Karin's Lesfic bookblog

Wolf – Chris Fenwick

At the beginning of this book, I was a little bored by the matter of fact way of (almost) reporting instead of storytelling. That changed when mc Casidhe got in to contact with her new world. Where the beginning dragged on a little too long, further on in the book some events seemed to happen in fast forward when they could have written with a little more depth.

The events with Casidhe and her aunt Colleen could have been more heartbreaking if I, as a reader, had some more insight into their relationship. Maybe it’s weird to say that at first, for me she could have been a foster kid with a foster mom: there was love, I just didn’t feel the depth of it.
Because enough happens in this book, I kept reading and wondering what’s next. A lot of happenings at the beginning come back later. Like Casidhe dreaming about a girl. When Casidhe meets her people, she also meets the girl from her dreams: Dana, daughter of Kelly and Lesslyn (alpha and alpha she of the pack). Their chemistry is through the roof and Casidhe doesn’t understand how that can be so intense. But she probably hasn’t read books about werewolves yet, because instant and unexplainable attraction without knowing each other is pretty common in those. With the difference that usually there is more suspense there because mc’s don’t want the attraction and in this case mc’s sure did.
Note that this is a coming of age story, so although there are some sex scenes in this book, they are pretty innocent, not graphic and won’t make your blush while reading. Unless you blush easily of course, haha.

I’ve read quite some werewolf stories already, this was different. In this book, werewolves have extra gifts besides shifting, given to them by the Fae world. The Fae world is very connected to the werewolves in this book and not necessarily in a good way. That gave a different dimension to the book and can make this a very interesting series (no pressure for Fenwick).

As this is a first in a series, there is no HEA in this book, but know that it does end happy and there is no cliff hanger. You can pick this op and read it as a stand-alone with no harm done after finishing. Curious as I am, I probably will pick up the second in the series. And that’s no heartache because while reading I got more into this book. Let’s say it grew on me and I hope to get to know the characters better in the following book.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. When buying this book, check out the publisher for a hard copy or Amazon for an e-book.

Mending Fences – Angie Williams

The reason this is a second chance romance is actually really sad. Imagine getting shipped to boarding school because your parents find out that you are gay. That’s what happened to Grace when she was found sleeping with Bobby. Two decades later they meet again and it starts with an unexpected meeting in the clinic.

Grace seems a little naive coming to her childhood town and act all surprised when Bobby walks in her vet clinic. What do you think in a small town and with such a job? Grace is actually a very likeable person, but her actions made me dislike her a little. Again I seemed to come across a romance where there is a disturbing relationship with a mother. So that for me was Grace’s “get out of jail card”. In the end, after some heartbreak, stupid actions and some spoken out loud “ow come on, woman!” from my side, she understood the bigger picture and all went well.

Bobby is a tough rancher with a huge heart. Maybe not so tough as she looks like, melting over her sweet puppy and of course Grace. She has loads and loads of patience it seems, so much even it almost hurt me. Because of the indecisiveness of Grace and the patience of Bobby, it sometimes felt very imbalanced and unfair. Just barely on the right side of playing with someone’s feelings.

I do think people will enjoy and can identify with this kind of trouble and indecisiveness. I, on the other hand, had some trouble with that and feel very blessed for not being able to identify and wallow in those particular problems.

This book had lots of good sex. People who read my reviews more often know I have a healthy appetite for sex in books. The sex scenes had good chemistry and were steamy. For me, I could have done without the dirty talk. It just didn’t fit. Like, if I would start talking dirty to my wife she would be like, wtf? And that’s exactly my reaction when I came upon it in this book. I do appreciate dirty talk in books however, it has to fit. A little more work on that side of Bobby’s character could maybe have fixed that.

All in all, a very nice read and I would definitely recommend it to other readers. I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
When buying this book, consider buying directly from the publisher.

The Club – A.L. Brooks

It has taken me some time to review and rate this book. I didn’t know what to think of it at the time and had mixed feelings about the construction of this book. The stories of Mandy and several people who visit her club ( each for a different reason) come together in this book. Although short, all these stories have enough narrative on their own to deliver a solid book and not just erotic shorts. That is a great accomplishment and makes this way more than only a steamy novel.

Let’s talk about the steamy parts. This is a very explicit book, just the way I like it, haha! Brooks managed to make my ears glow red more than ones. The Club is respectful to its patrons. Rules state that you can only engage when someone’s open to that. One can show that by standing by the wall of the room. The Club has three kinds of rooms, a “vanilla” room with no toys allowed, a room with toys allowed and a BDSM room. You will read about encounters in all of those rooms. Don’t worry about the BDSM room, also as a beginner to this type of play in books, you won’t be shocked.

After reading great feelings linger. A solid 4-star read.
If you want to buy this book, please consider buying directly from the publisher.

Face the Music – Ali Vali

When the world is facing a horrible pandemic, Face the Music is a wonderful love story that will make you forget your real life, if only for a moment. This book is about music, substance abuse, mother-daughter issues and facing the music on several levels. And after that recital, you may wonder how the hell I enjoyed this book. Let me tell you.

This book is not about the celebrity musician but her daughter Victoria. When her mom Sophie seems to hit rock bottom she meets Mason. It was love at first sight, not! It’s safe to say that this is an enemy to lovers romance. Only the enemy part (luckily) doesn’t take that long. Mason is sent to clean up the mess Sophie has made and Victoria isn’t exactly happy with that. After a second mess within 24 hours, Mason decides to get in the big guns and askes her friend Belle to help out in fixing Sophie.

The start of the 12 step program Sophie is going through takes place at Mason’s estate. Where it is Belles job to get Sophie sober and face the music, Belle askes Mason to take care of Victoria because it takes two to tango. Sophie and Victoria feed each other and didn’t become the best versions of themselves in the process. Where if found Victoria a real bitch in the first pages, she became more and more a very likeable person under the caring hand of Mason. Eventually, she finds her own voice, pun intended. Their journey is a pleasure to read and only gets interrupted by the bumpy road Sophie seems to travel.

The fierce-love trademark of Vali drips off the pages of this book and I loved it. At some point, there was one sentence in the book that made me long back to the badasses Vali writes about in her Cain Casey series. Mason said: “I have some friends who are good at explaining things to people who have trouble understanding anything.” Other than that Mason is just a sweet loyal butch.Victoria at first seems a strong bitchy type, but soon enough you’ll discover that her persona is made out of the insecurity’s she has because of her neglected childhood. Because of that, her insecurity comes back time and time again on the pages. She’s lucky to meet someone as patient and loyal as Mason. And from personal experience, I could totally relate to this storyline.

The secondary characters in this book are mostly great, except for Victoria’s mom and her “boyfriend” Weston. Besides lovely Belle, we’ve got Jeb (ranch help), Colt (good looking country star), Wilbur (a sweet young guy from the doughnut shop), Josette (Vic’s best friend) and off course Masons parents Sonny and Amelia. Because a Vali book isn’t complete without strong and loving parents. I would love a book about Belle, she’s got a very interesting background and career move going on.

For those who like steam, you can indulge in this book. Where the sex scenes in Vali’s book are never very graphic and extensive, they always have great chemistry. You’ll regularly find sex and chemistry on the pages of this book. It doesn’t always add to the story, but as I have a healthy appetite for sex in books: I won’t complain. Thank you, Vali!

It is safe to say that if you like an enemy to lovers romance, you will enjoy this book. For me, it was a great way to escape. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book.

I received an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Please consider buying this book directly from the publisher.

Track & Jibe – Lilah Suzanne

This age-gap book was a fast read. Suzanne’s style of writing is a pleasant one and I enjoyed the book a lot. This book is about Willa and Lane, Willa lives a lie and Lane doesn’t seem to know how to live.

Willa’s has a large following on social media, especially Instagram. And her life looks great on social, with her pimped up pictures she seems to live a jet setter life and loves to sail. Only in real life, she has never sailed. Her roomie Bodhi and her bosses (also Bodhi’s moms) she told she can’t sail because she has a shoulder injury. That doesn’t seem to be a problem until one of her followers enters her into the High Seas, a sailing competition on the island.

Insert Lane, an ex-sail champion. She’s come back to the island to work in the family realtor business. She loves her job, not! But as I said, she doesn’t know how to live and does what is expected from her. After her sailing career, she just doesn’t know what to do with her life. When Willa asks her to be her teacher, she’s not really enthusiastic but does accept the challenge.

While reading I had some mild irritation towards Willa because she seemed to be a notorious liar. And to keep up appearances, she brings herself and others in danger. I constantly was thinking: come clean, just bite the bullet and tell the truth for once. But she seems to dig herself in deeper and deeper. Despite this, I did like her character. You just understand why she does what she does and pity her instead of loathing her.

Both Willa and Lane had enough character building in this book. Their behaviour is different but arises from the same problem: insecurity. Both have some sort of messed up family situation that has affected their take on life and the way they present themselves. In the book, their fondness for each other is obvious for the reader, but both of them just don’t see it because? Yes, insecurity. So they dance around each other for a while and eventually find each other. The romance did not come alive as much as I had hoped. For me, there should have been more feelings in there.

The secondary characters are great. I would love to read about how Bodhi’s moms met and also want to read more about Bodhi herself. There are also less desirable characters like Willa’s grandparents: awful people.

Long story short: I think you will enjoy this story if you like an age-gap romance with angst and a realistic happily ever after. You can pre-order this book on the website of Interlude Press. It will be a good read in these surreal times where you best act like a hermit and stay at home and don’t socialize.

Please socially distance yourself, stay healthy, safe and read lots of lesfic.

Double Crossed – Ali Vali

I love books by Ali Vali. When the reading experience is over, I’m always sad. In this case, I was sad the listening experience was over. This book is narrated by Paige McKinney and she did a great job.

The plot of this book is, per usual for Vali, exquisite. It’s not simple, you’ve got to keep your whits because again: there is a big sideshow in this book. There are characters from another series of Vali. I love those cross overs. If you’re not familiar with those characters that isn’t a problem. Vali writes them in a way that you’ll get to know them if you’re not familiar yet.

Both Reed and Brinley are great characters. Both background stories have a good narrative and contribute to the book. Brinley is starting somewhere new far away from her (now in jail) ex and his mother and Reed had had a childhood in the System. Her partner in crime is from that history in the system and they work together in their missions. I loved reading about the modus operandi of Reed and how she handled her being double-crossed.

Where in other books that Vali writes there is lots of fierce love, in this book the romance comes second. There is romance in this book, but it is a very slow-burn and doesn’t ignite fully in the end. I love it that – again – Vali makes me love a person who chose one of the most appalling occupations there is.
I’m very curious about how this series is going to develop and can’t wait to read the next book!

If you want to buy this book, please consider buying directly from the publisher.

The Mail Order Bride – R Kent

I enjoyed reading this book. However, after reading the blurb, this book was not what I expected it to be. My expectation was one of a slow-burn western romance novel, what I got was a raw western with intrigue and a tiny string of romance (which was very slow-burn). So when you’re not looking for a book that’s heavy on the romance, this is a nice change of scenery. When reading western (I don’t often) I often see authors romanticising the way of living. Off course it’s though out in the west as a pioneer, but never that confronting. In this book, the raw edges showed and I liked that.

Both MC’s, Austin and Sahara, are about 17 years old. At first, I was surprised at the level of adultness both showed. In this surprise, I was projecting my present-day perspective of adolescents too much. In those days you grew up much faster than nowadays, so their level of adultness didn’t bother me. Austin is a quit person and Sahara the opposite. Austin keeps annoying themselves about this characteristic of Sahara right until the end of the book. I could appreciate that bit of realism by the author: you can become to love someone and still be annoyed by certain trades in the stage of falling in love.What did bother me a little in this book was the lack of decisiveness of Austin. Would that be a stronger trade of Austin then the book could have been at least ten percent shorter? Also because of this lack of decisiveness, the stamina that Austin needed and seemed to possess was just through the roof, a little less believable.

The storyline was very surprising in the beginning and near the end. The people of Molasses Pond seemed to be more connected to each other than they realised. Also Austin and their biggest enemy Jack McKade. Boy did I hate that man and his following. A man with his tendencies would be in a mental facility nowadays. Who orders a mailorder bride just to be able to control someone and make someones live a living hell. Apparently, Jack McKade does.

When you love western I think you will also enjoy reading this story. The love for western and horses that the author seems to have is palpable in the words and lines throughout the book and makes the ride that much more enjoyable. If I have to rate this book I would want to rate it 3,5 stars because the story was good, there were feelings in there, but I didn’t feel them that much. I do think that I would read another novel of this author because I’m curious for her other work after reading this book.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for a honest review. When buying this book, please consider buying directly from the publisher.

Reading is Reading

Tomorrow is the starting day of our annual Dutch Boekenweek (book week). A perfect time to talk to you about reading. On average Dutch people read 7,2 books in a year. So apparently, with a little over a hundred books last year, I read a lot. People do tend to do patronize the categories of books I read. Apparently lesbian fiction does not qualify as real books. Real books way at least 2 pounds and while reading you should experience at least a mild headache.

I don’t know about you, but I read to relax. When at work I have to read all sorts of complex texts and when coming I don’t feel like repeating that process for fun. Because it’s always busy in my head I went looking for something to quiet it down. For me, that is reading lesbian fiction: I love it!

Just like ‘love is love’ I find that ‘reading is reading’. It reduces stress, improves your memory and it makes you smarter. It doesn’t matter what kind of book you read. By reading lesbian fiction in different genres I have learned a lot about varied topics. Because also writers of lesbian fiction deepen themselves into topics that they write about, before entrusting it to us readers. I learned about facts and happenings in history, country’s, cultures and professions. About people and psychology, bullying, discrimination, crime and so on.

Below just a couple of books I enjoyed and learned from last year for varied reasons.

Let me know what you enjoy reading?

Backwards to Oregan van JAE

Alone van E.J. Noyes

Bitter Sweet Revenge van Donna Jay

No Good Reason van Cari Hunter

Boekenweek: lezen is lezen

Morgen (zaterdag 7 maart) start de boekenweek, een mooi moment om het eens over lezen te hebben. De gemiddelde Nederlander leest 7,2 boeken per jaar. Ik lees kennelijk redelijk veel, vorig jaar net wat meer dan 100 boeken. Over de categorie boeken die ik lees wordt nogal eens neerbuigend gedaan. Want volgens snobs vallen engelstalige lesbische romans niet onder échte boeken. Een echt boek is volgens sommigen een boek wat minstens een kilo weegt en waar ik hoofdpijn van zou krijgen tijdens het lezen.

Nu weet ik niet hoe het met jou zit, maar ik lees om te ontspannen. Voor mijn werk lees ik al ingewikkelde teksten genoeg en als ik thuis op de bank zit heb ik daar geen zin meer in. Omdat het in mijn hoofd altijd druk is ben ik op zoek gegaan naar wat mijn hoofd rustig maakt. Voor mij is dat het lezen van lesbische fictie: heerlijk!

En net als ‘love is love’ is het ook ‘lezen is lezen’. Het vermindert stress, verbeterd je geheugen en je wordt er slimmer van. Het maakt niet uit wat voor boek je leest. Met het lezen van lesbische fictie in verschillende genres heb ik veel geleerd over uiteenlopende onderwerpen. Want ook schrijvers van lesbische fictie verdiepen zich in een onderwerp voordat ze hun verhaal aan ons toevertrouwen. Zo heb ik geleerd over feiten en gebeurtenissen uit de geschiedenis, over landen, culturen en beroepen. Over mens en psychologie, pesten, discriminatie, criminaliteit en ga zo maar verder.

Hieronder zomaar een paar boeken waar ik vorig jaar enorm van heb genoten (en geleerd) om uiteenlopende redenen.

Laat eens weten: wat lees jij graag?

Backwards to Oregan van JAE

Alone van E.J. Noyes

Bitter Sweet Revenge van Donna Jay

No Good Reason van Cari Hunter

The Ungodly Hour – Laury A. Egan

The canvas of this book is Mykonos, a Greek island that is known to be the most gay-friendly with gay bars and beaches. But if what is told in this book becomes reality, Mykonos is the last place you want to be as a gay person!

In this book, you’ll follow Dana Fox. Dana is a New Yorker living on the Greek island of Mykonos during summer to lead photography workshops. Insert Cybele Karabélias, policewoman and new to the island. Where Dana is sure about her sexual orientation, Cybele accepted the job on the local police department because she wanted to discover more about her sexuality. Since Mykonos attracts a gay audience, this island seemed a good way to start.

They pass each other in a bar, their eyes meet and when Dana has the opportunity to follow Cybele, she’s long gone… “Luckily” in the following day, her apartment gets broken into and trashed and guess who visits when she calls the police. Yes, Cybele!

Why was Dana’s apartment broken into you wonder? Well, that’s part of the plot-line of this book. A lot is happening on the island: a group of Christian-anti-gay-protesters is there, gay men get murdered, a local news reporter gets murdered and one of Dana’s students has an abusive boyfriend with her on the trip. Because of all that’s happening it took me some time to get into this book. When in there, I didn’t want to leave 😉 I don’t want to get into more details about the happenings, because that will ruin your fun…

The mc’s in this book were both likeable, although both maybe a little too naive and not cautious enough when clearly they should be. Dana and Cybele hit off immediately and due to circumstances, this is kind of a Uhaul romance. No complaints there from me. After reading this book good feelings linger and the further I got into the book, the more exciting it got.

If you read more of my reviews, you know I have a dirty little mind and appreciate good sex scenes in a romance novel. There was no lack of sex in this book, but it was the fade-to-black kind. So I was a little disappointed about that. The plotline did make up for that though, so it was a good and solid read.

Fun fact: as a frequent visitor to Greece I noticed that the currency used in the book was “wrong”. Because since the introduction of the Euro (€) in 2002 they stopped using Drachma. But then I read about Dana using film for her photographs and the penny dropped: this book is set at least 18 years ago. A couple of pages further I noticed the date of September 2000 and all was right again in my head.

After reading I think the romance was secondary to this book, there weren’t lots of strong emotions described in this book, most descriptions were around the plotline. So when you’re looking for a mystery-thriller kind of book with gay mc’s, this should be a good pick for you. And although it’s not the genre I read most, it was very nice and refreshing to read.

I was given an ARC in exchange for a fair review.

This book will be published by interlude press so you can also buy it there or on every other media outlet you’re used to.