All Comments on 'A Match for the el Maiens Ch. 32'

Very sweet! Very sexy! Great conclusion to your novel!

Thank you for writing!

A lovely and sexy finish for a beautifully realized epic story. Congrats!

When I found this story, something about it kept me coming back anxiously awaiting the next rich chapter. I have really loved this story and hope to read more about the lives of these characters . They were richly drawn and had compelling inner lives. Thank you for sharing your story:creative life isn't easy.While all good things must come to an end, please share your plans for any sequels or your next project when you can.

Thank you everyone.

I am going to work hard on this novel now. Good news! I already have two other novels written in the series, although they too need substantial work.

This has been so useful to me. I can't thank everyone enough for the comments, feedback, votes and just the reader numbers. Today I see one chapter has actually had enough votes, and just made it into Hot status! :)

Wonderful! Ruined 2 nights and one day completely, getting nothing done for the reading, LOL. Now maybe I can try to get back to normal life... Before I read the Sietter bride, that is. What is the other novel you speak about, where can it be found?

It took some time before I realised that the language had changed after the first few chapters. While the ornate language in the beginning was part of creating a picture of the world, it the rest was easier too read.

I love the consistent world you have created, with its own customs and all. It was easy to get immersed in it, to start thinking in terms of it. I realise you have taken advantage of some older versions of English, but are not some idioms and phrases made up just for the this world?

One particular thing I like is that you have picked up from real history the forgotten way how gentlemen used to behave. A way that would nowadays be considered feminine. How affectionate they are even between friends, how they dress, how they act. How it is ok to call a man beautiful instead of handsome without it being considered emasculating. (19th century had its perks, but it didn't do any good for the way men are perceived!)

And all those emotions! A 'historical' novel where warfare isn't treated as something heroic (which is how it was done in past centuries, up until the world wars), but where even commanders come back from war emotionally wounded.

Concerning clothing, I just wonder whether you came to think of that this world seems to have very modern materials at places. Form example that kind of underwear (especially knickers) need elasthane, while their outerwear didn't seem to have it. And her wedding dress was made suspiciously fast. Embroidery by hand takes lots of time! Also they seemed to be very careless about silk. Is it not the most expensive cloth in this world? Using it in uniforms bound to get dirty and ripped, using silk scarfs to cover wounds etc. I would have expected to see wool used more.

I wish you continued writing. This story definitely has a place among my favourites.

I realize this story was posted some time ago, but have just finished it. It is excellent. I find the small details extraordinary.

Tashka's teetering on the edge of control over a scrap of paper on the floor, the metaphor for the exquisite completeness of her command, and how dangerously at the margin he was.

The way you use his her pronouns to signal who he really IS in this moment,, when she really IS in that.

I have read the notes on the confusion of names, and they are confusing - but they are a part of the creation of a culture in which Tashka's dual life is entirely possible.

It is like trying to get into a Russian novel - but the effort of doing so here, as there, rewards one with an insight into the way Russian society is knit, and so it is here as well.

And they are part of your sleight of hand, which I admire - so many things to get used to - the names, the casual affection between soldiers, the barriers of honor and oath that serve to enable outrageous flirtation because of the iron oath, all serve to give us alternate explanations for signs of Tashka's complex self. Even her - his - brother's name, Clair, an ambiguously gendered name for a man entirely at home as a lover of AN extraordinary man, and an extraordinary woman, a man without role boundaries in his own life, finding comfort in simple kitchen tasks as readily as in provisioning armies, and equally recognizing Anna's powerful mind and heart, and reveling in both as the foundation of a deep and abiding passion..

Your handling of the elder van Sieter is exquisite - we never see him, or hear his voice; we see only, finally, his body staining the carpet in his pavilion, as his presence, and then his absence, shape what is required, what is permitted, what is possible, and teach us that an oath is a living thing and allegiance very personal here.

Your handling of the erotic is masterful. Here the physical is the expression of a permeating pervading passion, as it should be; it is not the thing, it is a way of showing us of the thing itself .

It's been eight years since the noted publication date of this novel, so I fully expect you're likely to have moved beyond checking back for comments.

Still I wanted to write, and just say - thank you.