I might be alone in this but. If I am picking up a book about queer love in a time of high societal repression where there would be consequences for that kind of relationship, I am expecting some level of repression and pining and longing. forbidden love shit, all that.
And yet. I keep picking up these books where they're like "yes this is a highly researched version of England in the early 1800s, except gay love is highly encouraged in all parts of society" and then it's just fucking whiplash when the rest of the societal norms remain unchanged. this character feels isolated from the people around her, for vague and nebulous reasons because they're all totally allies or members of the community. this society still has strict gender roles even though it's fine to be gay here. what are we fucking doing


























