Moralistic Romance Goes Nearly As Heavy On Preaching As Romance. Maybe Moreso. First, there are a lot of similarities here to scifi that runs the gamut from literal child stories to ultra violent (depending on incarnation) scifi. Just the base set up here, you’ve got something that at times feels like the DIVERGENT world (particularly by the time of ALLEGIANT) / Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs / the storyline setup for Walt Disney World’s Guardians of The Galaxy: Cosmic Rewind ride at Epcot / one of my favorite lines in any scifi story ever in the Sylvester Stallone version of Judge Dredd.
All of this, in a fucking *romance* book. Y’all, that takes innovation within the genre to levels I’ve rarely if ever seen, and I’ve read over 1800 books within the last decade alone.
This is also a different kind of “dual timeline” type tale in that it is more “dual reality”. Still two different sequences of events, still two different overall plotlines to follow – meaning those who dislike dual timelines for whatever reason will still likely have similar issues with this book – but instead of a historical (or future) and a current timeline, you have two simultaneous realities… with at least one romance (and possibly more…) going on between them.
So again, innovative to the extreme here. Seriously, kudos to Fenton and Steinke for being this imaginative while remaining squarely within the romance genre. (And yes, this is more “romance with scifi elements” than “scifi romance”… or at least I think so. Read the book for yourself and write your own review and feel free to call me out in it (and even tag me, where possible) if you think I’m an idiot here.)
Perhaps the issue many will have with this book is that it is not even that arguably even *more* heavy handed with its political messaging than even Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged – a book that literally has an 80 page philosophical tome baked into its 1,000+ page story “disguised” as a speech its ultimate hero is giving. Yes, you read that right. In my view, this book is *even more heavy handed with its politics* than one of *the* examples most people give when asked for a book that is heavy handed with its politics. (And again, *please* read the book yourself, write your own review, and feel free to call me an idiot here if you think it warranted.)
Now, like Atlas Shrugged, I happen to largely-ish agree with the ultimate message of the heavy handed political speech within this book. I think Fenton and Steinke ultimately have a message that a lot of people in a lot of (wildly) different situations need to understand and help re-orient their worldview around. But it *is* absolutely Thanos throwing an entire fucking planet at Iron Man level heavy handed, and for at least some readers it may well take away from the overall story of the romance at the core of the story here.
Still, for all that it is, this really is one of the most innovative romance stories I’ve ever come across, and that alone makes it…
Very much recommended.
This review of The Naysayers by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke was originally written on January 10, 2026.