The Apothecary's Apprentice
Astrophel D. Starless
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· Steam/Spice level: 4 of 5
Explicit open door [?]
· 0 ratings · 274 pages · Published: 07 Jun 2024
Alistair Waits, a 40 y.o. apothecary from the small town of Blooming Hope, has missed his chance to get married and start a family. Twice. Now, with his father having tragically passed away from a rabid dog attack when Alistair was 10, and with his mother gone, Alistair focuses mostly on picking up herbs and making medicine, with the closest thing to family in his life being a friendly potato farmer who used to be friends with Alistair’s father. Even though
Alistair wants a family more than anything, “family” in his mind requires a loving marriage, first. And that can be hard to arrange when your abandonment issues keep you from actually getting to know other people.
Hans Ousted, a 23 y.o. illustrator whose main source of income is making art for “gentlemen’s magazines”, despite coming from a family where dogs are put over people, and getting pulled out of school at the age of 12, has been relatively lucky in life.
Hans has managed to make a relatively good life for himself, as far as money is considered, and met many good people along the way. But this life still feels empty, and not because Hans doesn’t have a wife yet or because he doesn’t want children.
Both men meet when a rabid dog chases Alistair and Hans comes to his rescue. Alistair’s ankle gets bruised, so Hans offers him further assistance to get him back to his house. Therein, Alistair finds out that Hans intends on staying in a local hotel for the summer, and offers the young man a room at his house, instead. Hans quickly turns from a guest to a helper, an apprentice, and a friend for the middle-aged apothecary.
But the chemistry in the small lab in the back of the pharmacy is not the only chemistry between in that house. On their first Christmas Eve together, the men reveal that they both see each other as more than friends. Giving in to his newfound desire, Alistair unknowingly receives one more “gift”.
Alistair begins the new year with a few days of cramps, and carries on into the two remaining winter months with a fatigued body, a queasy stomach, and an increasingly bloated belly. He and Hans start planning a future together, and Hans is not just not bothered by, but actually happy with them both being men.
This means he at least doesn’t have to worry about making his partner fall pregnant. As Alistair’s belly (and not just his belly) keeps growing, however, both men will be forced to face their fears and see how strongly do they actually care about each other.
NOT omegaverse. A relatively steamy mpreg romance. Age gap warning, the pursuing character is 23 at the start of the story, and the pursued character is 40 at the start of the story. This book is set in the past, but not far enough to qualify as a historical romance. The setting can be best described as “retro”, sometime between the 1900s and the 1950s, perhaps on an alternate timeline, without any wars or calamities.
Angst level low to moderate. The impregnated man deals with abandonment issues and fear of loss. His partner deals with the fear of losing his newfound partner and getting left with a child he’s not sure he can love, as well as with the trauma related to growing up in a dysfunctional household.
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Tagged as:
- gay romance 1
- queer romance 1
- 20th century 1
- age gap 1
- pregnancy 1
- small town 1
- dual pov 1
- third person pov 1
- rich hero 1
- Add topics
- content warnings
- past child neglect 1
- death / grief 1
- past child abuse 1
romance tags
