When I First Saw Red by Kasia Bacon is a short story about two men named Red and Lahzien. Red is a lust demon who works in a brothel. He knows he may find a soulmate someday, but he doesn’t expect to, until he sees Lazhien. Lahzien is a higher-up in the army who has only had casual relationships. He doesn’t expect to settle down, but when he sees Red, everything changes.
I was looking forward to reading this historical fantasy romance, and while I loved the romance, I wasn’t completely in love with the story. Red and Lazhien had chemistry before they even spoke to each other, just by looking at one another. I couldn’t wait for their relationship to get off the ground.
My main issue with the novel was the fact that it took so long to get off the ground. Throughout most of the book, it felt like Lazhien and Red would hook up, and then not talk to each other for another 2 weeks. 2 weeks was the amount of time to break the bond, and they would always wait until the VERY last day to restart it, and then separate for another 2 weeks! Being apart from one another would cause them deep emotional pain, but rather than communicating with one another, they kept playing this on and off game.
This lack of communication between characters made this book more annoying for me to read than I would have liked for it to be. I still loved them and wanted them to end up together, but I didn’t want to read another “woe is me” chapter as they were literally the only reason why they weren’t together. The brothel owner wasn’t forcing Red to work. The army wasn’t against Lazhien having a partner. They were the only ones in their own way!
Nevertheless, the romance and chemistry the two characters had was undeniable, and I was still satisfied with how the book ended. I don’t believe I would recommend this book as an LGBT fantasy romance novel, but if you have the time to read a short historical fantasy book, you might still get enjoyment out of this read.
I received a copy of this book and this is my voluntary review.
Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 books.
