1Aquila
In the interests of doing something with @MiserableFlower 's idea in https://www.librarything.com/topic/329714#8118402 I'm declaring June Enemies to Lovers month, anyone got favorite queer stories that play with this trope?
I'm going to go for the low hanging fruit, and mention that most beautiful of books This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (as recommended by Bigolas Dickolas on twitter).
Time War is about two agents belonging to competing reality controlling entities who start a correspondence that changes everything, even as they battle through time and space - it contains the most beautiful prose and imagery. And it's a novella, so a nice quick read.
I'm going to go for the low hanging fruit, and mention that most beautiful of books This Is How You Lose The Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone (as recommended by Bigolas Dickolas on twitter).
Time War is about two agents belonging to competing reality controlling entities who start a correspondence that changes everything, even as they battle through time and space - it contains the most beautiful prose and imagery. And it's a novella, so a nice quick read.
2aspirit
My low-hanging fruit is The Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation by MXTX and Husky and His White Cat Shizun by Meatbun. These fantastical Chinese mystery dramas mess with timelines and expectations.
The former story is especially convoluted, with the characters being some combination of enemies/teacher-student/family/friends/classmates/partners/lovers while each character perceives their relationship differently than the other does—further complicated by an apparent love triangle and competing personas. And I love it for its twisting defiance against specific tropes. Also, everything about it feels like an MXTX work under a different name.
These are on the long side of the publishing length range, because they were originally webnovels. The official release of Grandmaster was completed in English about a month ago. The White Cat translation is ongoing.
Unfortunately, part of the sales of the official works go to the Chinese government, which is currently censoring queer creators in China. Adaptations of Grandmaster made it out to the world, but the nearly finished live action show for White Cat was caught in a sudden ban on "feminine" men two or three years ago.
The former story is especially convoluted, with the characters being some combination of enemies/teacher-student/family/friends/classmates/partners/lovers while each character perceives their relationship differently than the other does—further complicated by an apparent love triangle and competing personas. And I love it for its twisting defiance against specific tropes. Also, everything about it feels like an MXTX work under a different name.
These are on the long side of the publishing length range, because they were originally webnovels. The official release of Grandmaster was completed in English about a month ago. The White Cat translation is ongoing.
Unfortunately, part of the sales of the official works go to the Chinese government, which is currently censoring queer creators in China. Adaptations of Grandmaster made it out to the world, but the nearly finished live action show for White Cat was caught in a sudden ban on "feminine" men two or three years ago.
3Aquila
I've just finished reading The Faithless, sequel to The Unbroken, which has a whole lot of Enemies to Lovers going on. Touraine is an indentured soldier stolen from her homeland Quazal as a child, Luca is the crown princess of Balladaire, set to rule both countries. Really looking forward to the last book of the trilogy.
4MiserableFlower
Hey! Idea thief! LOL we should totally run with a monthly theme or something else. lol
My suggestion is Exclusive by Melissa Brayden its a little light on the full out ENEMIES part, but its got some rival vibes going on. edited: dunno why the touchstone part isn't working. >.>
My suggestion is Exclusive by Melissa Brayden its a little light on the full out ENEMIES part, but its got some rival vibes going on. edited: dunno why the touchstone part isn't working. >.>
