A review by alisonalisonalison
Blue Steel Chain by Alex Beecroft

4.0

3.5 stars. There is so much to love about this book and I found it so engaging. It's Alex Beecroft, so the writing is excellent, the characters are wonderful, and it's all terrifically vivid. Their writing is always superb. I love that one of the main characters is ace and I love that this is an own-voices ace book. There's a lot going on in this story and it's very fast-paced. There are horrific scenes of domestic abuse that are hard to read, so beware. Both our main characters are dealing with bad relationships and it feels like most of the book is about both of them moving forward and moving on. Because of that, I thought the romance itself needed a little something more--maybe simply more time and more talking and more getting to know each other properly and more understanding each other. It seemed like it all wrapped up a touch too quickly and easily. There's a lot of action and suspense in this story, which is all well and good, but I feel we missed out on some of the quiet times of healing and connection, which is too bad. Aidan and James are such lovely characters and I wanted a little more, but it was lovely to see such a happy ending for an ace character, where they are loved exactly as they are.

This series has a lot of darkness at its heart and each book has dealt with difficult themes and things that are hard to read about. Set against the backdrop of a charming English country town full of charming characters, it makes for an interesting contrast. I hope there might be more Trowchester stories in the future.