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Kendal Richoux is an immortal and a slayer for the Genesis Clan. Her life began in Egypt, when she was a warrior for the only female pharaoh. Through the centuries she has had many lives and many lovers as she has sought out and defeated evil for the clan. Now, the clan has sent her to New Orleans, where she is to fight a warrior of darkness who serves Ora, the queen of darkness.
New Orleans is filled with memories for Kendal, as she lived there in a previous life. Vali deftly describes how these memories, plus a lovely woman in the form of Piper Marmande serve as a distraction for Kendal. She also gives us insight into the training of a supernatural, and their strengths and weaknesses. Balance of Forces is an exciting read, filled with love, history, and battles. Ali Vali never disappoints her readers, and once again, she's proven her skills at telling a wonderful story. Now, the question is, will there be a sequel?
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Reviewed by RLynne
When we meet Laney Carvallo, she’s seems a little off. As we read the first few scenes, we realize that she’s more than off, she’s dead. She roams around to the significant people in her life to find that her kids aren’t where they’re supposed to be, her normally self-assured lover is despondent, and her scheming ex-husband seems to have gotten the upper hand. If it weren’t for the fact that Laney’s had something to do with life playing out as it has because of her penchant for wanting to “play it safe,” she could feel down-right self-righteous about it. But in this story, Laney is her own “three spirits of Christmas” all rolled into one.
We spend a lot of time talking about what’s important in life, but in this story, what’s important in life becomes critical in death. Don’t be put off by the main character being dead, by any means. She’s brought her spunky, sometimes humorous, personality into the afterlife with her. As the story unfolds, her love for the partner she’s left behind and their children is portrayed with a richness that makes us ache. Whether or not the scheming scum Laney was once married to and the hare-brained, conniving ditz that her ex has hooked up with can be brought to justice seems to be left to Laney—perhaps to atone for her not acting while she was alive. Sara Marx has given us plenty to think about in this very different offering that packs a wallop.
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Reviewed by Anna Furtado
When a couple dines at a posh restaurant, and one of the women snorts her displeasure at the service, Shelby Pratt, their waitress, finds herself kicked to the curb by her equally snooty boss. Gwen Lawford, the other half of the couple that got Shelby fired, tries to come to Shelby’s aid when she finds herself locked out of her car.
Gwen apologizes for her ex-lover’s behavior and later tries to get Shelby’s job back, to no avail. Shelby, who is about to move into her grandmother’s house in Alameda, finds out about Gwen’s attempt and makes her way to the WWII museum where Gwen is the director to thank Gwen for the kind gesture. That’s when the sparks start to fly.
As Gwen struggles to save the little museum, Shelby tries to deal with her mother’s fragile mental state while helping her grandmother as she recuperates from a broken hip. Shelby and Gwen are inexorably drawn together when the parallel stories of a young WAVE, assigned to Alameda Naval Air Station, and a Rosie-the-Riveter who lives in the same town, intersect. Both women of the twenty-first century grow enamored of the stories from the past as they try to make sense of their own changing lives and their growing attraction for one another. As past and present come together, Shelby and Gwen start their own tentative relationship.
The ultimate question is: when two people are meant to be together will they end up that way in spite of the obstacles thrown in their paths? As the story progresses and secrets come to light, the stories from the past start to make more and more sense, Shelby’s grandmother is revealed as a refreshing and delightful character with a surprise, Shelby’s mother has her own surprises, and love truly does seem to find a way.
The apparent depth of research that went into the role of the “Rosies” and the WAVEs during WWII in the San Francisco Bay Area gives the story a firm foundation and the authenticity shines throughout. The characters are thoroughly enjoyable and the journal of the young WAVE gives us a glimpse into the 1940s gay culture and it gives the story an air of mystery. For Me and My Gal is both entertaining and informative. It’s sure to be a hit with romance lovers and history buffs alike.
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Reviewed by Anna Furtado
Sam Tyler enjoys her job as a park ranger at Grand Teton National Park, most of the time. Sometimes she's thrown into dangerous situations, but every day offers something new. That helps distract her from a tragedy that occurred two years ago and that she hasn't recovered from. Sam isn't pleased at first when she's given a special assignment to work with photojournalist Halie Walker, but she's more cooperative when she finds out that Congress is considering closing Grand Teton Park and Halie's article might help prevent that. As the women experience the park together, they grow to appreciate the work that each one does and to develop an attraction. Sam is afraid to let anyone into her life though and Halie can't tolerate being around her as just a friend. A helicopter crash could be the catalyst for changing everything.
Love Another Day follows the usual romance formula with no surprises. It does give an interesting picture of how diverse a park ranger's job can be. They do much more than direct tourists to scenic views. Anyone who has read many romances will know where the story is headed before reading many pages; however, the reader who is looking for something light to pass the time with will find it suitable.
Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
Seeking Sara Summers is a story of transformation and true love. Sara is in her 40s. She’s lived her marriage in a fog and cancer has finally snapped her out of it. Because she’s begun to realize that life is too short to live it unhappily, she starts to question everything, including her totally “beige,” discontented life with her husband. Then she remembers Julia.
Friends since childhood, she remembers Julia as colorful, bright, and someone for whom she cared deeply. Using the internet, she finds Julia living in Italy, a place she has long dreamed of visiting, and in an uncharacteristic move, she goes to visit the friend she hasn’t seen in 30 years, much to her husband’s consternation.
For the two friends, the years melt away in an instant. They spend two glorious weeks together during the Tuscan summer and halfway through the visit, they declare their love for one another. Sara experiences Julia’s love on a level she’s never known before, and with it, a happiness she never imagined was possible. However, before Sara has to leave to return home, she’s in an emotional tailspin, as she struggles with the decision to return home. In the end, she rejects Julia’s suggestion that she has options. She can leave, but she can also stay.
Life’s twists and turns are complicated and difficult, especially when it comes to Sara and Julia. What Sara decides will change the lives of everyone involved, but it also has the potential to change Sara’s world from beige to bright colors.
Sara’s unfulfilling relationship with her husband is portrayed with just enough sympathy for her husband to keep it from being trite. Her relationship with Julia has just enough depth to be a page-turner. The time spent in Italy, first in Florence, then in Tuscany, is beautifully, richly drawn. The symbolism of an archetypal Madonna statue strengthens the story about two women destined to be together if one of them can only throw off the oppressive mantle of “shoulds” and embrace the possibilities of “what ifs.” Gabriel has given us a deeply touching read with fascinating main characters and a tribute to the human spirit struggling to gain happiness.
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Reviewed byAnna Furtado
In Stealing Angel, Maggie Seever finds that she must act when she realizes that her daughter is in trouble. Although her former partner, Yoli, a self-absorbed musician, has moved on to another man in a long string of them, one she thinks can promote her and her music, Maggie still has shared custody of their daughter Angel. Although Yoli is Angel’s biological mother, it becomes clear early on that Maggie is her true mother.
Angel is seven years old, and because of the demands of Yoli’s new boyfriend, Angel has been removed from Maggie’s part-time custody and placed in one of the boyfriend’s relatives’ care. Maggie tries to come to grips with the separation from a woman she still loves and the child who has been wrenched from her loving arms. However, things change drastically when Maggie gets a call from Angel’s teacher and it becomes clear since being placed in the care of a stranger, Angel has been abused and has the marks to prove it.
Maggie takes action and she and Angel embark on a journey that starts out as a chaotic grasp at protection for the child, and ends up a journey to find inner peace and deep truths. Along the way, the mother and child meet some characters and some true heros. Most of the time, there is a lot of searching on Maggie’s part, since she wants to do the right thing for her daughter, but she struggles with her own inner wrestlings as she tries to discern the best way to protect Angel. Maggie has no idea that, as she searches for answers to her dilemma over Angel, she’s journeying toward the thing she has most desired for herself as well.
Stealing Angel quickly moves from the introduction to the story to the heart of the tale. While there is much angst and soul searching over how to best handle the situation with her daughter, there are delightful moments that portray a wonderful and loving relationship between Maggie and Angel. Angel is a typical, although somewhat precocious child, and to Maggie’s credit, Angel embodies a genuineness and goodness that is found only in someone who has been loved unconditionally and who has had imparted to them a basic foundation of truth.
However, Maggie hasn’t learned how to broaden that circle of love into the wider world and to trust her inner voice—and that’s part of what she must learn on this journey she’s on in the name of saving her daughter from harm. She searches for wisdom by driving to Baja to the center for the Light Beings, a sort of Hari-Krishna, Buddist centered, spiritual commune. There, she hopes to gain counsel from the groups’ leader and founder, Guru Tam. She doesn’t count on having to fight her way into the place, nor is she thrilled with the rules imposed on her by the formidable leader of the commune; however, she does finally gain access to the Guru, where she finds more questions than answers, but she also begins to find an inner peace that opens the door to her heart, leading her to become the redemption for a wider group of people than she ever could have imagined at the start of her journey.
Stealing Angel reads like a book of prayer, putting the reader in touch with struggles and questions each may have had in their own lives. The basic message that letting go is the key to inner peace permeates the story—and through this fascinating story, personal lessons may be learned. There are no lulls in the excitement either. Page after page is filled with movement. The journey by car across the border is reflective of the inner journey Maggie makes. This is a deeply moving story with an ending that will linger long after the journey has ended. It’s a different kind of story but well worth the read. The relationship between Maggie and Angel is delightful. The inner life Maggie struggles with is fascinating, with lessons for everyone
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Reviewed by Anna Furtado
Kenna White is one of the mistresses of lesbian romance. She definitely knows how to write a love story that grips its readers from start to satisfying finish. Taken by Surprise does not disappoint her readers. In this story set in Aspen, with wonderful descriptions of both the charming town and the beautiful Rockies, White has given us two very loveable characters. Leigh Insley is a busy, successful Denver lawyer. She's trying to decide whether or not to sell her Aspen cabin. As much as she loves it, her career has left her little time to enjoy it. Margo Tosch is a child of the mountains. Her career as a skier took her around the world, and now she has a clothing shop in Aspen which, along with other part-time jobs, supports both her and her daughter.
Leigh and Margo could not be more different! Circumstances, however, have thrown them together, and that gives both a chance to see if their snap judgements are correct. Taken by Surprise is a great fireside read, which lets you enjoy the mountains, beautiful women, and a great romance while snuggled in your chair
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Reviewed by RLynne
Your sister. For a woman, she's the person who knows you better than you do yourself sometimes. She knows your secrets, your strengths and how to push your buttons faster than anyone else. She'll torment you incessantly and then punch in the nose any bully who tries the same thing. Sisters form a girls club unlike any other.
The title of Sally Bellerose's debut novel has a double meaning. One refers to a lesbian bar that has particular appeal to one of the characters. The other refers to the ultimate club shared by Marie, Renee and Cora Rose LaBarre. Like most sisters they fight, they compete and they form a united front against the world, most of the time. Cora Rose is the youngest sister and the focus of the book. Her life is a jumble of issues from her conflict with her Catholic upbringing to the fact that she ends up married to a man she doesn't love because she tries to conform to what society dictates and ends up pregnant.
The truth is that her attraction is to women, but she doesn't know how to cope with it. Leave it to her sisters to understand her needs better than she does. Blunt, direct Marie calls her on the issue when they are still teenagers and sophisticated, beautiful Renee will help guide her to the light eventually. In the process they deal with unplanned pregnancies, men who fail to meet their needs, drug and alcohol abuse, creating careers, dealing with family issues and the general struggle with life. Cora Rose deals with two extra issues, her sexuality, which she doesn't understand, and a chronic illness dubbed the Dreaded Bowl Disease. That last issue isn't one that normally appears in books, but it plays a central role in what happens.
Bellerose has created a book that doesn't easily fit into any category. Cora Rose is a lesbian, but her life does not revolve around that. There are no torrid love scenes to appeal to romance lovers, but there is a type of romance that develops between the sisters. Their love for each other, even when it is disguised as something else, is the strongest relationship in the book. There is no mystery or adventure here, except that which normally appears in life. Instead there is a complex story of how people interact, especially within a family, and struggle to find direction in their lives. Marie, the most direct sister, takes on life with a "take no prisoners" attitude. Renee, the perfect child, is a study in unfulfilled potential and Cora Rose is a passive aggressive personality, letting life shove her from event to event, resenting much of what she is presented with, but basically incapable of directing her own story. When she finally begins to assert herself and establish her own course, there is no surprise that the two people who are pushing and leading her along are the ones with whom she has spent her whole life.
The title The Girls Club would seem to refer to the lesbian bar that Cora Rose can't resist, but it's really about a much more intricate relationship. Readers will find much to relate to in this story as they recognize how the sisters interact. Instead of depending on emotionally powerful scenes, Bellerose makes her point by letting the reader just watch the sisters and their lives unfold. It has a slow steady pace, but it becomes clear by the end that the pace that is used is the only one that works.
This book won the Bywater Prize. That means the reader can expect a story that is deeper and more intricate than the average lesbian novel. It requires more attention than just sliding through a typical story of girls meets, girls resolve their conflicts and live happily ever after. It's similar to watching an intricate dance or drinking a fine wine. The reader won't get the full effect until the end.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
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Title: The Secret of Lighthouse Pointe
Author: Patty G. Henderson
Publisher: Black Car Publishing
Available At: Amazon
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Constance Beechum is in an unenviable position. She is single and penniless in a time when a woman without any prospects has little hope of respectability. A letter arrives from her uncle offering her a position as a nurse/companion to Lady Elizabeth Gerard and Constance has no choice but to accept even though she has no experience at doing either. The trip to Castine, Maine, is dark and spooky, but not nearly as spooky as Edward and Roger Gerard and Edward's wife Catherine. Constance devotes herself to making Lady Gerard's last days as comfortable as possible, something which doesn't appear to interest her family, but does appeal to the mysterious George Kane. Constance uncovers a mystery about "Mr." Kane and together they try to battle the evil which seems to be about to engulf them.
Patty G. Henderson has reached into the style of the Gothic novel to tell her story. She captures many of the most common traits – a brooding old house with secret rooms, a damsel in distress from a tyrannical male, an upstanding hero, supernatural or mysterious events and a heightened sense of emotionalism. People who read this book have to approach it with an understanding that Gothic is a very particular style requiring characters and the scenery to behave in certain patterns. What might appear to be stilted or overblown to the modern reader is part of the format that has to be followed. The characters are somewhat flat, but that could be because they are written according to a template.
Classifying this book for a modern reader is difficult. Though the main character is lesbian, there isn't a typical "romance" that many require. The atmosphere is bleak and looming, but the "mystery" never is very mysterious since the answer is apparent almost from the beginning. Followers of Gothic literature will probably find it more satisfying than most typical readers. However, if the reader is looking for something different and an entertaining story, The Secret of Lighthouse Pointe will do fine.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
Two for the Show is Book Two of Chris Paynter's Playing for First Series. It picks up the story of Amy Perry, the first woman to play in the professional baseball league, her partner, Stacy McCrady, and their friends. "The Show" is the term used by baseball people for playing in the major leagues and Amy has finally been called up permanently to join the team. She and Stacy will have to divide their time between two cities, but the transition will be easier for Amy because her best friend Lisa Collins has also been moved up to network reporting, with the particular assignment to cover Amy's team. Things seem to be going wonderfully until personal tragedy strikes Amy's family. Her emotional trauma leads to her inability to hit the baseball or contain her anger on the field. She reacts in a totally destructive manner that might not only threaten her career, but her relationship with Stacy. Amy is totally out of control and if she can't get it back, she'll lose everything.
On the surface this is a sports story, but it's also a story about working your way through the hard spots to reach the good. Amy is crashing down barriers for women and often running a gauntlet of homophobic demonstrators. Her ability shows that women can play in the professional leagues with men, but her determination to live her life as an out lesbian draws as much, if not more, attention as her talent. The strength that helps her to deal with that situation is the very thing that may destroy her life. Amy is the strong, silent type who holds her emotions in. The consequence of that is that she can't deal with what is happening to her and she lashes out at the people who try to help, especially Stacy. It takes a great deal of trust and strength on Stacy's part to deal with the situation.
This is a story of a woman who has to cope with difficulties in her professional and private life. It's also about how important family and friends can be to that process. Perhaps most importantly it's about how reaching for help is not a weakness and can create a stronger person in the long run, but it can be a difficult process for a person to go through, especially if someone is very stoic. Amy will learn that some of the lessons she's learned on the ball field will apply equally well to her life.
Paynter's books will appeal to readers who like series characters. Each new volume gives the reader a chance to catch up on what has been happening to familiar figures, very much like reading Facebook entries. That can also be a weakness. After a while, the characters simply seem to be moving forward through life. The sense of drama can be lost in place of a comfortable story. It will be interesting to see how long Paynter can keep these characters fresh and interesting so that readers will care enough to want to find out what is the latest development in their lives
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
Is it possible to like a book but not like its main character?
Claire McMinn is a recovering alcoholic and sex addict who wants to be a film maker. Unfortunately, she slept with the wife of the professor who controls whether or not she can stay in the film program at her college and she got caught. Now Claire is scrambling to save her career. If she can complete her class project, maybe she'll be allowed back in the program. Hope resides in Sister Hilary, who works at a community center where Claire volunteers. The center owns video equipment and Claire is given permission to use it if she will make a film about the center. Complications pile on top of complications between Claire's peculiar family, her best friend Shelby, with whom she has on and off again affairs, and Sister Hilary. Whether or not Claire is going to be able to accomplish any of her goals is highly doubtful.
The best way to describe Claire McMinn is to say that she's a mess. She's certainly irresponsible and her own worst enemy. In quick order she sleeps with her professor's wife, her best friend, who identifies herself as straight, and then seduces a nun. Some of her behavior can be explained by her being in an alcoholic haze, but there's also an underlying feeling that Claire thinks she can do anything she wants to and get away with it. She always seems perplexed when other people don't see things that way. If she was deliberately trying to ruin her life, she couldn't do a much better job at it.
A description of this book says: "Verge will appeal to readers who are interested in spirituality, addiction recovery, the madcap humor of gay/lesbian AA, the creative arts, and the lives of twenty-first-century nuns, as well as the trials and tribulations—and adventures—of contemporary lesbians." The book certainly touches on some of those subjects, but not in a very convincing manner. If this is supposed to be a picture of the lives of contemporary lesbians, then it's a disappointing one. While Claire says she's dedicated to recovering from her alcoholism, her behavior calls into question her true dedication to the underlying problem. She makes bad decisions. It's hard to know whether to be pulling for Claire as she bumbles through her life or hope that someone finally confronts her for what she's doing and holds her accountable.
The same feeling involves the whole book. Verge is structurally well written. That can be said with certainty. Z Egloff knows how to write. It has received acclaim from some well-known writers and was a finalist and winner of some awards. The question is if the acclaim is for the production of the book or the story within it. No matter how well the story is written, the main character is irritating to the point of wanting to sometimes slap her for her behavior. Perhaps that is the essence of creating a realistic character.
Going back to the original question, is it possible to like a book but not like its main character? Maybe it's best to leave that up to the reader to decide.
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Reviewed by Lynne Pierce
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