Tiiran is just trying to keep the Great Library running. The library has existed for centuries, but after decades of political upheaval, everyone in charge of the revered institution seems to have vanished, leaving only Tiiran and a handful of assistants to keep the lights on.
With a creatively foul mouth and no patience for nobles, Tiiran has a ferocious reputation for defending the library, which is the only home he’s ever known. Abandoned by both his fae and human parents, Tiiran learned to fend for himself long before the older librarians abandoned him too, meaning he’s more hissing alley cat than well-mannered administrator.
About the only person Tiiran softens for is Orin, an unusual outguard with a taste for poetry and a string of eager submissives trailing after him, or so rumors suggest. Big as a bear, but patient and gentle with Tiiran, Orin has been trying to warn Tiiran about the dangers in the palace, especially with Tiiran’s temper and too-honest way of speaking. No one has ever been so concerned for Tiiran, or worked so hard to get Tiiran to trust them… or playfully threatened to put Tiiran over his knee. Orin makes Tiiran feel things that Tiiran has no words for.
He’s equally flustered when a new assistant as the library seems determined to help him. Nikoly is friendly, beautiful, and likes to joke about serving Tiiran… if that is a joke. If Tiiran were anyone else, he’d say Nikoly has been flirting with him. But Tiiran is spiky and difficult on a good day, and doesn’t know anything about that sort of bed sport. Someone like Orin is probably more of what Nikoly is looking for, so Nikoly must be after something else, possibly even Orin himself.
Tiiran would much rather focus on library business than on feelings he doesn’t understand or expect to be reciprocated. But Orin and Nikoly are set on luring this stray cat to a cushion by the fire so they can show him what love is, one with a firm hand and the other with sweet submission. Neither of them considered that taming a fae-touched, fiery spirit like Tiiran means he will love as fiercely as he does everything else, and will do whatever it takes to protect who, and what, he cares about, no matter the danger.
m/m/m romance
- Amazon
Okay, admittedly, I had read A Suitable Consort before getting around to A Suitable Stray – so I already had an idea on how R. Cooper writes poly. Finding writers who can do poly well is a challenge. Most of the time you have a pair looking for their unicorn rather than all of the characters coming into the relationship at the same time. Consort was the unicorn situation, but it was sticky-sweet in a good way. I’ll have to revisit it and do a proper review. Stray was I think also sweet, but it got into Dom-Sub territory which was throwing me off. I had figured interactions were going to go similar to Consort and was instead surprised to find myself reading another BS spicy romance. I just finished with reading Katee Roberts’ Neon Gods which was a DS spicy romance. Now I’m wondering if spicy romance is heading for DS or if I just have a knack for finding that style of romance without looking for it explicitly.
Something I really enjoy about this series is how it feels like Anne McCaffrey. There aren’t dragons and magic is very low on the visible scale, but the world build and the way the characters’ jobs are set up feels like one of those alt-universe medieval fantasies that has a deep enough world build to feel like there’s a connected storyline and not just smut. Sometimes a bit of meat in the story helps the character interactions feel more genuine.
I do have to say the Kobo copy of the book had some editing issues I would like to see addressed. The developmental work was well done, it’s more to do with some word swaps that needed to be addressed at the copyedit stage. It happened frequently enough to make a mental note, but it was not egregious enough to make me put the story down. I just think this one can do with a re-issue.
Would I suggest it?
Maybe. It’s DS with time spent on spanking as one of the main thrill components and that’s not something I’m really into, so that’s probably jading my opinion. The other spicy scenes were decent enough that I didn’t find it an objectionable read. The world build really carried the story and the way the main character was portrayed gave me a decent sense that the author knows what it’s like living with a neurodivergence and represented it well. I will be reading the other stories in the series if that tells you anything. I like how Cooper writes, and I like the world build.
