Can’t-Wait Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted over at Wishful Endings to spotlight and discuss the books we’re excited about but haven’t yet read. Most of the time they’re books that have yet to be released, but not always. It’s based on the Waiting on Wednesday meme, which was originally hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.
This week my Can’t-Wait-For Book is Yield Under Great Persuasion by Alexandra Rowland!
Genres: Adult, Fantasy, Secondary World Fantasy, Queer Protagonists
Representation: M/M
PoV: Third-person, past-tense
Published on: 17th September 2024
Goodreads
"Alongside the sexiness and absurdity (and the sexy absurdity) in Yield Under Great Persuasion is a tender, resonant story of second and third chances and being loved when we need it most and feel we deserve it least. Evocative, emotional, and endlessly entertaining." —Jules Arbeaux, author of Lord of the Empty Isles
Tam Becket has hated Lord Lyford since they were boys. The fact that he’s also been sleeping with the man for the last ten years is irrelevant.
When they were both nine years old, Lyford smashed Tam’s entry into the village’s vegetable competition. Nearly twenty years later, Tam hasn’t forgiven him. No one understands how deeply he was hurt that day, how it set a pattern of disappointments and small misfortunes that would run through the rest of his life. Now Tam has reconciled himself to the fact that love and affection are for other people, that the gods don’t care and won’t answer any of his prayers (not even the one about afflicting Lyford with a case of flesh-eating spiders to chew off his privates), and that life is inherently mundane, joyless, and drab.
And then, the very last Tam discovers that Lyford (of all people!) bears the divine favor of Angarat, the goddess Tam feels most betrayed and abandoned by. In his hurt and anger, Tam packs up and prepares to leave the village for good.
Did you enjoy A Taste of Gold and Iron? Or maybe Running With the Wind? Maybe BOTH? Because this is by the same author AND YOU SHOULD BE ON TOP OF IT!
I got to read an early version of this (there are so many benefits to being one of Rowland’s patreons), and I ADORED it. Enemies-to-lovers but the enemy-ship is one-sided! Pining! Cinnamon rolls too good for this world! Grumpy grumps who clearly need hugs! Extremely large vegetables! DEITIES WHO ROCK! There’s even a quest!!!
There are so many layers to this book: it’s a learning-to-let-go-of-pain story, it’s about forgiveness and (the good kind of) selfishness. It’s about the very painful moment you realise that a lot of your suffering is your own fault, and the struggle to fix things and be better, do better. Which means it’s also about free will and healing. It’s about saints and gods and miracles, in ways I can confidently say you will NOT expect.
But if any of that sounds Very Serious to you… It’s also ASTOUNDINGLY funny. I lost count of how many times I burst out laughing, how many times I had to read a line aloud to the hubby to explain why I was in hysterics.
It is delicious and joy-bringing and heart-full. It will make you ache and make you giggle.
And I for one can’t WAIT to read the finished version next week!!!
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