Sweet and Enchanting Queer YA Fantasy Romance

image copied from bookshop.org

The Boy With the Heart of Sea Glass is a terrific and romantic coming-of-age story with some lovely Cornish folklore woven into it. I was immersed in the narrative right away.

It follows Sam as he runs away to a remote Cornish island to seek refuge with his aunt after a heart-wrenching breakup. There he slowly begins to heal and to develop a found-family of sorts with the other people his age on the island.

As a main character Sam's inner monologue and voice was strong and very relatable. He has had a hard life with a strained relationship with his mom, Nessa. But his Aunt Alva takes him in and offers him the nurturing he never fully got to experience growing up. It's a balm for his wounds that he carries with him onto the island. But this internalization on the part of the character never gets repetitive or adversely affects the pace of the story. Instead, we get bits and pieces of his narrative and clues about the inner demons he's battling a little at a time. We also learn early on that there is a mystery surrounding what happened to Sam's father and why his mother could never return to the island. This and the love story that develops between Sam and Tryste had me turning pages wanting to figure out what was going on and how the past events would impact Sam's journey toward self-discovery and healing.

I loved the secondary characters in this novel as much as I did Sam. Tryste, of course, was one of the best. He's so tender and patient with Sam. Their meet-cute was so sweet and awkward and Sam's reaction to having this hot fisherman who likes to read help him was funny and endearing. I also loved Sam's Aunt Alva and his friend Eowyn.

There are some nice twists and turns as well. The threads of Cornish folklore in the story lead up to some interesting revelations and danger at the end. The sea glass that is in the title and that Sam collects on the beach was lovely in its symbolic elements. Just like Sam, something broken is slowly transformed by the sea and the elements on the island into something new and beautiful.

And while the ending does wrap up the plot for this story, I can't help thinking there is still room for a sequel. I'd love to see how things unfold from here with Nix, Nessa, and Tryste.

If you love slow-burn, tender queer romance with elements of folklore woven into the story, then definitely give this one a try. It will be well worth your time.

Stay tuned for my July reviews as I think I'm going to focus on romantic suspense for the heat of summer. Below are some of the options that I'm considering. All covers and book blurbs were copied from bookshop.org and all titles have clickable links to that bookshop site as well.

Two career thieves reunite for one last job and must put their messy romantic past behind them to pull off the jewel heist of the century in this scorching, action packed romance!

He was her partner--both in crime and between the sheets. It's been five years since professional thief Celeste St. Pierre laid eyes on Magnus Larsson. These days, she runs a Manhattan antique store, but her talent for stealing beautiful, shiny things hasn't faded. And as a chance reunion over a locked safe proves, neither has the heat between her and the gorgeous, ice-cool Magnus.

For Magnus, only one thing beats the thrill of getting away with robbery--and that's the woman he's tried hard to forget. Their last job together ended in disaster. But if they're going to honor their mentor's last wishes to pull off the theft of the century, they'll have to temporarily put their grudges behind them.

Crisscrossing Europe on a real-life treasure hunt, Celeste and Magnus quickly rediscover how well they work together. The higher the stakes, the hotter the sexual tension. But one slipup and it won't be only jewels on the line, but a future that, just maybe, has been the ultimate prize all along...

Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century.

When Margaret invites them both for a one-month trial period, after which she’ll choose the person who’ll tell her story, there are three things keeping Alice’s head in the game.

One: Alice genuinely likes people, which means people usually like Alice—and she has a whole month to win the legendary woman over.

Two: She’s ready for this job and the chance to impress her perennially unimpressed family with a Serious Publication.

Three: Hayden Anderson, who should have no reason to be concerned about losing this book, is glowering at her in a shaken-to-the core way that suggests he sees her as competition.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room.

And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it.