As
with all of Ashton’s books, the characterization goes deep, and even more so in
this one as glimpses of the past hint at the troubles obvious in the present.
The mystery that weaves through the story has an edge of darkness that’s
deliciously paced, and the love story and its queer representation is sublime.
Set in her beloved Wales, Ashton portrays without remorse some of the less
pleasant aspects of a small community, where everyone knows (or thinks they do)
everyone else’s business.
There are fantastic twists and turns, and the ending
is beyond satisfying. The audio version is impossible to stop listening to –
the narrator, Lucy Rayner, captures every nuance, grabbing hold of your
imagination as the drama unfolds and not letting it go.
I’m
a sucker for a sapphic historical romance! I love all the secret glances and
tortured moments that play such a part of stories set in times long before now.
This one, while a relatively short novel, packs a mighty punch. Kallmaker’s two
main characters are so very different, yet so obviously right for each other
from the moment it becomes a possibility. Set against the backdrop of the
colonization of the West in America, there’s realistic yet not too heavy
brutality, acerbic observations on the vast gulf between the sexes at that
time, and authentic settings and action.
This is a gorgeous and realistic sapphic
romance that deals with grief and a person’s struggle to live again after loss
in a way that had me shaking my head every few pages as it’s the author’s debut
novel and is staggeringly well-written.
The two main characters are at very
different places in their lives. One is a widow, raising her autistic son
alone, with all the challenges that represents. The other is younger, more
gregarious, and at first they seem an unlikely match. But the skilfully woven
story pulls them slowly together in ways which are completely believable and
authentic.
Olivia Northman’s world shattered the day she lost her wife to a drunk driver. Three years later, she still struggles with grief and the demands of being a single parent to their autistic son, Ben. After her first attempt at a new relationship crumbles, Olivia retreats to the simple, the predictable. It’s what’s best for her son and her heart.
Ellie Vasquez isn’t simple or predictable. In fact, she’s charmingly impulsive, as well as gregarious, confident, and attracted to Olivia, which she reveals in an unguarded moment. Olivia doesn’t know what’s more surprising—Ellie’s interest, or her own—but a quiet conversation…
A lesbian romance where the realest thing about a fake
relationship is all the possibilities.
Abby’s dream to be a reporter gets a boost when her
journalist friend makes her a deal: Fake-date a woman for a story and she’ll
get Abby a co-writing credit.
All Erica’s spare time is spent on her eight-year-old
girl. A deal to be wined and dined if she fakes a romance sounds fun. It’d help
if her date actually liked kids…and wasn’t so attractive!
