RELEASE TOUR - Nine-Tenths by J.M. Frey
Length: 145,000 Words
Series: standalone
Prior Reading: n/a
Genre: Contemporary Romantasy
Tropes: Meet Ugly, Coffee Shop Romance, Mutual Pining, Sunshine and Grumpy, The One Who Looks Like He Could Kill You Is a Cinnamon Roll, The One Who Looks Like a Cinnamon Roll Could Absolutely Kill You, and Will If You Hurt His Boyfriend, Friends to Lovers, Two Halves of a Whole Idiot, Miscommunication (but like, realistic), Secret Royalty, Accidental Marriage, Forced Proximity, Possessive Romance
Trigger/Content Warnings: Discussion of the past death of a parent / Grief, Anxiety, Panic Attacks, Kitchen Fire, Mild Fantasy Gore and Violence, Mildly Dubious Consent, Profanity, Sexual Content, Pseudo-Monsterfucking, Abuse of Perfectly Innocent Coffee Beans
https://getbook.at/Nine-TenthsTour
Colin Levesque is at loose ends. He's finished university, but has no career; he adores romance novels, but he's crap at relationships; and his prickliness is a detriment at the café where he's making ends meet. He also has a crush on his regular Dav, a homo draconis who comes in every morning to read his newspaper, sip his double-strong coffee, and stare longingly at Colin in return.
So it figures that the day Colin gets up the courage to do something about the sexual tension simmering between them, he also learns that Dav has an embarrassing habit of hiccupping fire when he's nervous. Which, in this case, destroys the fancy custom-made bean roaster. When Dav volunteers to take over the coffee roasting with his fire-breath, being squished together in the hot, cramped kitchen leads to even hotter kisses.
Everything's finally happening for Colin—until people start claiming the dragon-roasted coffee has cured their genetic ailments. As their budding relationship struggles under the scrutiny of scientists and media, the hype around the coffee leads the lovers to be inducted into a centuries-old conspiracy: dragon-roasted food has always healed humans. And the most powerful draconic nobles have been withholding this symbiotic advantage to keep themselves on top. Colin and Dav are determined to expose the truth, but if they're not careful, their objections could goad power-mad monarchs into destroying everything they hold dear.
Including each other.
EXCERPT:
Someone shouts "surprise!" from behind my sofa as soon as I shoulder open my apartment door.
"Shit!" I drop my bag on my foot in shock, grabbing at my shirt over my heart.
The shout is followed by coughing, which doesn't surprise me. It hasn't been vacuumed back there since my roommate Katiya left on her Grand Backpacking-and-Smelly-Hostels Tour of The Continent with her fiancé. Happily, this means I get the place to myself for the rest of the summer. Even more happily, it also means she's not bugging me to spin the chore wheel every weekend.
Less happy for Dikembe, my fourth year lab partner, who is crawling out from behind the sofa, streaked with gray dust.
The "surprise!" is echoed from a few other hiding places around the apartment—not that there are many, it's just a two-bedroom, first floor of a crummy, crumbling row house in the student-ghetto part of downtown—and two more people tumble laughingly into the front hall.
"This is a gross misuse of the emergency key I gave you," I say as Hadi steps out of my front closet.
"Happy birthday!" she jeers, detangling the back of her purple hijab from the Velcro on one of my coats.
"Keep your shoes on," Dikembe says. "About face." He pushes at me until my nose is nearly against the front door.
"No, no, no," I complain. "I've been on a train for five hours. I want to go to bed."
"You want to go with us to the bar and get waaaaaasted!" Mauli says, coming in from the kitchen. They're in their Party Skirt, the sparkly blue one, which means they are planning to really properly drink tonight. Shit, is that the last of Katiya's vodka swinging from their fist?
Dammit, I'm gonna have to buy a new bottle before she gets home. Make it an apology present to sweeten her up to the idea that I might not be moving out right away after all. The hope was that I would find a job and be outta her hair before January. But I'm starting to think that won't happen.
"It's a school night," I protest.
"You graduated a year ago!" Mauli reminds us.
"So it's a work night." I aim an elbow at Dike so he’ll back up.
Hadhirah makes a noise like an old-fashioned telephone and lifts her palm to the side of her face. "Hello? Yes? Hmmm, you don't say. I'll let him know." She drops her hand. "Your boss says it's fine."
"Har har." I let them manhandle me outside and down the grungy cement porch to the broken sidewalk. "Just don't be on my ass tomorrow if I'm hungover.""Hey, they're not my tips at risk."
Dav - dragon extraordinaire in my view….
He has never hid who he is , such a dedicated helper in all things.
As a barrister Colin has been making Dev’s special brew every morning for a while , he likes the look of him …
An incident occurs while Dev is helping Colin that brings Dev - Dragon and Colin - human together.
Feelings grow between them , their chemistry is more is amazing!
Such an interesting story to read.
about the author:
J.M. Frey is an author, voice actor, and lapsed academic. She writes queer speculative fiction and fantasy, both fabulist cozy romances and high fantasy epics. Her life’s ambition is to step foot on every continent – only three left! She lives in Toronto where she is surrounded by houseplants, because she is allergic to anything with fur. Like her main character, she is also allergic to chocolate. But not wine.
https://jmfrey.substack.com
https://www.instagram.com/j.m.frey
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https://www.threads.com/@j.m.frey
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