By Design 1-4 by J.A. Armstrong

By Design
by J.A. Armstrong
Pages: 117
Date: April 12 2015
Publisher: Author
Series: By Design (first in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 8 2015

For better or worse, I do not particularly like Candy and J.D. as much as I like Addy and Em. Not exactly sure why. I do like, though, how we finally have two lesbians involved. I'm so bloody tired of two women meeting, one is a lesbian, other isn't and then . . . ooh, I'm a lesbian, I just didn't know (that would be Em in that other series by Armstrong, who didn't realize she was a lesbian).

Right, so, both Senator Candy, and Architect J.D. are long time lesbians long before either meet. I'd make some age joke to lead into the age difference, but J.D. probably has been a lesbian longer than Candy. Since Candy only came out as a lesbian after she divorced her husband 12 or 17 years ago. Or however long ago it was.

Right, both lesbians. One's old enough to be the other's mother (Candy being something like 55, and J.D. is something like 35).

Interesting enough story. Well rounded. Well constructed characters, both in terms of the leads - J.D. and Sandy, and the sub-characters. For the most part. That was one of they annoying things, though. The huge number of characters. I didn't actually reread the opening chapter, but for a while there I feared I'd need to. Just so many people's names slamming into me right at the start. And J.D.'s connection to the Senator was needlessly complicated. Reminded me of Space Balls. When Dark Helmet (or whatever his name was) told the guy playing the parody of Luke that he was his . . . father . . .'s roommate's uncles, hairdresser's nephew (or something like that).

J.D. went to school with Steven. Steven's married to Dana. Dana works for Senator Candy. Senator Candy has been thinking of remodeling her house for 15 or so years. J.D. is an architect. That isn't too complicated, it was just a ton of names hitting me all at once and I couldn't figure out just what the fuck connection was immediately. And yes, more names were slamming into me at the same time. There was a Susan, I think, always in the mix. Maybe more.

The first story in that other Armstrong series really made me want to continue reading, to see where everything goes. This one, though, seems sufficiently self-contained and complete. I'll probably read the next two parts but . . . I'm less eager to do so this time.

Under Construction
by J.A. Armstrong
Pages: 92
Date: May 4 2015
Publisher: Author
Series: By Design (2nd in series)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 8 2015

Huh. I'm kind of surprised. After the first story in this series, I'm surprised by how much I loved this story here. I always seem to get smacked by family stories. Family gathering stories, I mean. Not really sure what that's about. If well written, I seem to end up loving them. Which is weird, because I don't think I actually like family gatherings.

Right. So. J.D. and Candy have their families over for a July 4th celebration. Meanwhile both are working really hard at work, while at the same time adjusting to being in a loving relationship with each other.

Meanwhile Candy's kids are adjusting to having J.D. in the family. Well, mostly Marianne, the oldest.

re: J.D. - I tend to try to use the names as used in stories/series. For a while there I thought it was going to be J.D. so I used that. I'm not sure anyone called her J.D. in this one. mmphs. hehe. Everyone was calling her Jameson. Ah well, I got stuck using J.D. so . . ..

Solid Foundation
by J.A. Armstrong
Pages: 105
Date: June 4 2015
Publisher: Author
Series: By Design (3rd in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 8 2015

A nice enough story. Some may wonder, who I don't know, why the rating dropped down from 5 stars from the previous story. Well, this was a nice enough story. Liked it even. Just didn't love it. Nothing really that I disliked, just nothing that pushed it into the "loved it" column.

I don't really have anything else to note, so I'll just leave it at that.

Rough Drafts
by J.A. Armstrong
Pages: 158
Date: August 26 2015
Publisher: Author
Series: By Design (4th in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: September 1 2015

Started out a little roughly. Mostly because I couldn't tell what was going on, who the people were. One of the problems of multiple series, when you pick up a series after a little bit, takes some time for everything to click back into place.

Well, it wasn't so much forgetting as it was a feeling that I had missed something. Story started off in a way that made me think I had forgotten to read something in between the last story I had read, and this one.

So. This story had three main story-lines. Candace is running for Governor. J.D. is working on a project that makes her interact with an individual named 'Scott'. A person she hasn't seen in a really long time, but one who she grew up with as best friends. One of Candace's kids turns up unexpectedly with, in their mind, embarrassing news.

A good solid addition to the series, baring my confusion at the beginning of the story.

One-Off by Lynn Galli

One-Off
by Lynn Galli
Pages: 292
Date: March 26 2015
Publisher: Penikila Press

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 4 2015

The tenth book I've read by Galli. Strange to think that it was only as far back as June 29, 2015 that I read my first book by Galli. Reading 10 books in 37 days isn't that strange. I mean, it is 10.14% of an entire year. But the reality is that there is a month gap between the first book I read by Galli, and the second. Or, more accurately, 22 days. So, in actual fact, I read 9 books in 16 days. So, roughly 1.8 days per book instead of 3.7 (though, in reality, more like a day a book; I mean, I did read a lot of other things during that month). Maths fun, eh?

Right. This book here. Right off the start I'll note that I didn't like Skye when I first meet her. Rather rapidly my opinion began to change, and by the end, I rather liked her. Both her and Ainsley Baird. Never really grew to like either Dallas or Colin, the two people who brought Skye and Ainsley back together for a wedding. But then, they were mostly off to the side. Literally on a different continent for much of the book.

Dallas and Colin are co-anchors on a cable news show. They have/had great on-screen chemistry, but fought bitterly off camera. Until they stopped doing that, and suddenly got all lovey dovey. And rather rapidly got engaged. Then decided to marry in something like three weeks after getting engaged. Because, otherwise, they'd have to wait a year - apparently a spot opened up at the church they wanted. All of this is important, because Dallas asked Skye to be her maid of honor, or as it is put in the book, her MOH. While Colin asked Ainsley to be his best . . .something or other. It fluctuated what she was called. Some even said best man, other's said best woman, and some just said best person.

Then, almost immediately, Dallas and Colin are suddenly in some other country in a situation wherein they couldn't be in close contact with anyone in the states. Which is important, because they still plan on getting married within 3 weeks. So, it's up to Skye and Ainsley to plan and make decisions about the wedding. Which they do. Reluctantly.

Reluctantly for Skye because everything about weddings - the wedding itself, churches, etc., are among her least favorite things. Plus, Skye and Ainsley had lived together, no not that way, about 15 years before. While at college - sharing a room with two other people. So four total. Skye and Ainsley fought like cats and dogs. At least the kind of cats and dogs that fought. As opposed to the kind that make that stereotype cliche look stupid.

Right. So. Skye, I forget her exact title, but she is head of news content at the cable channel she works at, or something like that. Ainsley is the greatest expert on Scotland and lives and works as a professor in Scotland.


For the sake of their friends (Skye - Dallas (BFF)), and relatives (Colin - Ainsley (cousins)), they put their differences aside to get the wedding planned and carry it off.

I'm already 50%+ into the next book, so I'm not 100% certain of this, but I'm fairly certain that the point of view, this time, focused almost solely on Skye. It might have been interesting to see the USA through the eyes of a Scottish woman, but it was not to be. Well, technically. I mean, Skye MacKinnon is, in fact, half Scottish, but, baring a trip to Scotland, might feel a connection to Scotland, but not at the level of someone born and raised in Scotland. She's half Italian, half Scottish, and all American (and it didn't help that her Scottish father refused to have anything to do with her)).

The reader does get a sense, though, of seeing America through foreigner's eyes, by watching Skye reacting and interacting with Ainsley. Though Ainsley herself isn't a fresh off the boat Scottish woman. She herself is half Scottish (and half American, though she might punch you if you try to stress that American part too much, and/or called her half-Scottish; in her mind she's fully Scottish). My earlier comment, about not being fresh off the boat, is more about how Ainsley had spent time in the USA previously, having gone to college there 15 years earlier.

Right. So. Most of the book involves planning a wedding. Watching two people circling each other, with both coming to the realization that they seem oddly to like each other, despite their previous bitter experience during college.

An interesting book. A neat book. A lovely little book. And the last one I have to read, at least at the moment. Well, there's one more in the Virginia Clan series, but I had skipped that one on purpose. It's supposedly more of a short story collection, as far as I can tell. So, even if I counted it as something more to read, it isn't a full book left to read. So, I'm all sad and stuff. Hmms. I just realized I had to actually buy all these books, as opposed to getting them through Kindle Unlimited or something like that. So, now I'm poor. And sad.

Something So Grand by Lynn Galli

Something So Grand
by Lynn Galli
Pages: 250
Date: January 15 2014
Publisher: Penikila Press
Series: Aspen Friends (2nd in serie)

Review
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0
Read: August 3 2015

My eighth book by Galli. And, based on some of the more recent books I'd read by her, one I was oddly reluctant to read. There was mention of Vivian in the prior book in this 'series', and nothing present there made me think I should rush in to read this specific book here. Granted she was just mentioned in passing in Mending Defects.

So. A designer, Vivian Yeats (huh, I recall someone else being called Yeats recently, strange), and a contractor, Natalie Harper bump into each other, and over a longish period of time, develop a relationship together. In Aspen. Hence the title of the series, Aspen Friends.

I rather liked this one. The introduction, earlish in the book, of kids made me groan. But, fortunately, wasn't the bad kind of kid-adult interaction that I've run across before. And, happily, none of the point of views came from any of the children. No, just Natalie and Vivian. Actually, I just realized that. Somewhat unlike Galli, she had both of the women in the relationship have their own sections, their own point of views expressed. Most of the time Galli seems to keep it to one POV, with the other maybe showing up in an epilogue. Or, like in the previous book in this series, in diary form (though that's the only diary I recall). If I had time, I'd hunt down her other books to see if she actually has had full multiple point of views before (as in both parties in a relationship, not two POV's, one of which is an adults, and the other is a kids; full as in equal treatment of both POV's, instead of full POV from one, and a hidden and/or diary version for the other). I can't, of the top of my head, recall.

That was nice, actually. Seeing both point of views right off the bat. Unlike, say, in Mending Defects wherein you got two POV's, but one was only in diary, or Blessed Twice & it's sequel Forevermore wherein there are two POV's in each book, but the first has Briony's POV and then this secretive one that was behind a veil, though was obviously M's; and M's POV in the second book, with some kid's as the second POV in that book.

Also nice was how fluffy this one was. Without the heartache and angst that seems mandatory in lesbian romances. A nice fluffy sweet book. Worthy of 4.5 stars. Depending on how well this book sticks with me, will probably determine if I raise or lower that rating. As, I can't, at the moment, think why I didn't give the book a full 5 star rating. I'm highly unlikely I'll raise it, though, since I didn't immediately slap five stars on, but there's a chance I will. If it lingers in my mind. The right kind of lingering.

In terms of characters, this is probably the first book I've read with a designer, and the second character (I think) who worked in construction. At least in a lesbian romance. That other contractor/construction worker being one in J.A. Armstrong's design series. Actually, I just recalled another construction worker. In Learning Curve, I believe. So, my third lesbian construction worker, then.

Life Rewired by Lynn Galli

Life Rewired
by Lynn Galli
Pages: 260
Date: May 26 2013
Publisher: Penikila Press
Series: Aspen Friends (3rd in series)

Review
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
Read: August 3 2015

My ninth book by Galli. Probably my first involving an ex-con, at least in a romance. Well, yeah, I've read ex-con books before, but this is the first in a romance. One or two Georgette Heyer books involved criminals and those on the borderline of crime, but they were not ex-cons. Probably because, back then, they probably would have been hanged if caught.

Right. So. I'm fairly certain I've read butch-butch before. First time a big deal was made about it, though, since both were the kind of women who went the traditional butch-femme route. Traditional both in terms of lesbian pulp, and in terms of the real life history I've read about the lesbians of the 1930s to the 1960s. As in, the only way a butch and butch would couple up, is if one of them had switched to femme sometime before (as did, in fact, happen on occasion). At least according to oral history from Buffalo New York.

Molly, from the previous books in this series, stars in this book here. And, somewhat yet again, Galli presented me with a new take on point of views. As in, she's had one point of view - first person; two point of view, again first person - with both having full views being shown; two but limited, as in one is main, other is in some limited way (like diary or bdsm club scenes). Well, this time the book is divided into three parts. Everything in each part has one point of view. It doesn't change inside that part. Starts off with Falyn, the ex-con having part one. Then Molly with part II, then Falyn again for part three. Molly got to have the epilogue.

My fourth lesbian construction worker. Since that's the hook, the reason why Falyn is in Aspen. Long long ago, she was the one who looked after Natalie when she first worked in construction. So, when the two bumped into each other years later, and Natalie learned Falyn needed work, she gave her a job on her construction team. In between the first time they meet, and the time Natalie gave Falyn a job, Falyn had been away in prison. For burglary. Apparently she slid into a bad group of people. Figured stealing from the rich and giving to herself (and her bratty needy girlfriend) was the perfect thing to do. She was wrong. And now she has a second chance at life.

Molly showed up in the first two books in this series, though her presence built with each book. First she's barely there. More of a "oh, and there's this other lesbian, Molly, who works as a guide" type of reference. Second book she actually had some lines. Third book and she's front and center, co-star of her own little romance book.

Enjoyable book and characters.

Dairy Queen by Catherine Gilbert Murdock

Dairy Queen
by Catherine Gilbert Murdock
Pages: 291
Date: June 4 2007
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books
Series: Dairy Queen (first in series)

Review
Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0
Read: June 30 to July 1 2015

I know the book started off with me thinking "wow, this is really boring", but I kept reading. Because I'd seen others say they had felt the same way in the beginning then loved the book. So I kept reading. I'm not sure when it moved from "boring" to "this is really fun and interesting". But somewhere along the line, that occurred.

Most of the time I write something while reading, and then just post that as a review. Well, the only thing I wrote while reading was:
"Does it count as a chick lit book if the chick goes out for the football team? Does it count as lesbian fiction if the chick doesn't realize she's dating someone? Because D.J. just found out that Amber thought they were a couple. So. There's that."

This was a really funny, really interesting book. One of those that, if I'd stopped at about the 49% mark, I'd have thought was kind of boring. And . . . . something. Well, maybe not the 49% mark probably.

(everyone's a cow, eh? hmms.)