#RomBkLove 2021 Day 25: Duty vs. Love recs from #RomBkLove Team.

Stacey Agdern (@nystacey) recommends:

Tracey Livesay's Sweet Talking Lover

Relation to theme: fmc falls in love with the mayor of the town whose plant she's sent to close down .

Representation: black woman author, black woman fmc, interracial 

Holly from The Smut Report (@smutreport)

My Fair Concubine by  Jeannie Lin

Relation to theme: Fei Long is giving Yan Ling princess lessons so he can pass her off as his sister and prevent an international diplomatic disaster. Their love is impossible: because of family honor, because of Fei Long’s duty to the empire, because of Yan Ling’s promise to stick to the terms of their agreement. The result? Top notch pining. 

Representation: Chinese main characters

Content Warnings: violence

Hannah @hannahheartsro1 & Vicky @romancingread recommend:

Honeytrap by Aster Glenn Gray

An American and a Russian spy during the Cold War fall into a decades-long, constantly evolving relationship. Both MCs struggle with their respective duties to their countries versus their feelings for the other man; they are constantly having to weigh their patriotic obligations against protecting someone they care deeply about. If you haven’t read this beautiful book yet, what are you waiting for? It’s going to be both everything and nothing like what you expect.

Representation: Both white cis bisexual men

Content Warnings: workplace sexual harassment and abusive boss, PTSD, internalized homophobia, biphobia, homophobia, homophobic slur, stabbing, past suicidal ideation, war references, past intimate partner violence, ex dies by suicide off-page, grief, divorce