#aromantic protagonist

[obelisart]

My new book is out! Search for Unnoticed by Obelis on Amazon.

Alternatively, you can read the story for free on Webtoon.

[littledemonlorne]

When We Thought I Loved You

Ok, weird title. But I want to write this about an aromantic person who's reuniting with someone they had dated as a teenager. They both had a messy break up and both of them had gone different ways after. Like terrible places for a long while and neither did great as they grew up.

They're both trying hard to fix themselves and come to terms with what had happened to them at that time.

The aromantic person is the one who got sort of better but not really. They're trying to be a decent human being. And they go back to reconcile with someone they harmed. Or at least felt like they used in the past. Thinking the feelings for them was more than what they really were.

Neat or nah?

[caitlynlynch]

This is the third book in the Frankie Sheehan series, about a female senior Dublin police detective. Although I hadn’t read previous books in the series, I think this stands pretty well alone; Frankie is called to a small town outside Dublin to investigate the disappearance of Debbie Nugent, ordinarily not a case she would look into… except the sheer volume of blood found at the scene make it unlikely Debbie has survived.

As Frankie digs deeper into the case, uncovering inconsistencies in witness statements and discovering Debbie’s past may have influenced her fate, she begins to realise the case is far more than it appears on the surface. Organised crime figures may have had parts to play, and then it transpires that crooked cops are involved, covering up past secrets and current crimes they need to keep buried.

Anything with police protagonists is a tough sell at the moment, but this does it really well; Frankie plays by the rules. She never thinks wistfully that it would be so much easier if she was allowed to take shortcuts; she just does her job with excellent police work, and when it comes to light that fellow officers are crooked, she dedicates herself to cleaning up.

One thing I really liked about Frankie was her complete disinterest in romance. She starts off the book having a sexual encounter (off page) with another police officer she meets for the first time at a social event, and she is just utterly disinterested in pursuing a romantic relationship with him. It’s not even on her radar. And she’s completely unbothered about the fact that she’s single. She doesn’t regret it for a moment; she even mildly pities colleagues who are struggling to balance their work lives and personal relationships. It’s absolutely refreshing to read a female protagonist who is unashamed of their own sexuality and also not interested in romance - and a dead giveaway that this is by a female author. Male authors just don’t seem to be able to resist giving their female protagonists Complicated Feelings that honestly, some professional women actually don’t have. They choose their career and they’re not conflicted about it at all, and it was genuinely great to read that portrayed so well here.

The only issues I really had were with the pacing of the story; it starts off incredibly slowly and then sort of rushes to a conclusion, and there were a few threads which didn’t really seem to get tied off. With that said, I thought it was very well done as a police procedural, and I particularly liked Frankie as a protagonist. I’ll give it four stars.

If Looks Could Kill is available now.

Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this title via NetGalley.

[blind-to-the-world]

What do you want to see in an Aro/Ace protagonist?

Reblog with what you need you unicorns

[pangurbanthewhite]

Also, I do believe asexual (and possibly aromantic) Verity Willis was properly confirmed in this issue, too. Not that the signs weren’t there before, but it’s always nice for this sort of thing to be stated outright.

Take note of the fact that “I’ve never wanted anything like that” when her mom suggests finding a nice man or woman was not highlighted as a lie, even though “I’m happy” was.

So that’s a cool thing! She and Loki wound up basically as “All or Nothing” with superpowers.

[aqueenconquers-blog]

"Fair maiden!"

Silver Strands rubbed her eyes and blinked herself awake. A peek out the window revealed it to be... far too early for someone to be calling her. She waited for a moment, in the hopes they would go away.

"Fair maiden!"

This person was not going away.

Her tower chimed a question.

"No, I'll deal with it..." Muttering to herself, she dragged herself out of her comfortable bed and accepted the robe that the invisible hands held out to her. "It is far to early for this sort of nonsense."

Stalking from the bedroom and down the curving stairs, yards of silver braid trailing behind her, she made her way to the floor the shouting appeared to be coming from. She reached it just as the shout of "fair maiden" came a third time.

Leaning out the window Silver Strands saw... a man in shining armor, beside a large brown horse, standing in the middle of the snowy clearing her tower had stopped in for the past couple of weeks.

"Yes?"

"Ah! Fair maiden, I have come to rescue you from your captivity! Merely tell me what foul woman holds you captive in this lonely place and I shall slay her and set you free!"

"..." Silver Strands rubbed the bridge of her nose. The only foul woman who had held her captive had died nearly a century before, and she had escaped from her all on her own.

"Have no fear. I am a prince of noble birth and will make you my bride once you are free."

"..."

Another chime from her tower, ever helpful.

"No, I don't need help. Do tell Marissa that I'll be down in a bit."

"...maiden? Who do you speak to?"

"My tower of course. I do hate to tell you this... wait, no, I don't. I am not being held captive. I quite like my tower. It's a very pleasant place. No woman is holding me prisoner. And I'm not lonely. I have Marissa and Key'shun'itswa to keep me company. As for the matter of being your wife, if I was interested in such a thing, which I'm not, I certainly wouldn't make my choice based on someone accosting me early in the morning to demand my attention. I was sleeping you know, and the sun is hardly up. Now, go away."

The man sputtered. "What? What are you saying? But I'm a prince... Any woman would be lucky to fall in love with me!"

"Really? It's a good thing I'm immune to that sort of luck. I won't be falling in love with anyone. I don't want to. And I distinctly recall telling you to go away."

"Don't want to fall in love? But surely every woman wishes to find love..."

"I don't."

The whole time she'd been speaking, Silver Strands had been hauling her hair into her arms. Now she dumped the mass of metal out the window. Straight down on to the man's head. Pounds of silver fell fifteen stories, the end of the braided length thunking into the prince's unprotected skull. He fell over. She smiled.

It took her a significant amount of time to haul her hair back up, but it was certainly worth it to deal with the man in an efficient manner.

Marissa was waiting for her in her sitting room, the girl in the mirror looking a touch anxious. "Silver Strands! Are you alright?"

"Scalp is a bit sore, but I'm perfectly fine beyond that."

"Oh good! I was worried. I really wish those men would stop bothering us..."

"Well, if we keep braining them, surely they'll learn."

The Mirror Girl wrinkled her snub nose. "I do hope so. But really, every woman wants to find love?"

Silver Strands smiled, accepting the cup of tea that her tower floated over to her. "I have found love. It's hardly my fault you can't taste this tea."