Nettle & Bone

 This book was an absolute delight.  Not a kissing book, as the romance is quite mild compared to the White Rat books, but that???s a good thing, I think. Romance is a thing, and helps in some very dire, very dark circumstances, but it???s not the point of this book I think, until the very, very end. Bigger fish to fry and all that.  It???s actually quite optimistic overall, even when things get very dark. But it???s a kind of practical optimism, nothing overly bright and shiny in it. It takes the realities of the world, what can and can???t be changed, but shows that the things that can be changed, no matter how small, really do matter, because they can sometimes help move the big, unchangeable things towards something better.  There???s some uncomfortable truths voiced in here too, but it does it in a way that???s??? I don???t want to say gentle, because it???s not, not necessarily, but blunt without being hurtful.