⭐⭐⭐
The most interesting aspect about this book is that it is
actually a sexually-coming-of-age story of thirty-five-year-old Emily. We think
this is so true and so, so possible. It is great to see that an author has
actually written about this and treated it as coming of age instead of a
meteor-hit realisation.
Emily Sanders, an art teacher, is divorced and has moved to
a new city to make a fresh start. She has recently lost her mother. Her father
is unable to cope with the loss and turns to the bottle to cope with his grief.
Emily has a younger sister, Mindy, with Down Syndrome, and since her father is
incapable of being a parent to Mindy, Emily brings her over.
Andi Marino is a math teacher in the same school as Emily.
She is not closeted, but doesn’t particularly announce her sexuality either.
Emily and Andi meet on Emily’s first day in school and
develop a friendship. There is a latent attraction between them, which Emily
cannot quite recognise completely, but starts questioning her sexuality. During
a weekend home, Emily meets Sarah and experiences her first kiss from a woman.
Her body’s reaction to Sarah is what makes her realise that she is gay. Things
don’t work out between Emily and Sarah (Sarah is married) but Emily wants to
explore the lesbian world. She turns to her friend, Andi, to help her. While
Andi knows of her own attraction to Emily, she doesn’t want to lose the
friendship and sticks to being a friend.
Almost half the book deals with Emily’s foray and experiments
in the new world before she realises that Andi is the person she is really
looking for.
The characters are likeable and relatable. The story is nicely
paced. Not an emotional rollercoaster, but a warm read.
⭐⭐⭐
