Reviews

The Craft of Love by E.E. Ottoman

tracie's review against another edition

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3.0

3.5

emilyveryromance's review against another edition

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relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.5

I adored this gentle little love story. Benjamin is keeping his head down and living a quiet and unobtrusive life as a silversmith and devoted brother/uncle. Remembrance is  running a business and fighting The Man at every opportunity, but in a very buttoned up fashion. She barely has time to consider falling in love, and she’s wounded from a long ago heartbreak, but sweet Benjamin just keeps knocking gently at the door to her heart, and she can’t turn away. 

For those who have read The Companion, this is similarly soft and cozy, with less homesteading, more plot, and zero intimate scenes. It’s a buttery cookie of a story. 

cozmyer's review against another edition

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emotional inspiring relaxing fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

moneypenny96's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

Very good overall! Just felt like it could have been longer, a little more developed, even for a novella. Lovely though!

christmas42's review against another edition

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emotional hopeful lighthearted relaxing

3.75

kalkail's review against another edition

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hopeful medium-paced

4.75

This was a wonderfully sweet yarn I did not want to end but glad for shen the author chose to end it. 

michmoo's review against another edition

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This book has it all, romance, crafting, charged hand touching without gloves (gasp), and unionisation. We love to see it.

pitbulls_and_prose's review against another edition

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emotional medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

This is the second book I read for #TransRightsReadathon and it was an historical romance novella. The two main characters are Benjamin, a trans man who is a silversmith, and Remembrance, a bisexual woman who is a quilt maker. 

I will be completely honest here, I do not usually enjoy historical romance and this unfortunately wasn’t any different. The romance felt completely out of nowhere. The characters were not well fleshed out (with an exception towards the end). Benjamin was disappointingly very one-note. I didn’t learn much about him at all. His personality seemed to entirely exist in comparison to Remembrance. Though, I did feel for him to describe how difficult his relationship was with his mother who could never understand or accept him. And how difficult it was to exist in this era as a trans man. 

Remembrance was another story. I also found her quite dull until about halfway through when you see what she’s passionate about. Ending slavery! Combating racism! Worker’s rights! Fair wages for all! My girl was about to start a union for goodness sakes! She was extremely politically active and dedicated her time to help others in need. She touches on a previous relationship she’s had with a woman that seemed very intense, I wish we had gotten more backstory on that. I would read a longer story about Remembrance in a heartbeat. 

cg07's review against another edition

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3.0

read

kalanadi's review against another edition

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emotional fast-paced

4.0