I want to start out by saying how much I absolutely adored this book! I absolutely fell in love with Matti and Luca. Matti is the stoic leader of his family’s wool business, always sacrificing for the betterment of his family, especially when they’ve come into hard times. Then enter Luca, with his wild red hair and chaotic personality, but he’s got a few secrets and insecurities up his sleeve. They are the perfect opposites attract and getting to watch them fight and solve mysteries and fall in love was just a really fun ride.

Pick this one up if you are into:
• Fun fantasy worlds
• Queer normative societies
• Sword fighting your crush as a love language
• Sir 👀
• Mystery and schemes
• Having fun!

I’m not sure if this is a stand alone but I love this world and would love to see more stories in it!

I was immediately captured by the world buildinh and the main characters chemistry. It makes me want to read a sequel, if one ever comes out.

I enjoued how there was a whole world with religions and politics, which played a big part in the plot, while also a romantic story line. Many books focus on one or the other, but the author did a great job balancing both.

This is my first novel by this author, and I am now a huge fan!

I loooooove Freya Marske's books, and this one is SO GOOD.

SWORDCROSSED has romance, intrigue, and sensual swordfighting, so. Need I say more?

This story follows dual POVs of Mattinesh (Matti) Jay, the dutiful heir to his struggling family business, and Luca Piere, part-time con artist and full-time charming menace who Matti reluctantly hires to be his best man at his upcoming (arranged marriage) wedding.

Matti is seeking to restore his family's wealth, and an impending sword-challenge at his ceremony threatens his efforts. Luca, for his part, is trying to reinvent himself in a new city. All he wants to do is make some easy money and try to forget the crime he committed in his hometown. He didn’t plan on being blackmailed into giving sword lessons to a chronically responsible—and inconveniently handsome—wool merchant like Matti.

As the days count down to Matti’s wedding, Luca and Matti become entangled in the intrigue and sabotage that have brought Matti’s house to the brink of ruin. And when Luca’s secrets threaten to drive a blade through their growing alliance, both Matti and Luca will have to grapple with both their feelings and futures.

This book kept me captivated in the mystery and swoon, and it had the perfect elements of an engaging romantasy. The writing is STUNNING, as is custom for Freya Marske. Fantasy isn't even my favorite genre and I will read anything she writes!

Thank you to Bramble and NetGalley for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest, unbiased review. SWORDCROSSED is out now!

Fun cozy romance (with a couple explicit scenes). It isn’t really a fantasy fantasy. There’s no actual magic aside from being in a made up world. However, the characters are enjoyable and it’s a fun fast read. They are the sorts that deserve to be happy in the end. I think a reader who liked A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows would also really like this book. Decent people who deserve a happy ending get a happy ending. .

Thanks to Bramble Romance/Tor Books for the free book in exchange for my honest review!! This was a such a cute (and STEAMY) LGBTQ fantasy romance. The chemistry between the characters was great, and the atmosphere was awesome, as it was a historical romance with arranged marriages and dueling. I really loved the writing of Marske and the way she really created such a detailed fantasy world. I felt immersed in the setting, especially with it pulling in so many connections and elements of an almost Bridgerton-like time period.

Matti is in an arranged marriage, essentially marrying his finance because his family business is secretly struggling, and he will do anything to save it. Matti is forced to hire an experienced swordsman to be his best man at his wedding, to protect the marriage and ensure that nobody will get in the way of his family getting the money it needs. Luca is hired as Matti's best man, but Luca himself has a secret that he is hiding from everyone. The two very quickly have strong chemistry and tension builds, as both of them fight their feelings to try to fit into their roles in society.

While there definitely were high stakes in this book, I feel like a lot of it was exploring Luca and Matti's relationship with themselves, each other, and their loved ones, which I really enjoyed. There was a large focus on each of their individual struggles with their identity, family, and societal roles. I felt like the book really allowed for not only their relationship to blossom, but for the reader to get to know the insides of Luca and Matti, and go on a journey with them as they came to be more confident in what they wanted. Family was a really important part of this book as well, which I loved. What I will say I really loved about this book is that despite the time period, being gay was completely normal. In fact, the fact that the two main characters were men who were secretly dating was so not important to the plot of the story and how other characters in society perceived them, which I thought was really cool, especially with it being a long ago time period where being LGTQB was not normalized. I really loved Matti and Luca's relationship and thought it was the best part of the book, along with Matti's relationship with his family! Overall, a good fantasy romance.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.25/5

Swordcrossed is an entertaining and cozy romantasy filled with queer romance, fencing, and love.

This was a fun one! I really enjoyed the romance and representation. As a fencer, I also loved the fencing and training scenes. The writing was beautiful, the characters were funny, and the plot was fun. The story was overall very cozy and sweet, and I loved the ending. Aspects of the world-building and plot were a little more complex than I was expecting, but they added an interesting depth to the story. Some parts of the romance, pacing, and plot felt forced, but I will absolutely recommend this one to cozy fantasy fans looking for a sizzling romance with sword fights!

Thank you to the publisher for the free ARC!

Swordcrossed is imaginative and well-written. There's nothing wrong with the story, but it fell a little flat for me.

Sword Crossed
is what the romantasy genre has been waiting for. Its romance-centric plot in no way eclipses the logical, evocative world building. Quite the contrary, from religion to economics to factionalism to food and dress, every element of the world serves to shape the way characters walk through it. Gone are the days of handwaving (or worse, infodumping) how things work in service of getting the protagonists to kiss; AUTHOR’s world is woven seamlessly into and expanded upon organically as the story progresses, standing out like a deftly woven bolt of fabric in a genre lately made up of hastily bundled tufts of yarn. Huna smile.

I joke a little, but only because this is exactly what I’ve been looking for in the sub genre of romantasy since the term was coined. I’ve fallen absolutely in love with Luca and Matti, both individually and as a pair. I had a great time with the way Markse wove in moments of physical proximity to further push Matti and Luca to the edge with each other, from sword lessons and drinking together to breaking and entering/corporate espionage.
They complement one another’s personalities and push each other’s buttons, and are forced to grow together. The intimacy built isn’t just romantic and sexual/physical, but deeply caring too. They’re a bit of an odd couple at first glance, with Matti’s honorable, naive dutifulness contrasted against Luca’s restless, roguish charm, but at their hearts they are the same: young men who are so hungry with something to prove. It’s that shared trait, and each one’s ability to recognize the way it manifests in the other, that both pushes the plot along and builds their chemistry to a breaking point. Each has a knowledge of what the other needs, and while the build of trust (intellectually) is slow, they instinctively work together well from jump. I believed them falling in love, and I had a great time watching it. Truly you can’t ask for anything more.

But deliver more Markse did, starting with the excellent support cast and the interpersonal conflicts they caused and helped sort out. Matti’s family and Sofia are welcome allies in a story where neither protagonist can catch a damn break, and the villains, while vile, make sensical choices (if you look through their POVs); our protags are just in the way of their goals, you see! I was stressed out enough for both M and L and Jay house’s fortunes in turns that I had to set the book down and take a lap more than once. The stakes aren’t as high as all out war or apocalyptic disaster, but the interpersonal and cultural problems felt true and tied to characters I cared for and were, thus, important.

And maybe that’s the most important element to making a romantasy feel quality and not a romance thrown on top of a slapdash setting to make it different from a contemporary rom-com. Making the world feel lived in and like its rules matter. The world of Glassport and the city-states surrounding it feels that way. Glassport especially is so cosmopolitan; it’s peopled with folks of all walks, religion and holy days are part of how commerce happens and are important to day to day life (but also have been watered down from the bloody, intense things they used to be) (but not in a way that makes the ritual and community building of it all weaker). Ditto the factionalism of the guilds and local government. It all slots together in ways neat enough to make sense and messy enough to feel human, just as our real world slots together around us.

And that’s the exact right recipe for me. I would recommend Swordcrossed to anyone who would listen to me gush about it, but especially to readers who don’t want to have to suspend their disbelief to indulge in the escapism of fantasy, who prefer a love story to build organically from attraction to affection, and who like books that feel like putting on a comfortable favorite sweater even upon first read. An easy five stars.

Thank you to NetGalley and Tor Publishing Group for providing the ARC.

A gay swordfighting romance with the best of regency tension and all of the banter? Sign me up.

This book is fun and campy, with a theatrical swashbuckling flair, some political intrigue, and a lot of swordplay between the most buttoned up heir and the duelist he has hired to maintain his honor at his wedding. The vibes? Immaculate. The banter? Exceptional. The tension? Scrumptious. The mystery story that these two characters find themselves in? Fantastic.

Matti and Luca are fun to read and their relationship is adorable. I loved how everything came together and how these two overcame the obstacles in their lives and finally found something they could have for themselves.

Marske does it again!! While I don't necessarily think the plot of this is novel, Marske handles it with incredible aplomb. I found the political narrative genuinely intriguing, and of course the slowburn between Matti and Luca kept me hooked.

Thank you NetGalley and Bramble for the ARC! Mattinesh "Matti" Jay takes his duty to his family very seriously. The family is noble, but struggling financially after a series of unfortunate events. To help them restore their wealth, Matti is set to be married in a few weeks time. As tradition dictates (and a revival to his fiancee's hand ensures) Matti must secure a best man who will be able to duel (and win) to ensure his future (and fortune). But when he is scammed out of a chunk of the money he had reserved to hire the swordsman, Matti must make due with whatever his remaining funds provide and when that turns out to be the very man who took his money, Luca Piere, Matti makes a deal to hire Luca and not turn him in, if he agrees to train Matti in swordsmanship. Things only become more complicated as the sparks between Matti and Luca start to fly! Filled with deception, intrigue, and steamy romance, Swordcrossed is sure to thrill the hearts of Romantasy fans!

In Swordcrossed, Freya Marske has mastered the art of scorching tension. The simmering passion between Matti and Luca kept me riveted to each page. Adding in layers of intrigue between the houses and the secrets between the two, I found the entire story breathtaking.
From the very beginning, when Matti and Luca meet, you feel the tension between them and the heat between them ratchet up throughout the novel but so too does the intrigue and the pressures between both Matti and Luca and within their families. As the secrets come to light, the revelations are shocking, delightfully written and the ending is a joy to read because it circumvents even the reader’s expectations. This is one of the best romance fantasies I’ve read and just whets my appetite for the next book Freya Marske writes, because I know I’ll love it.

This is another entry in the “queer couples work through trauma through politics” and I LOVED IT SO MUCH! We really need to name this subgenre because when it works, it works so well.

Edging more into the sword part of ‘sword and sorcery’ fantasy, swords and swordcraft are an integral part of the plot.

Definitely recommended, it’s a little spicy in a couple parts, so I would say older (17ish probably) teens and up.

I received an ARC from NetGalley for my honest opinion.

A captivating read for fans of lighthearted, emotional, and adventurous romance, particularly those who enjoy LGBTQIA+ stories, fantasy, and intricate plots, as it weaves together themes of family, friendship, and self-discovery in a richly detailed world of guilds and high-stakes intrigue.

I found this book deeply boring. I'm usually a huge fan of queer fantastical romance, and I liked Freya Marske's other work to some extent, but the buildup was just excruciatingly slow. I didn't feel invested in the stakes or the characters. It just didn't hit for me.

I got 53% in to this book and could not finish it. The story is bland, the characters aren’t interesting. It doesn’t even feel as though there is a plot. I was so excited but unfortunately this one isn’t for me.

Highlights
~sword-wielding best man
~trade intrigue
~meet-cute < meet-CON
~wonderfully elegant worldbuilding
~thermonuclear levels of heat

Look: Marske has always been a good writer. A great one. A marvellous one, even!

But not until Swordcrossed has she written lines that engraved themselves on my heart in molten gold. Not until this book has she struck me breathless and aching and hurting from how beautiful her story is. Swordscrossed is the first time she’s made me honest-to-gods-WEEP from the sheer tender intensity of the emotions she’s magicked up.

I’m not even exaggerating: I had to put the down and just cry for almost an hour. Not sad tears! Happy tears! And kind of overwhelmed tears, too, because I was just So Full of emotions and had no idea what to do with them. I was shaking!

I’M NOT USED TO FEELING THINGS THIS STRONGLY, OKAY? IT WAS ALMOST SCARY.

Matti didn’t know what to say. There was a bubble of something in his throat, like blown glass or hot chocolate, a tenderness that threatened to sear itself into Matti on a fundamental level.

If I described the plot to you, it would sound like any other fantasy romance. Any other low-magic romantasy. There’s no story-element that makes Swordcrossed unique, exactly. Don’t get me wrong: the plot is INCREDIBLY compelling, there is so much tension-dread-hope keeping the pages turning, and even the most minor characters are vividly alive in a way only the best authors can manage. I was biting my lips and perched on the edge of my seat and frantic to make sure everything would turn out okay – and that is in and of itself an incredible accomplishment when we’re talking about a book where the happy ending is implicitly guaranteed. Books like this often can’t quite manage to sustain any tension, because you know it’s all going to be fine – but I was so nervous! I was so invested! I was genuinely anxious for everyone! Marske made me completely forget that all would be well, so, you know, ALL THE KUDOS FOR THAT!

But the plot’s not – the plot’s not the point. It doesn’t matter, at all, that you’ve heard or read similar stories before.

Because the way it’s written. That. That is what makes Swordcrossed something truly special, something breathtaking.

“I thought I had simple tastes. I don’t care about pearls or silver. I don’t need silk. I can live without cherries and bottles of Diamond Blend.” … “But you,” Matti breathed. “You are the most exquisite thing in this city, and I want you, and I’m going to have you.”

I don’t know if it’s the freedom of not having to fit a story inside real-world history, as the Last Binding books were, or simply growing confidence as a writer, or if it’s something else entirely, but Swordcrossed reads like the work of someone who has cast off all restraint and is exulting in their love of words and storytelling. There are so many more similes and metaphors in Swordcrossed than in any of the Last Binding books, and the effect is extravagant, decadent. You won’t need a dictionary to keep up – the language is every bit as accessible and beautifully easy as it was in Last Binding – but it adds a richness, a lushness, to the prose that makes it obvious how much Marske enjoyed writing this. And that joy definitely comes through to the reader!

Or he could invent a vast family of siblings of all ages for {spoiler}. He could embroider each one lavishly with imaginary traits, and sprinkle them with freckles.

The indulgence – the sense that Marske is writing this book for herself and nobody else – is present in the worldbuilding too. It’s obvious how much pleasure she took in creating this original setting, in being able to invent whatever she liked instead of being limited by writing a story set in a real historical period. There’s a breathless delicacy to every perfectly-placed detail; never so many of them as to become overwhelming, or distract from the plot, but more than enough to elevate the story she’s telling, bring it to life. It’s there in the sensory description, in the figureheads of ships, in all the little moments of plot-irrelevant beauty.

The lascari balls were delicious. Luca licked the last of the sugar off oily fingertips as he walked across a crowded bridge, keeping close to the wrought iron railing, around which was tied a series of ribbons in varying states from fresh to rotting. It was an exam-time tradition common to students destined for the more academic Guilds. Perhaps there was a law school nearby.

And as a self-professed worldbuilding critic/expert, I am so impressed with the worldbuilding here. My preference is for deeply weird and extensive worldbuilding – think Locked Tomb or Teixcalaan – but the elegant simplicity of Swordcrossed wowed me. Marske uses just a few powerful details to convince the reader on a visceral level that this isn’t our world, and languidly explores the ripple effects these additions/changes would make to a society. Case in point, every guild serves/belongs to a specific god, which means members of every trade have different prayers, curses, and holy days/inauspicious days. That’s not an obviously dramatic thing like, say, putting dragons in your fictional world, but it does shape every aspect of the worldbuilding and story, from fashion to business meetings to how the characters speak. It’s subtle, but far-reaching and foundational. And all of the worldbuilding is like that; simple, but just complicated enough to be striking, to turn Glassport into a place so real you could almost believe it really exists just a few countries over.

It’s just a really smart approach to worldbuilding – creating a setting familiar enough to any fantasy reader to feel inviting and comfortable, but unique enough to be interesting and lovely, without so much lore that you might trip up and accidentally contradict it or leave worldbuilding-holes for the obsessives like myself to agonise over.

10/10, stamp of approval, this delights me!

He passed ship after ship and craned his neck to see if there were sailors working in the rigging, or to watch furled sails sway gently against the clouds. He noted which figureheads needed a fresh coat of paint, or had lost some detail of their design through either skirmish or decay. Many of these figureheads were clutching the reef-knotted rope and had the seaweed crown of Itsa, patron goddess of the Guild of Sailors and Shipbuilders. Other deities appeared as well; these ships were likely owned outright, or exclusively contracted to, grand Houses dedicated to some trade or another.

What can I say about the romance, which is, after all, the heart of this book? Dear gods, I cannot even. What can I say, except that I’m not sure I’ve ever believed in a fictional romance this much before? Matti and Luca meet like blades clashing in a duel, and from that complicated first encounter Marske spins first desire – which, please do yourself a favour and make sure you have a spray bottle handy while you’re reading, because you WILL need to spritz yourself regularly to deal with the heat sizzling off the pages! – which then, gradually, so believably, turns to love like straw being spun into gold. And it is – I was going to say ‘very nearly’ unbearable but you know what, no, it is unbearable, I couldn’t bear it, I already told you I had to put the book down and weep because I couldn’t stand it, couldn’t hold all that intensity inside me without breaking open.

He could imagine kissing her, but the thought didn’t turn like a key in the lock of his jaw, leaving his lips parted and famished.

It’s so BIG.

It’s so beautiful.

It’s not the kind of love story that changes the world – they’re not enemy princes of warring nations or something – except for how it is, because it completely upends their worlds. It’s this reminder, which I think I forgot for a while, that all love is world-upending, in one way or another. Sometimes those worlds are more private than others, but that doesn’t make it any less true. You know?

Luca felt like a route being memorised; an artwork being considered one last time by its creator before it was sent for framing. It made him want to make huge, impossible, unwise promises.

Seriously, the intensity!!! *FLAILS* Passion thrums through every line of Swordcrossed like music through a harp-string; the words sear like fire, shine like glass. I want them tattooed all over me. This story sears where you touch it.

It’s not that this is an Epic Fantasy story – as it says on the (stunning) cover, the stakes here are relatively low. It’s not epic in that sense.

But the love feels legendary. Is legendary.

I just. Wow.

“I wasn’t looking,” he said simply.

Greedy: “I made you look at me.”

“I could have been halfway down the aisle, and I would have looked at you,” Matti said. “I could have been halfway across the world.”

Reading Swordcrossed is like rolling rich, velvety chocolate over your tongue, letting it melt in your mouth and flood your senses with intense sweetness. It’s luxurious: you are enveloped in the sensation of being spoiled, and the enjoyment never plateaus; only grows and grows, coiling tighter and brighter until your heart comes apart like a firework in a burst of light and colour and beauty.

I didn’t know romance could be like this. I think I might be ruined for romance by anybody else.

I can’t recommend it enough.

This book was so good! The family duty, the intricately woven politics and the absolutely delicious mutual pining all had me dying to know what happened next.

I can see why LitHub has named this one of the most anticipated books of 2024! Not only is the cover an absolute stand out, the plot is rich and interesting.
I love that the author doesn't pull punches and allows the characters to have steamy moments instead of shying away from those scenes. The main characters had a lot of pressure and expectations resting on their shoulders which helped motivate them to do better and be better, even if they were close to breaking point.
A really great addition to the romantasy shelf, where we are screaming for more lgbt+ stories to love!

Let’s be real, the adorable cover vibes of this book are doing a lot of the heavy lifting as far as its marketing goes. I definitely gave it a second look purely based on this factor! That said, I was intrigued by the summary as well. Who doesn’t love dueling and political scheming and a heavy dose of romance?

Let’s start with the dueling itself! I really liked the way it was incorporated into this magical world, with dueling serving as an important form of entertainment often seen at weddings and other important events. Given how dance-like dueling can be when done well, this concept makes a lot of sense. I do wish it had been explored even more, but the story is a romance, first and foremost, so I’m not overly surprised that the book didn’t do a deep dive into this lore. My epic-fantasy-loving soul just always wants more, it seems.

I also really liked our two main characters. They each had interesting backstories, with different weights of expectations that they had to manage. The romance was also sweet and fast-paced. Perhaps a bit too fast paced, however, as there were moments that felt a bit like insta-lust early in the book. It also doesn’t shy away from the more steamy moments, so readers should definitely keep in mind that this is a spicy romance novel! I wasn’t quite expecting this, as the cover and description had lead me a bit further into cozy fantasy territory. But ah well!

The story itself felt fairly predictable, with even some of the romantic notes feeling a bit repetitive as we hit them with first one character and then the other. The last third, in particular, felt fairly expected, with the book hitting pretty much every note that one might expect. But, again, with the romance as the primary focus, this isn’t necessarily a net negative. It all just depends on what balance a reader is looking for between plot and love story. I typically veer more towards wanting more plot, but readers who are there mostly for the romance will likely be pleased with this one!

Rating 8: Full of adventure and witty characters, this is a fun romantasy romp!

Link will go live on Nov. 16 on The Library Ladies