Scan barcode
A review by kevinscorner
Fiorenzo by Sebastian Nothwell
4.5
Fiorenzo is a Venetian-inspired gay historical fantasy romance following the relationship of a courtesan and his mysterious masked lover. Fiore is a courtesan with a plan in mind—find a wealthy elderly man, become his, then inherit his wealth upon his death. Things don’t go according to plan when he catches the attention of a masked man called Enzo and both develop an attraction and affection for each other past the typical courtesan-client relationship.
This was exceedingly well written with beautiful prose and an engagingly well developed world. All this is then anchored by the surprisingly touching romance between these two men. Fiore is just such a lovable character with a tragic past who suffers so many misfortunes in the book. Enzo, meanwhile, is a man of mystery with a certain anatomical quirk—he is descended from a noble family of former dragon shifters with the only traces of it now being a vestigial cloaca in addition to his usual male anatomy (as someone who took both zoology and embryology in college, pretty sure that’s not how it works). That bit of anatomic anomaly plays heavily into the spice of the book, which was indeed spicy with some light BDSM elements.
This book is long—way longer than I would expect a romance book to be. It does have a serial quality to it that would explain (and break up) its length with the many events that happen in the book coming across as episodic. You won’t hear any complaints from me though because I just loved following along with the (mis)adventures of Fiore and Enzo and the beautiful relationship they develop that exemplify the hurt/comfort trope.
Fiorenzo is a beautifully written gay romance between a a courtesan and his client set in a historical fantasy setting.
*I received an eARC via BookSirens in exchange for an honest review
This was exceedingly well written with beautiful prose and an engagingly well developed world. All this is then anchored by the surprisingly touching romance between these two men. Fiore is just such a lovable character with a tragic past who suffers so many misfortunes in the book. Enzo, meanwhile, is a man of mystery with a certain anatomical quirk—he is descended from a noble family of former dragon shifters with the only traces of it now being a vestigial cloaca in addition to his usual male anatomy (as someone who took both zoology and embryology in college, pretty sure that’s not how it works). That bit of anatomic anomaly plays heavily into the spice of the book, which was indeed spicy with some light BDSM elements.
This book is long—way longer than I would expect a romance book to be. It does have a serial quality to it that would explain (and break up) its length with the many events that happen in the book coming across as episodic. You won’t hear any complaints from me though because I just loved following along with the (mis)adventures of Fiore and Enzo and the beautiful relationship they develop that exemplify the hurt/comfort trope.
Fiorenzo is a beautifully written gay romance between a a courtesan and his client set in a historical fantasy setting.
*I received an eARC via BookSirens in exchange for an honest review