Read: The Cybernetic Tea Shop by Meredith Katz

So! Hello Actual Long Form Blog part of the fediverse! I am excited! This is where I come to yell or mumble or leave short notes about books, apparently.

I've had The Cybernetic Tea Shop on my to read list for years, probably since some cool queer sff loving person on Twitter recommended it shortly after it was published. I didn't read it right away mainly because I knew it was romance, and while asexual romance did intrigue me, I was constantly frustrated by all the romance that I started to read. Since then, my approach to romance has changed drastically. I have read at least two romance books that I liked (I'm thinking of Storm Season by Pene Henson, and the various romance-y plots and stories in and around Chameleon Moon by RoAnna Sylver), and I have grown more accepting of the fluffy crushy feelings that I have for some people now and then.

When I chose to read it yesterday, my main motivation was that it's rather short. I wasn't feeling great and I wanted to take a break from the (awesome) non-fiction book that I'm currently reading (Salt, Fat Acid, Heat by Samin Nosrat, I love it even though it kind of glosses over the actual pains of mayonnaise making).

And The Cybernetic Tea Shop was a perfect choice. It is lovely, gentle and full of pain and hope. It feels soft and vibrant, almost made me cry and definitely made me smile, while putting tiny explosions of colours in my head. It's a good story.

First we get to know Clara, who never stays in one place for long. She repairs Raises for a living, pet-like AI assistants, a job that she can find wherever she travels. Her own companion is Joanie, a hummingbird Raise who's code she has modified to give her a wider range of expression.

Soon, she meets Sal, who runs a tea shop and is one of the actual robots that are not being made anymore due to ethical concerns, and also a person. Clara is intrigued by Sal's impressive tech, but also really really likes her. The two of them grow closer, in the tea shop that Sal is bound to by old love and her programming, threatened only by the anti robot hate targeted at Sal and her shop.

And it's sad! And it' super fluffy! And it's about trust and cuddles and life plans and getting through stuff together. And what does it say about me that I really relate to Sal, a robot who just can not move on?

There's a lot of explainy stuff and I super love that. Interaction is never just there, it is often commented on in a gentle analysis of what is happening, how person-ing works, how being friends and lovers works for these two cuties. Also. Clara being asexual is talked about in the lovliest possible way.

I am so glad that I finally read this, and kind of glad that I didn't read it much earlier.