Review: Nine-Tenths by J.M Frey
Coffee. Love. Dragons (and spice). Check out my full review of J.M Frey's queer romance novel Nine-Tenths.
Notes: Review contains excerpts which may serve as light-spoilers. CW//Discussions of spice and monster-fucking prominent. Read with caution.
Coffee. Love. Dragons. Nine-Tenths by
is a spicy queer novel with what seems a simple premise— before flipping all your expectations with a complex character-driven story. But is it worth your read? Well, that’s what I’m here to discuss.Together we’ll get into the ins and outs of the story, going over four distinct categories: Characters, Setting, Plot, and Writing. All of these blend neatly together to aid overarching narrative. And I can’t wait to share my thoughts.
However, before we dive in. You probably want to know what the story is actually about:
Colin Levesque is at loose ends. He's finished university, but has no career; he adores romance novels, but he's crap at relationships; and his prickliness is a detriment at the café where he's making ends meet. He also has a crush on his regular Dav, a homo draconis who comes in every morning to read his newspaper, sip his double-strong coffee, and stare longingly at Colin in return.
So it figures that the day Colin gets up the courage to do something about the sexual tension simmering between them, he also learns that Dav has an embarrassing habit of hiccupping fire when he's nervous. Which, in this case, destroys the fancy custom-made bean roaster. When Dav volunteers to take over the coffee roasting with his fire-breath, being squished together in the hot, cramped kitchen leads to even hotter kisses.
Everything's finally happening for Colin—until people start claiming the dragon-roasted coffee has cured their genetic ailments. As their budding relationship struggles under the scrutiny of scientists and media, the hype around the coffee leads the lovers to be inducted into a centuries-old conspiracy: dragon-roasted food has always healed humans. And the most powerful draconic nobles have been withholding this symbiotic advantage to keep themselves on top. Colin and Dav are determined to expose the truth, but if they're not careful, their objections could goad power-mad monarchs into destroying everything they hold dear.
Including each other.
And with that, let’s make our way into the full review. Also question, have you ever wondered what it’d be like to seduce a dragon? Me too… me too.
Arguably, the way you write your characters is one of the most important aspects of a story. Readers want to be moved by them, to be able to connect and relate. And in the case of this particular novel, want to understand what it’s like to get with a dragon.
Okay, hold on. Let me stop riding that high. No dragon seducing on my watch. Except for the main character and his love interest— let them do whatever they want. They need it.
Basically what I want to say is this: J.M Frey has clearly spent a lot of time thinking about their characters. It is evident in how well-crafted each one is. Through Colin’s sass and drama queen tendencies and how they mash with Dav’s charm and gentleness.
Even aside from them, every character you meet in this story is written with love and care. You feel like you’re living in Colin’s world, and connecting with everyone through the same sense of knowledge he contains. The antagonist is strong, and the aiding characters are fun and exciting.
Just take in this excerpt for example:
“A few months of being cooped up in the kitchen with your dragon,” Hadi says, warming up to the fantasy of some sort of clandestine affair between us. “Stoppit,” I grump.
Or,
“Yeah.” Her face softens for a second, and then twists back into that amused sneer. “And to be clear, you’re not the knight in this little drama.”
“Oh, I’m not?”
“Honey you’re the princess.”
“Fuck off.”
There are even better tidbits throughout the story, too. However, it would be unwise of me to take that fun away from you. So without, rambling too much further, let’s give this section its rating.
My rating of this section: 5/5
If it’s evident by the last section, I like to briefly introduce what each category means before diving deeper in. Setting means the place the story takes in, but I also use this interchangeably with world-building. After all, both work together to help mesh the overall story together.
But what’s even better is this map
allowed me to include! All credit goes to its artist, Christopher Winkelaar.
As you can see, there are some pretty nifty differences between this map and one of our modern world. In this world, due to the powers and influence of the Dragons— they exist in their own class, and are often politicians bent on increasing the size of their land and hoards.
Through their abilities and their actions, the world has taken shape a bit differently. For example, The United States of America never spanning coast-to-coast. And there are now smaller countries taking up space where the US could’ve been.
You can really deduce the care J.M put into crafting this world and setting just by looking at the map alone. However, it’s even more apparent as you read through the novel. You get to learn about the dragon’s customs, how their cultures differ from humans, and the important historic events which shape the world (and plot).
Yes, to put it in the plainest manner possible, J.M Frey excelled in this area. So what does that mean for my section rating? Easy, let’s take a look, shall we?
This section’s score: 5/5
We’re now on section three of our Nine-Tenth’s Syllabus everyone, which covers our grading policy for this term! First, you’ll notice that it actually says Plot, and that you’re not in fact holding a syllabus. Nor is this a class. It’s a trap and you’ve fallen right into it!
Secondly, let’s get into what that means. A story’s plot is the overarching structure holding the novel together. It encompasses the writing, pace, and story beats— weaving and patching every aspect into something special.
And in the case of this novel, it’s spectacular to say the least. As a big sap for queer romances and (uh, more questionably, monster-fucking romances), the set-up for this story’s plot was vital. Or perhaps, crucial to my mental well-being.
Okay enough fluff, but you’ve read the synopsis earlier right. How much detail can I really get into with this section? I mean, you already know what my rating is going to be, right? Right? Okay. But before we get into that, let me share a excerpt from one of Collin and Dav’s first interactions.
Don’t worry, it’s like from the beginning of the book.
“I got a new alarm clock, I didn’t wake up, it’s fine, it doesn’t matter.”
“It does to me.” He crunches the ruined paper in his hands, flexing and twisting. “In fact, I, er, perhaps it is time I confessed that… I smell something burning.”
“You smell burning?” I swig another mouthful of coffee from the mug I’d left by the till, and take a deep breath to calm myself. Wait. “I smell it, too.”
His gaze flicks to the door behind me, slit pupils dilating. “The kitchen.”
“The scones!” I squawk and spin on the spot. I slip in spilled espresso, toppling sideways. Before I can hit the ground, he lunges across the countertop, catching my arm in a grip that’s stronger than he realizes. It also prickles.
Let’s just say things get heated up after this interaction, in several different ways. But I really liked this one because its funny to say “The scones!” Okay. Onto that rating.
The plot gets a… 5/5!
Okay. So after many sessions of working on this review, and many tone changes throughout it. We’ve finally reached the final category. Writing. In the last section I talked about how important the plot is. But the quality of one’s writing is just as necessary.
As a writer, you need to be able to engage your audience. Creating details that raise questions, scenarios that make the readers go what? and so forth. Not only that, but the themes you want to communicate with the audience should be clear and easy to understand.
If there’s bad grammar, spelling errors, and so forth then this can all fall a part. But where does that put Nine-Tenths exactly? Well, if you couldn’t tell from my gushing. I’m pretty much in love over it— head over heels, swooning over every detail in this book.
J.M Frey’s writing is phenomenal and backed by years of experience within her craft. Through every minute of the story there was no break from feeling engaged and wanting more. Which is saying something because this book is nearly 600 pages. It can be difficult to carry such a level of quality in your writing the entire way.
But for J.M? I’d consider her a master of her genres. And below you can find even more excerpts that I enjoyed.
I want coffee.
I want him to back off.
(I want to kiss him.)
I’m so hungover.
He is so pretty in the morning light.
I’m being so uncooly feral.
and
He does a sort of half-shrug, head shake move that’s awkward as hell, and oh fuck, cute. Dammit. Dammit.
The Rules, I remind myself firmly, Don’t forget The Rules.
or these bits spliced.
Lt. Gov. Scumbag
Lt. Gov Fuckstick
Lt. Gov Fucknuts
Lt. Gov Asshole
And so forth. Alright onto the rating, haha!
Rating incoming: 5/5
Drama. Dragons. Love. Nine-Tenths is a powerful story with an incredible writer at its helm. Through every story-beat you’ll feel yourself pulled further in— desperate to know more about the main cast of characters and the lore which surrounds their world. Simply put, if you enjoy queer romances with dragons, then this is a must-read.
Thank you so much J.M for providing me a copy of your book to read and review! This was an absolute blast to read, and I loved basically every single minute of it. You and I have had a few discussions as I was reading, too. So it’s been fun getting to know your characters in and outside of the story.
This took me much longer than I anticipated to write, but I’m so grateful to get to do so. Nine-Tenths is a beautiful piece of LGBTQ+ representation, and I love how it addresses important key issues we humans struggle with in real life.
And for anyone whose made it this far… Thank you for sticking all the way through the review. And let’s be honest, if you read all the way through and aren’t convinced to support this author, then what are you even doing?
Anyway, see you all next time. Buh-bye for now!
This sounds totally fun!