3.5 stars

Finn Kane is a famous illusionist and atheist known for debunking religious performers. When her beloved sister dies, she escapes to a small English town to grieve. No longer interested in fast women, and life in general, it is a shock when she finds herself attracted to the local vicar.

The Reverend Bridget Claremont is a well-loved vicar in the small parish. She is open about being a lesbian, but it helps when her family has been landed gentry for centuries, and her best friend is the Lady of the Manor. She is welcoming the new arrival, a prickly magician, when she finds the spark of attraction. Not expecting her alter ego, Mistress Black, to make an appearance while she is wearing the vicar’s dog collar, Bridge finds herself trying to come to grips with her past, and her present.

This is predominantly a sweet romance by Frame. The setting and the events are well settled in the small parish, and focus on the minutiae of village life. Bridge is supportive and caring of her parishioners, and welcomes being an integral part of village life. However, there are moments in which the language doesn’t quite fit the sweet romance genre, and Bridge was a little pricklier than I would have expected from a parish priest. 

There are some quirks though, and they may not suit everyone looking for a sweet lesbian romance.

The heart of the romance, and it is a romance, is the dominant/submissive relationship between the two main characters. Bridge was Mistress Black in her younger days, and while the D/S is very light, it is built into the connection between the two characters. This is the first sweet romance I’ve ever read in the D/S area, although there are aspects of the more hard core, especially in terms of language within the sex scenes.

I think if it had been a more complex story, or if it had been a clear sweet romance, it would have been a solid four stars from me. I knocked it down half a star because I think it crossed an unexpected boundary and will be harder to find a happy audience as a result.

The simple love story required by the sweet romance genre has by necessity reduced the complexity the author has created with the characters and situation presented. Community support for a lesbian vicar may be in the village, but presumably this is the soft and fluffy variety, rather than the Mistress Black variety. It would have been interesting to explore this in a bit more detail within the book. Something else that was simplified was that this was the first time Finn had experienced attraction to a dominatrix, and this could also have been explored in more detail. 

Certainly, the changes in legislation in the UK, and community support for marriage equality now make this book imaginable in a real sense. Frame has used this as an opportunity to venture into the lesbian vicar territory and it’s a very enjoyable book. It is definitely a sweet romance, and lovely light read as a result.

Advanced reading copy provided by NetGalley for an honest review.