booksandketab 's review for:

Love At First Fright by Nadia El-Fassi

5.0

emotional funny hopeful inspiring lighthearted reflective relaxing fast-paced

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

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There is so much love in this book. Rough yet tender romantic love (shown through bi, gay, and straight relationships), everlasting love among friends, unconditional love between humans and their companion animals, undying love between a parent and child, passionate love for creating art and growing plants. This book is overflowing with love and reading it was a warm balm to my soul. 

 

Nadia El-Fassi knows what she’s doing when against the backdrop of a sleepy and moss-covered British cottage, her couple is getting it on. I love the juxtaposition and duality she gives her FMCs. Yes they can be smart and witty and enjoy quaint hobbies like bird-watching, but they can also be confident in their sexuality and their desires. Like Persephone, they run a little garden and also the gates of hell. But then we always come back to the cozy warmth of a cup of tea in the crisp October air, a freshly baked goodie, or a delicate bundle of herbs, and we know we are safe in Nadia’s world. 

 

I really appreciate the care and queer-normative way Nadia’s books are built. Everyone is at least a little gay, and we see so many different types of journeys of self-love and self-acceptance. She confronts homophobia and biphobia, but through the lens of regency era ghosts and a modern day Mr. Darcy? Say less. I am also here for every single Jane Austen reference. From the heated discussion between Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey (an Austen book way underhyped imo), and Persuasion — to the (many) scenes of a certain puffy white shirt getting soaked in the rain (“Ellis’s billowing white shirt had been sent to torment her”), and then of course the reference to Fordyce’s Sermons that made me crack up. This is the ultimate read if you ever wished to hear Jane Austen, ghosts, and queerness all in the same sentence. 

 

The dom/sub power play between Ellis and Rosemary was really well done. You got the sense that the characters truly felt safe around one another and that trust was the backbone of their physical relationship. It made me so happy to see a curvy queen like Rosemary getting her flowers!! We love thick thighs and we cannot lie. 

 

I will always turn to a cozy yet erotic Nadia El-Fassi romance on the cold autumn nights when life gets a little tough. This is a beautiful book, and I am really grateful to have read an early copy.