Sharon Shinn is a go-to for romantic fantasy (at least in her adult works). Her works are solid fantasy or sf stories on their own, but they're always entwined with a strong romantic thread. Her first book, the spare, haunting Shape-Changer's Wife — about a mage's fascination with the woman of the title — was what originally drew me to her writing, although most readers are probably more familiar with her Samaria trilogy.
She's written in a number of other worlds since then, sometimes in series and sometimes in standalone novels, and it was a delight to discover Quatrain, four novellas that revisit four previously used settings: those of Archangel, Heart of Gold, Summers at Castle Auburn, and Mystic and Rider.
I particularly enjoyed Blood, which is nothing macabre but a lovely exploration of family ties and friendship. The hero is Kerk, a gulden man without a father, which normally would cast him adrift in society, but he's been taken in by his stepmother's husband and found a respectable place for himself. He rather reminded me of a Modesitt hero: courteous, careful, determined, honorable. He wins you over even from the camp that prefers bad boys.
More color is introduced when he meets Jalci, a spirited young indigo woman who grows curious about why Kerk is in the impoverished neighborhood of the city. She peppers him with questions, then decides to help him when she learns he's trying to find his mother. Their interactions switch between the gulden and indigo languages, depending on how formally or casually they're trying to speak. These dialogues were a joy for me to read, full of both cultural and personal meaning, and rendered rather deftly via English syntax. The stiffer gulden language isn't necessarily flagged as bad, either; at one point Kerk is describing his stepmother, and only the gulden language offers sufficient praise and respect in the right tenor.
Their relationship develops from initial hostility to regular meetings in new restaurants in the city; as different as they and their backgrounds are, they complement each other rather well. No crazy rescues or protective stances, just a true partnership forming. As much as the passionate lust-at-first-sight trope rules in romance circles, the slow unfolding of true intimacy that Shinn draws here is wonderful to witness.
Circumstances are arranged a bit too neatly to provide any significant barriers or drama, but this was deeply enjoyable nonetheless because the characters were vibrant and captivated me just by being likable people. I'd recommend this one even to folks who haven't read Heart of Gold.