Review: The Watson Evidence by Rosalyn Wraight

The Watson Evidence (A Detective Laura McCallister Lesbian Mystery #4)

By Rosalyn Wraight

July 14th 2011

Mystery/Detective/Lesbian/Contemporary

281 pgs

Pub: Don't Waste Daylight

In recent weeks, two teenage boys have jumped to their deaths from Granger Bridge, and now, another one is missing. Detective Laura McCallister is frustrated and desperate to find a way to stop the deadly succession.

Meanwhile, a County deputy summons her to the hospital with the hope that she can ID an unconscious accident victim. After surviving a fiery wreck, the woman’s only possessions: $10,000 cash, and McCallister’s business card in her back pocket. Is there ever a good reason to have a detective’s business card?

Not knowing who the woman is, McCallister waits for the mystery to solve itself with the woman’s awakening. But, things don’t prove quite that simple. In fact, they become so convoluted that McCallister must endure some of the darkest moments of her life. This time, the mystery exists inside her own self, and the skills she instinctually relies upon for resolution seem far beyond her capabilities.

I started reading this particular detective series a couple of years ago and all have been reviewed here on LVLM or Goodreads in case you’re curious. I happen to be really fond of Laura McCallister as a character and have enjoyed reading these books due to it. This book was good as well even though I had some minor issues with it.

Unlike in the last three books, this story revolves mostly around Laura’s personal life, rather than some mystery or case she’s working on. Although a mystery she’s gotten sucked into and her personal life are connected in this case.

On the one hand, I liked this because there is more detail about a character I like. Kind of like when you like someone and you want to know more about them. However, for the purposes of the story as a whole, I felt sometimes there was too much personal emoting/dialogue that left the plot and mystery part, the exciting part really, lacking.

I was really sucked in by the first part of the book. There are several mysteries going on that Laura is dealing with that piqued my curiosity about what’s going on. It starts out as a traditional detective novel, which I liked. There’s been a succession of teenage suicides on a local bridge that Laura wants to stop, and a woman who was in an accident and has amnesia is found to have Laura’s business card on her.

The main mystery going on is the amnestic woman, even though the rash of suicides is how the book starts out. Although it’s not really a case that Laura needs to work on, because of this woman having Laura’s business card, Laura tries to figure out what’s going on with her. As Laura tries to help the woman remember anything about who she is, she comes to a painful conclusion that throws her into a lot of emotional turmoil as she’s pulled into her own painful past. This in turn causes her to make a rookie mistake that almost kills her. She is then forced to deal with long suppressed feelings, which she doesn’t want to do.

OK, so that story line was very intriguing to me. It unfolded slowly enough to keep up mystery and tension. However, how it all resolved and come to a head still left me with many questions about why some characters acted the way they did. Some of it just didn’t make any sense to me, or seemed illogical. A little more psychological motivation of the other characters would have helped I think. Laura’s personal journey is interesting though, and that kept me going.

The other mystery story line also left me wondering what that was all about. I kept thinking there was going to be a linkup between the two threads or some other connection to the main plot, but that didn’t happen. I felt there should have been some explanation as to why it took up as much book space as it did since there seemed to be a suggestion of possibly something more sinister going on. I think this would have been a cleaner, neater story if that part had been left out since it distracted a bit from the focus of the book. But YMMV.

It’s actually kind of hard to categorize this book. I can’t say it’s really a mystery because it doesn’t solely focus on the mystery in the traditional mystery/detective book sense. I can’t say it’s a romance on any level, but a lot of the dialogue between Laura and Holly, her partner, is about their relationship, their life together and Laura’s emotional state. It bordered on being a little too mushy for my taste. But I can’t be nitpicky about that because I do feel that a lot of readers will love that; will love the expressions of a deep emotional connection between them.

Overall though, I enjoyed this book. It flows nicely and at a fast pace, and there is just enough intrigue to keep it interesting and compelling to read. Laura grows as a person quite a bit in this story, which also added to my enjoyment. I hope there’s another Laura McCallister book coming; I’ll definitely read it. 

Heat Level: 0 

Rating: Really liked

Review- Happy Endings by Marlene Sexton

Happy Endings

By Marlene Sexton

Dec. 20, 2011

Lesbian/f-f/Paranormal/Erotica

9.8K words

Publisher- Red Heels Press (self-published)

Buy it Amazon, ARe, Smashwords, B&N

Emma needed to get away from Boston and her on again, off again girlfriend/editor Haya to work on her book. She found a quaint inn near the sea in Connecticut. The innkeeper Gladys is a sweet woman and Emma instantly likes her. Apparently, a young couple, the Finnegans, are staying at the inn also, but they are rarely around.

Emma begins having vivid, sexual dreams and then one night a woman comes to her darkened room. She thinks it might be Gladys but then a younger woman, Beth, joins her in bed. The women make love and it's some of the best sex of Emma's life. She assumes Beth is the elusive Mrs. Finnegan, but when she meets the real Mrs. Finnegan the next morning, she finds out it wasn't. Now Emma is wondering who the strange woman really is. The answer is almost to strange to believe.

If this story doesn't leave you horny and in tears, your better check your pulse!

This is a new to me author. I bought this book during ARe’s ½ ebook bucks back sale. There’s no way I’d buy a 10K book for $2.99 without a deal unless I loved the author’s work. I have mixed feelings about this story. There were some things about it that I found off or lacking, but other parts of it I really liked.

The main thing that didn’t work for me was that I found the writing to be amateurish and repetitive in parts. I got the feeling the author was adding words unnecessarily to make a higher word count and or that it wasn’t edited very well.

One example:

“You must be Emma!” the middle-aged woman exclaimed. “We were getting worried about you with all the ice on the roads. I’m Gladys McGillicuddy and this is my husband Oscar,” she said as she pointed to the thin but hardy looking man just emerging from the inn.

“Hi, I’m Emma. I’m not used to driving, especially on icy roads at night. I went really, really slow.”

They already know and assume she’s Emma and said so, so introducing herself on top of that is weird.

This is a short story, only 23 pgs., so there’s not too much to it. It’s not a romance, but more about a short erotic interlude in Emma’s life that helps her get out of a rut she’s in. Between the quiet folksiness of Gladys and her short stay at the country B&B, and the unexpected paranormal elements, Emma manages to get her writing mojo back. The title is Happy Endings and I guess for several characters that’s what happened in their own way.

The “Beth” part of the story, outside of the actual sex, felt a bit unfocused. It’s treated as if Beth was waiting for Emma in particular but there’s no background for that. Why Emma in particular? The author kind of goes there but then goes the direction of it’s only because Emma happens, coincidentally, to be a single lesbian who showed up as a guest after so much time for why Beth comes around.

The best parts are the dream like, ethereal erotic moments between Emma and Beth. The sex is nicely and sensually written even if not overly graphic.

To be honest, and I’m sure the author will not like this, but the best part of Happy Endings can be read in the excerpt on All Romance Ebooks. Or a good part of it. There’s more of course, but for the cost, and other issues I’m not sure it’s worth it. Or you can download the first 50% of the book on Smashwords to see if it’s a book you might like.

I wouldn’t say this book is totally not worth it, it was generally an OK read. I still have a pulse. But if you’re into paranormal sexual scenarios or want a short quickie that’s hot sexually, then you might like Happy Endings.

Heat level-  3-4- Vanilla sex with some minor anal play.

Grade- It was OK

Review- Unknown Futures by Jessica E. Subject

Unknown Futures (One Night Stand #77)

By Jessica E. Subject

Jan 3, 2012

Lesbian/ Sci-Fi

9K words

Publisher: Decadent Publishing

Buy it Amazon (Kindle), ARe, Decadent-

Attacked as a young adult, Jewel is left scarred and alone. She applies to the 1 Night Stand service, believing no one can see past her appearance to love her. But she doesn’t expect to be sent to a space station where her date could be any number of unusual alien species.

Flavia left everything behind to be one of five humans working for the Space Service space station. Extremely homesick, she is excited to learn she will be a guide to a woman from Earth visiting the station for a couple days. She is immediately drawn to the petite woman, seeing past her scars to her true inner beauty, stirring unforeseen desires.

Unfortunately, Jewel is there for a date which Flavia hasn’t been told about. Can she contain her lust and simply show her a good time? Or will she let her desire lead them into an unknown future?

I’m so glad that there are a slew of writers putting out f/f sci-fi/F. I don’t mind contemporaries, but I need to mix it up and there just aren’t that many sub-genres in lesbian romance that aren’t contemps.

Unknown Futures is a fairly short story but it did manage to offer a lot and be engaging. I got a good feel for both the main characters and it was fun to read.

The main appeal of this book is both women, their personalities and how their relationship develops. There’s not really a lot of angst or tension and despite some issues that would block their getting together, they get passed it fairly quickly.

Jewel has been scarred both physically and emotionally. The only person who she felt loved her and accepted her in her current disfigured condition was her mother who passed away. What I like about her is that while it’s clear she’s an outcast, being treated differently because of her scars, she doesn’t wallow in self-pity and she does have pride. She feels self-conscious but she get pissed at the thought that she’s been sent to the space station for a date because it's occupied with weird looking aliens who won’t object to her looks. So I liked that, she has some spunk and fight for herself.

Flavia is a strong, self-confident woman. While being only one of few humans on the space station, she’s very picky about any love interest. When she first sees Jewel she’s immediately attracted and excited. What I liked in her is that she doesn’t feel attracted out of feeling sorry for Jewel. Nor does she latch onto Jewel because she’s lonely for humans and her home. She really  finds Jewel beautiful and goes for it even though Jewel is shy at first.

The romance is nicely done, however, I think if this story were longer it could have been more developed and nuanced. It did feel a bit rushed. Also while there a few sex scenes I felt they were written in a rushed way as well. I don’t need long drawn out sex scenes but if the writer does put them in, it’s nice to feel that the characters are really into it and want to spend time exploring each other. Or maybe it was that heat between the characters was missing for me on that level.

What did come through though is that their heart/being attraction for each is strong and amazing and they click right away. It’s just a feel good story on that level. And of course there’s a satisfying happy ending.

On the sci-fi part of the story, well, it’s not long enough to really develop the world-building in a lot of detail, but what’s written is creative and gave a unique and interesting backdrop for the women to get together. There was one huge world-building plot hole, which you don’t get until the end, but after the fact I enjoyed this as a sweet love story and not so much for the sci-fi aspects.

Unknown Futures is a definite recommend. It’s an appealing and loving romantic love story.

Heat level: 3-4- sexual scenarios are sensual in language but not too graphically written.

Grade: Really liked

Review- War Games by K.S. Augustin

War Games

By K.S. Augustin

July 27, 2011

Sci-fi/ f/f

96K words

Pub: Sandal Press

Ebook

Buy it Amazon (Kindle), B&N, Smashwords

What can you do when you start falling in love with the woman you’re meant to kill?

Laisen Carros is a covert agent of the Fusion, sent undercover to infiltrate the Perlim Empire. However, the years she’s spent as Cheloi Sie fighting Menon rebels on an alien battleground are starting to exhaust her.

To Lith Yinalña, Cheloi Sie is nothing but a war criminal and she considers it her personal mission to kill her.

Unfortunately for Laisen/Cheloi, the Empire and an idealistic assassin aren’t the only things she needs to worry about. A treacherous subordinate—the ambitious Koul Grakal-Ski—is looking for any chance to grab control of the territory. When Laisen and Lith start falling in love, it’s only a matter of time before Koul notices. And acts.

I won this book in a contest and I’m so glad I tried! It’s again that rare SF/F book with a female protagonist who has a romantic interest in women, so it was a treat for me. The plot is fast paced, tension is kept high and the characters, all of them including the secondary characters, are all compelling and fully developed.

I really have nothing negative to say about this book. The romance and plot were interwoven in just the right way and with an equal amount of book space and development.

One thing I liked that might be reader preference is that a lot of the story is intertwined with moral conflicts. Cheloi Sie/Laisen Carros is the most morally ambiguous character in this story and it’s mostly from her POV that this story is expressed through. I can’t really say that she’s a morally upright person, which I think will push some readers’ buttons, but I loved it. I’m actually rather fond of characters who have to do things that are ugly or wrong for what they feel is a greater good. That character who will make decisions and not dwell on how it negatively affects their internal code.

Cheloi Sei is a general for the Perlim who are trying to get control of the planet Menon in order to gain some foothold to fight their real enemy, the Fusion. Cheloi is a spy for the Fusion and has been sent to infiltrate the Perlim by becoming one of them. To play her role to a T, she needs to make hard decisions in which she has to order the mass murder of innocent people so that her cover and loyalty to the Perlim is never questioned.

What’s interesting to me is that ultimately, maybe the Fusion are not the altruistic people that they are presented as. On the surface it’s implied that they are the more “enlightened” group trying to curb the “evil” Perlim Empire from destroying and subjugating an innocent people on a foreign planet. However, like in most situations of war, it depends on what side you’re on as to whether your side is the “right” side and that becomes an interesting conflict inside of Cheloi. Is she just a pawn for an equally controlling Empire?

 It’s interesting to me to think about these kinds of things because all of the characters in this story are acting and doing atrocious things, except for maybe Lith, in the name of the rightness of their empire and ideology. It’s for the greater good. K.S. Augustin did a great job of really getting into the internal conflicts or lack thereof when the characters are confronted with things that go against their beliefs, like falling in love with the enemy, etc.

Cheloi is a strong, steely, unflappable woman. She can’t afford to make one mistake or her cover and her mission to take down the Perlim as a Perlim general will all be for naught. Her second in command, Koul Grakal-Ski, is an ambitious man and resents her for being appointed to a position he felt was his. He’s looking at every turn to find something on her to take her down so he watches her every move carefully. He’s also extremely loyal to the Perlim Empire and would never do anything to hurt it. His need to follow orders and be loyal becomes Cheloi’s luck in her mission. But he still tries to undermine her constantly.

 To keep up with the stress of always being on top of things, she talks often to a virtual psychiatrist with whom she can interact with inside her head through a chip. In this way we get a good chance to see what’s going on inside of Cheloi Sie’s head, what she really feels, how things really affect her and we get to see that there are cracks. She’s very “human” and her relationships with the people she works with do affect her deep down. She's also got a painful past and that is constantly hinted at but comes out in bits and pieces, slowly allowing us see where she comes from ultimately.

Outside of her intense attraction to Lith, she’s particularly fond of Rumis, her adjunct who is extremely loyal to her and the Perlim empire. However, unlike the conniving Koul Grakal-Ski, Rumis is honorable in his loyalty to her and it eats at Cheloi that she is being deceitful to a man she admires. There are painful consequences in Cheloi’s later decisions about Rumis, which I thought added a lot to the choices she makes for her future and her loyalty to the Fusion. She pays severe consequences emotionally for liking him and I liked that spurred character reflection and growth.

So all in all I loved the dynamics of what drives all the characters. There are lots of interesting moral questions presented that made this story really interesting to me.

Then there’s the romance. Lith is a young idealist who gets swept up in the romantic ideology of freeing her people from the Perlim Empire even though her parents were born Perlim. She belongs to a small, rouge Fusion group who have sent her to kill Cheloi, whom they know to be a mass murderer of innocents. What she doesn’t know is that Cheloi and she are fighting for the same side, which sets up the very interesting conflict for her in her attraction to Cheloi.

Right from the get-go there’s a strong attraction between Lith and Cheloi, which both intrigues Lith and freaks her out. They get it on fairly quickly but if it’s found out that they are having an affair, Koul will have an excuse to get rid of Cheloi, so they have only stolen moments together.

One thing I’ll say here is that while I did feel they are attracted, I couldn’t understand why Lith would put up with being coolly dismissed after sex, which is what Cheloi does to 1. keep her distance knowing that Lith’s the enemy and she shouldn’t lose her heart to her, and 2. to keep the relationship secret. However, it was clear that Lith, while bothered by it, realizes that it’s necessary and can’t help herself, she wants Cheloi.

Lith's personal codes are called into question as well as she's forced to make an important decision, which could jeopardize her mission to kill Cheloi and her break her heart at the same time.

While not the most passionate couple due to these issues, the romance is nicely and slowly developed. I felt that these two ache to be together even if they’re rather reticent in their expression of it. And there is a happy ending.

Outside of all of that, there’s a nice tension and suspense throughout the whole book that kept the story exciting. There are so many twists and intrigues and alliances and deceits that I kept reading just to see what would happen. I definitely recommend War Games if you’re into sci-fi and f/f and even if you’re not. It’s just a good compelling story all around.

Heat level: 2-3. The sexual scenarios are not too graphically written. More sensually written with softer terminology used.

Grade: A-

Review- Out on the Sound by R. E. Bradshaw

Out On the Sound
By R. E. Bradshaw
Aug 22, 2010
Contemporary/ Lesbian
292 pgs in PB

Buy it Amazon

If you like a good story with laughter, tears and suspense then this is the book for you. In her late thirties, Decky Bradshaw was set for life. She had an incredibly lucky life up to this point, excluding the brief marriage to her son's father. She had a great job, plenty of money and a very comfortable existence. Decky figured if someone ever came along that tickled her fancy she'd know. She never thought for one second it would be a woman. Neither did her mother. Follow Decky as she finds new love and deals with her, "Tennessee Williams in drag," overly dramatic, southern mother, Lizzie, and the hurricane of events she brings.

Where to start, where to start. This was a long, long book. However, I finished it, so that’s a pretty good sign.

I bought this book because it’s a coming out story with older characters. Unfortunately, almost every coming out cliché was in this book. It was almost like a “look at me, I’m so gay” coming out story. And it includes name dropping of almost every well-known gay celebrity, musician and author to make sure that we all know how gay the characters are.

I don’t want to slam this book totally. I liked the author’s voice. The writing itself flowed well. I was able to read it and I did enjoy some of it. But overall it had quite a few flaws for me.

The first issue I had was the unrealistic way in which the women come together. Decky and Charlie meet briefly a few times. Then they get together for one night. It’s Decky’s first time with a woman and the next day, Decky is saying things like:

“well, I guess it’s settled then. We are a couple and I’m out of the closet, ready or not.”

Really? She wasn’t even in the closet. She had never fallen in love with a woman before. And instead of just wondering where she’s at as I suspect a person falling in love with another person of the same sex and having gay sex for the first time would, she knows now she’s actually gay.

The thing is, Decky’s been hanging out with lesbians for years and never once had any attraction or clear idea that she even might be gay. You’d have thought that she would have had some sort of indication before now. So, somehow that didn’t ring true to me. And it took only one night together to start calling themselves a couple, which came off to me as a bit ridiculous.

The only thing that mitigated that was that their relationship does develop through the rest of the book. So while I can’t say this is a romance in the traditional sense due to no romantic build up, from the point they sleep together they really are a couple and there is some romance as they try to figure out their situation.

This book is written in three parts. The first is Decky and Charlie coming together and the shit hitting the fan in their small community where Decky is well known, that she’s suddenly gay. The second part is about some major homophobia in the form of a whack job mother and dickish guys with the whole “we’ll fuck the lesbian” out of you threats and attacks. Then part three is about them getting justice and the whole town rooting for them. It all came across as too over-the-top and like one huge cliché.

One thing that would have helped this book is if it would have been cut down by a third. The author goes on too many unimportant tangents like descriptions of food, preparing food, local history, as well as detailing daily mundane events that bog things down and take away from more exciting or interesting plot points. Maybe some readers would like all those little details, and they are good to a degree, but I did a lot of skimming through those paragraphs.

Then there’s Decky’s mom. She’s written as a raving homophobic lunatic that apparently the whole town knows is “eccentric” but doesn’t seem to mind. Apparently she has a lot of influence and inspires fear in anyone who dares to oppose her. I think the author was trying for some humor there, but it didn’t cut if for me if that’s the case. Lizzie is crazy. And the fact that she sits on the board of the local university that Charlie has come to teach at and that she is a community leader to some degree had me wondering. If she’s that whacked and unstable, why would she have any position of power in that community? She’s essentially just a bully. It is explained away as a bi-polar condition but her characterization came across as more cunning than having a mental disability.

Moreover, she’s soooo over the top homophobic as to be a caricature. I know people like that exist. And for all I know it’s an actual description of someone the author knows. However, a Westboro Church member, which is pretty much the extreme out there, doesn’t hold a candle to how homophobic Lizzie came across. So, no, she wasn’t just an eccentric character that people would laugh off, or even one that I would think Decky would stick around to get berated for on a regular basis. But that’s me.

Also unrealistic is Charlie defending her at the end. At that point Lizzie comes across then as a poor misunderstood grump. So not how she’s characterized.

The best part of this story was the trial, the last part. And I only got excited because there were some elements of surprise and mystery in how it was written. How Molly, their lawyer, builds the case and breaks down the prosecutor’s case was pretty entertaining. Enough so that my brain finally got engaged, because until then it was like a run on story.

I might try another book of R.E Bradshaw’s. This was her first book and maybe the whole, “isn’t it so exciting that I’m gay now” will not be the focus, but just the two characters and who they are will come out and shine.

Heat level: 1- not erotic- sexual scenarios mostly hinted at.

Grade: D+

Beguiled by Paisley Smith

Beguiled
by Paisley Smith
Nov. 16, 2010
Historical (Civil War time)/ Lesbian/bi
Short Novel- word count UK
Ebook- Loose- Id

Buy it Loose-Id

The Civil War has torn Belle Holloway’s world apart. Left to manage her Georgia plantation with little help, she is exasperated when the Union Army adds to her burden by leaving a wounded soldier behind. But upon closer examination, Belle is shocked to discover the soldier is actually a beguiling woman.

Clad in male attire, stubborn, brash Alice O’Malley awakens a passion in Belle she never knew existed. Alice dominates Belle’s lonely existence with taboo pleasures and erotic escape. Soon Belle realizes she is more than willing to submit her body and her heart to the woman whose strength and compassion she admires -- until those very attributes prove to be the catalyst that could destroy their newfound love.

I’ve read all of Paisley Smiths f/f books so far and I’ve enjoyed all of them. So picking up this one was a no-brainer. Again, I wasn’t disappointed. Moreover, the time period Beguiled is set in-- late 1800’s-- coupled with one of my favorite scenarios--- a woman passing herself off as a man— made this a yummy and favorite book.

While overall I really enjoyed this book, there were a few niggling things that bugged me. I’ll get to that first so I can get to what I loved.

There were a few inconsistencies that pulled me out of the story here and there or made me wonder. At one point Alice thinks to herself:

Alice knew from Belle’s passionate reaction that she would go all the way with her, and the knowledge that the prim, proper southern lady would spread her legs for another woman drove Alice mad with desire.

Her mouth went cotton dry at the thought of Belle lifting all those frilly petticoats and then beckoning her to touch her—taste her. Alice tried to swallow but couldn’t. She’d seen the look of desire in Belle’s eyes. The curiosity to explore, to not only be touched but to touch as well.

First, Belle comes across as tough, efficient and competent right from the get go. She reacts to horrific events that would make even a more hardened person flinch, with aplomb. I didn’t see any of what I thought would be an uptight, prim and proper, gentile southern belle woman in her characterization that would make Alice hot on that level. Maybe if Alice had met Belle before the war it would have been the case.

And also, again, due to the ravages of war, of Belle needing to do all the house work and tend to repairs and the animals, I didn’t picture her in frilly petticoats either. I pictured her more in tattered and dirty older dresses.

That was another inconsistency that I felt as well. Belle tells Alice when they are talking about their lives, that she had a great education and learned several languages, that their slaves were taught to read, that she basically lived the life typical to a woman of her station as the daughter of a plantation owner, meaning, she was a lady living a life of ease and refinement. But there was nothing in the way she spoke,or acted that gave that impression even if the current circumstances required her to adapt to a harsher life. I would think she’d still react according to her background and upbringing even if she did adapt.

Alice also uses fuck and said at one point:

“I don’t suppose I’ve made figuring this shit out easier for you.”

Shit and fuck? I know people said those words at that time, but I guess I always think of ladies at that time not using such words, even if Alice was in the Union Army pretending to be a man and she did come from a poor childhood in Boston. Belle is not shocked at all of Alice talking like that, like that’s the kind of language she’s always heard from women or men even.

Another question I had was that it seemed that the Union soldiers of Alice’s troupe knew she was a woman dressing as a man acted as if it were normal. Does anyone know if that’s so that it was accepted? I know women did serve, but it was only if they could really pass themselves off as a man. I would think once they knew she was a woman, they would have dumped her or worse. And in fact they did, but only because she was wounded at the time.

Now that I’ve said those things, none of them changed the way I felt about this story. Alice and Belle are very real and colorful characters. I suppose that Belle in an earlier time might have balked at such advances from Alice, but in her new situation and life, it seemed on par with the changes in her life.

Belle is a strong woman and she deals with the trials of war and her life without freaking or acting put upon. She’s lost just about everything. She’s so intrigued and impressed by Alice dressing and acting like a man and fighting in the war; Alice is like no woman she’s ever known and this attracts her.

Some might question her really going for it with Alice when she didn’t know if her husband was still alive or not, but I wasn’t bothered by that. Mainly because there really wasn’t much discussion about her relationship with her husband before he went off to war. Outside of some inconsistencies in character, I loved Belle as a character. She's got fortitude and doesn't shy away from much.

Alice is also an intriguing character. She grew up poorer than poor and had nothing left to lose by leaving her family and Boston. She’s definitely a lesbian and having been disowned by her family for being “different” she joins the army. And she gets away with it for a long time, at least until she’s wounded and left at Belle’s.

Alice pretty much seduces Belle and Belle doesn’t resist. Not only that, but Belle is all over that. She even gets into it asking Alice for more. This is one of the best parts of this story, these two women go at it with nary a real conflict. Of course, Belle wonders about being with a woman, thinking it’s wrong, but wondering how wrong what she feels could be? And Alice, while having her fears about falling in love with a woman who is married and whose missing husband could return, follows her feelings anyway.

The conflict in this case comes from outside actually in the form of bushwhackers and other sundry soldier types floating in and out making life harder. This draws them together even more.

The sex is pretty hot and nicely written with a touch of D/s going on, which added a bit more spice to their interactions. I thought the characters, while not getting too much of their backgrounds, were well fleshed out and the general plot line kept this story entertaining. I got a good feel for the time period and how it would have been. Overall, it’s a good read.

I definitely recommend Beguiled if you’re in the mood for period f/f and one with a sweet/spicy love story.

Heat level- 5- fairly graphic sexual scenarios. Interesting dildo use.

Grade: B/+

Review- Pain Au Chocolat by K Christine Martin

Pain Au Chocolat
By K Christine Martin
April 7, 2010
Lesbian/ semi contemporary- from 80’s on/Interracial
70K
Ebook- Createspace

Buy it Smashwords, Amazon

Catherine still had her French accent despite twenty four years in the US. She was forty two years old, divorced, and restless. She had started 'Le Café' and worked hard to support her only child. She thought of beginning a new way of life. 'Perhaps in France', she told herself - until she met Anna. Both women discover a passion that is always challenged in pursuit of their dream to be together.

This is another self published book that I picked up on Smashwords. There are a few reviews of this book on Amazon and they pretty much all say things like (paraphrasing) heart wrenching, touching, great love story, I cried, I laughed, etc. So I thought it can’t be that bad even if I’m not totally up for mushy, sappy or over-the-top pull the heartstrings type of stories.

I have mixed feelings about this book. Yes, it is emotional. It will take you through the gambit of feelings and some not too pleasant. If you’re up for an intense ride, then this book will hit the spot. It’s a love story that goes through all the trials of a long term love including the things that get in the way of relationships or cause them to falter at times. But it’s also a tale of enduring love, a love that rides the waves and survives. That is, until it can’t. And I think this will upset most romance readers, especially those who would read this for the love story and want only the good feelings. Fair warning.

For this reason, I think I have to claim this book more as a chick lit/ Oprah book hybrid and not a romance book. It comes across more as a factual story of someone’s life and therefore, it’s a more realistic portrayal of a love story with its warts and all.

On the level of how I experienced this book emotionally and how it read to me, I found it very compelling. I was sucked in by the author and invested in the characters and their lives. This is also a story that goes into territory not usually explored, a 22 year age difference as well as cultural/racial differences. I found that the issues around these things were covered in quite a bit of detail and realistically portrayed.

Catherine is a French woman who has a café near Mount Holyoke College in Mass. She’s in her 40’s and her son, a part time instructor in another college and her daughter-in-law help her run the place. She’s long divorced and hasn’t found anyone to love in all those years. The students come and go and she likes being around them, but one particular girl has attracted her, a young, extremely beautiful Filipino girl.

She doesn’t understand why, but she slowly finds ways to have contact with her, to the point of stalking her in a minor way while she’s in the library. At first she thinks it’s just because she’s vivacious and cute, but slowly Catherine realizes that maybe it’s something more.

Anna is a naïve and spoiled young woman who’s going through college to please her family. They are a traditional Filipino family and all the members work for the family business. She will too when she graduates. Her older brother is quite protective of her and pretty much criticizes every one she dates, kind of controlling her on that level. So she ends up kind of lost and screwing around, not really getting serious with anyone.

She notices Catherine and knows her from the café and starts a friendship with her. They spend almost a year hanging out all with Anna being clueless that Catherine is pining over her. Anna ends up staying with Catherine during the summer vacation so she can work and Anna then realizes that she feels more for Catherine than just friends. The rest is basically they get together and deal with all kinds of family homophobia, anger, separations, acceptance and cultural/age difference issues.

Ok, first, I thought the love story and how they came together was beautifully written. I really believed that they really ache for and desire each other. However, I couldn’t believe that Anna and Catherine would get close to begin with and why no one questioned them hanging out together all the time before there was ever a love affair.

Anna is really close to her roommate, who is down to earth and cool and I couldn’t believe she never once asked Anna, what’s the deal? It seemed that neither Anna nor Catherine had anything in common. After a while, Anna hangs out solely with Catherine, ignoring all her friends and school work to the point of almost failing so again, why no one questioned what a 20 year old would be doing spending all that time with a 42 year old was weird to me.

I do love a May/Dec love romance, I do. But in this case, while I bought the love story, there was a part of me that felt a disconnect due to the age difference. And contrary to the usual, it was Anna who was fearful of Catherine leaving throughout most of the story.

I feel it would have been good if the author got a bit more into Catherine’s head. While not written in first person POV, most of the story is told from Anna’s POV. I just didn’t get where Catherine was coming from and I think that’s why I felt a disconnect. I kept putting myself in Catherine’s place and wondered what I would have had in common with a 20 year old when I was 42. Nothing. So I had a hard time with that even though I myself have been in relationships with a huge age difference.

On the technical side, the writing quality is very good I thought. I enjoyed the authors voice in this book and resonated with it. I read the first half pretty quickly, which is something because she wrote this story in linear format. I’m not too fond of linear story telling. It gets tedious and boring after a while with TMI. And I don’t mean TMI as in too much personal stuff, I mean it in that every detail of someone’s life is shared with the reader and it gets boring. I started skimming in parts because there were things that I felt not pertinent to story or which really didn’t add to it in there.

This is the author’s first book and I think linear story telling is a newbie thing. I also find it often in lesbian romance so I’m not sure what that’s about. Couple that with this reading like a biography in some ways and you get what didn’t work for me.

Still though, if you’re in the mood for something that will grab your heart or make you cry and feel good or if you’re in the mood for a full on real drama, this book will do it for you. And as I mentioned, I really liked the way the author presented this for the most part. I’d definitely read another of Ms Martin’s books.

Heat level- 0- barely mentioned sex scenes.

Grade- B-