Curious Wine by Katherine V. Forrest

Curious Wine by Katherine V. Forrest

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is the second library book I’ve read in a long time. Second library book since I moved. And, oddly enough and unexpectedly, both include a wlw or f/f plot-line. One has that as the main theme (this book); other has that as a subplot (Mira Grant’s ‘Into the Drowning Deep’).

I’d like to say something along the lines of ‘this is the oldest lesbian fiction book that was both a romance and one with a ‘happy for now’ type ending’ – unlike lesbian pulp that I’ve read that tended to have unhappy endings, and/or if there is a happy ending, it definitely didn’t involve two women together at the end. Except: neither of the main characters (though only one has POV) are lesbians before meeting each other; both show signs of being much more likely to being somewhere on the bisexual scale than lesbian (as in, both still seem happy with the idea of sex with men, though one might have decided that they are all the way lesbian now – the one without POV thoughts, so not sure; other though is in the ‘I find men attractive, no woman – but for you’ column). Sooo . . happiest oldest, in publication terms, bisexual fiction? Something like that.

I really need an f/f shelf so I can look for those books. Since bisexual fiction ‘doesn’t rest upon’ lesbian fiction shelf (unless I’m 100% certain a lesbian is 1) involved; 2) has POV -> neither is present in this specific book; I’m not 100% certain, and the one that might be a lesbian now, does not have POV). I make that comment because I’m now going through my Lesbian Fiction shelf looking at publication dates.

Neither of the first two I’ve read fall inside the ‘lesbian pulp’ genre, but neither have happy outcomes for lesbians. Then a bunch of lesbian pulp books (~6). Then the ones I read published in the 1980s, which includes this book here. Including this book here, I’ve read four published in the 1980s lesbian fiction books – and only this one has a ‘happy outcome’ for lesbians, the other three were lesbian mysteries by the same author as of this book here.

Right, now that I’ve lost everyone . . this book here…

A massively huge number of women, at least it appears that way at first, spend a few days together at Lake Tahoe in Nevada. Millie, Madge, Chris, Liz and . . . I think Vivian are all friends. Vivian (who annoyingly includes her own name in her conversations; ala ‘Vivian is happy to see you’, though she does occasionally use I) isn’t staying at the cabin owned by Liz, and so I’m not sure if she actually is one of the groups friends – though I assume she is and that is why the main and only point of view character is staying at Liz’s cabin – Diana Holland. No one staying at the cabin has meet Diana before, though some information about her past has been shared by Vivian with Liz. Another guest, not yet named, is also brand-new to most of the group. Lane Christianson was invited to join the group by her friend Madge.

I’ve a vague idea that Millie might be in her twenties, but everyone else is somewhere between 34 and 54 (give or take ten years, though on the upper end).

As noted – all are there for a few days vacation, all but Diana there for skiing (Diana doesn’t ski, when the others are skiing, she drives to town to gamble). Also, as expected, all of them . . . wait, what’s this? Completely confusing me, when I came across this information . . . every bloody single person, including Vivian who isn’t staying at the cabin, is 100% heterosexual. And talk a lot about men. And screwing, and stuff. Most have boyfriends or husbands. For example: Diana, the POV, just broke up after a long term (5 year?) relationship with a man named Jack who cheated on her; she’d also previously been married (for 7 years?).

So, I entered this book expecting to find lesbians in this lesbian fiction book to find a bunch of disgruntled heterosexual women. There’s a lot of drinking and drug partaking, but no that does not lead to ‘accidental’ woman on woman action.

Two of the women, though, seem quite taken with another woman at the party. Happily both have fixated on each other (as opposed to other members of the vacation party). Weirdly and conveniently the two share the same upper loft sleeping area. Before either even think of using the bed for anything more than sleep, both suggest ‘sharing heat’, or whatever words they used, by using that bed instead of having the other back in the other room (which wasn’t really described but seemed small, cramped, and might not actually have a full-fledged bed).

Events conspire to have both become huggy/consoling the other. Kissing breaks out. Groping as well. When Lane starts pulling on Diana’s pj bottoms, Diana has a ‘holy fuck, I’m NOT A LESBIAN!!!!’ moment that causes Lane to stop her actions. And Diana to flee (the next morning), even though her body is screaming ‘please continue this new experience with the other women. PLEASE!’

Diana grapples with the idea she is/isn’t interested in Lane. Gazes upon other women while gambling. Finds none attractive, sexually. Spots men. Finds them sexually interesting. So much so she goes to one of their rooms. Whereupon . . . well, I’d not normally state this spoiler opening, but it’s important to note that a dubious consent (‘can there be consenting rape?’) moment occurs.

One thing I haven’t mentioned yet. I’ve indirectly noted that this book was published in the 1980s, but did not mention when the book was set. If I recall correctly, the book was set in 1978 or 1979. A time I’m much more able to except the concept of ‘noooo I can’t be a lesbian!!!’ reactions. What with society being quite negative, and even the somewhat underground books for people of a certain persuasion were . . . quite negative about lesbians (see: lesbian pulp). Basically, what I’m saying is that, in the exact right circumstances a positive vibe might have developed for a specific woman in this era, but 99.9999% of women, even if they come from a family that’s deeply to the left, politically, are going to fear finding themselves being attracted to women. Or, at least, that’s my understanding. I was not in my mid-30s in 1978 (though I was alive in that year).

Right, I went into that long diversion because I needed to note that this specific trope comes up a lot in lesbian fiction. It is something like . . . required, almost, that the books be about two non-lesbians who find each other then realize, reluctantly, that they might like women (at least there’s a ton of lesbian fiction that goes that route; I’ve also read a ton involving women 100% okay with the idea of being attracted to women and having relationships with women who find women who are similarly 100% okay with the idea). I’ve forgotten how this paragraph started. Certain tropes annoy me in lesbian fiction; based on certain factors, it is easier for me to ‘accept’ these tropes, since they are probably closer to reality than many other possible paths.

This was an interesting book, though hampered by being a solo point of view book. Also too large focus on men and humping men. But no matter, still interesting.

I rated this book 3.5 (as in put on that shelf), though now that I come to the part where I actually rate the book in my review, I’m not actually sure what to rate it. So 3.5 it shall be rated.

Rating: 3.5

July 27 2018



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Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The author, as in the individual behind the various names, chose to put this book out under the Grant name instead of the McGuire name. Which tells the reader certain things, at least if they know the names. Grant writes horror/disaster/zombie/intelligent parasites type of stories; McGuire writes fantasies. Both might include the same ‘monsters’ but from different angles (I do not specifically recall any zombies or intelligent parasites as characters in McGuire books, but there are sentient intelligent sea hominids in McGuire books).

The point in noting this issue: I knew this going in so I went in expecting a horror/disaster type story. Not a romance. And that’s what I got (plus a romance, but eh, whatever).

As I noted in, I think, one status update, my greatest problem with this specific book was how often the author dived into needless character backstory/characterization type stuff. Somewhere along the way I could tell . . . well, no this would be spoiler-y so let’s move on ((view spoiler)[if not a main character, I could tell which character was going to die because they suddenly had POV control and rich characterization and backstory then mid-sentence, they dead. Mmphs. Heh. I do not want to spend ten pages on backstory/characterization for a character I barely knew existed, just to make their death more, what’s that word, poignant? Something like that. (that didn’t always happen, by the way, that a minor character would suddenly get backstory then die; just most of the time; occasionally they’d get backstory and . . . continue to live.) (hide spoiler)]).

Right, so – Something like seven years before this book opens, an entertainment company sent a research vessel out to ‘look for mermaids’ to make a ‘mock documentary’. The company has made numerous shows like this one – looking for bigfoot, yeti, etc.etc. They send real scientists and the like along, film them, but never actually expect to find anything. Well, seven years ago they sent a ship out to look for mermaids. No bodies were recovered, nobody made it back alive; video shows ‘monsters’ climbing up out of the sea and tearing people apart. Most people saw those leaked videos and assumed they were fake, a hoax. The company knows better, knows the truth.

This book follows a second ship sent to the same waters, seven years after the first. The company was waiting on science to advance in certain areas before they sent the second expedition.

There are a ton of characters in this book – almost too many, but just barely not too many. Many point of views. Several involving people who ‘lost’ someone on the earlier ship.

Another thing I noted in my status updates: these might be some damned smart people in their fields of expertise but . . . without exception, everyone is depicted as being super dimwitted outside their own field. TSTL characters fill the pages. *shrugs*

Oh, and two of the main characters are female and sleep together. Hence my use of ‘lesbian’ though, now that I think about it, I should change that to bisexual (changes). I forget if Olivia is lesbian or bisexual, but Tory is definitely bisexual since her ex-boyfriend is on the voyage, and she sleeps with/develops a relationship with Olivia.

Rating: 3.68

July 26 2018




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Soulswap by Arizona Tape and Laura Greenwood

Soulswap by Arizona Tape

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I’m not sure how it happens, but it does. I seem to bounce from subject to subject by accident. The books themselves might be written years apart, or they all might have been inspired to be written and published at the same time. Like suddenly running through a group of pretend relationship books, or miscommunication books, or women pretending to be men books or . . . etc. etc.

Here the common theme is telling a story in multiple books. Heh. Sounds like a series, eh? I mean telling the same story, from more than one side, from more than one POV, the same chronological moments in time from different perspectives, in different books. I didn’t know I was going to find myself in that situation here until I looked closer at the book series this specific book here is involved in.

Book one, this book here, tells the story of a particular woman in a MF relationship, one in which she repeatedly (and I mean repeatedly) makes note of how much she loves her boyfriend/fiancée, while still acknowledging there’s this spark missing. That specific woman, Tate, is a dragon-shifter who hasn’t really mastered the ability to shift (like, at all).

Book two tells the story of Ayra, a woman in a FF relationship, who both loves her girlfriend and loves being with her girlfriend but also notices a spark missing. I mention book two here in the review for book one for one specific reason: Ayra and Tate look the same. They are not both shifters, but both are ‘fantasy creatures’ (Ayra’s a vampire – like Tate she’s ‘defective’ in that she’s a ‘bad’ vampire – in that she hate blood). Both are in relationships that lack ‘something’, though both believe they are in love matches. That’s not why I mention book two. No, I mention book two because Tate, through reasons she has no clue about, keeps waking up in Ayra’s body. She’d black out, wake up in Ayra’s body, interact with the environment in Ayra’s body, faint again, and be back in her own body.

For the longest time Tate thought she might be having weird dreams or the like. Though she kind of knew things felt just a little too real. Including the part wherein she finds herself strangely attracted to Ayra’s girlfriend Sian.

Somewhere along the line, though, Tate finally realizes that she really is in someone else’s body – that Sian is real, that the events unfolding are real. Takes her longer to realize her own body is getting taken over while she’s gone.

That’s book two – seeing Ayra in Ayra’s body, then Ayra in Tate’s body (like seeing Tate in Tate’s body, then in Ayra’s body). It’s not really important, since I’ll probably come back to it, but I stopped reading Ayra’s book when she referred to Sian as ‘the blonde’ (Tate, when she didn’t know what the fuck was going on, kept getting called ‘Ayra’ by a blond woman, so she took to thinking of that woman as ‘blondie’ – seeing Ayra, in Ayra’s body, referring to Sian as ‘the blond’ looked like fanfiction gone wild – while Tate’s use of ‘blondie’ seemed cute and fitting to her personality (she labeled another person she didn’t know, but was known to Ayra, by his outfit – he had been dressed as Dracula at the time, so yes it’s her personality to use appearance to name people).

Right, so, another series told in parts, then concluded in a third. I can see reasons to keep Ayra’s and Tate’s POV section separate (in separate books), especially since they never actually directly interact with each other ((view spoiler)[they do interact indirectly (hide spoiler)]) and it’s confusing when POV characters don’t interact with each other. I can also see how it might have been easier to read with the two stories interlocked in one book – for the exact reason I stopped reading book two – it’s repeating too much of the same stuff from book one, so I stopped.

Wow, I spent way too much time talking about book 2. Mmphs. Heh.

Rather enjoyed the personalities on display here – specifically the lead character, Tate, and Sian, the love interest (or the second love interest; the first, the original boyfriend guy, is present but . . . more to showcase how much Tate . . . kind of didn’t fit that well with him).

Rating: 4.63

June 15 2018




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Glyph (Legacy #1) by Max Ellendale

Glyph by Max Ellendale

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


It is difficult to read a book that includes as the main and only point of view a woman who is, at times, TSTL (too stupid to live). She’s a genius doctor, but she kept making very very stupid decisions that put her life in danger – that put other people’s lives in danger. In addition, one of the other main characters (though not POV), also had TSTL tendencies (what with being gung-ho in putting herself in danger, and not ‘respecting’ danger when it appears - (view spoiler)[talking about how Xany 1) was easily enthralled (or whatever the word is) by a vampire; 2) after being saved - wanted to go back outside to attack the vampire despite having no ability to do so; 3) when danger was about, charging outside because it was/is more exciting to know what’s going on (both when the weretiger and the werewolves raced outside because ‘a not normal cat’ was out there; and the time she wandered around outside when the werewolf cubs were turning (both in taunting the female cub, then later standing around outside like a moron while werewolves were charging around all hungry like – though this is also another occasion Shawnee, the main, was acting stupid) (hide spoiler)]. In addition to this specific problematic issue is the part where I entered this book thinking I was going to be reading lesbian fiction. This was in no way a work of lesbian fiction. No lesbians here (Shawnee is messed up from an extremely abusive childhood, so she didn’t have a clue what she was like or what she might like, but ultimately she’s bisexual; Vanessa, the weretiger, has a history of constantly banging dudes (with no history, apparently, of banging chicks, except being really overly affectionate with Shawnee – hence my ‘no lesbians here’ comment; Xany, the only other main character level chick in the book is into dudes).

Right, so. Once I got past those two specific issues, I found the book to be enjoyable. Sometimes hard to read, literally, since Shawnee kept having massive panic attacks and be terrorized by her past. And the book ended . . . well, I can’t say, spoiler, but it ended a certain way.

Shawnee Twofeather is a full-blooded native American . . . she thinks. Her mother is a full- Cherokee (even if that’s rare), while her father, she thinks, is probably Cherokee and Sioux. She had a massively abusive childhood, but she’s mostly blocked that out (well, as much as she can without actually dealing with the issue, which leads to nightmares and stuff – the not dealing with it), and works as an emergency room doctor. Hmm, actually. Her role in the hospital was odd. She was . . . what, a research assistant? Who had the run of the hospital and could wander wherever she wanted, the ER, the morgue, wherever? Eh, weirdly open job, but she worked as a research assistant and handled stuff in the ER whenever she felt like it. This leads me to another issue I have with the book that actually shocked me - (view spoiler)[early on in the book the ‘good’ doctor helped create a ‘serum’ which would have a particular impact on shifters – though she wasn’t told that that was what the thing was supposed to do. Throughout the majority of the book I was under the impression that Shawnee knew what the serum was for – various reasons, like words she used inside of herself – that the serum would prevent shifters to shift (not exactly what the serum was actually, but something like that) – only later it turns out that . . . she didn’t know? I know she was living a life of blocking out the world around herself, and I would be quite ‘happy’ with the idea that she blocked the truth from herself, except for words at the time, but whatever (hide spoiler)].

I’ve kind of lost track of where I was. Mmphs.

So, let’s see: main and only point of view is Dr. Shawnee Twofeather. She works in a hospital. She has, basically, one friend, a woman named Vanessa. Despite some rather descriptive stuff given for others in the book, all I know about Vanesa is that she has red hair – I mean all I know physically, well, her human shape.

Only friend, that is, until she runs into a woman who is bubbly and introduces herself as Xany. They meet outside their apartment building. Xany has locked herself out. Turns out – they actually live on the same floor. Xany is very nosy, and bubbly. One thing leads to another and something like an ‘intervention’ occurs when Xany introduces Shawnee to Xany’s brother and friend (Mal and Calden). The ‘intervention’ is about just what Shawnee is; with the understanding that she didn’t know. But, while she’s tried hard to block her past, she did/does know. Mal & C are werewolves. Xany and Shawnee are ‘breeders’. Vanessa is a weretiger, but that wasn’t part of the intended intervention talk.

Right so . . . . It’s hard to write about this book without doing what I’m doing. Plot info dump. Mmphs. Well, to keep myself from continuing down that road I’ll note: the shifters grow closer, spend time together, until troubles erupt due to Shawnee’s past (which are handled in a TSTL fashion by Shawnee).

For the most part I enjoyed the book. The characters can be sometimes hard to take/like. Watching a woman showing signs of lusting towards a man in a book that I had thought was lesbian fiction was a little hard to adjust to, but bah, whatever. Truth to tell, I wasn’t sure what I was getting into, though I saw how affectionate Vanessa and Shawnee were; and noticed how Shawnee really took in and seemed to like Xany’s bouncing massive breasts. But alas, this did not turn out to be a FFF book. Nope. As noted, Xany’s into dudes. (view spoiler)[it’s a F-F-M book, in that Shawnee is the pivot point, Vanessa is into her, and Mal is into Shawnee; V and M tolerate each other but are not into each other (hide spoiler)].

Rating: 3.88

May 26 2018



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Tokyo Love by Diana Jean

Tokyo Love by Diana Jean

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the 60th book I’ve read (well 60th on my reread shelf, I’ve not always ‘properly’ recorded rereads, and some of those 60 rereads are of the same book), and 2nd time I’ve read this book here. Still only the first book I’ve read by this author, though.

This is a near future story set roughly 30 years in the future in the 2040s, in (mostly) Tokyo Japan. Starring an American woman from the Midwest named Kathleen Schmitt who works as the director of a the software part of a special project developing Personal Love Companions (a combination of a robot and a love doll designed to mimic real people – in feel and personality). Kathleen is seen through the eyes of herself and Yuriko Vellucci (more on Yuriko later). I mention so I can then mention that Kathleen is described as having especially kinky hair (the kind where someone’s hand will get trapped inside of it if they try to run their hand through the hair), especially chubby and having oversized breasts. There are comments made about how Kathleen, as an American, is ‘larger’ than the normal person seen in Japan (this is where my earlier comment about the POV being Kathleen’s and Yuriko’s leads me to note that a self-assessment (Kathleen’s) is suspect, and Yuriko, even though half-American and having spent years in the USA, hasn’t been there in years and is out of practice ‘judging’ Americans).

Right. So. Kathleen works as the director, as noted, and has been in Japan for about three months now. Knows roughly three words of Japanese, and has come to realize that just because many Japanese know English, that doesn’t mean she and they could communicate fluently. Which is important because the story opens with her trapped in the Japanese metro/transit/train system and is freaking out. In the middle of berating and yelling at a help kiosk Kathleen is saved by the other main character – Yuriko (I stop for a moment to include the part where the help kiosk is designed to be available to be used in many languages, including English, but was having trouble understanding Kathleen).

Yuriko, as previously noted, is half-American (and not previously mentioned, half-Japanese). Works on the same project Kathleen is working on, but in a different division (Kathleen is software, Yuriko is hardware).

Yuriko & Kathleen become friendly and bump into each other every once in a while. Their ‘bumping into each other’ picks up when Kathleen ends up being the pre-beta tester of a Personal Love Companion (against her wishes), and Yuriko gets pulled into the situation for several reasons.

This is where I mention that: 1) Kathleen has no desire to have the PLC, but can’t say no; 2) the PLC is made based on a brain scan – the ‘perfect’ companion is created based on the scan; 3) Kathleen is 200% heterosexual (not 100% because she is very very adamant that she is heterosexual and nothing but); 4) Kathleen’s PLC is: a) female; b) looks exactly like Yuriko.

Yuriko, Kathleen, and Ai (the name the PLC gives herself) then proceed to interact, explore feelings and ideas, be fluffy mixed with angsty, and do a little exploring of Japan – mostly of some shrines.

I loved the book the first time I read it, and down rated the first read through somewhat because of how long it took Kathleen to get from ‘I’m 100% straight’ to ‘okay, I’m bisexual’) – oddly enough, that wasn’t an issue this time (well, it was an issue, just it wasn’t a ‘must down rate book’ level issue). The thing that keeps me from rating this book higher than I did this time is based partly on how this book needing several more passes through the editing process due to extra words, misspelled words (more in a there/their kind of way) and a few other issues like that.

Rating: 5

May 1 2018



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Come to the Rocks by Christin Haws

*I received this book from NineStar Press and Netgalley for an honest review*

I recently read and reviewed a book, and my review was fixated on the abusive relationship on display in the book. That specific relationship type, abusive, wasn’t in the book description, and I could see how a reader could read the book and not see the same signs I saw. Instead of seeing and reading a love story, like the book called itself, I saw and read something else.


Similar thing happened here. Though here the short story description plainly admits to including an abusive relationship story line. And yet, like before, I became fixated on something not listed in the description or book genres. No, not the love story part, that was there in the description, no the potential unreliable narrator story line.

I’m not really sure how to react to this story, and/or how I am supposed to react to this story. There were some massive hints that I was reading a story that included both an abusive relationship (main POV character with the stalker ex-boyfriend) and a budding love story (main POV character with the mermaid). On the other hand there were hints, less massive, that I was reading an unreliable narrator story. Like the part wherein the narrator stated several times that their mental process was broken (not in those words), and they weren’t always 100% sure of what was going on around them. Like how Linnea found it more unbelievable that Mren, the mermaid, found Lin attractive, than the part where Mren was a mermaid; or the part wherein Mren tells Lin a story that is directly on point – a solution to Lin’s problems, before Mren learned what Lin’s problems actually were; or the part wherein Linnea was 100% convinced her stalker ex-boyfriend was inside her house – to the point she got up, went to her car, and drove to his house and was only reassured that he wasn’t inside because she saw his distinctive truck in his own driveway (though ‘reassured’ puts it strongly); or the part wherein Linnea had become numb to the idea that it was a question of when, not if, her ex-boyfriend Mikey would kill her and her story would appear on the news (which is one of the reasons she kept calling the police on ‘the stuff’ that was going on – so there would be a paper trail on him).

Bah, I’m going too long down that particular path. Point is: I’m not sure if I should read this as a story of Linnea, the main character and only point of view; her abusive stalker ex-boyfriend; or read this as a story about Linnea, her stalker ex-boyfriend, and her ingenious solution to the problem – and the mermaid was just a figment of her imagination (there are even hints, beyond the ‘found it more unbelievable that the mermaid was interested in her, than that she was spending time with a mermaid’ that the main character wasn’t even certain the mermaid was real).

Alas – there is no big reveal indicating one or the other plot-line is the ‘real’ one. And since I’m seeing the ‘unreliable narrator’ hints without a ‘big reveal’, and note of such in book description, I assume I should not read that specific plot-line into the story. Or something like that.

On the other hand – I’m not sure it matters. I’ve had to think long and hard on what I actually read, which genre I was actually in, and I’ve come to the conclusion that it doesn’t matter. At least in the sense that I’d end up at the same rating for either: love story with background stalker/ex-boyfriend; or unreliable narrator murder mystery. The same high rating.

It’s strange how I find myself where I find myself. To think I was going to do my normal ‘this is the first story I’ve read by this author’; ‘I became interested in reading this story because I had just recently started watching a television series called ‘Siren’ that involves a mermaid, though a different type of mermaid than appears in this story here’. But, alas, my review went off on a weird ‘other’ direction.

Stalker ex-boyfriend/abusive relationship: This is the story of a woman named Linnea. She’s chubby (self-aware comment on herself), and bisexual. She entered into a ‘not serious’ relationship with a guy named Mikey. When he started acting ‘weird’, and/or like he wanted more out of the relationship, she dumped him. He, in turn, could not accept that and the two of them have now spent more time in this ex-boyfriend/abusive/stalker situation than they did in their actual relationship. She has a restraining order on him. He ignores it. Does stuff that causes her to call the police. Adds to the paper trail, but he hadn’t, by the start of this story, done anything that would allow the police to actually do anything. The stalker/abusive asshole situation builds exponentially in this story.

Love Story: There’s one specific spot Linnea finds peace, comfort, safety. Everywhere else she finds herself in fear. Afraid that Mikey will show up there. ‘Her place’ is a specific spot on the coastline. A very rocky place next to a, normally, angry ocean. Very slippery and wet rocky place, with an ocean that would be super pleased to reach out, grab whoever is stupid enough to be on the rocks, and bash the person to death against the rocks. But Linnea can read the ocean. And knows when it is safe enough to be there.

During one of her times resting in her spot, she spots a glimmer on the water too quick to know if she actually saw something or not. Then it’s there longer – she’s spotted something. Then . . . there’s the face of a beautiful woman looking up at her, who Linnea later learns is Mren.

And that is the love story on display – the story of the budding romance between Linnea – human, and Mren – mermaid.

Unreliable Narrator: There are hints that I might have spotted incorrectly. If spotted correctly, this is something of a psychological horror – with a woman breaking (and she admits to herself that she is breaking – in the story line) to the point where she begins to have delusions/illusions, and ends up committing ‘the perfect murder’.

That, at least, is what I thought while reading the story. I’d not have even admitted seeing that in my review, though, if I hadn’t read the section after the story, about the author. I repeat, before I mention what I saw, that I thought of this unreliable narrator/psychological horror before reading that ‘about the author’ section. I did not get the idea from the fact that the author notes that they normally write horror stories, with occasional jumps into other stuff. *shrugs* It’s possible that what I saw was what I was supposed to see. It’s possible what I saw snuck in via an author who normally writes horror. It’s also possible that I, myself, am just insane and nothing I spotted was there.

(hehe – as I write this I keep remembering things that reinforce the ‘unreliable narrator’ thingie. My review could probably end up longer than the short story itself if I continued to note down these sudden remembrances – so I won’t – though I know I’m going to forget them as time passes (like the narrator noting how ‘magically modest’ the mermaid was – in that her hair, or the ocean itself, always covered her breasts – except for one very specific moment).

Rating: 4.77

April 6 2018

All the Ways to Here (Future Leaders, #2) by Emily O’Beirne

All the Ways to Here by Emily O’Beirne

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Book received from Ylva Publishing for an honest review

I am in the unfortunate situation wherein I enjoyed the book I read but am unsure what to actually write about said book. Edited to add: Oh, and yes you need to read the first book in the series before reading this book here.

Well, as I noted somewhere, I think in my status updates, this book, like the prior book in the series, has two point of views – Finn and Willa. Unlike in the prior book – which had the book split roughly evenly in half with the first half of the book seen through one point of view, and the second half seen through the other, this book alternated. Though not every other chapter – occasionally the reader would go from one chapter seen through Finn’s (or Willa’s) eyes to another chapter through their eyes. Other than my initial issue of trying to remember which character was which, and which personalities went with each character – which wasn’t helped by seeing the characters in a new setting – I much prefer the alternating POV instead of the half-and-half approach.

In the first book, Future Leaders of Nowhere, various teenagers, roughly around the age of 15 to … some age over 15, 18? I am not sure if there was just one age level or multiple, I forget now, and if multiple what the cut-off age was. Right, sorry, a group of teenagers, roughly around the age of 15, from various schools in Australia ended up at a leadership camp called ‘Camp Nowhere’. At that camp two young women from different schools, but the same city, meet and fell into . . . deep liking (which may or may not have been love).

In the second book their story, Willa and Finn’s story, continues. But now they are back in Melbourne, back amongst their fella school students, back among their families and are only able to see each other at certain times.

The second book is much more about family, and friends, and individual people’s places in the world, and what they actually wish to prioritize (is the almost thankless task of being student/school captain (what would be called student president in the USA), really worth it for the bit it adds to their resume and college admissions? Should an absentee father be given more of your time? How about a mother who works so much that she never seems to be home? Or a sister who gets on your nerves, or a brother who rarely talks, or … etc.). While, at the same time, the relationship/romance between Finn and Willa continues. Now that they are 16 . . . or 17. I’ve lost track of how old they were in book one and two; and book two picks up immediately after book one so it’s not like their age could advance massively, though time seems to fly in book two, and birthdays do occur.

This was a quite enjoyable slice of life, romance, young adult novel. Those looking for sex should look elsewhere, except for heavy passionate kissing.

Wow, I’ve not really said anything, eh? Well, as I said, I enjoyed the book but do not have much to say about it. I didn’t hate the book, nor love the book so deeply that I wish to immediately move to Australia and become a 16 year old living under the fear of whatever VCE is. (That comes up a lot – almost as much as ‘semi’s’ came up on Glee. Okay, it came up like three times, much less than semi’s on Glee.)

(“The Victorian Certificate of Education or VCE is the credential awarded to secondary school students who successfully complete high school level studies (year 11 and 12 or equivalent) in the Australian state of Victoria.” – hmm, so not only is it an Australian thing, it’s a local state thing. Heh. Though judging from a quick glance and seeing a QCE (for Queensland Certificate of Education, this is probably something nationwide. Must complicate moving between states, though. Potentially. I suppose. I really have no idea how ‘stuff’ like that works, though I know the UK has something also that pops up in British young adult books; also know there’s something like it in New York specifically, since I hear people talk about it occasionally – the closest I had to anything like whatever this ‘thing’ is would be AP classes, which you take, then take a test, if you pass the test you get college credit – which I did; though I think some of these ‘things’ are more geared to ‘pass or you don’t get a high school diploma’ type of thing. I prefer it being geared to possible college credit instead of having one bad day and not being able to graduate high school due to fucking up some tests – see, I’ve no clue what this VCE thing is about, I don’t even know if there are, in fact, tests – heh, I just gazed blankly at a website for the VCE thing and I still don’t know what it is about. I think I might be dim. http://www.vcaa.vic.edu.au/Pages/vce/...).

Rating: 4.68

November 8 2017



View all my reviews

Skin Hunger by Eli Lang

Book received from both Netgalley and Riptide Publishing for an honest review

One of the problems of casually entering a LGBT book, specifically a book that, on the face of it, features two women, is the assumption (maybe only by me) that you are entering a romance. The book seemed to suggest this with the book description, it seemed to suggest this with the way the book opened with two women, one a drummer of a successful band, the other a dancer, meeting on a plan and having a satisfying introduction to each other. From the general causal 'it's going to be a Romance', to the description, to the way the book opened, it seemed fairly reasonable to assume that the book would then, once the plan landed (unless the book was set entirely on the plane), turn into a romance involving Ava the drummer and Cara the dancer.

The reader would be wrong to assume this . . . or would have assumed wrong . . . or however to word this shift.

If Ava had been a younger character, someone younger than 'almost thirty', this would have been a coming of age story. If Ava had been older, this would have been a mid-life crisis type story. But it's neither - Ava is sufficiently aged to not fall into the 'coming of age' category (with exceptions given for those coming to that type of life experience later in life), nor old enough to face a mid-life crisis. but still, the story that unfolds pulls similar ideas form both 'coming of age' stories and 'mid-life crisis' stories.

Ava is 'learning about herself' and 'coming into herself' through the story, while, at the same time, 'dealing with current position in life/current success and/or failure in various aspects of life (success: career; failure: love life/parent) - and dealing with facing questions on where they should go from here. So this is something of a mix 'coming of age through a mid-life crisis', or, in other words, a slice of life book. It is not, though, a capital R romance. Despite indications that the book might become one or was intended as one.

Ava is very full of herself - the entirety of the novel finds the reader trapped, and I use this purposefully, inside Ava's head as she navigates life. Dealing with the dreaded trip home to face the parents and the grandmother. Experimenting with the idea of having 'something' with Cara, though she knows she cannot because she will be there for a very short period of time, and because she's still in love with Tuck (a band-mate, someone she's apparently known for a very long time). Ava seems like a fully formed character, while others in the story seem like they are filters - are these creatures that Ava reacts against. She believes her parents are a certain way, and she reacts to them that way - whether they are or not. She does this with most of the characters in the story. Occasionally one or another character does something to break Ava out of her own head, out of her own presumations, and she suddenly is confronted with the idea that this 'other' actually is a real person (like when she is confronted by the idea that her Grandmother really loves her books, in a similar manner to how Ava loves her drum). Mostly, though, people are 'fixtures' to rail against, rant against, and/or move around. The father, for instance, never seems to come into focus in this book.

From a Romance point of view, from viewing this book as a Romance, this book fails. But I do not think this ever was supposed to be a romance. Or, at least, I hope it wasn't. I need to double check how it is being marketed. But, and this is actually my point, do not enter this book looking for a Romance.

On the other hand, as a slice of life, as a peak into someone's life as they navigate through certain 'issues', the book is quite captivating. Trapped inside one characters mind is not normally somewhere I want to find myself. But there was something there that kept pulling me back into reading the book. Heck, I read the first 43% of the book in one sitting and that's, what, something like 100 pages. That's how captivated I was - I couldn't get myself to stop and when I finally did, I'd read 100 pages.

I rate this book for what I found, not what I expected. And I suspect others, regardless of how they enter this book, will likely come to a different conclusion than I reach(ed). I was entertained, and I found the book satisfying. While I'm interested in what an actual romance between Cara and Ava might have looked like, I'm satisfied by what I foud inside on the book's pages.

One caveat, if this turns out to have intended to be seen as a Romance, I'll have to reconsider my rating. Probably downward.

Rating: 4.12

October 30 2017

Supergirl In Training by wtfoctagon

Imagine, if you will, being an individual living your life. Going about your day. Certain things are set, certain others are up in the air. One of the 'set' things is the part where you will never have a child - for person (a) that's because they are physically incapable of having a child; for person (b) that's because they have had very rotten luck when it comes to family connections and they just know they’d royally screw up any kid that came within fifty miles of them (that ‘fifty miles’ thing is something I lifted from the story itself). So that’s you, for one reason or another you know that you will never have a child.

Now imagine meeting someone who bears a strong resemblance to yourself and who calls you mom.

That’s what happened at the start of this book. Lena was having a normal day, and then a normal night – driving home from work. At either a stop light or stop sign (I forget now which), Lena is startled by someone pounding on their passenger window. This is Lena Luther, so, of course, she . . . waited for more information before reacting (okay, she’d probably have stomped on the gas pedal, but meh).

Well Lena lowered the window a little bit instead of hitting the gas pedal. The woman on the other side of the window screamed something that sounds remarkably like ‘Mom! Hurry up! Let me in, Grandmother is after me!’ (the idea that Lena’s mother is after the woman on the other side of the window is conveyed, I forget if Grandmother or some other term was used). Naturally Lena . . . doesn’t open the door. Then she spots a black van hurrying towards her, the same van that had been involved in an earlier kidnapping – her own kidnapping. So, she open the door, the woman straps in, and off Lena shoots – now pounding on the gas pedal.

One thing leads to another, and it comes out that Lena does in fact have a daughter she never realized she had . . . 5 years in the future (though the woman herself is from 22 years in the future, that’s right, she’s 17). And in the brighter lights of her apartment, the young woman does look remarkably like Lena – with some mannerisms that reminds Lena of someone else.

Because of the nature of yellow sun/red sun/crushing stuff reasons, it is physically impossible for Kara to have a child ‘in the system’ (solar system). And yet, there she is. Lori L. Danvers – her daughter.

And so, over the course of . . . drat, the book description doesn’t have word count. Mmphs. Right, so over the course of roughly 70,000+ words, the reasons for what/how/why come out – unfold. Family time is spent. People are fought. Internal battles occur. Kara continues to be abused by Manhole (or however the author put that, actually it think it might have been closer to Manhell – Mon-El). Attempts to get away from him, gets abused more, etc. etc. You know, stuff happens.

This was a quite interesting and mostly fluffy story. Quite entertaining way to pass the time.

Rating: 3.75

October 13 2017

Coffee on Wednesdays by dare121

Title: Coffee on Wednesdays
Author dare121

Fanfiction: Gotham City Sires (comics), Smallville (TV), Supergirl (TV; Alt universe)
Link: Archive of Our Own

Review:
I do not believe I can stress enough how incredibly long this book is. Super super long. So so long. So many thousands upon thousands of words. But, enough of that.

Supergirl gets 'shipped' with a bunch of different people in fanfictions - I've read a few, not read a few others. Specifically limiting myself to Supergirl + some other woman relationships (since I haven't paid attention to see if there are any with her and any men), we have: SuperCat (Kara + Cat Grant); SuperCorp (Kara + Lena Luther - Lena runs L-Corp, I assume that's where the Corp part comes form); SuperLocke (Kara + Emily Locke from Powerless - included because I've read said ship; oh, and that's not an 'official' ship-name, but seemed to fit, so I used it); and here we have . . . no idea what ship name to use. In other fanfictions some version of cest gets used. Like, maybe calling this Supercest. That's shockingly popular, by the way, having a bunch of incest stories floating around. But that doesn't actually work here since, not only is Alex and Kara not blood relatives, they weren't raised as sisters in this story (this is what happens when I insert a paragraph before what I'd already written, mmphs - yeah, Kara, as I mention again later, raised by Jonathan and Martha Kent, not the Danvers). So, two completely unrelated people, who only first meet as adults, get into a relationship together, one named Kara Kent, other named Alex Danvers. The natural ship name would probably, following the theme above, be something like SuperDanvers, or the like, but that still implies incest, which isn't occurring here. Probably something that incorporates Kent into the name should probably be used for the ship name. *shrugs*

This story here is a Supergirl story based on the television show; though, technically, and this is something I found out only after starting, this is more of a Gotham City Sirens comic fanfiction, mixed with a Smallville tv show fanfiction, with layers of the first season of Supergirl (TV). And even for the Supergirl part, this just takes some of the ideas, and sets the story in some other world/universe. For example, story includes Kara as Supergirl, but she was raised by Martha and Jonathan Kent, the same people who raised Superman (in every story I know about except the one where he landed in Russia and presumably was raised by Russians - referring here to 'Red Son' story). And, while Kara still works with Win in this story, Win is in the background and almost never speaks (more on that later . . . if I remember*); and while she works for Cat Grant, Cat Grant does not run a media company, but a string of coffee shops.

From Gotham City Sirens we get Catwoman/Selina Kyle, Harley Quinn, and Pamela Isley/Poison Ivy living and working together - and appearing in this story as well. For they are friends with Barbara Gordon. Oh, I'm sorry, I meant 'Alex Danvers'. Alex, you see, is from Gotham, and her father is the police commissioner. And while she didn't become Batgirl, she did go into the police (as Batgirl/Barbara Gordon wanted to do, but was kept from doing by her father). While there is mention of an actual Barbara Gordon in this story, in passing, Alex really does seem to have Gordon's backstory, while still having the Supergirl (TV) personality of Alex Danvers.

From Smallville we get: the main enemy in this storyline (and possibly Clark Kent/Superman + Lois Lane might also be Smallville's versions, not sure). The main enemy is . . . I forget now exact words, but something like 'Hero Menace'. It's an organization that believes that heroes are a menace and should be stopped from existing. Apparently that was a thing on Smallville, though I didn't see enough of that show to have seen them. If you've seen X-Men, you might have come across the idea before.

Right, so Kara Kent works, as her day job, in a coffee shop. The first 20 pages, or thereabouts, of this story take place entirely in that coffee shop. Though eventually we get out of there, and eventually Supergirl is also seen. Though it takes a really long time for the first physical appearance of Supergirl (she's mentioned a bunch of times before she is ever seen). And I'm not trying to separate out Supergirl into a separate character, no that's Kara Kent's night job. At the coffee shop, working beside her, is Kara Kent's best friend - Lucy Lane (sister of Lois Lane). Also there is Cat Grant, as boss, and Winn, as coworker-maker of food. Oh, and to somewhat round things out on this end - James, presumably the same James from Supergirl (TV), is Lucy's somewhat estranged husband. Kara is one of the point of views.

Another point of view is Alex Danvers. Alex, along with everything else I already noted, is a police detective who has moved from Gotham to National City (an important thing to note that Gotham is on the USA east coast and National City is on USA west coast, since people from Gotham kept popping up in this story) after 'the incident' forced her to flee Gotham and her former life (The incident is lifted directly from something that had already occurred in the comics; there's even a comment that 'this incident is one that is just like what had happened to Barbara Gordon'; also, based on how Alex kept reacting, the incident really didn't match up to her feelings of self-hatred and need to keep away from superpowered people). Because of that 'incident', Alex no longer desires to work with, near, or around superpowered people, though she isn't anti-supers. Unlike her new boss (Max Lord, new police chief) and his terrorist friends (hero menace).

Alex and Kara bump into each other at Kara's place of work. They have a lovely slow burn fluffy relationship starting when some ill-timed, inappropriate stuff occurs in Kara's line of sight that causes waves of angst and heartbreak. Based on how Alex is friends with the Gotham Sirens, and they are very touchy-feely.

Interesting story. Mostly enjoyable. To a large degree, the only part that I could have lived without - seriously - is the whole issue involving James and Lucy; and the yelling at Lucy done by her sister Lois. Though mostly the James, while still married to Lucy, 'falls for' both Lois and Clark Kent. And they are quite inappropriate about the whole thing and stuff.

ETA: * - and I did forget. mmphs. Right, so - the very important point I had meant to mention is relatively simple. There are several important men in this story: Hank Henshaw - Alex Danvers police partner; Winn - food maker; James - husband of Lucy Lane; Superman/Clark Kent; Max Lord - chief of police; random henchmen and higher ups on criminal side; the police therapist etc. There are a bunch of important women in this story, two of which have POVs (Alex Danvers; Kara Kent): Kara Kent; Alex Danvers; Lucy Lane; Lois Lane; mother Danvers (Elisa Danvers?); Selina Kyle (Catwoman); Harley Quinn; Pamela Isley (Poison Ivy); Cat Grant. One important agender person (Officer Vasquez). And the point? 99.999999% of the men have very little to do in this story - very little in the form of lines/scenes/etc. Hank Henshaw is the one exception - he has both an important role in the story, and an important amount of 'screen time'. The rest? Mentioned. Rarely scene - one example: Max Lord is the much despised boss. How do we the readers know? Alex talks about him as being the much despised boss to others. There are scenes wherein Alex is called back to his office, scenes where he has a smug smirking look on his face but . . . he's an evil critter who is more 'there' than 'there'. His scenes consist of Alex going into his office, then leaving being pissed off/shocked/etc. He rarely says anything - in the book. 99% of the other men face similar 'lost scenes' issues. Like - Win is constantly in the cafe at the same time Kara and Lucy work there, he is mentioned, they occasionally walk past him and . . he almost never opens his mouth, he almost has zero impact at all on the story - one counter to mentioning him -> he is in the back area making food so . . . less chance for him to talk; well there's also the Asian man who works up front with Kara and Lucy and I believe he never opens his mouth in this book. That's what I mean when I mention that there's something odd going on with the men in this book. The women? Well, Cat Grant has some important scenes, but mostly a background character. Similarly Lois Lane. And yet - both have roughly the same 'importance' to the story as someone like Clark Kent and Max Lord and yet most of the men's scenes are mentioned/told about later, while Lane and Grant's scenes are shown to the reader. Not sure what the weird thing that is going on in this story. I mean, this is an almost 1000 page book - most of the women have significant 'page time', while all men but for Hank are background characters who are almost silent.

Rating: 3.70

October 2 2017

The Love Song of Sawyer Bell by Avon Gale

The Love Song of Sawyer Bell by Avon Gale

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Received this ARC from Netgalley and Riptide Publishing for an honest review

I've wanted to read this book since I first saw it - June 13 2017 - listed as 'upcoming' (or whatever it is Riptide calls their books that'll appear sometime in the future). The book looked super interesting. Course, I think I saw the second book first, which was something of a letdown - more because I noticed it looked interesting, then noticed that the lead character in that one was a man; then noticed this one had two women as main characters (and yes, both have their point of views on display). Riptide seems to like series that include multiple layers of the LGBT spectrum, but that's neither here nor there, let's get back to this specific book.

Right, were was I? Oh, yeah. I've wanted to read this book for four months now. But, there's a certain worry that develops, of course, when you are in that situation. Both in wanting to read a book, and in noticing that the book is in one of those mixed gender series (heh, that sounds weird, I meant FF books with MM books, with occasional MF mixed in with one or the other or both being transgender; plus, to ruin that use of 'both' that started this sentence, I kind of have a hate/love relationship with books related to music).

So - to recap this brilliant part of the review: 1) wanted to read this book long time; 2) some worry based on that and other things.

The book: Victoria “Vix” Vincent is about . . . oh, 25 or 26 years of age (she was a high school senior when the other main character, Sawyer Bell, was a freshman in high school, which, in most USA high schools, would make them 3 to 4 years apart in age (some high schools merge junior high and high school into one school, so there'd be a 5 to 6 year gap between the lowest level and top, but I don't think that's the case here). Gah. Let's try this again.

Vix Vincent is a 25/26 year old professional musician with a band named after herself. She's had this band for years now, about 8 at least (maybe ten, there was a comment that she's been performing since she was 16, though I don't think that literally meant the band is that old). The band has gotten a certain reputation, but it is nowhere near the top. Or even, really, the middle. But they are slowly inching up. Playing larger venues. Headlining . . . sometimes - sometimes performing as the opening band. All of this is important because the band is just about to go on the road again, in about 2 weeks. Basically for the summer. But their fiddle player went and got himself married and then got himself a baby to look after and is, therefore, taking time away from the band (maybe/probably permanently). So - they need a new fiddle player. Which is where the book opens, with Vix and her bandmates watching poor performer after poor performer play one after the other. And getting super depressed. Then another one appears, wearing a sundress and looking, maybe, 16 (actually, not sure how young she looked, but they did ask if she was old enough to be there).

That next up auditioning for the band is/was Sawyer Bell. Fiddler/Violinist. She looks real young (I'm probably overdoing that part), and when she talks - it's in a light barely heard whisper. The band kind of groans, but wave her on to perform. Which she does. She plays something classical. With authority. Blows away the band members with how good she plays. They try to trip her up by throwing out some band names and asking her to play something less classical, more rock; and she does. Masterfully. She, Sawyer, then mentions that she's a student at Juilliard, in between Junior and Senior years at college. One thing leads to another, and the 21 year old is a member of the band for the summer. Oh, and for those reading along, she also has her point of view presented.

There's one flashback in this book, occurs roughly about where we are information wise (near the beginning of the book; actually, that '7 years earlier' might have occurred twice in rapid succession - seeming as if one flashback). The flashback takes us back 7 years when both Sawyer and Vix were in high school. And show us readers that Vix and Sawyer had actually meet before, once, back in high school.

There's much humor, travel adventures, and 'getting to know you' explorations of a romantic nature. Oh, and sex, graphic in nature. And quite fun for me personally to read - since there was so much humor mixed in to those scenes. I like humor; I like the mix of humor and sex. Fun times.

Right, so - book is outstanding from beginning until the ever present need for conflict rears its ugly head and erupts in conflict. Um, poorly worded. Well, no matter. Conflict point was reached. Things got rough, this is a romance book though, not a tragedy, so . . ..

Great, super readable, enjoyable book. 99.9% of the time I really liked the two main characters, Vix and Sawyer (not 100% sure I particularly liked the others who popped up - like there's just something dislikable about Jeff (bandmate), and about Sawyer's parents (mostly the father and the jokes he was cracking during an emotional moment).

Rating: 4.88

September 20 2017




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Pink Ladies, or Bioavailable Bisexuality by IShipItAllAndThenSome

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I think this is the third Supergirl fanfiction I've read. Yes, third. Three different authors, two different relationships (as in, Kara being matched up with people, two involve Kara+Lena, one involves Kara+Cat). This specific story involves Kara and Lena in a relationship.

Lena really likes both Kara and Supergirl - and hasn't exactly spent a life with friends. And wants to help her friends. So creates a vaccine for kryptonite for Supergirl; and hugs, and cuddles, and spends time watching television with Kara, even though she knows Kara's straight, and she herself wished Kara would tilt her head a little more when they cuddled to press their lips together.

For, reasons, she tested the vaccine on herself. It seemed to work. She got it ready to send off. Then Supergirl/Kara popped up. Both seemed super . . . touchier than normal. (view spoiler)[this is where I was having some slight confusion - they hadn't taken the vaccine yet (they being Supergirl and Superman), yet were acting on it? That got explained, though - there's a reason for it. (view spoiler)[by giving herself the vaccine, Lena basically turned herself into intelligent biped pink Kryptonite. And the Krypton people reacted to it.(view spoiler)[Pink kryptonite is actually 'real' in the Super universe, and yes it does have a 'gay' effect on the supers (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)] (hide spoiler)]).

This was a super neat, nice, fluffy, great story. I loved this story. It as super good.

Rating: 5.00

September 18 2017

View all my reviews

Cleaved in Two by Hypnobyl

Fandom: Supergirl (TV)
Found: http://archiveofourown.org/works/10404105?view_full_work=true

Both my second story by this author and my second fanfiction story based on Supergirl (though first was by a different author; the other story by this author that I've read involved the female version of Ghostbusters).

There are two main differences between this story and the previous Supergirl story I'd read (probably more, but let's start with these): 1) the first story was a longish book length work, while this one is a short story; 2) first story involved Kara Danvers and Lena Luther; this story involves Kara Danvers and Cat Grant.

There's an interesting twist added to this story: apparently 'soulmates' begin picking up some of the traits/abilities of their 'soulmate'. And Cat has been having some . . . strength (as in, a lot more than normal) and . . . remaining on the ground problems lately (as in, occasional bouts of hovering).

Items of interest: This is a fanfiction, so: Characters? Both Kara and Cat seem to correspond to what I recall of their characters from the show. Placement (in the timeline of the show): not sure - at some point before Cat left, at least, and while Kara is still her assistant, but after Maggie and Alex began dating (I'm not actually sure both factoids ever occurred at the same time on the show - Maggie+Alex dating and Kara still assistant to Cat).

The whole 'soulmate' thing completely baffles me. At least it does after I read 'Alex had found her first soulmate in tenth grade'. Apparently people can have many soulmates over their lives. I . . . confused. The soulmate thing makes me feel uneasy. No, not the 'Cat and Kara are soulmates!', but the 'people have more than one soulmate throughout life, and they exchange abilities through that link! And, other than the ability exchange, being a soulmate doesn't really mean anything!' I mean . . what the fuck? My entire ability to enjoy this story has been drastically reduced when I learned that Cat and Kara being soulmates is basically like saying both are female. Why the fuck was 'soulmates' word even used? I'm very annoyed. I mean, the bloody title implies that soulmates means something, while the bloody story itself . . . keeps tossing the word aroudn super casually. mmphs.


'At forty-two years old' - wait, Cat Grant is only 42? I assumed she was Calista Flockhart's age (52). And Supergirl is somewhere around 27 or 29 or something like that (Melissa Benoist herself is 28).


Part of the story involves a 'Carter' who is Cat's teenage son. I knew of the adult son, but I do not recall the teenage son. Though that might just be because I haven't seen many episodes.


Okay, seriously, did 'soul mates' come up on the show? Yes, no? Why is it overwhelming this story? I don't mean in the somewhat sappy natural 'we're soul mates' way, I mean everyone's talking about it as if it was this 'thing' that everyone goes through. Like the teenager is all 'just because your soulmates doesn't mean anything'. gah. It's super annoying me.

Wait, what the fuck? - “My soul mate invited me to the convention today. This is like the first time they’ve been interested in hanging out with me, and Mom wouldn’t let me.” The kid has a soulmate? WTF IS THIS FUCKING SOULMATE FUCKING CRAP!?!? arrgarah

Cat - '“When I was eighteen, I encountered my first soul mate.' - okay, seriously, I'm just numb now. Just fucking stop talking about fucking soul mates since it obviously means jackshit in this universe. Just fuck off with your soulmate talk.

You why I keep getting pissed off? Because it keeps pulling me out of the story. I'm bouncing along, happily reading and interesting story and . . . something like 'All these years, I’ve had soul mates, and I’ve never stopped to think about how alienating that might be for you. ' pops up and I'm out of the story. Poof. Out. It's like fingers on chalkboard.

mmphs. Story over now. There were flashes of good here and there - heck, the whole story might have been 'good-ish' but I'm not really able to tell because of that fingers on chalkbard 'soulmates' stuff. *shrugs*

Rating: tenatively rate this 3.24

September 14 2017

Benevolent Haunting by Hypnobyl

Fanfiction: Ghostbusters (2016)
Found: http://archiveofourown.org/works/7517804?view_full_work=true

This is a solid book set in the same universe as the 2016 film Ghostbusters. Just as the film starred four women, the book stars those same four women: Erin Gilbert, Abby Yates, Jillian Holtzmann, and Patty Tolan.

The book does have some differences though: I believe that the idea is that this book takes place after the events of the movie, but that the events played out slightly differently - there's still Rowan and his antics that caused massive issues in New York, but the Ghostbusters handled him with just three of the Ghostbusting women involved - Erin, Abby, and Patty (and, just to round things out, Kevin, the very dumb hunky man from the film is also still present in this book).

I'm not sure how long after the events of the film the book is set, but probably not long after. The story opens with Erin noticing a few things 'odd' going on in her apartment, though it takes her a really long time to realize that she actually had a ghost in there. Turns out that Holtzmann, who was always causing things to explode and stuff in the film, killed herself in an explosion ten years before the start of this book. And has been a ghost for the last ten years.

Holtz and Erin connect - develop a relationship - build stuff (Holtzmann died building a 'lifebelt' that would allow a ghost to 'materalize' on the physical plane. Erin completed work on the belt (or, more accurately, since there's no belt now to complete, used the blueprints Holtz drew to make a belt)).

The story focuses on the relationship of Holtz and Erin, Erin's family, Holtz's family; the ghostbusting stuff (which was actually quite well done); and bits and pieces of both Patty and Abby's lives. While the book focused more on Hotlz and Erin, both Patty and Abby got some time to shine, Abby somewhat more than Patty.

I had originally put this book on my lesbian fiction shelf, but no one is actually a lesbian here (with the possible exception of Holtz). All, including Kevin, are apparently some form of bisexual (pansexual, omnisexual, something) - except, as noted, Holtz's exact nature wasn't fixed in stone (she's in a relationship with a woman, the rest is wording). So I have this book on my bisexual/biromantic shelf.

I also have it on my aromantic shelf. I didn't expect this going in, but this story has one of the best, probably the best, aromantic representation I've seen (which isn't really saying anything, I think I've three works on that shelf?). For, you see, Abby is aromantic. But unlike the every other aromantic person I've come across, Abby isn't asexual. But, instead, as noted, some form of bisexual.

Everyone in the book, including the aromantic Abby, has someone in their lives (in Abby's case it's someone who they have a no-strings type relationship with).

Right, so - there's humor, excitement, romance, ghosts, etc. etc. And graphic depictions of a sexual nature.

Rating: 4.44

September 13 2017

Next of Kin by Jae

I received a copy of this book from Ylva Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Genre: Mystery/Police; Bisexual, Lesbian Fiction; Questioning/Coming Out; Romance
Location: 99% - Portland Oregon and surroundings (other 1% - brief visit to Sacramento California)
POV: multiple (six, 4 are more at 'co-leads' level (), other two are at 'side character' level)

This is the second full length book in this specific series. I had read the first a good three plus years earlier - and hadn't immediately dove into this book because ... well, I think it was because the book had been pulled to be revised or something like that, I know that occurred, but not sure if same time.

This book picks up with the main characters from the last story, though I'm not certain how much time has passed. An important question for any series book - can you read this without having read the prior works? I'd give a tentative yes. I didn't have any issues keeping up with the book, and/or had confusion generated by my long break between books. But, then again, I had read prior book so some of the knowledge about the book is probably stuffed inside of me.

Characters: POV characters: Aiden Carlisle - sex crimes detective; Dawn Kinsley - psychologist; Kade Matheson - prosecuting lawyer (Deputy District Attorney); Delicia 'Del' Vasquez Montero (Lieutenant - homicide); Evan Whitfied - young rebelous woman in the foster system who is a patient of Dawn's; stalker.

The stalker's point of view has the least amount of page time - and both the reader and characters in the story already know who the stalker is before they get any page time. Evan's page time is the second smallest, though she has a good amount of time to be observed. The other four would consist of the 'main characters' and I won't attempt to dive into creating percentages for how much of the book is 'there's'.

I have a good feeling of the characters, though if pressed, I'm not exactly sure what all I could say about each of them. Del is in her forties, has darker skin, and is either from and/or has Puerto Rican blood. Kade is younger than Del, maybe significantly younger and comes from a rich tight assed, stiff background - the kind where people are expected to fit certain roles and not deviate from those roles. Aiden is a strong one, though has the background of growing up with a single mother who was a drunk, and whose father (Aiden's) was a rapist (both of which, naturally, impacts Aiden's own thoughts/personality/etc.) - I've a vague idea Aiden might be older than Dawn. Dawn . . . has a kind of calming ability with most of those around her; is seen by Aiden as being somewhat damaged (Dawn had been raped in the prior book)/fragile - while Dawn kept doing things that belied that impression. I've this vague impression that Dawn might be somewhere in her late 20s, though that seems wrong somehow.

Story: This is the story of three couples and/or potential couples, dealing with each other, and with the issues that life tosses at people. Which can include such things as stalkings, family troubles (one, Del, hasn't seen her family for 25 or so years, but they've popped back up again; another has a bad relationship with her mother; yet another is currently in the foster system with the inherent troubles that can present), time on the job (like seeing Dawn as a psychologist), and life in general.

The story follows these three couplings (and potential couples) through the eyes of all but one of the individuals. We have Aiden (sex crimes police detective) and Dawn as one couple - and yes, their life and relationship is an important part of this book. Then we have Del and Kade's circling, will they, won't they relationship (will they/won't they date, Kade being someone who hadn't, up to this point, allowed herself the possibility of being interested in women). Then we have Evan and Laurie's young teenager relationship. Their relationship is mostly seen through the eyes of others, though some of Evan's point of view page time is somewhat connected to that relationship. Laurie though, is rarely seen, and even when Evan's page time is spent connected to that relationship, it rarely actually directly involves Laurie (as in, for example . . . I can't think of a for example; we have Dawn seeing Laurie and Evan interact, but that was Dawn's POV; then we had the skating scene, but again, not Evan's point of view; mmphs).

Mystery: While two of the main characters are police detectives, and while they are seen being overloaded with work (well, Aiden is shown that way, Del is shown with lots of 'unofficial' work but not official - to the point that I sometimes forget she's a homicide detective not sex crimes detective), that work tends to be background 'stuff'. There is an actual mystery, though, that runs throughout a good portion of the book - someone is stalking one of the main characters, and two of the main characters are investigating the matter.

In terms of the mystery - while the stalking case took up much of the time for some of the characters, the actual mystery was somewhat back-burner for most of the story. That specific plot-line would drift hot ('wait, you aren't the one who has been sending me flowers for months? crap, I'm being stalked'; active investigating/action/danger/blood) and cold.

In terms of the stalker - I knew immediately who the stalker was, and no I don't mean the book said who the stalker was immediately, I mean that I figured it out immediately. And I thought at the time, and still think, that it is fair that the detectives didn't immediately pick up on who the stalker was (though I have issue with some of the time between taking the case and finding the stalker (on the one hand, the case was unofficial so they didn't have the resources necessary to investigate everything, on the other hand, the detectives investigated many people, but not the people who have near daily contact with the stalking victim.). Right, back up - the clues were there for the detectives to see, but only one was working on the case, unofficially, and she wasn't even on it from the start.

Sex: both graphic and non-graphic sex occurs in this book.

Overall: Solid enjoyable book. In a way my only real 'problem/issue' with the book is somewhat my own fault. I was 'ready' for the book to be over before the book was ready - my own fault because it was more that I was ready to finish reading for that reading session and there wasn't much left of the book so I continued reading. And reading. And reading. Eventually just stopping inches from the end before, later, completing the book. It felt like there were these concluding scenes one after another. First we get sex from one couple, then sex from another, then . . . well, you get the idea.

Right, sorry. So, as I said, good solid book. Both as a kind of slice of life book, as a mystery, and as a romance. None of the characters seemed 'tacked on', and all had something to do/deal with.

Rating: 4.67

September 10 2017

It's in the Stars (It's been Written in the Scars/On our Hearts) by katevw8

It's in the Stars by katevw8

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Fanfiction based on the television series 'Supergirl', which can be found here.

Well, then. In a review that I wrote for the most recent previous book I had read written by this author, I had had a longish discussion about how I had thought it was the last book currently available to be read by that author that I hadn't yet read - and how rare it is for me to read everything available - but had noticed, mid-read, that there was this book here. Well, now I've read this book here. So, you know what that means . . . *looks*. Oh, I actually have read everything by this author now, neat. Hopefully there will be more to read, but neat for now.

Fun review so far, no?

Being that this is a fanfiction written based on and using characters from Supergirl: I'd seen episodes of Supergirl, and for a while there it was one of those shows I had kept some track of - I forget now how much I'd seen. Bits and pieces of episodes here and there, possibly most of the first half of the first season. 99% of the episodes I'd seen had been ones before the show changed networks - with one, maybe two episodes from after the network change. I mention this so there's some frame of reference - I had some greater than vague idea about this television series before I read this fanfiction, but it was an out of date knowledge of the show.

I'm not sure if this work would be easier to read with or without specific knowledge of the show. I do know that there were things that it helped to know from having seen the show (like what the characters look like - like, I don't think any of the characters skin coloration ever got mentioned, but at least two of the main characters have dark skin on the show, and I wouldn't have known that without having seen the show). I also know that there was stuff I didn't recognize and that flew over my head. Would it have been easier/better to come to this 'fresh'? Not sure. Like, I knew what a lot of the background characters look like (less than half, but a lot of them), but had no idea what some of the main characters looked like from watching the show (I had seen a huge number of 'SuperCorp' youtube videos before I read this story, though, and some included images of Lena and Maggie - neither of whom had been in the episodes I'd seen). So, I suppose it's good to know that Supergirl looks like one of the Glee show cheerleaders (since, you know, she was), and that her human father looks like one of the Superman actors (since Dean Cain played that role), and her mother had played Supergirl, and the sister is super gorgeous looking and stuff. I've lost my train of thought and am moving on.

Right so - characters seemed to line up with what I recall of the show. Bearing in mind that none of the characters had been lesbian or even hinted at the idea before I'd stopped watching. So - characterization seemed good.

Oh, and important - especially important now that I've seen, though not read, some of the other Supergirl fanfiction stories - there are multiple points of view in this book. They include: Lena (Supergirl's girlfriend), Kara (Supergirl), Alex (Supergirl's human sister), and brief moments with Maggie (Supergirl's human sister's girlfriend). And, while this is a 'Supercorp' story (Supercorp being the name fans of Lena/Kara relationship have picked up on using - and was used constantly in this story itself (as in, #SuperCorp being mentioned trending on twitter), some part of Maggie and Alex's relationship also got some time to be seen by the reader (much less time than Lena and Kara's, but some time).

bah - I didn't know what to say but figured I wanted something in the review box. I keep rambling hoping I'll hit something interesting. pfft. I just note some of the things I wanted to note instead of trying to force things.

One of the 'things' I noticed that likely would have been missing from a polished published work - there were many scenes that got repeated. I mean, literally, it was like a copy+paste had been accidentally pushed a couple of times. A few paragraphs conveying information would pop up, new paragraphs pop up, then those same earlier paragraphs appeared again. Normally this occurred rapid fire in close connection to each other - once, though, the repetition occurred about a hundred pages after the scene's first appearance.

I liked the story, and what was revealed/shown. Especially like a specific love scene between Kara and Lena when Kara was 'deflowered'.

bah, can't think of what really to put here.

Rating: 4.67

September 1 2017



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Just Juliet by Charlotte Reagan

Just Juliet by Charlotte Reagan

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is another of those books I pick up free then take forever to actually get around to reading. I'd say that the slowness is due to massive piles of books on my TBR pile and books by authors I'd never read before take longer to try, even if free, but the same slowness to read applies to books I acquire for free by authors I've read before. Well, this time I know, since I can check, that I got this book for free on September 20 2016 - only took me until July 14 2017 to begin the book.

What's this book about? Well, largely this is about a high school student who sees themselves as being somewhere around the middle part - not popular, not total outcast (though it's confusing as she uses 'outcast' for herself a few times, while also making comments about how she's on the popular side of things a few other times), but middle. She's dating a football player, though doesn't like football herself, and has a bunch of friends. Lacey is her best friend since pre-school days.

She's something like the token black girl in school, Lacey that is, though another friend, Georgina, is also of darker coloration. Lacey is a cheerleader and popular, but doesn't actually like hanging out with the cheerleaders and is popular enough to do whatever she wants - which seems to be to hang out with people like Lena - the star of this book. Georginia is the token 'got pregnant young' girl. She had her baby and has an on again/off again situation with the baby daddy. Kiki is a petite Asian girl who is really into math, and doesn't talk much. That's the table of friends Lena has - until a new girl turns up named Juliet James.

Lena just can't stop starring at Juliet. Watching her, wanting to be near her, gazing upon her. Eventually the two even get around to talking to each other, and then becoming friends.

Becoming friends with Juliet leads Lena into a world she knew about but didn't have a personal connection to. One occasion, if I recall correctly it's the first day that opens the book, Lena gives Juliet a ride back to Juliet's house because it's pouring rain and it'd be a while before someone comes along to get Juliet. This is where we get to that 'into a world' part. For one of the first people Lena meets when she enters the James house is a man named Scott. Who, eventually, has someone yelling at them from another room. Saying things like 'baby' and the like. That individual eventually appears in visual range and proceeds to do two things - complain about being hungry, and kiss Scott. Lena is kind of frozen there in place when this happens, and Juliet gives off a kind of wave of annoyance at Lena's reaction. Scott, by the way, doesn't live at the James house (though he spends a lot of time there), no, he's dating Lakyn, Juliet's cousin (who does live at the James' house - do to horrible parents who lead to 'Mr. James' taking in Lakyn).

Really quickly it turns out that Juliet is like her cousin, in that she likes the same sex, sexually and romantically.

The book follows along as Lena processes this information and comes to a certain conclusion. That takes a really long time to get to. That conclusion? Well, she's not a lesbian. She's found men way too attractive and fun to be around to be a lesbian. Juliet, though, isn't a guy, nor is she the kind of person she is normally attracted to - which tended to involve square jaws and stuff, and have penis's. That certain conclusion? It's possible, maybe, that she might be bisexual. And no, that's not the conclusion of the book, this 'conclusion' occurs . . . hmms, well, some way before the half way mark.

Neat book. I'm having trouble seeing at the moment, though, so everything is kind of blurry and gibberish-y. So I'll just go to the rating and date part. Blurry due to being blind. From poor seeing ability. bah, fine, I broke my glasses. And can't see. So blind. So can't write.

Oh, right. Remembered something as I was adding this to my reviewed shelf and spotted the other shelves I've used - ages 13-19. Most of the people in this book, well Lena and friends, are around 17 to 18 for most of the book, but the book does follow them (through epilogue) to age 23. Hence the 'age-20s' shelf. Free-ebook. Self-explanatory. Bisexual - Lena. Young Adult - *nods*. Lesbian Fiction - well, Juliet's the lesbian there. LGBT. LGBT-Coming Out - in connection with the Questioning shelf - applies to Lena, though stories about the others coming out also plays role. LGBT-Gay - Scott & Lakyn.

Rating: 4.58

July 15 2017



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Thaw by Elyse Springer

Thaw by Elyse Springer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


mmphs, there's always all this kissing in Asexual romances. eww (they want to show intimacy, they don't want/enjoy sex, so . . . lots of kissing; I'd rather fuck than kiss, and I don't really wanna fuck...)


Series: Seasons of Love; Can you read this book without reading any other book in the series? Like I said about the other book I've read in this 4 book series - yes. Though there might be things you'd miss.

I've now read books 2 and 3 - both books include as characters (in level of importance in book 2): Abby (Abigail), Brie (Gabrielle), Nathan, Sara, Tony, Jason. Jason and Tony are barely in book 2; Jason is barely in book 3, though Tony plays a much larger role (at least compared to book 2). Sara stars in book 3; plays a much smaller role in book 2 than I'd have expected. Nathan is Abby's friend, and plays a large role in this book; and is Sara's friend and plays a large-ish role in book 3; Sara, herself, is also Abby's friend and is turned to a few times. Oh, forgot there was a very brief appearance by Laura - she stars in book 3; did Abby's make-up once as a favor in book 2. Brie stars in book 2 and is barely in book 3 (and by star, I mean love interest, this is all Abby's POV show). Abby stars in book 2, and is much less of a part of book 3 than might be expected. I believe I called her something like 'one of the barely seen friends' in my review for book 3. Wow, this paragraph is downright exciting.

Abby is 29 (just like Sara was 29 in book 3; I suspect that if I read book 1 and 4, the two stars there will be listed as being 29 . . . heh, maybe). She works in a library in Brooklyn, and lives in a shoebox apartment with a roommate named Jena. The book opens with her being slutted up, sorry, with her having massive layers of make-up slapped onto her face (by Sara the diner waitress/manager (her job wasn't mentioned in this book, beyond a brief 'stopped by Sara's diner' type mention), and then with a very much 'barely there' dress pulled from Sara's closet (which is vaguely amusing considering what is found in her closet when book three stars Sara - not exactly that type of clothing). Why is she getting all . . . . um, slicked up? As a favor for her friend Nathan who has to go to a charity gala and his rich boyfriend has a meeting or is out of town or something. And Nathan doesn’t want to go by himself. Though he barely pays attention to Abby at the actual party.

Abby, who has quite low self-esteem about her own looks, is hit upon by two people – a man, and a woman. Oddly enough, the man is Tony. Nathan had made some similar comments when he laid eyes upon the dressed up Abby, so when I realized that it was Tony who had approached Abby, I assumed it was something similar. Since Nathan is gay. And Tony spends most of book 3 looking for his ex-boyfriend Gee. Except . . . Tony is serious in his flirtation. Sooo, another bisexual. World be crowded with them. The woman? Gabrielle.

Everyone’s dressed up nicely at the party. Including Gabrielle. But the red number she’s wearing is super alluring and attention getting. She looks, as someone might say, ‘model hot’. Well, I said that that way so I can then say, which is fitting since Gabrielle works as a model. Abby’s eyes are on Gabrielle almost immediately upon seeing a flash of red at the corner of her eye. Of course, as is fitting (that word again!), Abby’s first view of Gabrielle is of her in an angry little argument with some man.

Later, near the end of the party, Gabrielle and Abby dance, and that angry man glares at them as they do. Reoccurring theme, that – angry man glaring at Gabrielle and Abby. He’s a massive dick, that Darren.

Right, so, Gabrielle and Abby flirt, date as the weeks unfold. Meanwhile Abby’s library branch faces possible closure. And, there are several (many?) scenes in which Abby voluntarily goes near her mother so her mother could scream at her and berate her for doing stupid stuff like get a library degree (you’ll only get to work a few years, a decade, with a degree like that!), and/or for allowing herself to be asexual.

Did I not mention that yet? I forget. So, yeah, Abby’s asexual, but not aromantic. She’s actually biromantic. Bioromantic. In love with biology. Pfft. I can’t recall how to spell the word that means that she is romantically interested in both men and women, while, at the same time, being quite uninterested in sex (that’d be the asexual part).

A quite interesting book. There’s an issue where one or the other would suddenly go silent on the other (though I think that’s more of a trick Abby pulls), which is kinda frustrating to read. Go silent as in ignore their texts and phone calls. For days. Or a week or more. Then there’s the issue where the massive ‘conflict point’ occurred, sadness all around and . . . I’m not really sure what exactly I witnessed. The word betrayal was batted around but . . . I’m not exactly sure how that word would ‘fit’ the circumstances of the conflict point. Bah, but never mind.

As noted, good, interesting book. Now if we can just get asexuals to stop slobbering all over each other in books . . ..

Rating: 4.12

July 14 2017



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Heat Wave by Elyse Springer

Heat Wave by Elyse Springer

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley and Riptide Publishing in exchange for an honest review.

Okay, let’s do the easy things first: This is the first book I’ve read by this author, and this specific book is the third in a series.

The important: Can a reader read this series book without having read others in the series? The quick answer is: of course, since that’s what I did. Are there things that a reader will miss from not reading this book after reading the others? Not sure, but based on what I did read I think that there are certain aspects that they would miss. I felt that way at times, at least.

The book kind of started off in a way that lead me to believe that I might be missing certain things. Like just why the lead (and only POV) character, Sara, had the other woman’s, Laura, phone number in her phone. There might have been something said at the time that she dialed that number, but if so, I missed it. It’s ‘important’ because the two main characters, Sara and Laura, seem as if they don’t really know each other, and yet both have each other’s phone number and are willing to randomly hang out together.

Mind, I know why the two know each other, just not why one had the other’s phone number in their phone. Why did they know each other? Eons ago, seemingly, maybe seen in one of the prior books, maybe not, a woman named Sara dated a man named Robbie. They fell into a relationship easily, and then out of it just as easily. At some point after that, a woman named Laura dated a man named Robbie. The same Laura and the same Sara who star in this book here. Laura’s parting from Robbie wasn’t as easy as Sara’s – Laura walked in Robbie doing the nasty with some other woman.

All of this might seem to be spoiler, and it is in a way, but the kind learned right up front in the book. For, you see, the book opens with Sara boredly wondering what to do that night. Too early to sleep. Her friends Abby, Kathy, and Nathan are all doing something (separately). Maybe she’d sleep anyway? Wait, she had Laura’s number. And so, she randomly dialed, randomly went out with her – and hopefully I’m remembering things correctly, that that is how everything unfolded. Oh, and it was there, when they meet up or over the phone, that Laura mentioned the situation with Robbie and that she needed to drink.

As might be expected from what I’ve written so far, two women who shared the same man at different points in time, both women are . . . . bisexual. What, that isn’t what’s expected? Ah. Hmm. Well, to be fair, Sara is quite taken with the notion that she’s straight. I mean, she’s one of those who pushes herself, challenges herself, knows herself, and she’d think, and thought, that if she was interested in women, that would be something that’d have popped up in her life before she turned 29, which she is now. Laura, on the other hand, might be somewhat off men at the moment, due to the cheating man she was just with, but is strong in her belief that she’s bisexual.

I’ve read a bunch of ‘lesbians who fall for straight women’ stories. This is the first time I’ve landed on a ‘bisexual who fell for a straight woman’ story. I think the closest I’d gotten to that in the past was a story involving a lesbian who fell for a bisexual woman. One who made some cruel and ill-advised remarks concerning bisexuals (that they are on the fence and should get off it already).

Nice to read a book that includes the idea that bisexuals are a real thing. And those who happen to be women and who find themselves drawn to other women, do not naturally and immediately leap from ‘I’m straight’ to ‘I’m a lesbian’. And that is one of the strong topics that crop up in this book – just what, exactly, Sara might be – she had been quite confident in her heterosexuality.

Enough of that.

Sara Walker is a 29 year old woman who works as one of the day-time managers at a diner in New York City. Lives in New York, specifically the Park Slope region of Brooklyn. The book opens with her being currently single, bored, and not really sure she’s happy with how her life is currently shaped. We, the reader, follow her, and only her, through her journey. Her journey that includes bumping into a woman named Laura who flirts with her. Who ‘forces her’ to dance at a bar. Who lures her into ‘kink’ (there is a section wherein the author says something, an afterward or something, about how those on Twitter encouraged her on her quest to write a book involving two kinky bisexuals).

Is it the same sex thing that’s the kink? That seems offensive, in a way. What, no? Oh. It’s the ‘surprise’ BDSM that broke out. Very early in the book. Along with the massive waves of kinky sex. I should probably make that a warning, or something. Some like knowing if a book contains that kind of thing.

Warning: This book contains several scenes of a kinky BDSM nature, and also includes, partially with, partially without that BDSM, public sex.

I distracted myself there, sorry. That’s what the book is about, though. No, not specifically BDSM. I mean, Sara coming to terms with the fact that she’s interested in another woman. And fucking her seemingly nonstop from . . . um, well, fairly early in the book. Thought I’d had a status update after the first encounter but don’t see one. That’s the relationship Sara and Laura fall into, Sara’s ‘experimenting’ and Laura’s ‘rebounding’.

Quite well written book. Had some flaws. Mostly ones that I might have created myself in that I had created a personality in my mind based on the information I’d been given about Sara, and that personality wasn’t matching up with Sara’s actions (like her inability to communicate). After being annoyed about that throughout the book I’ve come to a specific conclusion: I shouldn’t force personalities on characters based on assumptions and . . . well, words on the paper (like the part where she seriously challenges herself constantly, knows her own body, knows herself, etc. etc. The kind who confronts issues, not dives out of the way; except, you know, for communication issues with Laura). Plus the surprise BDSM kind of . . . surprised me – especially how it was handled, and for the part where I didn’t realize the book would include that type of thing. That and the part where I kept pushing past the sexual encounters to get to the rest of the story . . . in the later part of the book. Because I wanted to see what happened next, and the sex was getting in the way.

Sex: Graphic and frequent. With elements pulled from the realm of BDSM. Including such things as blindfolds, control, spankings, orgasm control, and the like. The earlier scenes were much more interesting and exciting than the later, though that comment is softened by the acknowledgement of a lessening lack of interest in reading deeply into the sex acts as the story unfolded.

Series: As noted, this is the third book in a series. I’ve not read the other books in the series, but can make certain observations: It is possible that the Jason from the first book in the series is the same Jason who makes an appearance in this book – lessoned by the fact that his boyfriend is Nathan in this book and Noah in that other book, so maybe different Jason. Abby and Gabrielle are both in the second book in the series and make appearances in this book as well, with Abby being one of Sara’s somewhat infrequently seen friends. Part of Tony and Gee’s story is touched upon in this book, but their story is told in the fourth book in the series – with Tony being a friend of Sara’s in this book here.

Would I recommend this book? Yes.

Rating: 3.98 – my rating was somewhat lower than I expected to find myself due to certain aspects that came up near the end of the book. And how I ‘took’ them.

July 13 2017




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