Fantasy Book Recs: Prince of Fortune and Swordcrossed

I'm going to put this on my posts until election day:
No shame if you haven't made a plan to vote yet, but today would be a great day to do it! Is there early voting in your state? If you got a mail-in ballot, can you drop it at early voting instead of relying on the mail to get it there in time? Or do you want to go on the day itself? That's November 5, a week from Tuesday! Why not look at your schedule now and see what works best for you?

I read two very different new fantasy books recently, and wanted to share in case anyone else is interested, because they were both really good! 

Prince of Fortune by Lisa Tirreno is actually billed as young adult, which I didn't realize before I read it, but I suppose that fits as the main characters are 16 at the start. Edmund and Aubrey are lovely, and well characterized, and the fantasy world and events are believable and logical without my in any way being able to predict what was going to happen. The boys are just so perfect for each other, and watching them overcome serious obstacles was very satisfying.

Content warnings: There is some violence (the fact that war is coming is a chapter-one reveal), and a romantic relationship of which the details are implied more than shown on the page: yearning and kisses yes, sex no, for those who wish to know that. 

I enjoyed this book so much that I wanted to be able to immediately read it again for the first time. I had bought the ebook, and promptly bought the audio so that I can listen to it as well. (So far, I like it, and the two narrators are doing a good job.) Frankly, it blows me away that this is her debut novel. 

The other book is the new one by Freya Marske, Swordcrossed.

This is the UK cover, BTW; I liked it better than the US cover, so I ordered a copy from Blackwell's, my favorite source for UK versions (though they often carry US versions as well). Free shipping to the US!

I loved A Marvellous Light by Marske, which is an alternate-universe Edwardian English setting with magic, and after she finished that trilogy, I was excited to see what came next. It's very different, but also very good!

When I started reading this, I found the first few pages somewhat confusing, but that was largely because my mother kept interrupting me so I couldn't concentrate very well. Once I settled into it, I enjoyed figuring out the way the world worked, with the different guilds and beliefs and rituals. 

Matti is getting married, for family-business-bond-strengthening reasons rather than love, and he needs to hire a swordsman to stand with him for the ceremony (to face any challengers---and wouldn't "speak now or forever hold your peace" have more layers if you had to bring a sword and duel someone?). He may not love his betrothed, but when he meets Luca, the swordsman, well, sparks fly! 

Matti has a lot of secrets, and it turns out that Luca does, too. As they work together to figure out what's going on and right a few serious wrongs, they get to know and trust each other, in ways that were both what I expected and complete surprises.

Content warning: If on-page sex bothers you (I suppose I should add, between two men), this isn't for you.