This has probably been posted elsewhere, but it’s going here too.
“…can I kiss you?”
I hadn’t meant to jump that far ahead, but [redacted] didn’t bristle as I did.
“Of course you may,” she said, caught off-guard not by my boldness, but because I’d felt the need to ask. “Why ever would it not be alright?”
[…] “I don’t know! I’ve just… never done this before,” I said, hiding my face in the curve of her neck.
“This?” [redacted] inquired, after a pause.
“This!” I repeated, gesturing vaguely to the two of us with the arm that wasn’t caught between her back and the sofa. “All of… this.”
Whatever this was.
[…] “There’s been no one else, hm?” [redacted] couldn’t help but ask.
“Not really,” I said, but made an effort because [redacted] wasn’t judgmental. She was only curious. “There were a few girls who came to the village when I was a healer, I guess, but that never really went anywhere. I’ve liked people, but I don’t usually, um, I’m not always interested in…”
“The physical aspect of relationships?” [redacted] asked, gently finishing my sentence for me.
“Right. That is–I like this. I like kissing you!” I mumbled, tripping over my words. “I just don’t always…”
“I understand what you’re saying, Rowan,” [redacted] said, touching her nose to mine. “You’ll let me know when it isn’t one of those times, won’t you?”
The first-person narrator there is Rowan Northwood in Farren’s Dragonoak: The Complete History of Kastelir, and she is most definitely a magical brown lesbian on the ace spectrum.
The Ace Theist 
February 20th, 2016 at 10:19 pm
omg that last sentence…… aaaaaa deconstructing ongoing consent in relationships, aaaaaaaa acknowledging fluctuating boundaries, AAAAA
February 22nd, 2016 at 11:01 pm
Cor, please, please, please join us in Dragonoak land. There’s also a TON of really good trauma discussion/deconstruction/processing.
February 21st, 2016 at 10:17 am
Yaaaaaas! Good book. Sad book. Need time to read the next book.
This romance plot may actually be the first one I’ve not only not disliked, but really enjoyed and rooted for in book, and I think that has a lot to do with knowing going in that some character somewhere was some flavor of ace. I think that knowing that the romance wasn’t there just to excuse the obligatory sex scene made it better. It was also good because it was character-motivated and relevant to the plot without BEING the plot.
February 22nd, 2016 at 11:00 pm
*FIST PUMPS*
I LOVE THIS FRIGGIN’ SERIES.
THE SECOND BOOK IS EVEN BETTER.
EVEN. BETTER.
SO MUCH CONSENT AND TALKING ABOUT FEELINGS.
*CRIES*