Erin DuttonBesprekingen

I enjoyed this one a lot. You can hear my rambling review shortly over at cocktailhour.c-spot.net.

I didn't like this book much at all. I know I've said this before but I really think this will be my last Dutton book.

The relationship - and some of the actions of the characters - didn't feel realistic to me. I didn't feel any connection to or sympathy for Maggie and mostly didn't like her at all. I did feel something for Ally but the way the story unfolded made it impossible for me to care about what happened.

There were other things that bothered me that I'm not going to bother discussing but I will say that if the book had been any longer, I would have abandoned it soon after starting.

Thanks to NetGalley and BSB for the ARC!

2.5 rounding up to 3 on Goodreads.

I was happy with the first 70% or so and feeling like this would be the book that would make me fall back in love with the author's work. But then it all fizzled out with lack of communication that didn't feel authentic to the character and a rushed ending.

I'm sure I'll try another book by Erin Dutton because I can't seem to stop.

I got an advanced copy of this one and did a video review on C-Spot Reviews if you want to go watch it. But if you don't, here's mostly what I said...

This book reminds me of what I originally liked about the author's work. The ending wasn't rushed and I felt like the characters were well rounded - things that I hadn't felt in the last few books I've read by Dutton.

Here's some extra stuff I thought just for Goodreads: I would give this one 3.5 stars if I could. The reason I didn't round it up is because there were phrases used too many times (like "she pressed her lips together) and I found it moderately annoying. There were a few other small issues but I think I was just so happy to have what felt like a complete and fleshed out book that I didn't really care. It was a solid 3.5 for me.

I think I would have liked this one more if the POV didn't switch up in the middle of sections. It was sometimes tough to figure out which "she" was giving us her POV.

I enjoyed the plot, though. It's not one of my favorites from the author but if you're a fan, you'll likely enjoy this one.

I completely erased my previous review after writing my full review on my site because I've had some more time to think about the book and let my feelings and impressions settle in.

I think 3 stars is a good rating for this book. It, honestly, was too short for the complex issues that the characters had to be resolved. Too much was left hanging, I think, for what was going on in the book.

http://reviews.c-spot.net/archives/4438

A Place to Rest is one of my favorite books by the author. Andy and I had differing opinions. You can hear our discussion on Cocktail Hour episode 19. http://www.cocktailhour.c-spot.net/archives/79

Mystery was pretty easy to figure out but still worth the read. My review is located on www.lezficrev.blogspot.com

As the title implies, this is a book of three shorter stories about first responders that also happen to be interconnected as friends (or other things).

It starts with the story Rescued. Firefighter Britt doesn't let Claire, whose apartment is on fire, go back in to get her dog. Then, Claire goes on TV and gets Britt in a bit of trouble for that (the dog does wind up okay. Go Stu). That brings Britt and Claire back together, and it starts a bit firey, but, they soon start falling in love and even liking each other.

The second story is Pushed. It's about Nicole and Traci who are both at a Music Festival. One as hired security, the other as an attendee. They both get thrown into the deep end when a car plows into the people attending the festival. They then get closer and closer in the aftermath as they both have to go through the emotions that come from being at the center of a tragedy.

Finally there's Healed. Jenna is even more at the center of the music festival tragedy as she's actually hit by the car that crashed through the festival. The story touches on that, and then it picks up as she's recovering from her injuries. And then when she goes back to work with her EMT partner Candace. But, do one or both of them want more than to be just work partners?

I really liked how well all three stories flowed into and around each other. Although there was a bit of a timeline through the first to last story. I feel as though if I read them in a different order, I still would have gotten the whole picture of the story just as well. It was really cool.

I was given this ARC by Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.

I like this story a lot, but there are some things about it that keeps nagging me. The beginning had the makings of a fun roller coaster ride of emotions with a combination of a high-stakes competition and the charged attraction between Shannon and Maya's despite their differences. However, the story fell a little flat. I like the chemistry between Shannon and Maya and was even nervous about them getting caught. I also was a little anxious during the competition scenes. Unfortunately, that's where it ended for me. There wasn't enough build-up of emotions to make some components of the story feel believable. You only know Maya was a player by word of mouth, not actual scenes. Shannon does not come across as a middle-aged woman, and Maya's emotions about her miscarriage did not fee real. I wish there were more scenes of the competition to get my adrenaline going. Also, I didn't like the interruption of Shannon and Maya's storyline for Jori and Sawyer.

Edit: I'm changing my ratings to 4 stars. Its been a few days since I read Maya and Shannon's story, and I'm still thinking about their journey. I'm going to add this book to my reread list. Maybe I'll view it differently.

Interesting novel... I loved everything related to the characters’ work - one as a dispatcher, the other as a cop. I was expecting the romance part to be a bit tough to read, since one of the MCs is heavily closeted, and it was, but her journey was well-done, I thought. And the chemistry between Olivia and Hillary was great.

I guess it's my time to read a few vastly different sorts of Lesbian fiction romances (just got done with Falling by Kris Bryant, definitely recommend it!)

In this one Maggie is at the courthouse because she was robbed an assaulted and they caught the guy. She meets Ally in a very crowded coffee shop as she's freaking out before the court session.

What she doesn't know is that Ally is the sister of the young man who attacked her.

Even so, they find themselves not just attracted to each other at first sight, but, they slowly get closer (despite the circumstances) as the court stuff keeps going on.

What I thought was amazing about this book was how many topics were covered (drug abuse, assault, gun control/ownership) and yet none of them felt like that part of the story was being shortchanged, shoehorned in, or preachy. It was brilliant writing and it was done so well that I could see the point of view of every single character and even if I didn't agree with that point of view, it made me think.

It was awesome!

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to Bold Strokes Books.

I was definitely torn about this book.

It's about Lauren and Kim. Lauren is a former Army helicopter pilot who has been through a hard time and is starting as a pilot for the police force where Kim is a police officer training instructor. They also happen to have a woman, Courtney, in common (she's now deceased). Lauren having dated Courtney, and Kim having been Courtney's best friend.

There's the back and forth that is usual in these lesfic romances, although, because of the fact that these two women knew of each other before, what they each have gone through, it was a quite a bit more intense sort of back and forth than is seen.

The story was an interesting one as well, although there is a twist in there that I just felt like it wasn't enough. (If you've read the book, I know, that sounds horrible...) Younger or not, I just couldn't seen the character that Dutton created, Lauren, doing what she did. But, if the twist had been bigger, I thought it would have worked better. I know that I'm talking in circles, but, as I said, it was a pivotal point, I just didn't think it landed as hard on the reader as it could have.

And then there was Kim. I've said this about other books I've read. The unequal-ness when it came to blame drove me crazy. It was made to be (other than a small scene with Brianna, go Bri!) almost all Lauren's fault. From Kim blaming her, to Brian blaming her even. It was Kim the angel, magnanimously liking Lauren despite Lauren's flaws, and Lauren the evil one who had to get/be better for Kim.

It didn't annoy me quite as much as it has in other books (I think the Bri scene did help some), but, I would have loved it to be a little bit more balanced.

I was given this ARC by Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.

Reid is a firefighter doing what she loves, and then her friend of many years (whole life really) and her fellow firefighter, Jimmy, dies and her entire life changes.

Isabel is Jimmy's younger sister and when he dies and leaves behind a son, her life drastically changes as well. She comes back to her hometown to take care of that son and she and Reid clash quite a bit because she blames Reid for her brother's death. Of course, it's complicated by the fact that Reid blames herself too.

There's a whole lotta emotion between the two women and not all of it's good. (And by that I mean happy, all the emotion I thought was really well written).

There was also a lot of twists and turns. Partially because of Reid's profession and partially because of their feelings being quite in flux at such an emotional time for both of them.

I very much liked the secondary characters. Chase was super, super cute, and Meredith was pretty cool too.

It was a fun novel and a slightly different take on the whole 'coming back to the hometown' trope. Very cool.

This book was ok. It wasn't hard to figure out who the arsonist was. I would have enjoyed it more if the plot was more complex with some actual twists and turns. I didn't feel a real connection to the characters and at times the dialogue seemed stilted and the action formulaic. Like i said, it was an ok read but could have been a lot more intriguing and exciting.

Faith is a wedding planner who's planning the wedding of Violet and Jack. And Rachel is Violet's friend and maid of honor.

Unfortunately, Rachel and Faith's first meeting is not ideal but happens when Rachel walks in on Faith and Violet almost having sex and finds out that it's sort of a portion of Faith's wedding planning package sometimes.

Violet won't fire Faith though, and since Rachel stays as the Maid of Honor, they start seeing a lot of each other as they plan for Violet's wedding.

That, of course, means that they start getting closer, but because of the start of the novel there's even more back and forth than the usual lesbian romance.

I had mixed feelings about this novel. It took a while for me to quite get into it. And the slap near the beginning was really, really distracting too, and it yanked me very hard out of the narrative.

After that the novel did even/balance out a bit, but here and there I was pulled out of the story by the fact that I wasn't sure that Rachel and Faith should even like each other. On the other hand, I think that for the most part the relationship wasn't rushed, so it didn't feel like 'boom' Rachel forgave Faith without at least a little cause.

As I said, definitely mixed feelings. At times I really liked the novel, and at other times it really pissed me off. Everyone can make of that what they will.

I got this galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.

Romance set in the world of reality TV cooking shows ... more

Jacqueline is an HR executive at a shipping company. Casey has a photography studio and is quite the photographer.

They aren't like the usual lesbian fiction romance couple though. They were in a committed relationship for thirteen years, and even have a son, Sean, together. But eight years before the story starts they split. In those years they've come to a bit of a truce, sorta.

Then Jacqueline's father, who Casey still lives near and thinks of as a father figure, falls, and they both wonder if maybe something else is wrong too.

That brings Jaqueline and Casey back together quite a lot. It also brings back up a lot of the stuff that broke them up in the first place, not to mention some of the things that got them together in the first place.

Needless to say there was a lot of back and forth with t hem, and sometimes it felt very real, but other times it seemed a little forced.

I liked most of the characters, or they were interesting at least. But then there was Casey. By the end I mostly liked her, but at the beginning, not so much. I've seen reviews going on about how they loved Casey, but didn't like Jacqueline as much. My point of view was the exact opposite for most of the book. I sort of couldn't stand Casey, and felt for Jacqueline.

Still, on the whole I enjoyed all of the book. Especially the Sean, and the Sean and his Moms scenes.

I got this galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.

Hillary is an out and proud Emergency Dispatcher. Olivia is a Sheriff's Deputy in the same county. She gets assigned to desk duty in the Dispatch building when she gets a force complaint from a suspect she took down lodged against her.

Olivia also happens to be the daughter of the former (and retired) Sheriff and very, very much in the closet.

Still, the two women first form a friendship and then maybe more.

I really liked the characters and especially how deep and rich the characters' backgrounds were. Even though I only got to know them over the course of 195 or so pages I felt like I'd known them for much longer.

I also liked how Dutton dealt with the fact that Olivia was in the closet. There wasn't too much pull (narrative wise, character to character wise of course was different) in either 'it's totally okay' or the 'it's not a good thing' way.

It was a fun, fun read.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.

romance, lesbian, fiction

In many ways this was a typical lesbian romance piece of fiction. It's the story of Maya, a famous chef who makes cakes mostly. She was the first season winner of a reality show called 'For the Love of Cake' (hence the title I assume). Seven years later she gets asked back to be one of the mentors to the new contestants on the show.

Shannon is one of those contestants. And she gets chosen to be on Maya's team. Of course, there are sparks right away, but also lots of stuff that complicates their story too. Like the fact that they're mentor and mentee on the same show, or the fact that there's a bit of an age difference (Maya's younger, Shannon's older). Or both their pasts that still have somewhat of a psychological hold on them.

One of the ways this was an atypical lesbian romance fic was the 'B' story in the novel. It was slightly bigger than the usual subplot, but it wasn't as bit as the main plot either. It was Jori and Sawyer's story. Jori's runs the bakery where Shannon works, and Sawyer's family owns and runs the restaurant next door as well as being Jori's life partner. WE get to see more of their life than usual. Sometimes in these novels there are prominent secondary characters who are in committed relationships together, but, they almost never get a fully fleshed out story like these two did. It was definitely interesting and different.

I liked the story, even if it did make me hungry as I read it. Oh so many cakes that sounded oohh so yummy. A fun, light (well, topic wise, not richness of pastry wise) read.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.

I'll admit it. I'll read pretty much any lesbian fiction novel that is put in front of me. Romance, mystery, science fiction, I'll even read fantasy. Still, not all lesbian fiction is created equal. And unfortunately I thought that this was one of the lesser thans in the group.

The story is of three women, although one of them never says an actual word and does not physically appear in the book. Addy and Brooke meet at the collation after Brooke's friend's Diane's death. After that there's back and forth, the addition to the story of Addy's daughter Ramsey, not to mention the two women getting together the entertainment for a Cancer Awareness Fundraiser (Brooke's a songwriter).

Unfortunately though it was a great plot, there was something off in the narrative. I'm not sure exactly what, but I do know that at times the narrative seemed to lack passion between the two main characters, or any of the characters for that matter. Also, a lot of the characters seemed very alike and even talked very similarly. The one voice that was very unique was the head of the support group, Stacy.

But, even though the book wasn't great, the one part I really liked was the end. I won't spoil it, but the author could have done one thing with the ending (that always seems to be done), but instead did something that I thought was much better.

Sawyer Drake has never known what she wants. She has spent most of her life bouncing from job to job in an effort to avoid taking her place running her family's restaurant. Nothing has ever kept her attention for very long. Nothing, that is, until she meets shy pastry chef, Jori Diamantina. Jori, on the other hand, has no intention of risking the job she loves, especially when Sawyer doesn't seem to know exactly what she wants from Jori.

A Place to Rest is a touching romance about the beauty of finally discovering where you belong.