Talk Sweetly to Me

** spoiler alert ** I think this was my fave of the novellas in this series (though it's hard to make up my mind because I loved them all). Stephen was a delight, but the one thing that really makes the entire Brothers Sinister series for me is how unusual the heroines are - and Rose, as a black woman who was also a mathematical genius with a deep love of astronomy, certainly fits that bill. Which is what makes this novella really stand out. Rose knows she's unusual, and always has the feeling that it's vaguely embarrassing. She's under pressure not just to behave herself but to be a positive representative of her entire race, which means she really can't afford scandal - so even though she's aware that there are people out there who'll accept her quirks (like being a genius) she really can't imagine anyone actually loving her *for* them. The story doesn't center around racism, though it's certainly an aspect and the scene where Stephen realizes that it is something Race always has to deal with - which means he will, too - is well done. He's a delight of a character, too (okay, also I just enjoyed all of his terrible math puns). Basically, I wish this had been a full length novel because I enjoyed it so much, but I'm still thrilled with it as a novella, too.