Ticket 1207 by Robin Alexander

Ticket 1207
by Robin Alexander
Pages: 84
Date: December 23 2014
Publisher: Intalgio Publications
Series: None

Review
Rating: 4.75
Read: October 24 2016

There are certain things that come with an Alexander book, not always, but a lot of the time.

1) Quirky characters that border on being super irritating/great characters;
2) A story that takes place in Louisiana (I believe all but one that I have read took place in Louisiana, and that other one took place in Mississippi – ‘Gift of Time’ (though a few include other places in addition to time in Louisiana, like ‘Dear Me’ has some time in Florida, and ‘Just Jorie’ has a brief moment or two in New York));
3) Wacky older people – mostly grandmas (not always);
4) Wacky side characters (not always);
5) Humor;
6) The main characters tend to be older than somewhat the norm with Lesbian Romances, tending to be in their 30s or 40s;
7) For a while there I thought vomiting was one – but then I found out that it was just the luck of the draw – the first books I had read by Alexander all had that in there (like ‘Just Jorie’, but that it isn’t actually a trait common with Alexander books I was happy to eventually find out).

Here we have quirky characters, a story that takes place in Louisiana (New Orleans), wacky side characters (Theo); humor; no vomiting (that I recall).

Shawn Masterson is two things – super good looking (of which she is somewhat aware), and super shy. So shy that the book opens after about a year of Shawn dropping by a specific jewelry store. Giving up various items to be repaired (which include breaking them first so that she could drop them off). Because she fancies one of the women in there – Jill Searcy (the other main character and other POV), but cannot get up the nerve to ask her out. Shawn is a botanist. (just as I add in someone else in Jill’s paragraph, I’m back to add in Shawn’s best friend – straight Vera (at least I believe I recall that being her name – trouble with being 55% into the next book before I write anything down for the book I’d already completed).

Jill Searcy is also two things – competent and good at her job, and lonely – after getting her heart twisted and torn up. Jill owns and runs a jewelry store with her cousin Rene. Rene is the acknowledged ‘better’ version – acknowledged at least by her own family (by her I mean both Rene and Jill’s families). Just all around better. To the point that they blamed Jill when Rene came out as lesbian around the same time Jill did. (Not because of any kind of kissing cousins thing, but because they ‘expect’ certain things, and tom-boy Jill is expected to be lesbian (well, less expected to be lesbian than expected to be the one if one of the two became one), Rene – whose two hobbies growing up were playing dress up and playing with make-up, was expected to be straight – so they blamed Jill when Rene turned out to not be straight).

Theo Brasseaux is the owner of Theo Brasseaux’s Shop of Voodoo. And I’ll note immediately – no, she’s not either the third person in a three way relationship, or a third angle on a love triangle. She’s just the owner of the shop across the street. Who has a major impact on the story (depending). Theo’s the wacky side character. She is also the one that I, as seems somewhat common with Alexander books, rather disliked in the beginning, before having her grow on me. Somewhat. By the end of the book I was up to the level of ‘meh, I’m okay with her existing’.

Right, so, story – both Shawn and Jill fancy each other but Shawn’s super shy and, apparently, Jill isn’t the type to ask someone out – at least not when they look super hot like Shawn (she has some confidence issues of her own, what with growing up being compared, and being found the lesser, with Rene). Theo gets into the mix because a) right when Shawn finally got up the nerve to ask Jill out, Theo storms into Jill’s store and demands immediate work done by Jill on something Theo has that is broken; b) Theo offers, separately, advice and ‘help’ to jump start ‘something’ between Shawn and Jill.

It’s a great little mini-story, set during the holidays. Great Christmas-in-New-Orleans vibe and theme. As opposed to the current Alexander book I’m reading which has a strong Halloween-in-Baton-Rouge vibe going on (and no, Holiday’s in and of itself isn’t another thing to add to the ‘things Alexander is known for’).

I wasn’t sure where I’d end up when I started the story – I liked it, then Theo appeared and I started to dislike it, then humor exploded, and stuff happened, and in the end I rather loved the story. Good solid lovable story.

October 24 2016