Book received from both Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review
Somewhere around 75 to 87% I was seriously considering ways I could sneak this book onto my six star shelf, despite that being reserved for reread books only (and only the best of the best rereads - there's a reason there's only 4 books on that shelf). Somewhere around there, though, an odd kind of conflict point came up and I no longer had to worry about sneaking this book where it didn't belong.
Don't get me wrong - I liked both the 'item of conflict/point of conflict' and how it was handled. It just . . . side-tracked me from the happy little bubble I was in that had me read 25% in one setting, then another 31% in another. Then I read the final 43% in a third sitting, but that 'magical bubble' was gone.
I loved everything about this book. The characters, the interactions, the descriptions of 'things' (city (Chicago), and rural Michigan), and holidays. If you were to look at my book, you'd probably find most of it highlighted for 'goodness'. For 'remember this passage here'. Oh, and yes, there is graphic sex. And I read it, and I enjoyed it.
Right, so, what should I say?
There were two point of views in this book, two lead characters. 40 year old Pam Phillips, and 32 year old Kathryn Hawthorne. Pam spent twenty-one years married to a man she never loved, and didn't really particularly like, but is still recovering from his relatively recent death from cancer when this book opens. She never has to work again, since her husband did very well as a lawyer, but she feels freed now to do so - and works in one of those beauty shops. As might be expected with this particular set of facts, Pam is straight (she could have been bisexual, but if so she probably wouldn't have married and stayed married to Harold, but that's another story).
Kathryn is something of a celebrity in Chicago. In the way anyone who appears on television can be - in a 'do I recognize her? I should recognize her, right?' way. For she's a movie critic on one of the local stations. Some time before the start of this book she had her heart broken and therefore has spent a lot of time, and I mean a lot of time, bouncing from one women to another for meaningless one-night-stands. Which is seen in this book from the opening when the book opens with her annoyed that a woman still hadn't left when the morning came. And seen in how her friends react to certain things. But - that player/player reputation never gets seen again in the book in any other way. Not, at least, after she stopped into a particular beauty store to try to find a gift for her mother's birthday - assuming she'd fail and get yelled at by her mother (her mother is that kind of person). Whereupon she meets Pam. And is smitten. It isn't seen in her point of view section, but apparently she left her phone number with Pam on . . . hmm, some kind of receipt. For later Pam finds it and, after much reluctance, calls the number.
Whereupon Pam and Kathryn begin slowly edging towards possibly becoming friends. While both feel some odd feelings of lust towards the other (well more odd for straight Pam to feel odd about the feelings). Kathryn's open to the idea of making a new friend, which is hard when you are an adult, but nothing more. Especially since Pam is straight. The woman who broke her heart was straight.
Everything about this book kind of blinks at me like something I wouldn't want anything to do with. It has more red flags bouncing around warning me away than an overly highly penalized football game (I'd no idea where to go with the red flag thing and the idea ran away from me). Age difference, an older woman who never thought she was anything but straight, somewhat annoying best friend, straight-lesbian romance, overbearing mother, etc. etc. Yet . . . other than that best friend, I loved every single second of this book. Loved it.
Completely unexpected reaction. I'm always slightly worried when I try a book by someone who a) I've never heard of before; b) never published anything before (as far as I know). Especially if the book is in a sub-niche market area. But I'm quite glad I found my way to trying this book and reading it. And enjoying it.
Rating: 5+
November 11 2017
No comments:
Post a Comment