Rating: 4 Stars

Publisher: NineStar Press

Genre:  Genre Fiction

Tags: Spec-Fic, Fantasy, Trigger Warning in Podcast

Length: 137 Pages

Reviewer: Kazza

Purchase At:  amazon, NineStar Press

Blurb:

Ferris wakes on the Sea Queen, an enchanted cruise ship sailing on a chocolate sea. He has no idea how he got here, but he desperately wants to go home to his boyfriend.

The alchemist is the only person who can help Ferris, but he’s been kidnapped. The ransom is high tea with scones and jam.

Meanwhile, the passengers are gearing up for the Winter Masquerade, a ball where love and magic reign.

With a murderous musician, an absent boyfriend, and a mystical party, Ferris soon learns that Wednesday is not the day to fall in love.

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Review: 
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“But one day you’ll be exposed, Ferris!” Her voice screeched like a seagull’s. “And you won’t trust yourself to survive.”

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The official blurb for Winter Masquerade gives any potential reader a good idea of the book – an alchemist, a chocolate sea, an enchanted ship – but not the overall picture. It is quirky, at times humorous, also poignant. It’s spec-fic with a message, and that makes it good reading. I would not call this novella romance, as in “MM.” It’s genre fiction with a gay MC that pertains to his relationship with himself and with his partner. I’ll also add this, I’m not one to jump up and down about own voices writing. That’s not me dismissing it, I absolutely see the value, but I don’t get involved in arguments over that topic because sometimes people can have a valid and strong POV when they are not part of a marginalised community or group.  For my own personal reasons I appreciate this as an own voices book. There is a message here written by a gay man about something that (some) other gay men may understand all too well.
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My review is in two halves, only listen to the second half if you don’t mind having something discussed that others may consider spoilerish but I needed to discuss a bit further.

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