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Kristin Marra has written a paranormal read filled with humor, danger, and clear correlations to our current world. The protagonist, Devorah Rosten is a very successful reader of tarot cards. She uses her skills to help clients "reorganize" their lives in ways which affect their future. Devorah's own life spins out of control when the cosmic powers choose her to help right the balance of power in our world. What follows is a wonderful romp through both the spirit world and Seattle as Devorah tries to rescue attorney Laura Bishop from the "forces of evil." Filled with wonderful Jewish humor, and making some interesting connections between the tarot cards and the Jewish Kabbalah, 78 Keys is a delightful read and shows the depth of Marra's narrative skills, as it is a very different story from her fine western, Wind and Bones.
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Reviewed by RLynne
Ambereye is the second installment in McKnight's Garoul series about a werewolf family. In this one, Julie Garoul, who is a top executive in the family's business, Ambereye, Inc., is a demanding workaholic whose employees try to avoid her as much as possible. Everyone loves Hope Glassy because she's kind, considerate and equally hardworking. When Hope returns from a serious illness, she can't believe she's been assigned to Julie as a personal assistant, but she's determined to make the best of the position. When Julie says that they're going to work over Thanksgiving at her family's compound, Hope is furious, but she makes the trip to Little Dip. This is when the misunderstandings kick in. The family thinks that Julie is bringing home her mate for them to meet. Julie likes the idea, but Hope is clueless about a number of things. Can two strong-willed women make this situation work? And just how do you explain to someone that you and much of your family can turn into wolves?
This book has a great deal more humor in it than the first one in the series. McKnight may be more comfortable with this family she has created. The sparring between Julie and Hope in the beginning is similar to the banter that goes on in "The Odd Couple." It starts with a squabble over who owns the best office chair, moves to who makes the coffee and then takes a serious turn as Julie realizes her feelings are changing. It's a classic story of a curmudgeon who is slowly turned into a likeable character by a lighter spirit. The early scenes that show them interacting are the best in the book. Once they arrive in Little Dip the story takes a turn into becoming a routine romance, except for the werewolf thing.
People who think they don't like supernatural stories should give this book a chance. It's well told and entertaining. If you want a good laugh, it's good for that. It's an easy read and the main characters are very appealing. Besides, the Garoul family and how it functions in a modern world is very interesting. What more can a reader ask for in exchange for a few hours?
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
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Title: Awakenings (I Found My Heart in San Francisco: Book One)
Author: Susan X. Meagher
Publisher: Brisk Press
Available At: Brisk Press and Amazon
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You really get to know these people and love them
From the very first page the reader is captivated and wants to know more about the characters. We meet Ryan O'Flaherty and Jamie Evans, juniors at the University of California at Berkeley. Oh My Goodness, this was fun reading. The two main characters are completely endearing (I just can't get enough of them). The author explores them thoroughly so that the reader gets to know them well. This is a wonderful story.
This novel is a substantial read to be savored. Happy sigh ...I love this series,
I was completely delighted to see this novel as an ebook. Excellent writing, perfectly paced plot, lovable characters. I was riveted to every page and didn't want to put the book down. I always hold off opening this author's novels until first thing Saturday morning so I can read as much as possible in the next 48 hours.
Along with the great plot the humor is laugh out loud funny. The author, who I thought was perfection in her other novels, All That Matters, Cherry Grove, and Arbor Vitae just keeps surprising me with one hit novel after another.
I am already clamoring for the next novel in this series.
This is a keeper.
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Reviewed by Elaine Mulligan
Beautiful Game takes readers back to university life in l991. Cam Wallace is a student at U. C. San Diego. She's there on a soccer scholarship and clearly feels the difference between herself and those whose parents could afford the university tuition. Readers follow Cam through the next two years of her life: her classes, her games, her friends, and her falling in love.
Christie captures the life of a college jock, from the roughhousing to the incredible tension and excitement of the game. Even those who are not soccer fans will be gripped by the exciting championship action. And, she captures the equally incredible sweetness and heartache of a first adult love.
Edited by Katherine V. Forrest, Beautiful Game is a wonderful romp back into the ups and downs of college life. Christie's characters are wonderful, and U. C. San Diego is a beautiful place to visit.
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Reviewed by RLynne
The highest recommendation I can give Lee Lynch’s writing is that you will not mistake it for anyone else’s. Her voice and imagination are uniquely her own. Lynch has been out and proudly writing about it for longer than many of us have been alive. In her novel, Beggar of Love, she creates a protagonist, Jefferson (known by her surname), so fully realised that the story seems to distill the last several decades of lesbian life.
Since The Swashbuckler (1985), Lynch has unapologetically written novels about and for dykes. As Nicola Griffith has said about “lesbian fiction” (asknicola.blogspot.com), it would not be a compliment to suggest that Lynch transcends the genre; good books are not a genre. A good book can make the reader laugh, feel desire, and think, sometimes all in the same scene. Lynch does this with pithy sentences that can convey an entire relationship and more: “The occasional harshness that remained in Ginger’s accent grated on Jefferson, who’d been raised to sound like a class, not a location” (p. 88). Here she describes a phenomenon this reader never had words for, but recognised instantly. Lynch is that rare US writer who knows that class—not race or sexuality—is the great American taboo. Her fiction can be relied upon to show us characters not only of different classes but of different ages and racial/ethnic backgrounds—and she introduces them effortlessly, because her dyke world cuts across all those lines. This diversity is one of the things lesbian and feminist literature was supposed to deliver. Lynch delivers.
Another thing Beggar of Love does, that novelists rarely achieve, is to keep the outcome for the hero in genuine doubt until the very last page. The reader comes to know Jefferson in all her charming, sometimes infuriating butch complexity, and Lynch honors her readers’ intelligence by giving Jefferson many dimensions. In bringing these fully to life, she also does justice to her character.
Nor is gender diversity absent from Beggar of Love. Like much of Lynch’s work it celebrates butch and femme, especially butch sexuality, as more than fixed references to one point in time. There are few male characters, although there are hints that Jefferson’s father, Jarvy, sought the company of other men while married to Jefferson’s mother. Jefferson seems to have inherited her father’s roving eye, as surely as his alcoholism. Jarvy’s story brings to mind the father’s tragedy in Fun Home, Alison Bechdel’s graphic (in the sense of drawn media) memoir.
What takes the reader through the years and pages of this novel is, finally, the writing. “She'd been in love before, of course. Angela was still like ivy entwining her heart that some day would leave impressions, fossils of love, but her sensations now moved inside those ivied walls” (p. 85). Jefferson’s feelings, if not her experiences, are universal. “Now that she knew she was capable of betrayal and inflicting pain in order to have what she wanted, she suspected everyone else in the world was capable of the same thing. She'd discovered that she couldn't trust herself to honor what she'd thought she'd believed in. How could she now trust anyone else?” (pp. 101-02)
Lee Lynch finds the words.
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Reviewed by J. E. Knowles
J. E. Knowles is the author of Arusha, a Lambda Literary Award finalist. Her second novel will be published in 2012. She may be contacted via her Web site, jeknowles.com.
Kara Travis is a "fixer" for her employer Royal Environmental. Her job is to go into district offices, discover where the problems are and clean them up. Sometimes that means firing people. That's what she expects to do in Bensonville, Georgia. Her first night in town she finds an interesting distraction in the cute bartender from a local club. After a night of terrific sex, imagine her surprise the next morning when she finds out that the bartender is Andie Waters, a waste sample collector for Kara's company. Though both women know professionalism dictates that they stop seeing each other, they're also thrown together every day and the attraction is extremely powerful. There are numerous problems however. Andie is still recovering from a painful relationship that ended tragically and doesn't want to be hurt again. Kara doesn't want to endanger a promising career. One-night stands are her normal behavior. The chance of them working this situation out does not appear promising, especially when Kara discovers irregularities at Andie's office.
MacKenzie takes a different approach to the romantic formula. She introduces the relationship almost immediately and then takes it away. There is not a need for the characters to spend the rest of the book deciding if they like each other. They know that. Instead the book focuses on issues that are weightier, such as the impact of suicide on the people left behind, the struggle between professional behavior and personal feelings, and the psychology of being the victim of a crime. The reader has a chance to see these characters work their ways through problems and, as in real life, the solutions are not always pretty or satisfying.
Confined Spaces takes a risk. It hopes that readers who normally want simple romances of people coming together will be willing to stick with one where the relationship doesn't flow evenly and the happily-ever-after ending is very much in doubt. This is a strong debut novel for MacKenzie. She still needs to work on character development and filling in weak points in a plot, but she shows potential for future novels. Overall it is a satisfying story. Readers should give it a chance.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
Sheri Lewis Wohl has given readers a fascinating cast of characters: Spokane County Medical Examiner Riah Preston who is a five-hundred-year-old vampire; Coroner Ivy Hernandez; genetic scientist Adriana James; and Colin Jamison, a vampire hunter for the Vatican. Her interesting mix includes straights and gays, males and females, all working together to solve the mystery of who, or what, is leaving a bloody trail across the states. Wohl tells her story with humor and includes many interesting "facts" about vampires. There is some hot sex, both straight and gay, and the interplay between her characters is authentic.
Crimson Vengeance is a very different paranormal novel, which had me reflecting on both the characters and the story, and poses ethical questions about the nature of vampires. The setting, in North Eastern Washington state, allows for both rural and urban action. This is an exciting page turner which will stay with the reader after the last page is turned.
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Reviewed by RLynne
Darkness Embraced is the first novel in a new series by Winter Pennington. For some unknown reason the book's description didn't really grab me and I wasn't sure I wanted to read it (although the gorgeous cover sure grabbed my attention). I had really enjoyed Pennington's previous books, so with dragging feet, I reluctantly started reading. Boy oh boy was I glad I did! It was such a great read and I couldn't put it down until I had finished.
The book follows Epiphany, an underling vampire in the Rosso Lussuria clan. Her first fifty years as a vampire were spent at her queen's side, loved and protected. For reasons she doesn't know, she's cast out amongst the other underlings and has to spend the next one hundred and fifty years just surviving. Surviving the loss of her queen, the anger at being cast aside and the attentions of the clan elders.
The only thing that has kept her safe is the friendship of Vasco, one of the elders. His power has shielded her for the last one hundred and fifty years, but now it's time for Epiphany to step forward and challenge for the right to be an elder herself. She's not looking forward to the challenge, not so much the tests themselves, but that she'll have to face her sire and queen and one time love, Renata.
The challenge sets in motion events she could never have imagined. Epiphany is forced to face her own growing power as she steps into the middle of vampire politics, jealousies, ambitions and plots. Most unexpected of all, the realization that maybe, just maybe, her queen still has feelings for her.
Pennington has a wonderful talent at writing paranormal stories. Unlike many of the recent books in the genre that have vamps living amongst humans, Darkness Embraced has the vampire clan living in almost total isolation. This allows for the focus to be totally on the vampires and the clan hierarchy, customs and politics. Vampires and sex seem to go hand in hand and Darkness Embraced embraces the sexuality and sensuality of the main characters and takes them to wild, edgy places.
I think part of my initial hesitation in reading it, was that it was clearly marked as the start of a series. I always worry I'll get to the end and there'll be unresolved story lines and questions and I'll be left feeling frustrated. Thankfully Pennington does a great job of writing a well developed and complete book that can stand on its own, even if she never writes another in the series. Of course having said that, I sure hope she's writing up a storm with more books in the Rosso Lussuria Vampire series and we get to enjoy more stories started so brilliantly in Darkness Embraced.
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Reviewed by Jodie Atkinson
Darkness Embraced is the first book in Pennington's Rosso Lussuria Vampire series, but her third book about the paranormal. As a reviewer, I'm glad to report that her books just get better and better! In Darkness Embraced Pennington has created a society of not just the Russo Lussuria vampires, but also the creatures who came before vampires.
Epiphany tells the story. She was reborn as a vampire two hundred years ago. She was sired by Renata, Queen of the Russo Lussuria vampires, and lived many years as her beloved "pet". Epiphany was then cast out by Renata, and had to learn to deal with the vampire elders on her own as an underling. As the book opens, Epiphany is facing a series of trials to see if she can pass from an underling to an elder and take her seat among them.
Pennington writes rich descriptions of the vampires, their living area, and their lives. In addition, she cleverly shows the various personalities of the individual vampires, bringing them to life. Darkness Embraced is a gripping novel full of intrigue, danger, humor and hot sex. In addition, there is one adorable little fox! This story is a page turner from the first page to the last, with hopes of a sequel soon to follow.
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Reviewed by RLynne
Devil in Disguise is a gripping novel of suspense. Natalie Simmons is recovering from a terrible accident which took the life of her lover. She's moved to a rural area outside of Greenwood Springs, Louisiana. Natalie's anxious to start living her life again, including, possibly, dating. She's met two interesting women, who both seem interested in her.
What follows is a haunting tale of strange happenings and unexplained disappearances which leave Natalie questioning her newfound self confidence. Told in two voices, Devil in Disguise is one of those psychological thrillers which grabs you in the first few pages, and doesn't let go until the exciting conclusion.
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Reviewed by RLynne
Gerri Hill resurrects a villain from the Tori Hunter books to set up another murder mystery in Arizona. Andrea Sullivan left the crime-ridden streets of Los Angeles to find a quieter life as a deputy in Sedona, AZ. She hopes to forget a personal tragedy as she patrols among the red rocks that make the spiritual community famous. Instead Andrea finds herself dealing with a serial murderer of college students and her department doesn't have the resources to properly pursue the case. The FBI sends Agent Cameron Ross to assist in the investigation. Ross has her own ghosts she's dealing with and her intention is to catch the killer and move on to the next case. Neither of them is looking for a relationship, but they have to work very closely together. Stress, danger and mutual attraction will cause each of them to reassess her future.
Hill is particularly adept at creating strong female characters. In Devil's Rock she has two complex women who have been seriously damaged in earlier events, yet still able to perform at a high level of efficiency. Andrea and Cameron are smart and extremely capable, strong and vulnerable, like two sides of the same coin, but their emotional baggage is making both of their lives unsatisfying. Hill is able to develop an intricate murder plot while letting the reader watch them try to heal each other. The best part is that both of the women are believable. They aren't perfect and they struggle to make things work. Sometimes they make mistakes and the pain each is feeling comes off of the pages.
Gerri Hill has written a number of novels that vary in quality. Devil's Rock is one of the better ones. The story is predictable, but the characters are appealing and well developed. The suspense around the murders remains strong throughout the book. This one is worth a few hours of reading.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
Ditched is the third Lonnie Squires Mystery from Josie Gordon. The town of Middelburg and its cast of crazy characters plays such a large part of all the books, that I'd recommend reading the first two mysteries before reading Ditched, so that you can more fully appreciate every element of the book. It can, however, be enjoyed as a standalone.
Lonnie Squires has been offered an inheritance from her Aunt Kate, a classic Ford Fairlane racecar and almost half a million dollars. Lonnie isn't surprised that there's a catch to inheriting though, after all, Aunt Kate has never made life easy so why should she start now, 9 years after her death. All Lonnie has to do is pick the car up on her 35th birthday, drive around Lake Michigan with a friend, who is to take photos of Lonnie and the car at specific landmarks. Easy, right?
This is the least of Lonnie's concerns though, as she's in the middle of a battle with Councilwoman Star Hannes and her instigation of archaic town laws. Laws meant to drive Lonnie, the lone Episcopal priest in Middelburg, out of town. Not to mention the pesky dead body that has turned up. No way is Lonnie getting involved in solving yet another murder. Even if the press is calling her a Super Sleuth.
Normally I avoid books that have any sort of religion in them, but Gordon's Lonnie Squires Mysteries are so well written and inhabited by such a kooky and crazy cast of characters, they're hard to resist. I couldn't help but be drawn into Lonnie's determination to stand up to Star and her unjust laws, so much so, that I could feel myself getting angry and wanting to make my own protest. One scene gripped me so hard I could feel my heart pounding in my chest and I wanted to jump into the book and help.
Ditched is a wonderful third book in the Lonnie Squires Mysteries and I'm definitely looking forward to the next one in the series. I can hardly imagine what trouble Lonnie could find herself in next time, but I'm looking forward to finding out.
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Reviewed by Jodie Atkinson
You’d think Reverend Lonnie Squares would learn to keep out of the dastardly doings of Middleburg’s rising political celebrity-in-her-own-mind, Star Hannes. But once, again, the amateur sleuth gets into more trouble than she’s bargained for and almost loses it entirely—all over her dog, Linus, and Star’s newly resurrected “laws,” which Lonnie sees as no more than a political stunt to help Star’s upcoming election. It all serves to bring Lonnie to the brink of disaster.
In order to get out of the stranglehold Star has around Lonnie’s figurative neck, Lonnie is forced to take up her dead aunt Kate’s challenge, left in a will, to drive a collectible racecar, a 1966 Ford Fairlane, around Lake Michigan, visiting spots that include a submarine and a very large crucified Christ, snapping pictures of herself and the car, named Pearl. Lonnie’s ultimate reward is close to a half-million dollars and the car, but she doesn’t want any part of it—not the money, not the car, not the control her “crazy” aunt Kate still seems to wield over her from grave—and especially not anything to do with Star.
There’s only one thing Lonnie cares about enough to make her take part in this bizarre jaunt—getting her dog back. Feeling backed into a corner, Lonnie boards the classic car with her good friend, Marion, to take the proscribed trip. And if the circumstances that led to the trip were strange and nasty, the trip itself is not any better. Curious occurrences abound at each stop and Lonnie and Marion are getting deeper and deeper into trouble that they may not survive. At home and on vacation, hypocrisy, shenanigans, chaos, underhandedness and murder all mix to bring Lonnie to the brink of disaster—and a crisis of faith.
As clues finally start to make sense, and the murderer is revealed, it may prove to be too late for Lonnie and her best friend. A simple trip turns out to be one of the hardest things Lonnie has ever done in her life.
Josie Gordon has gotten Lonnie in deeper and deeper with the people of Middleburg with each new tale. The suspense in Ditched doesn’t disappoint. You can almost hear the scary music playing in the background as the pages turn.
The loveable character Reverend Lonnie Squires struggles with her faith, with her sometimes bigoted, mostly conservative neighbors and parishioners, and with her own longings to find someone to care deeply for, in spite of her position deeply in the closet. Perhaps the Reverend Squires is endearing precisely because of her struggles and her flaws. She is very human after all. Don’t miss this heart-thumping next episode in the Lonnie Squires mystery series.
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Reviewed by Anna Furtado
Firestorm by Radclyffe is the second novel in the First Responders series. The title gives you an idea of the setting, those who fight fires, but it's so much more.
Mallory 'Ice' James is a firefighter paramedic with the United States Forest Service. She's about to spend four weeks getting four rookies up to speed to join her crew of smokejumpers. Ice is all about control, everything in her life needs to be in order, to allow her and her crew to fight and stay safe with the unpredictability of fire. Something she has no control over is the last minute inclusion into her crew of rookie Jac Russo.
Jac may have gained entry to the crew through her senator father, but she knows she has the skills and knowledge to keep the position on her own merits. After starting off on the wrong foot, she's determined to push herself as hard as it takes to prove herself to Mallory. A life spent in the shadow of politics has meant she kept herself guarded, not letting anyone in. What she doesn't count on is her attraction to Mallory, who slips past her guard without even trying.
I loved Firestorm. When you read a Radclyffe, you know exactly what you're getting: a romance that's heavy on the sexual tension and sex. Which is what actually annoys me about some of her books, way too many pages of sex. (In my opinion on my reading tastes). I often skim those scenes and outright skip them on the re-reads (I know, I know, I'm an anomaly in the lesfic world). I thought Firestorm found a really nice balance with lots of building of the relationship and steamy sexual tension, but enough sex that those who look for that in books will be happy, but not enough to overshadow the story for me. All in all it was a great romance, full of emotions, action and passion.
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Reviewed by Jodie Atkinson
Firestorm is in the First Responders series. It features the smoke jumpers who jump into remote areas to fight wildfires. Its setting, in the Bitterroot Mountains between Washington and Montana, is a boot camp for new crew members. Mallory James, (called Ice by her crew), is the trainer who must teach the rookies everything they'll need to know to survive on the line. Jac Russo, the daughter of a right wing senator, is one of the new rookies.
Radclyffe does an excellent job describing the training situation, as well as the wilderness area. In addition, she brilliantly describes the almost tangible sexual tension which builds between Mallory and Jac. Both Mallory and Jac are deeply driven women with strong reasons for wanting to succeed, and both are used to exercising control over their emotions. The struggles they have fighting their strong attraction for each other are deeply moving.
Firestorm is an exciting story with a fascinating look into the life of the men and women who daily face unbelievable conditions and situations.. It's filled with rich scenes, exciting drama, great characters , and a wonderful love story.
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Reviewed by RLynne
Karin Kallmaker occasionally creates anthologies that are a gift to her regular readers. She goes back to her books and writes short stories that allow the readers to visit characters again. These stories extend the original stories, enhance the characters or satisfy the curiosity of "What happened next?"
Frosting on the Cake 2 revisits sixteen of Kallmaker's books. Some of them go back to her earlier works like Car Pool, Touchwood and In Every Port, while others are inspired by recent books, such as Above Temptation, The Kiss That Counted and Warming Trend. The styles range from humorous to serious to erotic and visit a number of different issues.
"Snap Judgment" (Above Temptation) shows Kip Barrett establishing her new company. "Good Morning" (Warming Trend) deals with the issue of gay marriage and "The Curve of Her" (Touchwood) addresses how age differences don't really matter when two people are in love. In "Losing Faith" (Wild Things) the problem of trying to balance two different careers is the issue. "Divided Highway" (Car Pool) shows that when a child's health is threatened, nothing else should matter. The other stories are in the same manner, adding touches to tales that readers might have thought were completed.
At the end of the book, Kallmaker discusses the inspirations for some of her books, why some of them get added chapters and the reasons she's left others alone. The reader doesn't have to have read the books the stories are based on, but some of the stories won't have their full impact if the background story isn't known.
If the reader is a Kallmaker fan and is looking for a book that can be read a little and put down without losing the continuity of a story, then Frosting on the Cake 2: Second Helpings suits the purpose.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
Getting There is the goal of Katrin Oldfield, Kat to her friends: getting over her second broken relationship, and getting over her feelings of failure. Goaded by her best friend, Em, Kat moves back to her childhood neighborhood. Her plan is to camp out in an old house she has inherited and rehab it.
Denison has skillfully written about Kat's warring emotions as she takes on a daunting physical task and also faces her past. Set in Australia, and laced with local idioms, Getting There takes the reader on Kat's emotional roller coaster of facing her estranged parents, her ex and her ex's daughter, and making new friends. This book is filled with joy and angst, pride and love. It's a story with which many of us can identify. Kat and her friends are interesting and believable, and Dennison certainly knows how to keep the pages turning.
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Reviewed by RLynne
Apparently, trouble follows Alex Pope like bees hone into a flower filled with nectar. Still trying to recover from the loss of a loved one, yet obviously emotionally separated from her past, Alex manages to get mixed up with some teenage bullies and Jaycee Leonard, a young actress who becomes the group’s next victim. Then there are the suicides (yes, more than one), rumors of family incest, and a long line of strange people who wind up at Alex’s door with problems of their own. Although Alex really doesn’t want to be involved in any of this intrigue, she can’t seem to help herself.
Alex befriends, and eventually finds herself attracted to, the mysterious playwright, Nikki Ellard, who is a family friend of Jaycee’s. The bullying escalates when Jaycee temporarily attends a new school in Sonoma County while in a local play Nikki has written. It’s a tangled web these characters get caught up in, and Alex is driven to unravel the story to its very end. Even in the last pages, it’s difficult to figure out who the “bad guys” really are. But once they start to reveal themselves, the extrication begins—to Alex’s detriment.
Not only is Alex determined to find out the truth about what’s been going on, she also seems to exert an equal and opposite amount of energy in not facing her own issues. And then, there’s that thing about trouble following her as if it were made of iron and she, a magnet.
The story begins with a whole assemblage of characters to keep track of , but in the end, they all serve a purpose in the unfolding tale. Morganstein has a unique voice with which to tell this story, and the twists and turns will keep the reader turning pages until the last spiral has been unwound and the surprise ending has been revealed. Harpies’ Feast is a fascinating tale.
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Reviewed by Anna Furtado
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Title: InSight of the SEER
Author: Linda Andersson and Sara Marx
Publisher: Bella Books
Available At: Bella Books
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Los Angeles Police Department officer Guin Marcus returns in Insight of the Seer. As the story begins, devastated by the death of her partner and lover, Guin has returned to work after a mandatory vacation month. Guin must now learn to trust and work with a new partner, sexy April Reese. What complicates their work, and Guin's life, is that she is clairvoyant. As Guin's abilities grow, so does the challenge of keeping them hidden even as they aid her in solving crimes.
Anderson and Marx have given their readers a rich new book in this series. Guin, April, and their Lieutenant, Jace Sloan, are sympathetic and complex characters. Edited by Katherine V. Forrest, InSight of the SEER takes us into the day-to-day life of an LAPD officer, as well as exploring the loneliness of having a gift which can't be shared.
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Reviewed by RLynne
What would you do if you were in an explosion and when you woke up you were almost ninety years in the future?
Lieutenant Kasey Houston is tired of staying on the sidelines as a nurse in World War II so she sneaks off her ship at Okinawa in 1945 to participate in the battle; then she gets more action than she counted on when she's involved in an explosion. Captain Andrea Knight lives in 2036 in a world vastly changed by a war in 2020. Civil order has broken down and a gang called The Scepters, led by a character called Bad Billy, is trying to take over the world. When Andrea finds Kasey lying in some rubble she first assumes Kasey is disoriented from a head wound, but she quickly begins to understand that something else has happened. Kasey seems to know military procedures, so Andrea puts her in with her troops. As they try to unravel a plot by Billy's forces and other traitors to disrupt a meeting of the United Presidents and overthrow the government, the women fall in love. If they survive the danger around them, then they have to worry about what to do if Kasey is sent back to the past.
Into the Mist has a good story at the center of it. Clark has to manufacture a world and situations that don't exist and then fit her characters into them. People have developed new social customs and some have powers that aren't around today. There's nothing like an apocalyptic world to bring out the best and worst in people. The fact that it's set relatively close to the current time will have the reader wondering how much of the scenario could come true.
Unfortunately, there are numerous missing or misspelled words, plus large portions of the story seem to be missing and that gives the book an uneven pace. Andrea doesn't seem at all surprised to find someone from the future under a pile of rubble and Kasey has no problems at all adjusting to life eighty-six years in the future. Anyone who was born in 1945 when Kasey supposedly disappeared is experiencing some difficulty today coping with the technology in 2011. That Kasey would have no trouble with it at a later date, especially with no time to acclimate to the changes, is beyond probable.
Into the Mist had potential, but it wasn't fulfilled. It reads more like a first draft than a finished edition. It can still be read for some entertainment, but the reader should be prepared to overlook a lot of problems.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
Jane Doe by Lisa Girolami follows Emily Carver from the small town of Horatio, Oklahoma. Having never been out of her dusty little town, Emily's excited to win a trip to Las Vegas. Her excitement is short lived though when her fiancé won't go and her friends are also all too busy to go with her. For the first time in her life, she makes a decision to do what she wants and jets off to Las Vegas, desperately trying to ignore the warnings of trouble that are ringing in her ears.
Unfortunately, it doesn't take trouble long to find her when she's mugged on her first day. Sore and sorry for herself, both in body and confidence, and having been robbed of all money and identification, she decides to embrace her new Jane Doe name. Anything to avoid the "I told you so" she knows is coming her way if she lets everyone at home know what happened.
Stepping in to save the day is Royal Wooten. Royal saves her from worse injuries at the hands of the muggers and offers her somewhere to stay while she recuperates. Taken in and cared for by Royal and her friends, Jane(Emily) soon learns that it's ok to be independent and to do what you want to do, not just what is expected. To her surprise, she finds the chance she is taking in living a new life may also lead to her taking a chance on love.
Jane Doe is really sweet. For a short book, Girolami has given us some wonderful characters that we see grow and change by their influences on each other. We get to follow along as Jane's confidence slowly builds and her eyes are opened to a world of choices she never new she had. Royal is kind hearted and loveable, and though having been burned by a straight girl before, her feelings for Jane force her to grow beyond the hurts of the past. Royal's friend Delilah is wonderful and I think she deserves a story all of her own. Jane Doe is a lovely, easy to read romance that left me with a smile on my face.
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Reviewed by Jodie Atkinson
"If one more person under the age of twenty - making her own forty-three years
all the more obvious - jostled her messenger bag without any form of apology,
that person was likely to be decked. She would swear she was menopausal and
not responsible for her actions. Who amongst a store full of people half her age
would argue with that?" (pg. 1)
Does this woman sound familiar? Maybe you've been this woman.
Samantha Moyer is a hero for the common woman. She's a little too tall, carries a few extra pounds, has red hair thanks to L'Oreal and finds herself in middle age with no love to call her own. She likes her job, stands by her friends, fights for the weak and can't understand why finding a woman to share her life is so difficult. It's certainly not for lack of trying. Sam and her best friend Paul frequently visit Internet sites hoping to make a match. The result is a growing string of one-time dates ranging from the bizarre to the ridiculous. Her most consistent relationship is with a nurse in the emergency room she keeps ending up in and that woman has a decidedly negative impression of her. As Sam moves through each day trying to maintain a successful business, she's drawn into the lives of Paul, her neighbor Ava and another neighbor Haley who has an abusive partner. Her life is full, but could use just a little romance.
Just A Little Romance is a very enjoyable book. It's not a typical romance, but a nice story about a routine life with some occasional excitement thrown into it. Most books feature women who are strikingly beautiful, engaged in highly successful occupations and living totally satisfying lives. Sam Moyer is just an ordinary woman making it through each day. She's irritated by young people who lack proper manners and appalled by KD who frequently beats Haley. She acts before she thinks because she wants to do what is right and sometimes she pays for it, as her bruises and broken bones prove. Sam enjoys her job and her friends, but she misses that special someone to come home to. It's nice to read a story about a woman that most other women can relate to very easily, especially when the story is told with a lot of humor and some nervous suspense.
Mary Jane Russell has written a book that will draw the reader in. The hook is that the characters will feel so familiar that it's like visiting with friends. That will result in a few hours of very comfortable reading.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
It's been a while since Lori Lake had a new book, but she's returned with a very well written romance. Lake is an experienced writer and she shows that in Like Lovers Do.
There is more to Kennie McClain than meets the eye. The casual observer would see a woman who works security in an apartment building and does a little maintenance work in exchange for a small apartment. What the tenants don't know is that Kennie owns the building. Although she is friendly, she prefers to keep to herself as she mourns the death of her partner three years before. Lily Gordon and Max Wallington change all of that.
Lily is a beautiful and famous painter who brings out feelings in Kennie that she wishes she did not have. Kennie doesn't want to hurt anymore and Lily has a lover who is a real problem, especially because she is a police officer.
Max is a homeless teenager that Kennie saves from a beating in back of her building one day and then allows to move in with her. For her Good Samaritan deed, Kennie finds herself hosting a group of abandoned teenagers and in danger. All of these new friends are going to open Kennie up to possibilities she had never considered. Like Lovers Do on the surface is a routine romance. Two women meet and struggle to have a relationship. What raises this book above the crowd however is how the book is developed. Lake is able to reveal a lot about her characters with a few words, so she has more room for a richer story. Sometimes it's easy to read a book and feel that the characters are flat. That does not happen here.
Kennie is a particularly appealing person. Her motivations are easy to understand and her emotions totally realistic. Her sadness over her partner's death and her sense of betrayal by Lily's behavior radiate off of the pages. Max is vibrant, vulnerable and the kind of friend Kennie needs. She opens Kennie up to introspection and a deeper understanding of what she can do for other people. Lily is exasperating because she won't admit what is wrong with her girlfriend and their relationship, but the reader can relate to that because Lily knows just how hurtful her behavior is for Kennie, yet cannot seem to change it. Many will recognize similar experiences. The only character that remains a puzzle is Lily's girl friend PJ. Even then she remains realistic because she alternates between someone the reader can dislike and admire. There is another story in this book. Many gay people find themselves building families of "choice." In a sometimes hostile world where rejection by family and society is common, they choose who to be close to, share confidences with, join with at holidays and where to place their trust. These groups may be only gay or a mixture of gay and straight, but their importance is that they supply the support and nurturing that do not come from blood relations. Kennie creates her family from the people at the Allen Arms. Lake shows how this dynamic works by contrasting those people with the behavior of Kennie's sister and brother. The message comes out very clearly that love comes in many forms and not always from the places that most people would expect.
Like Lovers Do is an enjoyable book to read, with intriguing characters and an interesting story. It's good to see Lori Lake return with such a well-written book.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
I enjoyed this novel. I wouldn't classify it as a romance, I think it better belongs in General Literature.
Several story lines are set within, and without, a family and California.
In no particular order we have twenty-five-year-old Felix, who has been dumped by her girlfriend, and Los Angeles circa 2002. Felix is a great character and a unique individual with a good heart who sports a quirky appearance and a quirky outlook on life.
In 1965 her mother's sister Anna Lisa left home (Fresno, California) at age 19. We learn Anna Lisa's epic story over the course of the novel and it is a terrific one.
Lastly we learn about sixteen-year-old Lilac, who in 1899 vanished from the town Anna Lisa came to call home.
Fascinating characters all and I am glad I discovered this author who has a love affair with words and shares them with the reader. The author totally scored points with me for having Anna Lisa read The Girls in 3-B by pulp classic author Valerie Taylor, who also wrote the classic Whisper Their Love. Awesome.
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Reviewed by Elaine Mulligan
Little White Lie is from the Matinee imprint of Bold Strokes Books. That means it is meant to be straightforward romance and a quick read.
Emie Jaramillo is a respected scientist working on developing cloning and she assumes that is why she has been invited to speak on a television show. Instead, she finds that she has been set up by someone she knows and it turns into a humiliating experience. Gia Mendez is the make-up woman on the show and realizes that Emie does not understand what is going to happen, but she does not warn her either. Afterward, Gia chases Emie back to Denver to both apologize and get to know her better. Emie can only think about revenge. She convinces Gia to help her do a make-over so that she can strike back at her rival. Gia agrees because she thinks she can make Emie realize instead how beautiful she is and that they could have a future together. Both women need to overcome their insecurities before they can hope to have a relationship.
This book is good for what it is meant to be. This is intended for reading on the beach or in the afternoon or whenever there is some free time. It is not intended to be heavy on plot or character development. It follows the usual pattern for a romance and has the required happy ending. Anyone who has read many romance novels will know where this story is headed before the first chapter is finished.
Little White Lie is short and easy to read. It is fine for just relaxing for a little while.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
Perennial favorite, Jackie Calhoun, has given her fans two stories in one. The first is the story of Sam Thompson and her best friend, Jamie Carpenter. Sam and Jamie are students at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison. Their troubles begin when Jamie has a near car accident. The driver of the other vehicle becomes enraged, putting their lives in danger.
Edie Carpenter is the author of popular romance novels. She is Jamie's favorite aunt and an avid cross-country skier. When Jamie asks Edie for help, Calhoun skillfully weaves Edie's story into Jamie and Sam's. Calhoun is a master at knowing how to keep the pages turning, and she does a great job with Looking for Julie. She has given her fans a novel which combines romance, (complete with hot sex), mystery, student angst, and wonderful descriptions of the cross-country skiing scene. Looking for Julie is a great read.
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Reviewed by RLynne
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Title: Marching to a Different Accordion
Author: Saxon Bennett
Publisher: Bella Books
Available At: Bella Books
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Marching to a Different Accordion is a "stand alone" novel which is the second in a series featuring lesbian author Chase Banter. In this hilarious book, Chase and her partner, Gitana's, daughter is about to start school. Bud is an unusually precocious child who will be attending a private school. Chase has turned from writing lesbian novels to writing mainstream mysteries which have become quite popular. Chase now has a literary agent, and she and Gitana share a personal assistant.
Bennett has a great take on the foibles and trends in our lesbian world. She presents them with wonderful "laugh at loud" twists. Chase has to contend with the constant battle between her two muses, the Muse of Commercial Endeavor and the Sacred Muse of the Divine Vulva as they fight over her writing styles. Her BFF is trying to start a lesbian revolution and Chase is trying to blend in with the parents at the private school.
Bennett's characters are delightfully believable, and her wry wit is infectious. This is an enjoyable romp you'll be sharing with your friends.
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Reviewed by RLynne
Morning Rising by Samantha Boyette (www.samanthaboyette.com), is an interesting mix of quest and fantasy set in a fantastical world that, though similar to ours, is oh so different.
Teenager Kara Hart wakes up in the dark, confused. Confused because she has no idea where she is and the only memories she seems to have are fleeting ones of a girl named Dylan. She discovers she is no longer in her world, but in the world of Inbetween, and she must find Dylan and save her from the evil ruler.
As Kara sets out on her quest to find Dylan, she recovers her memories, which includes the fact that she is Dylan's Guardian. She has three days to find her and get them both out of Inbetween. This quest is made so much harder by her unfamiliarity with Inbetween and its strange and magical inhabitants and by not knowing whom she can trust. The one truth she knows is that she loves Dylan, and she must save her.
This is the first YA book I've read and I liked it, though it was much darker than I thought it would be. Being the first part of a trilogy, it has done its job, in that I'm hooked and will definitely buy the second and third parts so as to continue the journey with Kara and Dylan.
At the start of the story, the reader is just as confused as the main character as to what is going on. As Kara gradually discovers who she is, where she is and how this strange world of Inbetween works, the reader also slowly comes to an understanding of what is going on. Being just as befuddled as Kara at the beginning helped to draw me further into the story and empathize with her.
Though on the darkish side, Morning Rising was a quick, entertaining read. Boyette gives us a taste of a bizarre and strange world. Though she could have easily gone into much more detail on its unusual inhabitants and strange landscape, what she has given us sets the scene wonderfully for Kara's quest to find Dylan. I look forward to the second and third parts of the Guardian Of Morning trilogy.
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Reviewed by Jodie Atkinson
My Soldier Too deals with a topic that isn't covered nearly enough in the press or mainstream publishing. What impact is serving in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan having on female soldiers? Military women have often been ignored, but until recently, they were fairly safe from most of the dangers of war. Now, though, the policy of the US military to not put women in combat has no relevance when there is no defined battle zone, and women are coming home with the same problems as the male soldiers. This situation is even more complicated when the soldier is gay.
Captain Madison Brown has seen enough of the ugliest side of war in her position as an Army nurse. One young soldier particularly haunts her with his dying words, "I wish I'd known love in this life." Under Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Madison has had to hide her sexuality and that has taught her to shut permanent relationships out of her life. The military has decided to end that policy, but Madison sees no reason to change her life. It's her coping mechanism, but the soldier's dying words have her wondering. Then she meets Isabella Parisi.
Isabella is a social worker from a close and very Catholic family and has an uncomfortably possessive boyfriend. She dedicates her life to working with traumatized men at a veterans center and that's where she meets Madison. The relationship that develops between them puts both of their worlds out of balance and before they can settle serious issues, Madison is deployed to Afghanistan. The war could have devastating consequences for both women.
On the surface, My Soldier Too is simply a romance, another of the love-at-first-sight and how do we deal with it stories. It goes beyond the obvious, though, to deal with more serious matters. Early in the story there is a very realistic assessment of what the end of Don't Ask, Don't Tell really means. The issue of the neglect suffered by many veterans is also raised. In the middle, the issues of duty, honor and family relationships are pertinent. Isabella can't understand Madison's sense of duty to the country and Madison fails to understand the power of family ties.
The book ends dealing with the impact of war in a very personal way for Madison. The story could have been lengthened to explore each of these and taken the book beyond the realm of romance to explore some important issues. Instead, it leaves the issues hanging, which should cause the reader to contemplate the answers, though that's not necessary in order to enjoy the book.
My Soldier Too is a strong debut novel for Bev Prescott. It has a compelling story taken from the headlines of the newspaper. It will be interesting to see how Prescott develops her style in the future.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
Open Water tells the story of a fictional U.S. Olympic Rowing Team at the Olympics in China. Cass Flynn has been added to the double scull rowing team after an injury eliminates one of the competitors. Cass is older than many of her other team members, and she's anxious to show she can still complete and win. Laura Kelley is a lovely rower on the Stroke of the Eights team. Laura is as driven as Cass to bring home victory to the U.S.
Robinson has done her homework in giving descriptions of the boats and the technique it takes to bring them across the finish line. She also does a great job describing the scenes at Olympic village and the lives of the athletes. Open Water is an exciting read with just enough intrigue. It's also a good love story, told with humor and warmth.
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Reviewed by RLynne
In this story of athletes on the US women’s rowing team during the Olympics in China, we meet Cass Flynn, struggling to prove to herself and her teammates that she can still compete. A last-minute substitute for an injured rower, Cass arrives late to the group, trying to overcome her insecurities after recovering from a near-fatal accident that threatened her aspirations as an Olympian.
Cass’s first meeting with teammate Laura Kelley does not go well and continues downhill from there. But Cass is not one to give up. That’s probably why she has found herself in China in spite of the obstacles she’s had to surmount. She’s determined to find out what makes Laura tick, and get her to, at least, be civil to Cass. However, Laura has problems of her own, and withdrawal and abruptness seem to be her way of coping, albeit, badly. Yet as Cass persists, Laura begins to open up and the two women are drawn together in an unlikely attraction that neither seems prepared to admit.
When Laura’s ex, a television sports personality, shows up and suspects the budding relationship between the two women, she goes after Cass with a vengeance and tries to discredit her, not only to Laura, but to the world. What she doesn’t count on is that Cass is smarter than the ex gives her credit for, and that, in a short length of time, Cass has managed to amass friends she didn’t even know she had as a result of joining the team.
Robinson gives us healthy doses of what it’s like to be a scull rower and an Olympian competitor in ways that make technical procedures and jargon fascinating reading—a challenging accomplishment for a seasoned writer, let alone a first-time author. The characters are people we want to know and we root for them to overcome their issues and become more than they are, for their own sake, as well as to become important for one another. As the women row to the finish, the reader will feel the excitement that can only surround a competition of such importance.
Open Water is a well-told tale of the triumph of human emotion in the face of adversity. In addition, it’s an excellent love story told against a backdrop of Olympian proportions. This first offering from new author Pol Robinson could be a gold medal winner.
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Reviewed by Anna Furtado
Lesley Davis introduces her readers to the world of competitive computer gaming in Playing Passion's Game. Her protagonist, Trent Williams, lives a life centered around the games. She is happily employed in a store which sells games and supporting equipment, and she is a member of a team which is ranked among the best at competitive play. Trent's personal history has left her living a very solitary life which includes only a few close friends, most of whom are her team members. Her life changes when she rescues Kayleigh Sullivan from a crowd of boys who were bullying her. After walking the ten-year-old girl home, Trent meets her older sister, Juliet Sullivan.
What happens next opens doors for Trent, Kayleigh, and Juliet. Playing Passion's Game is a delightful read with lots of twists, turns, and good laughs. Davis has provided a varied and interesting supportive cast. Those who enjoy computer games will recognize some familiar scenes, and those new to the topic get to learn about a whole new world.
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Reviewed by RLynne
Reluctant Hope by Erin Dutton is a romance that deals with the issue of cancer and how it affects the lives of everyone it touches.
Songwriter Brooke Donahue has lost her best friend to cancer. After three months, she's still struggling with the loss of Diane and with a lack of inspiration for her writing. She's reluctantly drawn out of isolation by a promise she'd made Diane before her death, to help with a fund-raiser for cancer research.
She's thrown together with Addison Hunt, a cancer survivor, as they organise the entertainment for the fund-raiser. She does her best to keep distance between them as the spectre of cancer hovers and the possible pain of loving and loosing is a hard barrier to overcome. Her attraction to Addison becomes stronger the more time they spend together and reluctantly, she starts to let her into her heart.
Addison has spent the last 8 years since her breast cancer diagnosis surviving her treatment and raising her now 5-year-old daughter. Meeting Brooke makes her want more than the comfortable life she's made for herself. The walls Brooke has around her heart are going to be hard to break through, but Addison hopes it will be worth the risk.
Reluctant Hope is a lovely romance, and though it deals with cancer, we're not bogged down in the medical side of treatments, it deals with the aftermath and the way lives are changed. Unfortunately, in this day and age we're all going to be touched in some way by cancer. Cancer is something that shadows people's lives for years and here we're given a glimpse of how it still affects someone eight years later and also the raw emotions of recent loss.
The difference for the two characters seems to be love. Addison was surround by the love of friends and family and has come through it stronger. Brooke lost the one person she loved and is now struggling alone. It's not until she starts to let Addison and her daughter in, that she seems to find a way out of her sadness and isolation. Dutton deals with the issues facing both those who survive and those who are left behind with sensitivity and has given us an emotional story that draws you in. Reluctant Hope is another fine romance from Dutton that will definitely be on my re-read list.
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Reviewed by Jodie Atkinson
Martha Miller has given her readers another book about real women, in real situations. Her protagonists, Lois and Sophie, have worked hard all of their lives, saving for their retirement in Florida. They are tired of cold winters in Illinois. Now, they find themselves living from check to check, not knowing how to handle unexpected bills. Being resourceful women, they've come up with an unusual solution which will make use of Lois's Army sniper training.
Retirement Plan is a tale of women finding justice to problems police don't always help with: child molesters, battering husbands, etc. Through it all, the characters and situations are as real as any in our own hometowns. Miller tells her story with warmth and humor. Her Detective Morgan Holiday is another "real" person with an aging partner,a mother who is a combative Alzheimer's patient, and too much on her plate for any one person.
This is an enjoyable read with a great story and a satisfactory ending. Those of us who have waited since Miller's Nine Nights on the Windy Tree can rejoice.
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Reviewed by RLynne
Joan Opyr writes about family in the way that most people experience it and few have the nerve to discuss it. She describes the dynamics, love and frustrations, support and confrontations, warts and all, in an honest and open manner while demonstrating how important families can be and how aggravating. The thing that keeps Shaken and Stirred from being a brutally serious book is the tremendous humor that reverberates through the pages.
"My surgeon lied to me," may go down as one of the best opening lines in literature. Immediately the reader wants to know what happened to this woman and will not stop reading until the end. Poppy Koslowski begins her story with a personal medical crisis that is then eclipsed by a family emergency. Poppy's grandfather is dying and she has his power of attorney. She and her childhood friend Abby have to go to Raleigh, North Carolina, so that Poppy can pull the plug on the life support machine of a man she both loves and hates. Going home causes a great deal of conflicting emotions for both women. There are strong and formidable women waiting for them there, mothers, grandmothers, friends and former lovers. Before the visit ends, Poppy and Abby will have to confront their families, their pasts and each other
Opyr is adept at developing characters and creating scenes, blending them together like layers on a painting to give the story depth and detail. There is one poignant scene when Poppy considers the point that she is, in effect, a dead branch on the family tree. There will not be any children from her, no individual contribution to the gene pool. Her concern about whether or not anyone will remember her after she dies, will tell stories in which she stars, will be familiar to many people. As Poppy might say, everyone hopes to be remembered by someone, why else are there cemeteries? It is moments like that when Opyr reveals herself as an astute observer of the human condition.
Shaken and Stirred deals with serious situations such as the loss of a lover, living with an alcoholic, family infidelity and the death of a relative, but Opyr shows that sometimes they can also be very funny. The reader knows that what is going on is a tense or uncomfortable topic, but also cannot fail to see some of the ridiculousness of what is happening. The reality is that sometimes people laugh at funerals. Poppy understands each of her relatives and friends perfectly. There just is not anything she can do with or about them. At least she recognizes the absurdity of her situation. Laughter becomes a defense mechanism for both Poppy and the reader.
Opyr shows the growth of characters and explains their behavior by alternating scenes from the past with the present. The casualness displayed toward the impending death of Poppy's grandfather becomes very understandable when the reader is given a window into his past behavior. It also becomes apparent that some people never change. Poppy's first love is no more capable of making a commitment than she was when they were teenagers; however, the reader will realize before Poppy who the real rock in her life has been. Poppy's awakening is almost an afterthought, a "duh" moment, that many people have experienced in their own lives.
Joan Opyr used her own roots in North Carolina to create a story about a family of strong women, flawed if appealing men, and children who are trying not to be associated with them. Southern mannerisms and attitudes abound, but in a genteel and sometimes preposterous presentation. There are issues for the reader to ponder and hardly a page will go by without eliciting a smile or a laugh out loud. This is an easy book to read and a lot of fun also.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
Kelly is a 34-year-old firefighter paramedic who falls for Talia, a 36-year-old insurance claims adjustor, while rescuing her from a harrowing disaster. My favorite parts were the descriptions of life as a firefighter and Kelly's life with her mom.
In addition to the romance we have Talia's mother who would be happier if Talia would move back with her girlfirend of ten years; Jacob, Talia's best friend forever; Scott, who is Kelly's partner with the fire department; Kelly's mom who is a hoot; and Kelly's homophobic nemesis in the fire department.
A very evocative picture of blue-collar life versus white-collar outlooks. I thought the perspective was fresh and would appeal to readers who are looking for a break from mainstream romance.
From the publisher's web site: Kelly McCoy is a firefighter and paramedic who's lived most of her adult life in New York. After 9-11, she relocates to Cincinnati, nursing a broken heart and looking for a new start. She takes one day at a time, trying not to let her losses overwhelm her.
Talia Stoddard is an insurance wiz who's always been smart on the job, but unlucky in love. After years of being told that she's too big, too tall, too black, too lesbian, and not a very snappy dresser, Talia has resigned herself to a life alone with only her dear gay friend Jacob for a diversion.
When Kelly and Talia's lives crash into one another, it's under the most stressful and threatening circumstances. Talia is in terrible danger, and it's up to Kelly to rescue her. In the horrendous situation they end up in, neither expects to find a friend, much less a soul mate.
Will they rescue one another and heal the wounds of their pasts? Or will they both continue to believe that they're not worthy of the kind of love the other might offer?
Souls' Rescue is the story of opening up to love, taking chances, and building a life that everyone dreams about, but few people ever find.
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Reviewed by Elaine Mulligan
Stealing Angel is a very different novel. Maggie Seaver is estranged from her lover, Yoli, a singer whose career is just beginning to take off. When Maggie discovers that their daughter, Angel, is being abused by her caretaker, she sees no option other than taking Angel and leaving the country. What follows is the story of their hasty flight down the coast of Baja California. With the FBI on their trail, and their picture on national TV, Maggie must trust her instincts and her faith.
Wolverton has filled Maggie's journey with colorful characters, and wonderful descriptions of the land South of the Border. She has brought to life the Light Beings, their guru, and their way of life. She's given her readers a memorable and thought-provoking read.
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Reviewed by RLynne
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Title: Stepping Stone
Author: Karin Kallmaker
Publisher: Bella Books
Available At: Bella Books
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Totally enjoyable Hollywood tale where the good gals and guys win.
This novel was a sheer pleasure and joy to read. The insights of Hollywood, the location shooting in Spain, the power moves, who the players are and how to become one - this novel was sheer delight.
You can't help rooting for Gail Welles; she has been working at a local diner for 3 years in Los Angeles looking for her big break since arriving on her twenty-ninth birthday after a slew of success in her local community theatre. At this point, she is willing to take any commercial or bit part to get her foot in the door. That doesn't mean she will brook any disrespect nor that she has lost her fabulous sense of humor.
Indie producer with a string of hits and facing the big Four-0, Selena Ryan has recently been burnt by the actress she opened her heart to only to find out she was used as a means to an end by the sultry starlet Jennifer Lamont (boo-hiss).
Add to the cast of characters Selena's dedicated production staff, hunky thirty-eight-year-old actor (and all around great guy) Hyde Butler, studio big wigs, hustling actors and actresses, and you can't lose.
Loved the Daily Variety-like chapter starters loaded with gossip on the goings on in the novel.
So many perfect moments! When Selena gets the one-up on the studio big wigs. When Gail is shopping for clothes for her first big Hollywood function - they go on and on. And the humor is as always spot on.
Winner!
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Reviewed by Elaine Mulligan
Criminal defense attorney Carsen Taite is known for her tight courtroom scenes. The Best Defense shows a new side to her writing, as former homicide detective Skye Reaton is hired to find a missing college student. The student is the beloved niece of wealthy realtor Aimee Howard. To Skye's consternation, Aimee insists on playing a "hands-on role" in the investigation.
Taite proves to be quite adept at showing the details of detective work, as Skye and Aimee pursue the missing niece. As much fun as the chase is, so is the delicate dance played by Aimee and Skye as they try to ignore their intense sexual attraction for each other. Aimee and Skye are direct opposites of each other in almost every way. They are, however, bright, witty, and quite likeable. The Best Defense is another good read with plenty of exciting twists.
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Reviewed by RLynne
If you are trying to find yourself, what better place is there than Antarctica? All you see in any direction is a whole continent of ice, nothing to distract you. Or is there?
The Big Bang Symphony is set at McMurdo Station, the major base at the South Pole, and the surrounding out camps where there is more going on than most people would suspect. People come and go seeking high-paying jobs, adventure, or spiritual purification. Some are seeking all three. Into this environment come Rosie Moore, Mikala Wilbo and Alice Neilson. Rosie is the veteran, having spent previous seasons working on the station as a cook. Her interest is in making enough money to finally buy a ranch in Montana and then getting out without any entangling relationships. What you get is often not what you want. Mikala is running from and to something. A recognized musical genius, she wants to escape the memory of the lover she lost and find the father she never knew, while creating a symphonic representation of the Big Bang. Alice is looking for a life. She can have an illustrious career in geology if she can just get away from her mother. To Alice, who has never been away from home before, starting with a trip to Antarctica seems logical, but how to deal with her emotions is totally beyond her. As each one stumbles through her life at the station, she finds an answer, just not the one for which she was looking.
Bledsoe uses the South Pole as a metaphor for the search that each person goes on to find meaning in a life. The ice desert is beautiful and frightening and magnetic. It also provides a sterile environment for the characters to work in, one where they can pare their lives down to the bare minimum and see what is important. That is almost as frightening as the dangerous potential of the ice. This isn't an easy book to read. The environment is vast and the characters seem to wander all over it. It may take the reader a while to see where each of these women is heading and there's no real romance, mystery or adventure to sweeten the journey.
The Big Bang Symphony was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award, though it didn't win the ultimate prize. The reason may be that it's not a "typical" lesbian novel. One of the characters is a lesbian, but that plays little part in her story. Readers are going to have to be willing to work a little harder for this story and stretch their minds further than usual, but the journey is worth it. Outstanding writing always is.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
One of life's lessons is learning where boundaries are and how to live within them. Marianne K. Martin takes that subject and wraps it in a story so skillfully that the reader might absorb a message without realizing it. In The Indelible Heart, Martin uses the interactions between friends to show how boundaries can be difficult to maintain.
The book picks up a story line first addressed in Martin's book Love in the Balance and brings it forward ten years. Charlie Crawford murdered two neighbors who were lesbians and now his family is trying to get him out of prison early because he is dying. The killings nearly destroyed the life of Sharon Davis who was a friend of the slain women. The trauma of the incident drove her into alcoholism and caused her relationship with her lover Laura to fail. Years later Sharon thinks she has finally put her life back together and then the effort to free Crawford sends her back into the bottle. On top of that, Laura has returned to town to care for her ailing mother. Sharon has two obsessions and they're about to slam into each other. She can't resist Laura and she cannot forgive Crawford. People who know her, especially her best friend and business partner Kasey Hollander, are afraid Sharon is going to lose control of her life again, but disagree over what they should do about it. What they do not want is a repeat of what happened ten years ago.
The Indelible Heart can be read and appreciated as a story of a woman who is trying to find balance in her life and her chance to possibly recapture the love she once knew. If the reader is looking for a romance, then this book suits that purpose. Marianne Martin has a habit though of going deeper with her characters and sometimes that can make the observant reader uncomfortable. Martin can cut pretty close to the bone.
Sharon, for example, cannot just commit to an action, she becomes consumed by it. Movements need people like Sharon, but they can be very difficult to live with, even when someone loves them. Sharon becomes so focused on revenge against Crawford that she cannot see the fact that, no matter what is done to him, it will never bring her friends back. Her boundary failure is that she cannot turn off her campaign for justice at appropriate moments. Her way of coping with frustration is to get drunk. Even when she has an opportunity to get Laura back, there is still the chance that she will turn to alcohol instead.
Sharon is not the only character with boundary issues. Kasey hates Laura for what she perceives was done to Sharon. Even while Kasey is pointing out Sharon's failure to deal with the Crawford situation, she cannot see Sharon's responsibility for what happened with the relationship. Then Kasey crosses the ultimate line when she confronts Laura and tries to drive her out of Sharon's life. Even best friends have to realize there are limits they should not exceed. Laura has to learn not to let her experiences in her early life interfere with what she can have with Sharon. Sage Bristow and her partner Deanne deal with different barriers as they try to raise their daughter with pride in her ethnic background in a society that never makes that easy.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
Rory St. James grew up in a small Midwestern town where being gay was totally unacceptable. When she came out as a teenager, she was disowned by her family, so she fled the town, changed her name to Raine and eventually began a successful career as a writer and speaker about gay issues. Her hallmark has been making fun of her hometown. Years have passed though and Raine has become dated. Younger, more relevant voices have appeared and no one is interested in hiring Raine anymore. She's broke and evicted from her apartment. The only job her agent can get her is teaching at Bramble University in her hometown. That's the last place and the only place Raine can go.
Beth Devoroux grew up in the same town, but her experience was very different. She is the "town's child," embraced and loved by everyone after her parents died. No one knows that Beth is in a deeply closeted relationship or that she got Raine the job. Beth received all of the support that Raine never felt, but it is Beth's life that is about to be turned upside down by Raine's influence.
What makes this book more than just a regular romance is the way Spangler has it deal with each woman's experience with the town. Reality is what a person perceives it to be, but if people look through separate prisms, the views are very different. Beth sees a town of kind, nurturing people, for the most part. Raine sees only negative experiences, led by her family. As time passes in the book however, both of their perceptions begin to change. Beth begins to realize how restricted her life has been, through her own actions and those of others. The biggest change comes in Raine who comes to realize that there were good times earlier in her life. Now that she's older and more experienced, she sees the events differently than when she was young.
The Long Way Home does not mean home in the sense of the town. Both Raine and Beth have to come home to themselves. They have grown and matured and now that maturity affects their relationships with the past, the people in the town and each other. These aren't static characters. They expand in potential as the reader works through the story. The romance is there, but the better story is about how the "clarity" of childhood may be nothing more than a misunderstanding.
Rachel Spangler has created a strong romance, but she also has a book that explores a deeper topic. The reader can have two experiences for the price of one.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
Edge of your seat thrill ride.
This is one book you shouldn't start in the evening as I did because you will not want to stop reading after the first two chapters.
Laney has taken over the presidency and running of the boutique bank set on glamorous Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills California. In her thirty-four years she has been as conservative in her personal life as she must be when running her bank. She has just had her cheating lover move out after 4 listless years together.
Into her life and her bank enters Theresa. Theresa has Femme Fatale written all over her (think Raymond Chandler bad girl). But she seems safe enough to Laney as she is a married woman.
Sandrine Girard is a French woman who has long been on the Los Angeles police force and has regular business contact with Laney in her role on the the force's fraud department. Sandrine has never had a steady relationship due to trust issues fostered from an early age. She sees Laney as someone who she may want to give her trust to for the first time.
Laney is attracted to the opportunities, business and personal, Theresa can bring and steps outside her normal cautions.
The writing was so well paced I found myself saying aloud "NO! Don't do it!" And hot, the novel is very sensual.
Very entertaining story and realistic ending.
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Reviewed by Elaine Mulligan
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Title: This Wild Silence: A Novel
Author: Lucy Jane Bledsoe
Publisher: Alyson Books
Available At: Amazon
Available At: Amazon
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Fascinating, unique and highly enjoyable,
I really got into this novel. The book is beautifully written. Having two sisters of my own I loved the family dynamic and the author got that relationship spot on. I loved how the story unfolded in bits and pieces, much like real life when meeting someone for the first time.
Excellent story you won't let go of soon. SusanB was a great character.
Looking forward to reading the author's other books.
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Reviewed by Elaine Mulligan
Claire Lance is a wanted woman, but not in the way she wants to be. The authorities think that Lance is a rogue cop who killed her lover Elaine. No one believes what really happened, so she's been moving for over a year trying to avoid being arrested. FBI Special Agent Faye Mallory is particularly tenacious because she is Elaine's sister and determined to make Lance pay for what happened. Lance's car breaks down outside of a small Texas town and she is forced to take a job in a local bar to earn the money for the repairs. Roy Morse isn't a great boss. He's tied into the local crime community and he abuses his wife Gwen. In a very short time, Lance is forced to kill two men, including Roy, and finds herself on the run again, this time with Gwen in tow. As they flee from the police, Roy's gang and Agent Mallory, Lance will find herself forced to confront her past. Gwen will learn things about herself that will alter her future.
Tilting at Windmills is a fast paced story. By focusing on Lance's struggle to survive and protect Gwen it allows for a lot of action. There isn't a great deal of character development, though the flashback sequences of what happened to Lance and Elaine gives greater detail to Claire's character. The struggle between Lance and Mallory adds another dimension. It's obvious how much each one is suffering. The reader will wish they could reach some understanding.
One of the problems with Cannon's books in general is how he writes about lesbians. It sometimes seems as if he sees them as men in women's skin. Lance and Mallory could easily be portrayed as male characters. All Cannon has done is change the gender of the pronouns. He misses on the emotional bonds that exist between women as part of a relationship. They may appear to be acting like men, but they aren't thinking or feeling that way. A point that seems to escape Cannon.
Where Cannon's book is unique is in how he ends the story. Romances generally follow a formula. Cannon departs slightly from that formula, which gives the book a refreshing and realistic ending. It also leaves the characters open for a sequel if he should choose to revisit them.
In all Tilting at Windmills is a quick read that may appeal to action or suspense fans. There are also enough intimate scenes included to please romance fans. It's an average book, but fine for a few hours of reading.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
Sophia Kell Hagin has created a story in Whatever Gods May Be that is supposed to be set in the near future, but her information about military technology and the future of geopolitics makes it clear that it isn't that far away.
Jamie Gwynmorgan went into the army to escape a miserable childhood and ended up as an expert sniper and assassin for the US government. Her past and her job have left her extremely efficient at her job, but unable to trust anyone. The rise to power of China has caused a destabilization in Asia and Jamie is sent into a war in Indonesia. After she is captured and tortured, a Red Cross mission led by Senator Lynn Hillinger shows up in the camp and ends up being taken hostage. Only Jamie's skill makes it possible for them to escape and those same abilities are all that stand between their survival and death as they flee through the mountains towards a hoped for rescue.
Hagin shows a great deal of knowledge about the interplay that is already going on between China as a rising super power and the United States. The scenarios she creates for war and conflict are totally imaginable to anyone who studies current affairs. The most interesting aspect of the book is the technology she employs. This is described in such detail that the reader will suspect that much of it already exists. From the biouniforms that are full of sensors and camouflage a body with a changing array of colors to the high tech communication gear and weapons, it's obvious that Hagin has tapped into what soldiers will soon look like, if they aren't already there.
Whatever Gods May Be isn't a typical lesbian novel. There isn't any romance in this book. It's a straight adventure story starring a flawed but appealing character. Jamie is also scary in what she represents. That soldiers like this exist and are in fact needed in today's wars is undoubtedly true. What they are capable of is admirable and terrifying. One question that occurs is what can be done with these people after they have finished their service for the government? They aren't people you would necessarily want living next door to you, yet they're needed to keep the country safe. Can they be woven back into society or will they stay outcasts for the rest of their lives?
This book is intense. There's no levity to alleviate the tension that grows throughout the book. It's an intriguing story, but not one for someone who is looking for casual reading.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
When An Echo Returns is the second in Silva's new paranormal series. Echo Branson, an empath, has been called back to the Bayou by Melika, her teacher and surrogate mother. She arrives to find the devastation left by Katrina, which has changed both New Orleans and the surrounding bayous. Melika has reassembled her students because the chaos left by the hurricane has unleashed an evil being only they have the skills to fight.
Edited by Katherine V. Forrest, When an Echo Returns is an exciting story which examines good, evil and personal destiny. Silva brings back the characters from this series' first novel, as well as showing her readers all that Katrina wrought. There are plenty of twists to this rich story, and tension and the sense of urgency keep the pages turning until the satisfying end.
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Reviewed by RLynne
Echo Branson has returned to her beloved bayou, the place where she finally found a home and family, people who accepted her “gift,” and the place where she soon finds she hasn’t learned enough. New Orleans is in the chaos of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina and Echo and several old friends have been summoned to help. In addition to some of the people who were part of her coming of age in the bayou, there is one new member of the assembled team. A member that no one really understands, least of all Echo. Then there’s the ghost of the relationship she once had with the “big Indian” called Tip. It’s the elephant in the room that Echo would prefer not to deal with.
In the midst of all the devastation and bad karma surrounding everyone because of Katrina itself, there’s also an evil threatening Echo’s family and friends—one that Echo’s mentor, Melika, may not have the power to control—and it could be the undoing of the bayou family, starting with Melika’s mother, Bishop, who hasn’t been heard from since the storm hit. As the team battles against evil and tries to protect the matriarchs as well as themselves, Echo finds herself struggling on many fronts, most of them within herself. We discover that Echo is about to discover a whole range of new things about paranormals, and about herself, and she must struggle to accept some things she’d rather not even know, let alone embrace.
As she fights both interior and exterior battles, her “natural” friend, Danica is by her side, and she shows herself to have powers of perception and intuition that rival any of the “super-naturals” in the group. Danica becomes an integral part of the team, and her techno-geek “boys” back in California come to the group’s rescue with their technology more than once. This current challenge almost proves to be the undoing of all involved, and just when things couldn’t get much worse, Echo’s “girl-she-left-behind” shows up to complicate matters at first, then she becomes the salvation of those most in need.
This story is full of a group of characters we’ve come to know from previous books in the series, and introduces us to some new ones. New paranormal powers are revealed and we learn about them right along side Echo. One might say, Echo came of age in the first book, grew up in the second, and matures in this, the third book in the series. What the future holds for Echo has only been hinted at in When an Echo Returns. Fans of the Echo series won’t be disappointed in this story. It’s a page-turner. Those new to the series will want to catch up quickly. Read this one when you have time to finish it in only a few sittings, because you won’t want to put it down.
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Reviewed by Anna Furtado
O'Brien has two very strong protagonists in this exciting, and racy, paranormal novel. Selene Rhodes is a shapeshifter who becomes a furry, scary wolf once a month when there is a full moon. Eve Thomas is a forensic pathologist who has written a best-selling nonfiction book on how she found a famous San Francisco serial killer. Selene and Eve meet when Eve is attacked on an early morning walk in Golden Gate Park. Selene is able to use her skills to rescue Eve.
What follows is a combination love story and exciting mystery. The love story includes some sizzling hot sex scenes and the mystery involves another serial killer who has his sights set on Eve. With as many twists and turns as San Francisco's famous Lombard Street, O'Brien keeps her reader's attention right up to the last exciting page.
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Reviewed by RLynne
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