Rarely do I want to write a book review before I’ve completed the first chapter of a book, but I was 2% into Who’d Have Thought by G Benson when I started lining up my squees of delight.

First, this novel includes an actual, living, breathing, “they” pronoun-using non-binary character. Luce isn’t the central character, but they have a life beyond pronouns in the story.

It says something about the strength of the gender binary that I fought my own anxiety until Luce’s sex-assigned-at-birth was revealed; yes, I was disappointed in myself. This book is the first I’ve read in which “they” is written in firmly as a third person singular pronoun. Although I’ve adopted this pronoun myself in real life daily conversations with non-binary friends and people of unknown gender identities, I could practically feel my reading brain recalibrating itself. Success set in, happily.

Second, Hayden is matter-of-fact pansexual. When she answers a Craigslist advert for someone seeking a wife-for-hire, she shrugs away the possible gender of Sam. Spoiler alert: Sam’s a woman.

Third, marriage equality means that the Harlequin romance trope of the fake marriage leading to real love has legitimately come to lesfic. Huzzah! Thank you Supreme Court.

Yes, I did need to suspend disbelief for such a plot device, but I laughed from the start (G Benson has some sharp skills with internal and external dialogue), and also dug how much nurse Hayden loathes the cold surgeon Sam. And, in the end, I read all night and can report back that the deepening of the relationship between Hayden and Sam was full-bodied and the reveal of why Sam needed a wife worth the wait… and something not found in a hetero Harlequin romance. Extra kudos to Frank the cat. Viva la lesfic, dear readers.

p.s. G Benson, can I respectively request a short story or online epilogue from Sam’s point of view? I’d like to give her brain a hug and ruffle affectionately her feelings for Hayden.

You can purchase or download a sample by clicking here.