Member Reviews

I had just finished Marske's Last Binding trilogy when Swordcrossed became available on NetGalley, so naturally I snatched it up. This one was slower to hold my interest. It took me longer to get into the swing of things before I could really enjoy the story, The world building is good but I found it a bit confusing at times. That being said I found this to be a more interesting world to engage with because it seemed foreign yet comfortable. I can see this following they same pattern as the Last Binding trilogy if she were to publish another one in this series but is good as a stand alone as well.

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Freya Marske I am in you WALLS foaming at the mouth for whatever you write next. First of all, inspired to just be like actually everyone's gay and what of it. But I LOVED this book. I've known Marske was a powerhouse since A Marvelous Light and I have shoved that series in the hands of anyone who will listen for even a moment but this was wonderful. Matti and Luca were both so compelling in their own right and then their morning lessons, stolen moments were irresistible. Matti who was so practiced in denying himself anything he wants for the sake of his family finally taking something and the heartbreak of the reveal of Luca's last name I was tearing up (and also desperately trying to sneak a few pages in at work) I cannot wait to get my hands on my physical copy

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Another masterpiece from Marske! Swordfights and falling in love, betrayals and surprises, achingly beautiful lines, searingly hot spicy scenes. Matti Jay is the beleaguered heir to a textile dynasty, trying to keep his House afloat, not stress out his parents too much, and preparing for his upcoming nuptials to a woman who is certainly lovely, but not exactly what he looks for in a partner.

In a world where important ceremonies (such as births, naming, and marriages) come with ritualistic sword fights - but also, very rarely, challenges to the marriage - Matti must hire a best man who can fight for him, and win. His fiancee has a very determined poet and swordsman vying for her hand, and as this marriage to her will save his House financially, there is no question that the challenge must be met, and the challenger must be defeated. Matti doesn't have a ton of money, but what little he does have he spends on hiring a new swordsman to the town, Luca Piere. A very handsome, talented, and entirely too delightful for his own good, swordsman.

Chaos ensues, and oh my, is it delightful. While reading, it didn't feel as 'low stakes' as described - there was certainly quite a lot of conflict, from both outside sources (rival Houses) and inside (family, and of course, the romance between the two men). I did see the plot twist coming from a mile away, but it didn't really take away my enjoyment of the book. I am so thrilled I was able to read a copy of this, and can't wait to recommend it when it publishes in October!

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Once again Freya Marske has hit the mark with another stunning literary composition that I spent every minute enjoying. There's nothing quite like the trope of friends to lovers, so I knew from the start that I was going to enjoy 'Swordcrossed' (especially when you toss in the light fantasy aspect), but nothing could have prepared me for the highs and lows that Mattinesh and Luca experience on their journey.

If you liked "Legends & Lattes', you'll also really enjoy this as it has the same low-stakes romance with a touch of drama that will keep you happily reading until the end. If that's not enough, you also have feminist women, sword fighting, colorful fashion, arranged marriage, and some delightfully spicy scenes to entertain you.

In all, I'd highly recommend that you take a peek into this wonderful romantasy that Marske has cooked up.

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This is a delightful queer romance/fantasy/mystery from Freya Marske, who delivers again. The characters were wonderful and this truly is a cozy read (though not entirely low stakes). While the pacing sometimes felt a bit off, I still enjoyed it a great deal and know fans of cozy romantasy will be eager to get this one.

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Trust Freya Marske to write a romantasy book that I really enjoy. I still personally prefer the Last Binding series, but Swordcrossed was a super fun, fast read.

Swordcrossed introduces a world of merchant houses ruled by scheming and secrets. I found the custom of duelists at formal events such as weddings entertaining and unique. Though I think a bit more could have been done with the tradition. I would have loved to see a few more dramatic or important scenes involving Luca’s role.

I loved Luca and Matti as characters. They both feel the weight of the world on their shoulders with their complicated pasts and family dynamics. The tension between them at first—caused by Matti’s dire situation—was really engaging. I loved the vulnerability in their relationship. They both saw sides of the other person that were hidden from the world. My one complaint is the strong insta-lust vibes. There was a lot of tension to build on in their relationship but the book moved past the pining stage very quickly.

As I would expect from a romantasy book, the romance takes up the majority of the story. I wish the plot had been a bit stronger, especially in the earlier parts of the book. The scenes between Luca and Matti started to feel a little repetitive because there wasn't a lot of variety in their routine. I also found some of the later plot developments really predictable, but it didn’t detract from my enjoyment too much.

Freya Marske’s writing is engaging as always. However, I found some of the language irritatingly repetitive. Especially the overuse of the same three metaphors.

Swordcrossed is a charmingly romantic fantasy story with heartfelt character relationships.

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Did I enjoy this? Sure, but it felt a bit haphazard. The plot was mostly unremarkable—not overly complex, yet it somehow managed to be convoluted. The romance was pleasant but ultimately forgettable. Overall, the story was rather bland and flimsy, enjoyable in the moment but lacking any standout elements. Honestly, the cover held more intrigue and tension than the book itself.

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Swordcrossed by Freya Marske is a fun, hot, low fantasy romp set in a queernormative world ⚔️

Matti has to hire a dualist for his upcoming marriage into a rich family which has been arranged to save his family's failing wool business. His bride-to-be has a very insistent admirer who may challenge Matti to a duel at the wedding, and so hiring a competing dualist who's good with a sword is crucial. The only person he can afford though, is Luca, the man who scammed Matti just the day prior. With no other choice, Matti pays (and blackmails) the mysterious, new-to-town Luca into becoming not only his dualist but also his new sword-fighting instructor.

Their mutual attraction that neither initially plan on acting on only grows stronger the more time they spend together which is frankly incredibly inconvenient since Matti's set to be married. While this arrangement was only meant to be one of business, soon Luca and Matti are falling into bed together, and Luca starts helping Matti trying to figure out if his family's business failing might be due to sabotage rather than accidents while also desperately trying to keep his own past a secret.

Swordcossed is full of hot, flirty fun between Matti and Luca while also diving into lots of schemes and secrets - from multiple sides. There are crushes, sword-practice used as foreplay, trickery, arranged marriage where neither party's particularly into it, complex family dynamics, honour, and quite a bit of insight into the wool trade.

Matti's a gentleman, comes from a fancy family, and has the burden of running an entire business on his shoulders. Luca is chaotic af, impulsive, has forever unruly hair, a mysterious past he'd prefer to not get into, and a giant crush on Matti. Which is great since Matti crushes right back though he's more reluctant to act on things. Once he does though? Phew, these two get hot and heavy, and there's some kink that's juuust out of reach but definitely implied. It felt a bit like kink-teasing to be honest.

I really liked the characters, and the plot was interesting but a little overly into descriptions of the intricacy of the wool trade at times.

Overall, a very enjoyable book with a hot, fun romance, great characters, and a plot with mysteries and schemes.

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Swordcrossed was advertised as high heat, low stakes, and enemies-to-lovers. I guess two out of three isn't bad? There is nothing low stakes about this story. Matti Jay has worn himself into the ground in an attempt to save his family from ruin, and is preparing to marry a friend he doesn't love when nothing else will work. Luca is also in a precarious situation, but saying anything more about him will be unforgivably spoilery. The romance between the two men is explosive.

This book is about lies. The lies that shape the world around us, the lies we tell others, and the lies we tell ourselves. And it's brilliantly written: twisty, surprising, emotional, and funny. It's hard for me to review, because I was so anxious in the first half that I forgot to enjoy myself, spent the third quarter panicking, and fairly fizzed with joy for the remainder of the book. Swordcrossed is a delightful standalone romantic mystery, and I look forward to a reread where I can focus on the sneaky way it unfolds instead of the stress of watching Matti and Luca struggle to a well-deserved happily ever after.

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I always love stories that pit a strong sense of familial duty against personal interest, and that’s the core of Mattinesh Jay’s arc as the young acting head of his family’s House. We’ve also got guild intrigue and espionage, clandestine fencing lessons, queer romance (and normalization thereof!), and some steamy scenes with a healthy dose of kink.

There are lots of twists and turns, but with subtle enough foreshadowing to surprise without leaving the reader feeling cheated.

It was originally pitched as pitched as “Swordspoint meets Legends & Lattes,” and reading this book you can absolutely tell Marske read Kushner’s Riverside novels and said “but what if…?” Swordcrossed isn’t a knockoff, it’s a thrilling, painstaking love letter to a book that helped bring about cozy fantasy decades before audiences knew that could be an option.

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This book is like a warm cup of tea on a rainy day. It combines cosy historical fantasy vibes with a sweet queer romance, sparkling banter, a sprawling mystery, and endless shenanigans. Opposites attract with instant chemistry in this story of a con man and a dutiful son who find solace in each other's company while they wrestle with their futures. This is a lighthearted romp that sizzles with just the right amount of spice, and as always, Freya Marske delivers some really lovely turns of phrase (my favorite: "his breath was wheels over potholed streets"). An irresistibly charming read!

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***Thank you to Bramble for providing an early copy of Swordcrossed via NetGalley. My review contains my honest thoughts about my reading experience.***

I'm going to rip the Band-Aid off here at the start. I did not love Swordcrossed as much as Marske's last series. It took me a while to get into this book because there wasn't a whole lot going on at first. The cover was not lying when it advertised the book as low stakes, which made it difficult for me to stay engaged with the story. Luckily, the characters were great, and the story did pick up some as it went along, especially once all the secrets started coming out. By the end, I was having a great time and enjoying all the schemes and humor.

The world-building in Swordcrossed was a mixed bag. I loved all of the detail explaining the fabric industry and the role of sword dueling in this fantasy world, and the queer normative culture was fun to explore. The political system, however, could have been clearer. There were guilds, houses, councils, and multiple cities/states. I never got a great sense of how it all fit together. It was convoluted, and a bit more information early on would have been helpful in parsing it all out.

The real draw of Swordcrossed, and all of Marske's work, was the characters. She did such a fantastic job of bringing Matti and Luca to life. They each had their issues and well-developed personalities. Matti was obsessed with duty and bringing his house back into prosperity at the cost of his own health and happiness. Whereas, Luca was just a mess. He was a con man, a criminal, and an absolutely dashing rogue with secrets galore. They complemented each other really well and pushed each other in ways that led to quite a bit of growth. The supporting characters also had depth despite not having as much page time, and they each added something special to the story.

The romance between Matti and Luca was sort of enemies to lovers, with its start in a con and blackmail, and all of their secrets caused a ton of problems for their relationship. They had an instant attraction, but they also slowly developed intimacy as their relationship deepened and their layers were peeled back. There was so much yearning in Swordcrossed, which eventually led to some pretty hot sex scenes. The heat wasn't as high as I'd expected, though, and it does take the characters quite a while to get physical. So, if you are looking for tons of super explicit scenes, you might be disappointed, but there were lots of clever sword-play innuendos that had me cackling.

Overall, Swordcrossed was not my favorite book by Marske, but I still had a great time with it. Once the plot kicked into gear and I became attached to the characters, I rarely wanted to put the book down. The romance had a lot of humor and plenty of sexual tension, and I enjoyed seeing how Matti and Luca impacted each other's lives, both inside and outside of the bedroom. Therefore, I give Swordcrossed a rating of 4 out of 5 stars.

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Review posts on my blog on October 2nd, 2024

Mattinesh Jay is the oldest son of Jay House, which, due to a string of bad luck, is long on respectability and short on funds. Matti is getting married to an acquaintance from a House whose finances are solid but whose reputation in the city is less firmly established. He’ll marry her for duty, and hopefully find companionship (maybe even love?), but Matti puts his family first without complaint. The trouble is, his intended has a paramour, who is very good with a sword and will almost definitely challenge at the wedding, so Matti has scraped together the funds to hire a Best Man to defend any challenge with steel (as is tradition). The night before he is set to contract a professional for this position, an accident in a bar leaves him short of funds, forced to hire an excellent but unknown and untested swordsman rather than the best of the best... but who turns out to be the one who swindled him out of his money. As recompense for his silence, Jay insists that the swordsman, Luca, teach him in the mornings for the weeks leading up to the wedding. The more they clash with steel each day, the more Jay and Luca are desperate for different swords to cross...

SWORDCROSSED advertises itself with the tagline “Low Stakes. High Heat. Sharp Steel.” Early on, I thought the first part might not be true, because I was instantly very invested in the future of Jay House and their financial trajectory and Matti's happiness felt like high stakes. But, while the stakes matter a great deal to those involved (and to me, goddammit), this is a very cozy and ultimately low stakes story that delivers with erotic scenes and steel. Swords are crossed, literally in morning practices, and metaphorically in physical passion between two cis men. I was delighted by this story which combines two of my hobbies, sewing and swordplay, as the title had only guaranteed one of those at first glance.

The most stressful parts of this story for me was the tension over betrayal and secrets between Matti and Luca, and the question of whether there was something more going on with Jay House's string of bad luck. Normally, I get very stressed out by books that have lying in relationships, but the way this was handled kept me engaged instead of getting too stressed to continue. There are so many subtle narrative layers, expertly woven, so that by the end an intricate story can be revealed, with dastardly deeds and hidden motivations, while the exact shape of it was obscured until the end. It has the appeal of a mystery story, the heart of a romance, and the swordplay of an adventure novel. All that while delivering on its promise of keeping the stakes low, the passions high, and the steel sharp.

Things I love, in no particular order: Maya (Matti's sister), how the swordplay is discussed, the wedding, Matti's parents, Luca's brother. The characters are vibrant and wonderful. Keeping the important cast of characters small gave room for several people to shine without becoming too many to track in detail. The intricacies of wool and swordplay are described in a manner that threads the needle between infodumping and vagueness, explaining the important relationships between concepts without getting stuck on specifics that would slow down the story. Part of this is achieved by giving information in scenes where one person is new to the information but isn't ready to handle a mountain of details. One of my favorite moments is when Matti innocently asks whether there is more than one style of fencing, and Luca oscillates between stunned silence the impulse to convey the complexity of fencing and its history in a dizzying spiel.

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I applied to read this ARC on NetGalley specifically for the cover and book name pun and I was not disappointed! Low stakes, moderate heat, and a happy ending wrapped this cozy fantasy up with a pretty bow. I would have personally loved a little more world-building because I find the different patron Gods/Goddesses are so cool and unique. Matti and Luca are perfect and I will take no criticism. 🫶🏼

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Thank you so much, Tor Publishing Group | Bramble and NetGalley, for the chance to read this book in exchange of an honest review.

Mattinesh Jay is the dutiful heir to a struggling family business and only the arranged marriage with Sofia Cooper can help his family. Now he only has to hire a swordsman to serve as his best man and the only man he can afford is a con artist and duellist, and very charming, Luca Piere. On the other side, Luca wants to reinvent himself in Glassport and he didn't expect to be blackmailed by Matti in order to get sword lesson. Slowly Matti and Luca start to like one other and to become more and more involved in each other's lives and as the wedding nears, Matti and Luca try to investigate what brought Matti's house to financial ruins, between lies, secrets and sabotages. Also, Luca isn't who he claim he is and the truth could ruin their relationship forever.

I loved reading this book! It was very intriguing, brilliant and, as always, well written and with amazing characterization. Matti is a very dutiful
main character, worried about his family business, about his loved ones and forced, years after years, in a box of numbers, responsibilities and duties. On the other hand there's Luca, brilliant, charming, smiling and very much his opposite and it's him that helps Matti to give himself more space and time to be himself and to follow what he wants.
The story is stratified. We have the sword lessons with Matti and Luca, the investigation in order to understand what really happened to Matti's house, with secrets, lies, subterfuges, break-ins and more, the relationships between Matti and his family and Sofia, Luca's past and secrets and the whole background of a city filled with merchants, guilds and traditions.
I really liked reading this book. The investigation was intriguing and I love how it brought Matti and Luca closer and how slowly they opened themselves up to one other, revealing lies and masks and becoming more and more confident in themselves and each other.

The plot and characterization were brilliant and I really appreciated the characters growth, mostly Matti and how he recognize the need of being himself and to follow his heart, while becoming more confident in what he wanted from his life. The same with Luca and his lies and half-truths, how he realized the importance of Matti and how to help him and his family. The characters relationships were so well written, I adored Matti's relationship with Maya and Sofia and how Sofia wasn't seen as a "rival" or an "issue" in his falling in love with Luca, but a well rounded character with her own dreams, desires and need to help her loved ones.


The queer love and queer-normative society were such a pleasure to read and I loved it so much and the relationship between Matti and Luca was brilliant, steamy and I totally loved reading about them falling in love with one other.
Amazing, funny and steamy. This book is so recommended

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I will always read anything Marske writes. This book is such a delight, and it's exactly what I was looking for when I picked it up. Marske is so good at creating characters that are flawed and lovely, who you love to root for. I highly recommend Swordcrossed if you love mutual pining, swashbuckling, action and adventure, and most importantly, a beautiful love story.

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This book is my new roman empire.

The amount of chemistry and tension in this book along is astounding.

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Another great queer love story from Freya Markshe. Loved the characters and great build up to their romance 🥰

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This was a very charming book, with two main characters that you can't help but root for. The character development was fabulous, the diverse supporting cast loveable, the central mystery compelling and the world building complex enough to make sense but not too overwhelming that it became overpowering. It was refreshing seeing a main character in a fantasy novel that had a loving, supportive family. Matti's struggle to please everyone and fulfil his duty, at great cost to him personally, was very relatable to me. This, overall, is an enjoyable, heartwarming, low stakes story.

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There is a comfort to something being exactly what you expected, and Swordcrossed was just that. My own tastes tend to run toward higher stakes, so I was not expecting this to be my favorite book of the year, but Marske has a gift for character and it was such a comfort to slip back into one of her books and just relish watching a relationship grow. The world was built enough to support the characters and familiar enough to let the interactions shine.

Also, I learned so much about the fantasy textile trade. Always a plus.

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