Review- Cattle Valley: Fool's Gold by Jenna Byrnes

Cattle Valley: Fool’s Gold
by Jenna Byrnes
June 23, 2009
Contemporary/ Lesbian
Novella- 35K
Ebook

Buy it Total-E-Bound- $4.98

Adeline Murphy believes the Apple Valley Inn is the only thing waiting for her in Cattle Valley, and it's up to Melissa Danes to change her way of thinking.

Adeline Murphy heads to Cattle Valley, Wyoming looking for a fresh start. She's invested every dime she has and purchased the local bed and breakfast. Arriving in town with a cranky girlfriend in tow, Addie's devastated to discover the inn has been vandalised. With the property uninhabitable, she has no source of income and a mounting stack of bills.

Melissa Danes' quiet Cattle Valley existence is shaken by the arrival of the beautiful Addie and her surly tagalong, Chloe. She's captivated by Addie, but stays away thinking Addie and Chloe are in a committed relationship. When she discovers differently, all bets are off.

Mel discovers Addie has several barriers to cross, including repairing the damaged inn and her even more wounded self-esteem. When Mel looks at Addie she sees more than Fool's Gold, but she needs to find a way for Addie to see it too.

Fool’s Gold is one of those sweet, fully developed romantic stories that satisfied me on every level. There’s just enough plot and tension to keep it engrossing and the characters are written with enough depth to get a good feel for who they are. While there’s plenty of steamy sex in this story, it’s not overpowering, but adds a spicy kick to this romance.

Addie's a good person who comes from a nasty home life. Her mother kicked her out for being gay and when her father sided with her, he got kicked out too. Addie inherited the only money left from her father whom she nursed while he was dying of lung cancer, and has bought a B&B in Cattle Valley, WY to start a new life. She's jaded and has self confidence issues, but is ready to be open.

She’s also somehow recently hooked up with Chloe, a self-centered bad girl who’s into nothing but playing and having sex. One thing missing from this story that I was curious about was why Addie and Chloe are together. They didn’t seem to be in tune with each other and I thought it was strange that someone like Addie would be with a girl like Chloe. Chloe’s bad ass personality does make for a nice contrast to the clean character of Mel, though.

Mel is a kind, conscientious woman who hasn’t found someone to love and spends her days working at the local book store. (Same book store from Truth or Dare.) When she meets Addie for the first time to hand over the keys to the B&B, sparks fly in her being and she finds herself fantasizing about Addie and wanting to help her, even with Chloe telling her to piss off and die at every turn.

You can see what’s coming fairly quickly; however, Jenna Byrnes kept a nice balance of tension stemming from Addie’s problems with both Chloe and her financial situation, and the budding love between Mel and Addie to keep a good flow to this story. It’s not a smooth ride, which gives a good reason to root for Addie and Mel’s love.

I’d also like to mention that this is one of the few f/f stories in which safe sex or the fact that women can possibly pass on disease to each other is dealt with. I take issue quite often in m/f, or m/m contemporaries in which condoms or at least the thought of disease control is not mentioned and it’s good to bring up in f/f as well. I thought Jenna Byrnes dealt with it in a non obtrusive way that added much to Addie’s character as a person of worth. And I just like it; it adds to my overall positive feeling about a book.

I wasn’t going to comment on the whole Cattle Valley thing because I basically ignored it. However, I felt that since it is a big part of the book, it needs some mentioning. If you’re familiar with author Carol Lynne’s Cattle Valley series in which this story takes place and enjoy it, then you’ll enjoy that part of this book. Personally I can’t suspend disbelief of a whole town of queers in WY. However, I do enjoy Jenna Byrnes' f/f stories, even if set in Cattle Valley, so I focused on the story itself. And some of the gay characters from that series are rather fun.

Fool’s Gold is just the kind of story to read if you’re looking for something light and fun, with a gratifying HEA romance and some juicy sex.

Sex rating: Orgasmic- Graphically written f/f sex, anal penetration rimming, dildo.

Grade B+

Review- Carnal Collision by Jenna Byrnes

Carnal Collision
by Jenna Byrnes
2008
Contemporary/ Lesbian
Short Story

Buy it Total-E-Bound- $2.45

Jada Green is shocked when a vehicle appears from out of nowhere, smashing in the side of her new compact car. She's even more surprised to find the driver is a cute, enticing blonde woman. Thrown together for one night, Jada resists the idea of casual sex until a hot dream has her changing her mind.

Wendi Smith has neither insurance, nor the money to pay for the damage she caused. She's prepared to walk away and let Jada deal with everything, until her heart gets the best of her. When there's a carnal collision, can love triumph over money?

This is the second of Jenna Byrnes' lesbian stories that I’ve read, and like the first, it’s a very juicy story in which two women meet, and after a night of smokin hot sex they decide that they want to keep their relationship going.

Wendi hits Jada’s car and freaks out worried about Jada after seeing that her head is bleeding. Through her dazed fog, Jada notices Wendi’s gorgeous large breasts and feels attracted to her. She was horny all day and was planning on going home and spending the night with her vibrator and the accident didn’t seem to curb that. She gets taken to the hospital to get checked out and who shows up there after while but Wendi, whose finger got broken in the accident.

The Dr. insists that Jada have someone wake her up every couple of hours to make sure she’s fine, and having no one to do so, Wendi volunteers. Jada’s feeling a bit nervous about it but agrees to it. In no time at all they both find out that they are lesbians and they are curious about each other. Jada is African American and is curious about what blond haired, Caucasian Wendi looks like naked, and Wendi wants to touch Jada’s smooth chocolate colored skin.

During the night Jada has a wet dream about Wendi and brushes it off, but later on when Wendi wakes her up to check on her, she seduces Jada. They have a night of the most amazing sex they’ve each ever had and want to continue seeing each other. But there’s a catch, a slight problem of who’s going to pay for the damage to Jada’s car since Wendi has no money.

The Good: As with her book Truth or Dare the characters get together very quickly with only minor glitches, which is good since this is a very short story. Jada and Wendi like each other and go for it, no big drama at first. The conflict that does come up that can put the kaibash on these two getting together is a realistic personality conflict that happens, but which ultimately didn’t disturb the chemistry they have with each other.

Jada is very responsible and on top of things and Wendi comes across as a total flake who doesn’t take the issue of paying for Jada’s car too seriously. What I liked about how they dealt with it though was that both women really wanted a connection with each other bad enough that they are willing to sacrifice something of who they are for it. It made this story a very satisfying read as far as that goes and established that they will have an HFN relationship.

The Bad: Sometimes the language describing genitals was just a little too funky and not very erotic for me. I’m not too fond of weeping, oozing, dripping pussies or knockers and boobies as terms for breasts as well. Why do authors use those terms?

Still though, if you like dirty, raunchy sexual language spoken between two really turned on women during hot, sweaty, gritty sex, then Jenna Byrnes' way of writing sexual scenes in this case will turn you on.

For a short erotic story that doesn’t involve too much more than two people having a night together and taking it from there, Carnal Collision was a fun, sexually hot and quick read in both the erotic and story relationship elements.

Sex rating: Orgasmic- f/f, 69, double ended dildo use, rimming, minor anal.

Grade: C+

Review- Truth or Dare by Jenna Byrnes

Truth or Dare
by Jenna Byrnes
2008
Contemporary/Lesbian
Novel
E-Book

Buy it Fictionwise or Total-e-Bound

When Naomi Rivers and Courtney Cross meet and fall in love in Cattle Valley, the ultimate game of truth or dare helps seal their fate.

Naomi Rivers loves living in the quiet community of Cattle Valley. She has the book store she's always wanted, and good friends to fill her time. She doesn't have one special person to share her life, but everything changes when a sexy blonde author walks into her store.

Courtney Cross is a renowned novelist whose latest book features characters with alternative lifestyles. She's on a book signing tour, which winds to a close at Booklovers in Cattle Valley. Worn out from her hectic schedule, Courtney decides to vacation in the rustic town for a few weeks. The beautiful countryside and laid back atmosphere provide exactly the calm get-away she desires, and quite possibly the backdrop for her next novel. The cute red-head at the bookstore doesn't hurt, either.

They fall in love, but while Naomi thrives in Cattle Valley, Courtney has her own life in Chicago. In the end, it's the ultimate game of Truth or Dare that helps them decide.

Note: This novel is a stand alone title which includes characters created by Carol Lynne in the Cattle Valley Series. Visit the Cattle Valley website for more information on this bestselling series!

What a juicy, hot, fun story Truth or Dare is. It rolls right along at a satisfying pace with neither characters having huge angsty problems that keep them apart; they're just two women who are very comfortable in their own separate lives, even if sex is lacking, who meet, are attracted, and get it on in a deliciously amorous way.

The blurb accurately describes the main plot so I’ll go from there.

What I loved about this story was the easy breezy way in which Naomi, a book store owner, gets with a big city best selling author, Courtney, who’s come to do a book signing. They are very friendly and open with each other right from the start and find out very quickly that they are both lesbians. An immediate attraction is obvious to both and they go with it, without reservation. How nice!

After they spend the night having raw, hot, salacious monkey sex they don’t want to leave each other. Yeah I don’t blame them; I didn’t want them to stop either. Courtney decides very quickly that a mini vacation is in order so that she can spend more time with Naomi. As the two weeks go by, and they find out that they fit so well together both sexually and in personality, they come to a crossroads on what to do.

Courtney lives in Chicago and has her family and job connections there and doesn’t really want to leave. And Naomi has built a life in the country and likes her small town way of life.

What was nice here is that they resolve that issue fairly quickly and there isn’t a long drawn out thwart to their love that could have totally frustrated me. And I liked that they never once question their feelings. It’s like bam, they know very quickly that they really want and love each other and don’t want to part. It’s just so satisfying to read two people be so turned on by each other who actually want to be together and work towards that without a whole lot of drama.

Of course there are some side plots going on like a neighbor who is very pregnant and married to an abusing oaf. And I will say that outside of all the gay men in this small town, who are all so nice, the het men in this story are all nasty assholes. A little bit of negative stereotyping here in a story about lesbians. But OK, I was in this story for the girl-on-girl lurving and relationship. And that was done very well.

The one thing that I really had to suspend disbelief for is that this little town was set up by gays and lesbians as a haven for them to live without discrimination in Wyoming. Wyoming? I guess because I know that area around Sheridan it’s hard to believe, even in my imagination, that a town of gays and lesbians would be tolerated without a bunch of trouble. Maybe around Cody or Jackson Hole it would be fine. That part was just too hard for me to believe or take seriously, so I kept picturing it in different area to get around that.

I know that this is a place created by author Carol Lynne in her Cattle Valley series. I haven’t read any of those books and apparently there are characters from her books in this book as well. So I can’t really put that part on Jenna Byrnes totally.

Other than that, this was a very nicely written, steamy hawt lesbian love story that satisfied on all levels.

Sex rating: Orgasmic- delicious f/f. anal sex, plugs, dildos, strap-on, and vibrator.

Grade: B+