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A review by bargainbinkazbrekker
By Your Side by Margherita Scialla
3.75
Arc provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
"It's a different kind of connection, a sort of deep longing, something that I can never place entirely, neither in friendship nor romance."
At first, I wasn't sure I would enjoy this short story. A mutual of mine (thanks El <3) sent me an Instagram post made by the author in which they expressed a desire for a-spec arc readers and reviewers and I decided why not and applied for an arc. I don't tend to gravitate that much towards contemporary, especially adult contemporary, and I wasn't sure how I felt about the writing style but I stuck with it and I'm glad I did. It's a short and sweet story about the nuances of platonic love and queerplatonic relationships. As someone who has a platonic partner and is a-spec, it was just so nice to see a story centered around the kind of love I connect the most with, the kind of love I so rarely see appreciated. I love how the main characters don't have all the answers, and don't have the words to express how they truly feel because they don't really exist, but they still communicate the best they can. It's heartwarming and rather beautiful.
I kind of feel like I read an a-spec version of an episode of New Girl (even though I've never seen New Girl), and I really liked it.
Thank you to the author for sending their work and for writing and centering a-spec, specifically allo-aromantic, stories, it means the world.
"It's a different kind of connection, a sort of deep longing, something that I can never place entirely, neither in friendship nor romance."
At first, I wasn't sure I would enjoy this short story. A mutual of mine (thanks El <3) sent me an Instagram post made by the author in which they expressed a desire for a-spec arc readers and reviewers and I decided why not and applied for an arc. I don't tend to gravitate that much towards contemporary, especially adult contemporary, and I wasn't sure how I felt about the writing style but I stuck with it and I'm glad I did. It's a short and sweet story about the nuances of platonic love and queerplatonic relationships. As someone who has a platonic partner and is a-spec, it was just so nice to see a story centered around the kind of love I connect the most with, the kind of love I so rarely see appreciated. I love how the main characters don't have all the answers, and don't have the words to express how they truly feel because they don't really exist, but they still communicate the best they can. It's heartwarming and rather beautiful.
I kind of feel like I read an a-spec version of an episode of New Girl (even though I've never seen New Girl), and I really liked it.
Thank you to the author for sending their work and for writing and centering a-spec, specifically allo-aromantic, stories, it means the world.