive houseguest, Moira MacKenzie, draws ever closer to the truth.

A Scottish lord saves an Englishman from the wolves out on the moors, brings him back to his castle, and tries to figure out the mystery and allure of him.

From the beginning, I was struck by the beauty of the writing. The author has clearly researched the style, culture, and language of the era and the country. Her descriptions are beautiful and the scenery is vividly brought to life. The writing style is very evocative, and the barren nature and lavish mansion became familiar ground as the story progressed.
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The main characters—Duncan, the Scottish thane, and William, the lost thespian—are a curious pairing. They seem to have nothing in common. Apart from the apparent physical femininity and startling beauty of William, I wasn’t sure I understood the attraction Duncan felt for him.

Duncan came off as a more appealing character. He’s kind and strong, smart and capable, and his awakening feelings for a man for the first time were depicted extremely well. I liked him a lot. Even though toward the end he turns into something of a sissy when it comes to his shy daughter and his horrible would-be bride.

William, in comparison, seemed less attractive. His propensity to think of nothing but sex made him somewhat uncouth and surly. His past does explain some of that…

However, and I can’t stress this enough, despite the length of this book, you will NOT be getting a whole story. This ends so abruptly, in the middle of a scene, everything up in the air, that I was incensed. It immediately made me lower the rating. One would think three hundred pages is enough to write a clear and satisfying ending. Alas, that is not the case.

As a result, we learn next to nothing about William. His mystery is by the end of the book… still a mystery. None of my questions about him were answered. That is rather annoying, wouldn’t you say?

What makes this oversight more vexing is that this is a good book, a very well written historical gay romance. We get a lot of sexually tense scenes between Duncan and William—though not a lot of actual sex. The setting and the people feel real and relatable. The plot moves at a swift pace, even if the first chapter is ripe with exposition. And yet, personally I didn’t want to miss a single word.

So overall, I do recommend this to everyone who loves historical gay romances, with a caveat. Thus far the series, Heartwood, has only two books out. Not having read the second, I don’t know if the story reaches a worthwhile conclusion in that one. Here, it does not. If you take that into consideration, though, this is a book I liked and you might like as well. I’m pretty sure I will be checking out the sequel.