Family Jewels by Kate Christie

Family Jewels by Kate Christie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I’m not sure if I knew this going in, but this is not a Romance book. There is a bit of romancing that occurs, and there is love seen, but not Romance. What do I mean? Well, the kind of love seen is that between a father and daughter, and, separately, that between much older mentor and much younger mentee. And the romancing? Well, more on that later.

I have some vague idea that Elizabeth ‘Junior’ Starreveld is somewhere around 26, though that might be because so many people in books I’ve read have been around that age. I do know that she is ‘not yet thirty’, and post-college age. So 26 is probably accurate. She is called Junior by her LGBT related friends (while her family call her either Elizabeth or Lizzie – though it is somewhat grating on Junior when Cat uses Lizzie since it is quite close to another word Cat likes to use, Lezzie – Cat being one of Junior’s older sisters, she has three sisters (the four sisters in order of birth: Jane, Mary, Cat, Elizabeth).

Junior did well in college and has two jobs. Both of which are somewhat lower than her family believes she should have. And, admittedly (she admits), they are. One involves working at her friend Toby’s café; and the other involves working at an arboretum connected to the University of Michigan underneath her mentor Fitz (Dr. Margaret ‘Fitz’ Somethingorother). Junior is working these two jobs because a) she doesn’t know what to do with herself; b) she didn’t want to dive into investing much time in a career when she would be following her girlfriend when she got a job in her profession – after ‘passing her orals’. But they split a year ago, so Junior has been in something of a holding pattern, work wise. Relationship wise she has been seeing two women at the same time (known to both) – that’s part of the ‘romancing’ I mentioned, though the reader only sees the ‘dyke drama’ (as worded in the book) and not the ‘romance’, but the reader does see the ‘romance’ of Junior and Sofie in Amsterdam (and with Junior and . . . I think it was Michelle? Well, whoever, she worked at the hotel Junior and her father were staying at, one of them – that’s one of the things I wanted to mention, there were certain aspects of Junior’s character I didn’t like, this was one of them – no not trying to pick up the hotel worker, but doing so right in front of her father, and inviting the woman to share a meal with them when the father wanted a super quick meal before heading to the train station; basically I’m saying that Junior shows some growing needs to be done).

Right, so. Got ahead of myself there. The book involves Junior puttering around, dodging ‘dyke drama’, dodging her ex-girlfriend and ex-best friend, working, and having dinners with her family every two weeks or so. At one such family dinner, the father – who has been estranged and acting stand-off-ish ever since Junior ‘came out’ after high school graduation – has asked/offered/invited his daughter Elizabeth (Junior) to go with him on his trip to Europe. For the ticket is already paid for and the person who was going to go with him, Kevin (name not important, he never once appears in the book), has a family emergency. Actually the father asked his daughter to go to a gem exhibition (however that was worded) and the daughter almost immediately declined, until she realized it would be in Amsterdam. And so she agrees. The book then proceeds to show them getting ready for the trip, being on the trip, then coming home – changed from the trip.

Junior did grow as a character during the course of this book. For she moved from someone I kind of did not like (not necessarily disliked but . . . not liked) to one who I mostly liked. Dislikable aspects? Her relationships with other women (her doormat-y existence with her long time now ex-girlfriend; her kind of lazy passive relationship with two women (which reminds me that there was a bit of sex in this book since I now recall mention of a cheerleader girlfriend being stretched out on a bed, though I don’t recall if it is any more explicit than that, bluntly stating that the girlfriend is stretched out on the bed); her causal flirting with everyone; her seeming infatuation with every woman she came across in Europe (okay, with two women); her causal acceptance of a ‘mystery pill’ that she doesn’t actually want to ingest but does because she doesn’t want … um . . . to be . . . rude, that’s it, she didn’t want to be rude – so she put a mysterious drug into her system.

Eventually, though, the book grew on me. A slice of life, watching a young woman mature, watching her grow closer to her father, watching her watch a beloved mentor steady decline in health, etc. etc. In the end, I rather liked the book and how it unfolded. And want a sequel. Because Elizabeth/Junior is more mature now in her life and attitude and stuff, and I’d like to see a romance between her and someone – maybe in Seattle, maybe in Ann Arbor, maybe even including Sofie (years later they could meet up again when both have grown and matured). This is actually one of the early books by this author so that ‘sequel’ already occurred or will never occur (it has been 5 years since the book came out).

Solid interesting lovely tender book that, at a few points, brought a little wet-ness to my eyes (though only wetness (I do admit when I get teary, so no I’m not dodging around, no tears actually fell here)).

ETA: looked at the other books - there are only two other books that I have yet to read. Neither of them are a 'Elizabeth/Junior finding romance' sequel to this story here.

Rating: 4.34

May 30 2017



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