Tag: Freydís Moon

Review – Exodus 20:3

Posted December 1, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Exodus 20:3

Exodus 20:3

by Freydís Moon

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 92
Rating: three-stars
Synopsis:

Religious eroticism and queer emancipation meet in a claustrophobic monster-romance about divinity, sexuality, and freedom.

When Diego López is guilted by his mother into taking a low-key construction job in New Mexico, he doesn’t expect to be the only helping hand at Catedral de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe. But the church is abandoned, decrepit, and off the beaten path, and the only other person for miles is its handsome caretaker, Ariel Azevedo.

Together, Diego and Ariel refurbish the old church, sharing stories of their heritage, experiences, and desires. But as the long days turn into longer nights, Diego begins to see past Ariel’s human mirage and finds himself falling into lust—and maybe something else—with one of God’s first creations.

Like the other book by Freydís Moon that I’ve read, this features a trans masc protagonist, who is infinitely more messed up and unsupported, and stumbles into a strange situation he doesn’t fully understand in order to try and pay back his debts to his family after some big mess-ups. Diego’s supposed to be restoring a church, but he quickly suspects there’s something very unusual about Ariel and he’s both drawn to him and scared of him — and scared of what he may offer.

Spoilers ahead, now: I suspect that there are readers who would be completely repelled by the spirituality of this book, since it features an angel who is determined to show Diego God’s love through sex and physicality. And seems to succeed, to a large degree.

Sex is a big focus of the story here, and Diego’s more personal level of connection to Ariel isn’t really explored as much — only his lunge at the forgiveness offered, at the grace he can be shown. As a novella, it doesn’t have room to do a lot, and the intensity of those scenes is definitely well done — I’d just hoped for a bit more understanding of Ariel, as well.

Rating: 3/5

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Review – Three Kings

Posted November 20, 2023 by Nicky in Reviews / 0 Comments

Review – Three Kings

Three Kings

by Freydís Moon

Genres: Fantasy, Romance
Pages: 154
Rating: four-stars
Synopsis:

Ethan Shaw — lighthouse keeper and local witch — lives a charmed life in his chilly, coastal hometown. Blessed with a flourishing garden and a stable livelihood, Ethan can’t complain. But when his husband, Captain Peter Vásquez, brings home a wounded leopard seal after an impromptu storm, Ethan is faced with a curious situation: caring for a lost selkie named Nico Locke.

As Ethan struggles with the possibility of being infertile, insecurities surrounding his marriage, and a newly formed magical bond with a hostile, handsome selkie, his comfortable life begins to fracture. But could breakage lead to something better?

With autumn at their heels and winter on the horizon, Ethan, Peter, and Nico test the boundaries of a new relationship, shared intimacy, and the chance at a future together.

Freydís Moon’s Three Kings is a m/m/m romance where one of the protagonists (the character we follow most closely) is a trans man. Just to be clear up front since I think some people would find this difficult to read (for a bunch of reasons), the novella focuses partly on Ethan’s problems with conceiving, after months of trying to start a family with his husband Peter, and with his feelings of worthlessness as a result.

It also involves a selkie called Nico who is bad-tempered and distrustful, and can’t entirely be blamed for it, since he’s injured due to being caught in Peter’s nets. Ethan is a witch and uses his power to bring Nico back to life, forging a connection between the two of them — and over the following days, as Nico heals, another connection begins to grow. What’s enjoyable is that Peter and Ethan’s relationship is rock-solid, and they don’t bring in Nico as some kind of fix for their problems: they’ve got that covered, and this is just about their connection with Nico, as Nico, not as a stop-gap or a patch or anything like that.

It’s also worth noticing that there’s some dubious consent here — while everyone’s into one another and it seems inevitable that they’re going to explore it, they also accidentally take a magical aphrodisiac. They’re all happy about it and there are no regrets, but that’s an important theme here that I wouldn’t want someone to be startled by.

In any case, I found the book smuttier than I’d have liked, not because I’m being a prude, but because it feels like that slightly took the place of the three of them working through their awkwardnesses, getting to know each other, and forging something based on their personalities. There are hints that it can happen, that it will happen… but it doesn’t really happen here.

Rating: 4/5

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