Every romance reader has a handful of gateway drug romance novels. When a non-romance reader asks me for recs, I’ve got a few in my back pocket that I think are pretty friendly to newbies. Very high on that list is Cecilia Grant’s novella A Christmas Gone Perfectly Wrong, which is about a very buttoned-up gentleman that just wants to buy a falcon, and a woman who wants to go to a house party. It has many good things about it — if you haven’t read it, I recommend buying it and reading it immediately! — but one of my most favorite features is that the hero is the most buttoned-up, regimented person imaginable. Yet not a jerk! Just a person who keeps himself under very tight control.
So like, if that is your thing? Very buttoned-up gentlemen finding themselves in situations where they have to let go of some of their buttoned-up-ness? Hoo fucking boy have I got a novella collection to commend to your attention.
I have been known to be picky about the novella romance! I admit this freely! But He’s Come Undone features not one but five nearly perfect examples of the novella form. Every one of these stories is weighty and substantive to the point that the resolution of the romance felt satisfying in every case. Plus as a bonus, there were all these super uptight dude protagonists being slowly unraveled by feelings. Let’s run through them real quick to give you a sense of what you’re in for, shallllllllll we?
“Apassionata,” Emma Barry
Kristy Kwong used to be a wildly talented and famous pianist, until — in baseball terms, she got the yips. Now she is returning to the stage, and Brennan is the piano technician tasked with setting up the instrument she’ll play for her first performance in two years. She’s struggling against stage fright as she tries to recapture her mojo, while Brennan — who was never able to play at her level in the first place — considers his life in the world of music and his role in setting Kristy up for success in her comeback.
This is my first Emma Barry story, and I loved it! She gets into the nitty-gritty of piano mechanics but also touches on the indefinable magic of musical performance. Better still, her story is ineffably kind and compassionate to its characters, which is one of my favorite things that romance — or any fiction! — can do. For all his restraint, Brennan is keenly aware of the prejudice, sexism, and general undermining Kristy has faced in her career, and he’s determined not to contribute to it. “Apassionata” is a perfect example of a shared-project romance, and it’s just the cherry on top that the shared project is “let the heroine shine the way she deserves to shine.”
“Unraveled,” Olivia Dade
OH THIS GENTLEMAN IS BUTTONED-UP AS ALL HELL. Mmmmm this is the good stuff. Okay so Simon is a veteran math teacher, and he’s been assigned to mentor a new art teacher called Poppy, but SHE — and try not to clutch your pearls when you hear this news — sometimes wears CASUAL CLOTHING. With PAINT on them, and Simon does not like this because being an art teacher is no excuse for SLACKENING ONE’S STANDARDS.
(And yet. Oh, and yet, my friends! And yet, one thing leads to another, and they end up boning in the art studio. Also he hotly defends her when one of the other teacher says a mean thing.)
In addition to all this jeans-wearing and laxity of standards, Poppy’s particular form of art is making tiny murder dioramas a la the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. So alongside the romance is a running subplot in which Simon is trying to solve one of the diorama murders, paying keen attention to every one of the tiny, specific details in Poppy’s murder diorama. Oh, and a teacher recently left the school under suspicious circumstances. PERHAPS ALSO MURDER???
It is very fucking fun. Romance authors should always write romances about the Nutshell Studies of Unexplained Death. In my humble opinion.
“Caught Looking,” Adriana Herrera
In the category “romance authors who are also social workers,” ie two of my favorite professions at the same time, Adriana Herrera has rapidly become one of my go-to authors. “Caught Looking” is about two longtime best friends, Hatuey and Yariel, waking up to a startling morning after. For years Yariel has been in love with Hatuey, but he has been unwilling to risk ruining their friendship by making a move on a best friend he knows — thinks he knows — is straight. Now he just wants to put it behind them and get back to normal, because the alternative carries the risk that their friendship won’t survive, and Yariel can face anything but that.
BUT OH NO QUEL DOMMAGE because right at this very instant, this fortuitous very instant, they have a commitment where they both have to spend a long weekend in the Dominican Republic doing fundraisers and photo opportunities (Yariel’s an MLB player) and flying on private jets and staying in nice hotels. Many are the opportunities for Hatuey to pine whilst gazing at Yariel being delightful with young children who admire him; many the friendship memories that flood Yariel’s mind like that one time Hatuey’s dad was all “you are a good kid but don’t bone my son, cool?”
As is typical for Adriana Herrera, “Caught Looking” hinges on the genuine love and respect the characters have for each other. Yari and Hatuey’s friendship is the core of this story, whether or not they decide to change the parameters of their relationship, and every move they make is predicated on ensuring that the other one is comfortable and confident. It couldn’t be more lovely.
(Actually that is consistent throughout this collection: It’s about partners building each other up, even in moments when life leaves them vulnerable. Another good thing about this collection! Gosh I like romance novels.)
“Yes, And…”, Ruby Lang
If you come to Adriana Herrera for searing mutual respect, you come to Ruby Lang for banter and family relationships. “Yes, And…” does not disappoint. Darren is among the more uptight of these uptight protagonists, but he’s taking a meditation class to help himself unwind — not because he wants to unwind, but just because his blood pressure’s high and he’s trying to lower it. (This is very relatable to me, an outcomes-focused tightly wound lady whose blood pressure has been fucking with her lately.) But due to a scheduling mix-up, he finds himself in the exact opposite of a meditation class — an improv class, led by Joan Lacy on her one night off from caring for her mother, who has early-onset dementia.
If Darren won my heart for not wanting to do any goddamn meditation, Joan won it for having a panic attack because she’s so worried about her mom. I couldn’t not want these humans to be happy, particularly after Darren takes care of her during her panic attack, drives with his hands at nine and three, and apologizes for hurting her feelings. THESE ARE TRAITS I AM SOFT FOR. Their courtship is gentle and careful (and sexy!), with both of them trying hard to believe that they are enough. It’s a romance about the way a partner can help you to fill the entire space you are meant to occupy, even when you struggle to believe in yourself in that way. This one’s a scootch more melancholy than the foregoing two, but it makes the happy ending that much more satisfying.
“Tommy Cabot Was Here,” Cat Sebastian
This story is dedicated to Sirius Black and Bucky Barnes, and I just think it’s worth contemplating that fact for a moment. Yes? Have we all given due consideration to the good and glorious world in which we are now privileged to reside? Great. Onward.
In a move very characteristic of Cat Sebastian, “Tommy Cabot Was Here” is about two people who have been parted for years and years due to misunderstandings, and are now awkwardly, anxiously reunited. Everett stopped speaking to Tommy Cabot after Tommy’s marriage, and now it’s fifteen years later in 1959, and Tommy’s son is attending the school where Everett teaches math — the same school at which, long ago, he and Tommy used to fool around, and at least one of them fell in love.
This one’s wall to wall feelings, just a whole lot of two people negotiating with each other about what their past together meant then and means now, and what they want their present and future to look like. Though the central misunderstanding — Everett’s certainty that Tommy has moved on to a golden life of heterosexual bliss and political glory — does power some of the conflict, the bigger issue is and always has been the characters’ own struggles to identify what they want. Everett wasn’t wrong to think that Tommy wanted his wife over Everett (though he was deceiving himself about what his life could be); Tommy wasn’t wrong to think that Everett turned away from their friendship (though it was an act of self-protection). The romance is a gentle, careful navigation of what they each want now and what they are able to offer. It’s immensely sweet.
As a bonus, Tommy’s wife Patricia rules? I would read a whole other Patricia book where she’s just taking over California with Harry. So that was nice too — side characters are one of the great joys of romance novels, and it was a pleasure for Tommy’s ex to be a source of support and joy rather than additional conflict.
Note: I received an ARC of this book for review consideration. That has not impacted my review. My review has, however, been heavily impacted by how much I enjoy buttoned-up heroes, which is very, very much.