Chosen for Book Riot's 2018 Read Harder challenge, a romance novel by or about a person of color. I'm not a reader of traditionally published romance by any means, but I didn't want to read about a character of color written by a white author, therefore An Extraordinary Union was chosen somewhat blindly from a list. But man, what a fortuitous choice on my part! I really enjoyed this.

Ellen Burns, or Elle, is a free black woman working as a spy during the beginnings of the American Civil War. She is employed by the Loyal League, an organization that swears to four L's: "Loyalty, Legacy, Life, and Lincoln". She is blessed, or cursed, with an eidetic memory, which she uses to record verbatim conversations she overhears, as well as passing along cyphers and battle schematics. While undercover as a mute slave at a secessionist Senator's home, she comes in contact with Malcolm, a Pinkerton agent who is also undercover as a Rebel soldier. Their attraction is immediate and intense and he spends the entire book trying to get her attention while maintaining their respective personas.

Malcolm, desperately: I love you!
Elle, annoyed: I am busy.

Elle is a smart woman who knows her worth, but is also painfully aware of the danger she find herself in if she allowed herself to want him. Malcolm thinks he knows and can shield her from any harm, but she shows him time and again that he is still able to retreat into the safety of his White Male Space. The repercussions of his actions are tolerated, if not venerated; she has no such freedom. His self-recriminating awareness when these epiphanies hit him borders on unrealistic, but it's pretty obvious that in order to truly be a partner to Elle, he needs to be as hyperaware as she is about their very existence as an interracial couple and what it means to society and to one another.

The biggest stick for me, that really brought it down a half-star, was the sex scenes. On one hand, during their first time, Malcolm was emotionally conscious enough to feel her mood shift, and stopped. He knew that her consent at that point was nebulous! That is an amazing thing to see written in print, both from a female POV and because the power differential in their relationship as a white man and a black woman (at all, but especially during the American Civil War period) is so very vast.

On the other hand, wow, does it ever throw me off to see the word "penis" and "climax" during a sexy scene. That's just personal, though - maybe other people enjoy anatomical descriptions. Maybe I'm too used to fanfiction - there's a lot of "cock" thrown about. ;)

Overall, Elle is a boss ass lady - she is so smart and so brave and she cares so much for the potential of a country that would leave her to rot in a ditch. Them good ol' Southern boys could learn a thing or two from her about fucking patriotism, that's for sure. (Malcolm is okay too, I guess.)