LADY is a Love Story, Not a Romance

What’s the difference? Well, quite a bit actually. But let me start by telling you why I think this needs to be clarified.

As you may know, I don’t write in straight lines, but a queer feminist historical love story about a lady knight who comes to find out who she truly is, while not straight, does have some obvious connotation in the literary world, especially if I mention there is a romantic aspect to it.

I received a very fair 2 Start review of LADY from a reader who was looking for sapphic romance, a very valid, popular and important sub-genre. Descriptions of LADY can suggest that it falls in this genre, and to be honest, I considered it. I think if I had another 100k words to play with, there would have been some development along those lines.

The other problem is because of how books are categorized, it has been put in the romance section of book listings from time to time.

Because it’s a love story.

A love story of many many layers.

The top layer is the love between Rosalynde and her husband, Baron Alexander FitzRoland of Casstone. They are partners. Friends. Confidants. They have chosen to tie their lives together to accomplish mutual goals of producing an heir for both their families holdings, and for creating a community where they are free to be themselves. Their love is one of mutual respect, admiration, friendship and shared goals, not romance.

The next layer is the love between friends. Although Rosalynde feels quite at odds with society, or maybe because of it, the friends she has made are as dear to her as family. There is Nicolas, with whom she grew up in her father’s house. First her rival, and then her brother in heart, it is Nicolas who sees Rosalynde better than she sees herself. Then there is Aures, her cousin and lady’s maid, who desperately wants to make Rosalynde a proper lady, feminine demure, graceful and soft spoken. They spat and they resent each other, but their love real and both Rosalynde and Aures would do anything for the other.

There is the new friendship that develops between Rosalynde and Sarah Dane al-Iznik, the witch that lives in the woods, practicing medicine and living on the fringes of society. To Sarah, there is nothing odd about Rosalynde at all, and discovering the freedom from the restraints of social pressure forges deep bonds.

None of these relationships are romantic, although each character does have their own romances.

This story is about the love between a parent and a child. It starts as Rosalynde mourns the late term miscarriage of her first pregnancy and the child that could have been. The child she and Alexander so desperately wanted. The potential of that child haunts the story, as Rosalynde moves from being the soft mother figure she is supposed to be. As she mourns her own mother, whose love is all remembers after losing her young.

And there is the love for her gruff father, who has put duty over personal relationships again and again. Lord Stockley loves his daughter, and so he raises her the way his own father raised him, teaching her what he knows about weapons, warfare, politics and caring for the people of his land. He is only physically in the story for a short time, but his presence is felt through the whole book as Rosalynde pulls from his lessons as she pushes through her mounting challenges. The love for a flawed parents is complicated and ever present.

Love for ones self is a huge part of this love story. herself. The concept of self-love is somewhat new in our society, at least in any kind of positive sense, and yet for some people it is innate, while for others it seems entirely alien. Rosalynde is a person who has never fit in, who lost her mother, the one person who showed her unconditional love, very young. She has had to rely on herself far too much and found herself wanting. She fails, constantly, at all the things she is supposed to accomplish. But deep down inside, even though she knows she’s not supposed to be athletic, bold, opinionated, and smart she likes these things about herself. She doesn’t just learn to love herself, she discovers that she does and always has.

These are only the core love stories of this book. There is Rosalynde’s love for her people, for her land, for her faith, for her duty, for her horse, her sword and her liege.

And there is a little romance as well.

A love story doesn’t have to be smoldering looks and bursting kirtles. Even romantic love sometimes takes a back seat when there is a war at the gate. But love transcends and although Rosalynde, strange, too tall, crippled and gender non-conforming Rosalynde, feels alone at times, she is reminded through out the story that everyone deserves love.

LADY hit #5 New Releases this week on Amazon for LGTBT+ Historical Fiction.

If you haven’t picked up a copy, you can get it here or on the publishers website. Copies are slow shipping out right now, so don’t fret it you haven’t received one yet.

Thank you to everyone who’s picked up a copy! Please consider leaving me a review. It really helps get the word out.