Spice ‘n’ Solace

4.5Happy Dance. A Pretty Cover that didn't fail me!I loved this. It was like one of the better episodes of Star Trek with the fun parts of the original Star Wars thrown in for spice. The world building was great with details revealed in economical language and at a perfect pace. All show and no tell. Sweet. As an extra bonus I also did the audio by [a:Richard Magnus 7031086 Richard Magnus https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and he was excellent.The story of a brothel owner and what passes for a prince in this world is refreshing in that it skips the usual character tropes. Kaz is slight and though he has zero experience likes a dominant lover but he isn't a pushover. In fact, coming from what is basically a mob family, you'd be wise to back him when it comes to a fight. He stands on his own amongst the denizens of the demimonde of Elora Ki, which is kind of like a Wild West frontier town or in this case planet. He courageously takes care of those in his charge: the sex workers in his all male brother Spice ‘n' Solace. On the other end of the spectrum is Jathan One-Moon. He's practically royalty and it comes to him not through physical prowess or military exploits but rather by being a diplomat. Yep you heard it here first: brains over brawn for the win! What a relief. Don't get me wrong. Jathan is what you hope and expect from an MC, he's tall, dark, & handsome and can scorch the sheets with a lover. In fact the one of the reasons he's in Elora Ki, besides handling the annual peace negotiations between the Galactic Alliance and the Ankylos Empire, is to get his rocks off with the entertainment provided by Katz's brothel. I liked how the meeting of the MCs came about, expected but not contrived. I liked how, besides Katz's identity, the men are honest and open about their desires. How, though I like it, this didn't become a BDSM dynamic. I liked, while also hating, that this future world still has people deal with the same bull shit we have to deal with now: politics, coming out, and money. I liked that once things got cleared up, with minimum drama, the guys talk about what they want and expect and find feasible solutions to get their HEA. Yes there is a bit of insta-love but I wasn't hating it. I was convinced of the rightness of this couple and was intrigued by all of the other characters that populate the story. Recommended.