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The Testing Point
Hostage to a marriage he never would have chosen, Devryn nonetheless finds his new husband, Rowe of Relganor, at the very least tolerable, though his father the King is a tyrant who holds his domain in thrall. But then the scalding sweat strikes the kingdom, and at the testing point, it seems both have more courage - and more in common - than they might have guessed.
Written as Rosei Aki for Issue #42 of Shousetsu Bang*Bang, 'Playing Doctor' .
Written as Rosei Aki for Issue #42 of Shousetsu Bang*Bang, 'Playing Doctor' .
41 pages, online fiction
First published April 29, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 28, 2023
Re-Read: June 2023
Original Read: Jan 2021
This story is available on AO3.
I remember loving this when I first read it back in 2021 but I must have come into this story from a string of poorly written ones because this wasn't as great as I thought it was. It's still an enjoyable fantasy story but the romance isn't as epic as I would have liked and the story ends with a major plotline not being resolved.
I really liked Devryn and Rowe and how they interacted after their arranged marriage took place. Rowe is the fourth and youngest son of a tyrannical king and Devryn is a little older and the only son of a queen who had been forced to surrender her lands to Rowe's father. As proof of her cooperation, she had to force Devryn to marry Rowe. Neither of the young men are enthusiastic about being used as pawns for political purposes but I liked that they don't take out this hostility on each other.
My problem is that the story's short length and big focus is detrimental to the development of Rowe and Devryn's relationship. The majority of their scenes together are done through telling instead of showing (the smut scenes are fully shown but I wanted to see more of the development). The longest section in the book focuses on and while I love scenes like that (and it's why I loved this story so much the first time around), Rowe is unconscious for almost all of it so there's no romance development between them. I wish the author had taken some of the paragraphs that were devoted to unnecessary world building details and used them to show more of Rowe and Devryn's developing relationship, particularly prior to Rowe's illness.
Another issue is that the book ends with . This plotline is left open ended and while it has nothing to do with the romance, it felt disappointing. If the author didn't want to continue the story - fine. But then a better ending would have been to have .
Overall, this is a short and sweet romance that depicts the arranged marriage trope really well and involves two interesting MCs but the romance wasn't developed enough for me to fully enjoy it.
Original Read: Jan 2021
This story is available on AO3.
I remember loving this when I first read it back in 2021 but I must have come into this story from a string of poorly written ones because this wasn't as great as I thought it was. It's still an enjoyable fantasy story but the romance isn't as epic as I would have liked and the story ends with a major plotline not being resolved.
I really liked Devryn and Rowe and how they interacted after their arranged marriage took place. Rowe is the fourth and youngest son of a tyrannical king and Devryn is a little older and the only son of a queen who had been forced to surrender her lands to Rowe's father. As proof of her cooperation, she had to force Devryn to marry Rowe. Neither of the young men are enthusiastic about being used as pawns for political purposes but I liked that they don't take out this hostility on each other.
My problem is that the story's short length and big focus is detrimental to the development of Rowe and Devryn's relationship. The majority of their scenes together are done through telling instead of showing (the smut scenes are fully shown but I wanted to see more of the development). The longest section in the book focuses on and while I love scenes like that (and it's why I loved this story so much the first time around), Rowe is unconscious for almost all of it so there's no romance development between them. I wish the author had taken some of the paragraphs that were devoted to unnecessary world building details and used them to show more of Rowe and Devryn's developing relationship, particularly prior to Rowe's illness.
Another issue is that the book ends with . This plotline is left open ended and while it has nothing to do with the romance, it felt disappointing. If the author didn't want to continue the story - fine. But then a better ending would have been to have .
Overall, this is a short and sweet romance that depicts the arranged marriage trope really well and involves two interesting MCs but the romance wasn't developed enough for me to fully enjoy it.
July 24, 2022
Kindle-Sort-ReRead
A strange read in covid times.
A nice little short, had potential for feels, but for me it felt unfinished.
A strange read in covid times.
A nice little short, had potential for feels, but for me it felt unfinished.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews