#fire becomes her

[aroaessidhe]

aro & ace books: nonbinary YA/MG

MCs:

The Many Half-Lived Lives of Sam Sylvester - acespec MC

Asking For A Friend - ace MC

Godly Heathens - demiromantic MC

Dear Wendy - 1/2 aroace MCs

side characters/love interests

Tell Me How It Ends - arospec ace major character, he/they

Heartbreak Bakery - demi love interest

The Lost Coast - greyace major character

Meet Cute Diary - ace love interest

Aces Wild - ace love interest

The Mariah Mission - ace love interest

In The Ravenous Dark - ace major character

Fire Becomes Her - ace QPR-LI

#aspec books / aspec database / tumblr masterpost

[theaspecyear]

[yourfavebooklrsfavebooklr]

Happy bi week to those who celebrate! These are some books which contain bi main characters (including some bi aros / bi aces) that I’ve read and enjoyed. Every book on this list is one I would recommend to someone (depending on the person).

(My apologies if some of them contain pan main characters instead, it’s been a while since I’ve read a lot of them and I don’t completely remember. I tried to check but I can’t be 100% sure)

Also, bonus: An Arcane Inheritance by Kamilah Cole is a bi4bi dark academia thriller coming out in 2025!

[arojenniferwalters]

Canon AroAces 285/?: Charlotte Terry in Rosiee Thor's Fire Becomes Her (2022) 2/ 5

[rosieethor]

Fire Becomes Her is officially two years old!

Time feels utterly fake! I'm so grateful to all the readers, librarians, booksellers, and my fellow authors who have supported this book. I still can't believe I got to write and publish a book about an ambitious aromantic teen, fire magic, and lesbians in power suits running for president. Here's to writing more messy queer books and tricking the publishing industry into paying me for it!

[gwen-tolios]

Ace Bookclub Recap - Fire Becomes Her

I love to share ace book recs (it's part of why I run an ace bookclub) and this month we read Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor. Book has been added to my Ace Rep Database.

Summary: With only a drop of flare, one can light the night sky with fireworks or burn a building to the ground -- and seventeen-year-old Ingrid Ellis wants her fair share. Ingrid doesn't have a family fortune, but at least she has a plan: Rise to the top on the arm of Linden Holt, heir to a hefty political legacy and the largest fortune of flare in all of Candesce. Her only obstacle is Linden's father who refuses to acknowledge her. When Senator Holt announces his run for president, Ingrid strikes a deal to spy on the senator’s opposition in exchange for his approval and the status she so desperately craves. But the longer Ingrid wears two masks, the more she questions where her true allegiances lie.

Spoilers below!

My bookclub really liked this book. There's a delightful cathartic element to the end we all got behind, and I believe this is the first book we've read that ends with a QPR.

There's a range of aspec characters, which always makes a book better, and we had a bit of conversation about Ingrid. What labels, exactly, define her? We had a bit of back and forth (my bet is birogreyromantic at least) but we all agreed she was some flavor of aspec. We also agreed, you know what, it's okay that we don't know. Ingrid's arch through the book really is discovering who she is and what she wants, and this felt like such a real, messy way of figuring out your ace identity: while in the midst of a relationship. (I myself have used my relationships as touchstones to figure my aceness out)

There's some beautiful conversations in here about trying to explain love outside of a romantic capacity and about how you shouldn't mold yourself to the expectations of others. I wish the world-building had been a little more thought out (flare is a source of power like electricity, treated like currency, is a consumable form of magic used for pleasure and policing, and also serves as how one votes even though it's a limited resource mined from the ground, which was a bit much), but for this book taking place on the campaign trail with some rebel action, it's the characters that you're here for.

[melanielocke]

Book recommendations - a-spec characters

I don't have a lot of books that fit this category unfortunately, but I've read a couple of good ones recently so I figured I might as well make list for a-spec books. I'll list the specific representation for each book as well. These books are all YA fantasy but still very different types of books, so I hope there's something here for everyone looking for more a-spec characters.

I'll start with Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor

This is a stand alone fantasy set in a 1920s jazz age inspired world. This world has magic in the form of flare, a hot magic substance that can be mined and is used in various ways, including heating and electricity, but also mixed in drinks for rich people, or to give you temporary fire/heat magic. The premise is largely based around huge flare inequality, with poor people not having enough to heat their homes whereas rich people are sitting on vast amounts of flare they're either not using or using for useless things like putting it in drinks. Ingrid was born very poor, but has been given the chance to move up in society by attending a school for rich kids on a scholarship and dating Linden Holt, the son of a senator and one of the richest men in the land. When Linden's father, goes to run for president, Ingrid is hired as a campaign assistant for her internship before she graduates school, but the senator is running against a leftist woman who wants flare to be accessible to all and Ingrid has to decide if she wants to stay with Linden and his family to make sure she has enough, or fight for everyone else' flare as well.

This is a very political book, with the main focus being the presidential race, and there are very clear parallels to real life (American) politics. For example, Linden's father proposes a plan called "trickle down flare".

Rep: most major characters are queer, the main character is bi and demiromantic

Beyond the Black Door by A.M. Strickland is next

This is a fantasy in a world where some people can soulwalk. They can enter their own and other people's souls as long as the other person is close enough. Kamai and her mother are both soulwalkers, and her mother is a courtesan and spy who walks through the souls of her clients to find out their secrets. For Kamai to put her abilities to use, becoming a courtesan would be the ideal option since it allows her to easily get close to people, but Kamai is asexual. She has no interest in having sex with people.

Kamai cannot enter her own soul, no one can. Some people believe she doesn't have one, others that it has been hidden away. But no matter whose soul she enters, she sees a black door. Her mother warned her to stay away from that door. But when tragedy strikes, Kamai, desperate, opens the door.

This is a dark fantasy story with some conspiracy, spying and a focus on this world's religion and mythology.

Rep: main character is biromantic asexual, and her being asexual is a big part of the story, some side characters are also queer including asexual

Also by this author: In the Ravenous Dark, which is another dark fantasy I'm about to start reading with a pan mc and poly relationship

Then I have Silver in the Mist by Emily Victoria

This story is set on an island divided into two kingdoms, Aris and Cerena. The continent is in danger from a mist with deadly phantoms within it, and right now the problem is a lot worse in Aris than in Cerena. Only casters can use magic to hold back the mist.

Dev is a spy. Eight years ago, her father died and her mother became very distant as the whisperer, the head spy, of Aris. Now her mother is more of a commander than family and Dev will try anything for her approval.

On her next mission, she's sent to Cerena to go undercover in their court and kidnap Alyse, Cerena's most powerful caster, in the hopes that bringing her to Aris could turn the tides on the mist. But on the way she learns that not everything she thought of Cerena is true and that Alyse might have a better way to stop the mist.

This is a spy story, but also a story of family. Dev has a difficult relationship with her mother, who is very distant, and keeps seeking her approval, but there is development and nuance in their relationship. I also loved the strong bond Dev forms with Alyse.

Rep: it was not explicit in the book, but Dev is asexual and possibly also aromantic. She shows no romantic or sexual interest in anyone, and the author is also ace-aro, so I'm sure she's supposed to be aspec but not sure what. Dev's best friend Lochlan is non binary.

Last up is Vespertine by Margaret Rogerson

Artemisia is a nun training to cleanse the bodies of the deceased so they don't turn into evil spirits and eat people and/or possess people. She was possessed by a spirit as a child and as a result she's very sensitive to spirits.

When the convent is attacked by possessed people, Artemisia saves herself and the other nuns by binding herself to a revenant, the most dangerous type of spirit that was locked up in a saint's relic. The dead are rising, and if only a vespertine, a priestess wielding the power of a revenant can stop it, but all knowledge on how this works is lost to time so Artemisia has no choice but to learn from the revenant itself, someone she can't trust.

This story is dark and has a very gritty medieval feel, and I think while the world is made up it captures medieval europe better than most medieval europe fantasy stories. Artemisia is someone who prefers to be around dead people than living, generally she dislikes people and doesn't care to form close bonds with them. While she isn't explicitly ace/aro in the book, I'd read her as such based on her lack of interest in romantic and/or sexual relationships, and she can also be read as autistic.

Also by this author: sorcery of thorns, which has a bi love interest and asexual major side character

Previously covered books with a-spec characters

Dread Nation duology by Justina Ireland - ace/aro side character who is also a POV character in book 2

Black Wings Beating trilogy by Alex London - one of the two mc's is ace/aro

@alastaircarstairsdefenselawyer @life-through-the-eyes-of @astriefer @justanormaldemon @ipromiseiwillwrite @a-dream-dirty-and-bruised @amchara @all-for-the-fanfiction @imsoftforthomastair @ddepressedbookworm @queenlilith43 @wagner-fell @cant-think-of-anything @laylax13s @tessherongraystairs @boredfangirl16 @artist-in-soul @bottomdelioncourt @ikissedsmithparker

[stardustandrockets]

What was your favorite read from October?

I spent the month completing the #OwnedOctober challenge @treereads hosted. I managed to fill my bingo board.

Books read:

• Happy Place by Emily Henry

• You Feel it Just Below the Ribs by Jeffrey Cranor and Janina Matthewson

• Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa

• Fire Becomes Her by Rosiee Thor

• A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem by Manda Collins

• Flip the Script by Lyla Lee

• 10 Things That Never Happened by Alexis Hall

• The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams

• A Shot in the Dark by Victoria Lee

I think my favorites were Ander & Santi and 10 Things That Never Happened. Though, the latter I checked out from the library to decide if I wanted to buy it or not. I absolutely adored Sam and Jonathan's dynamic. I thought the amnesia plot was going to be weird, but it wasn't. Not sure what I'm going to start next, but I'm happy to have my tbr a little more under control.

[qbdatabase]

With only a drop of flare, one can light the night sky with fireworks . . . or burn a building to the ground — and seventeen-year-old Ingrid Ellis wants her fair share.

Ingrid doesn’t have a family fortune, monetary or magical, but at least she has a plan: Rise to the top on the arm of Linden Holt, heir to a hefty political legacy and the largest fortune of flare in all of Candesce. Her only obstacle is Linden’s father who refuses to acknowledge her.

So when Senator Holt announces his run for president, Ingrid uses the situation to her advantage. She strikes a deal to spy on the senator’s opposition in exchange for his approval and the status she so desperately craves. But the longer Ingrid wears two masks, the more she questions where her true allegiances lie.

Will she stand with the Holts, or will she forge her own path?

[sheikfangirl]

Alternate Totk headcanon: Puppet Zelda won and and broke Link. He got entirely consumed by hatred and despair and is beyond saving now. No hope, no heart, unredeemable. Link is Puppet Zelda's corrupted knight. He is Dark Link.

[lovl3igh]

"rhaenyra thinks she has a claim because her daddy said so" yeah... that's... that's kinda how it works... when your daddy is a king

[aroaessidhe]

ok slightly late for ace week, but here's most of the ace books I own!

[theaspecyear]

Fire becomes her

[eobard-thawne]

FAVORITE SCENES FROM BECOMING ELIZABETH: 5/∞" Lord Dudley! I'm sure my brother could increase your income if need be. There is no need for you to resort to robbery. Now, Mary, it is entirely within your power for this to be the last we ever speak of it. The louder you protest, the more you fracture an already fractured country. I suggest then you give me nothing to protest. You think I can concede to this plan? Marry a foreign heretic, be shipped away to a Protestant court? A woman's family arranges her marriage, and a subject obeys her king. If you protest, you protest the natural order of things as set out by God. You're protesting God. I will marry any man my brother sees fit, as long as I will be permitted to practice my faith. Perhaps you will. May I suggest you ask him nicely."

[arojenniferwalters]

Canon AroAces 285/?: Charlotte Terry in Rosiee Thor's Fire Becomes Her (2022) 1/ 5

[harbingersecho]

"zuzu, you didn't tell your friends about me? i'm hurt."