Don't Let Me Go by Rachael Sommers

⭐⭐⭐

Don’t Let Me Go is an age-gap romance that that blends themes of family and (possible?) healing. 

We have Kenzie in her late twenties. Her roommate and best friend Alice convinces her to go to Alice's family home in Portugal for a month-long Christmas vacation—with Alice's family. 

The family consists of Alice's mom (Mariana) and dad (blink-and-miss cameo), aunt Clara and her husband (another insignificant cameo), and Alice's ex Jonathan with his girlfriend. In addition, also expected is Alice's long (over 20 years) estranged aunt, Carolina Costa, CEO of a successful tech company. 

There are some simmering tensions between the three sisters — Mariana (the oldest), Clara and Carolina plus uneasy and unsettled emotions between Alice and Jonathan. The stage is well set with a tinderbox of disparate characters... and Kenzie.

Sommers' writes characters well and they feel quite real with all their flaws and shortcomings. In fact, all characters express emotions dramatically (stomping out, disappearing, running away from rooms etc.). But that's cool—most people at least want to do these things (if they don't already do them).

Carolina carries a chip (or is it a tree?) on her shoulder about her past and has deeply unresolved feelings, which is nicely used to show her characterization. She is quietly self-pitying and angsty. 

Kenzie is fine. I mean, there's nothing particularly defining about her. A nice, normal, late-twenties doctoral student—with a thing for successful older women. 

The book is pretty engaging. There are some nice moments between the leads. The romance is pretty okay. Most of the book's tension comes from the interactions between Carolina and Mariana, and from Carolina's very extreme (read: almost teenage hormonal) reactions to things. 

The chemistry simmers well enough. The romance follows well-worn beats, and while there are sweet moments, the overall arc felt predictable. (It's only while trying to write it all out that I'm realising how tepid it all was. Little wonder it took me four very long days to finish this one). 

After the long-drawn possibility of romance, the ending felt a little hurried and a lot pat.

The detailed description of Sintra, Portugal is the highlight of this book.

Overall, Don’t Let Me Go is an okay read, written with sincerity but doesn’t quite leave a lasting impression. 

⭐⭐⭐

The Paradise Charade by T.B. Markinson and Miranda MacLeod

 

⭐⭐⭐

Markinson and MacLeod are solid authors with a huge number of books to their credit. So you can be assured that their books are mostly fine — 'mostly' and 'fine' are the key words.

This one is a one-night-stand-to-forever story. While helping her to shift, still-closeted Savannah Strauss becomes an involuntary and unwilling witness to an especially cruel break-up engineered by her cousin. At that same time, she also finds a flyer to a lesbian gig and quietly attends. She has an unforgettable one-night-stand — with a woman who turns out to be the one her cousin broke up with — Brooklyn Mathers.

Seven years thence, Savannah is a school teacher. Brooklyn is a management consultant trying to land a client who is her hope for keeping her fledgling company alive. For reasons (best read in the book itself) Brooklyn seeks Savannah out for help. Savannah agrees and the charade spirals and takes shape of something far more complicated.

The main leads are likeable enough, chemistry's good, the conversations are fine, the island backdrop gives the story an escapist glow. On the other hand, The Paradise Charade doesn’t always rise above its predictability. The fake-dating premise, though fun, unfolds along a path that feels easy to anticipate, leaving little surprise in how events develop. The story entertains but rarely challenges or complicates the tropes it plays with. There is some real vulnerability, ensuring the relationship develops beyond surface-level attraction and long-held idealization.

What I liked the most is that it steered clear of the forced misunderstanding/break-up third act. It wasn't necessary in this and thankfully, the authors left it out too. 

This book succeeds as a cheerful distraction. While it doesn’t reinvent the genre, the novel delivers exactly what it promises: a feel-good romance with with steady pacing.

Standout part of this book: Emoji texts from Savannah's mom. They truly shone.

About the cover: It's so generic that I can easily be used on any book that has a tropical holiday in it.

⭐⭐⭐

Lost in the Starlight by Kiki Archer

 

⭐⭐⭐

This is a celebrity-journalist romcom that leans into the com aspect so hard that almost all characters are stereotypical caricatures. 

Honey Diamond is a mega-pop star. She is incredibly talented, famous and good looking. (Hello Taylor Swift). Her mother was also famous and she’d brought up Honey in a protected bubble. Margaret (Meg) Rutherton is a kind of a journalist who runs a trashy and frankly, salacious website SelebSecrets which seems to have a single aim of being nasty to celebrities. 

Honey isn’t exactly in the closet but has never discussed her sexuality in public. Meg (on whom she has a crush for like forever), via SelebSecrets, is determined to ‘expose’ Honey as a lesbian. Because of some unseemly and underserved gossip, Honey writes a song about her sexuality and insists that it should be a part of her new album. This is against the advice of her mother and manager. She also (against advice) decides to give an interview about the song and about her sexuality. It just so happens that the selected magazine has recruited Meg to replace their erstwhile correspondent, Margaret, and Meg turns up for the interview. 

Like we said, this book is filled with over-the-top caricaturised comedic characters and moments. Not that this detracts from the fun and funny parts. All characters except the two MCs are caricatures. Initially, Honey is also made out of the Disney Princess template but as the book progresses, she somehow makes her way into your heart with is purity.

Honey is naïve, innocent, positive, playful, honest, open, vulnerable and totally loveable. Meg, initially is not likeable. As we move into the second half and spend more time in Meg’s head, she moves from ‘not likeable’ to ‘dislikeable’ to ‘ohmygod, she’s quite terrible’. There is absolutely nothing to make Meg anywhere near a good match for Honey. So, while Honey kept us engaged and rooting or her happy ending, Meg made us want to DNF. We hate it when one of MCs is awesome and the other is awful. While we want awesome to find love we want that love to be the awful – so the HEA doesn’t make us feel completely good. 

We want to give Honey a 5+ rating but Meg goes into the negative on the scale. So we’ll have to settle with saying this book is okay. 

⭐⭐⭐

The Matchmaker’s Choice by Alexa Woods

 

⭐⭐⭐

This is a straight-forward romance. 

Adley James is a highly strung, slightly flailing, goodhearted and sweet matchmaker. She works with an online matchmaking agency that offers personal support to their clients, which means that a human being, like Adley actually scrutinize and even engage with potential matches before suggesting personal meetings. Adley has had a sting of fails with her last six clients and is terrified that she might lose her job if she doesn’t succeed with her latest client, Stephanie De’Silvo.

Stephanie, a science teacher in high school, is not particularly keen on dating and unsure whether she really wants a match. She comes from money and finds that it colours the interactions during dating, hence, not keen. Deep in a closet, in a tightly shut drawer is the small kernel of truth that Steph actually likes women, ergo, unsure about being matched with a man. 

Adley is instantly attracted to Steph and is in the unenviable position of trying to get a match for her while kinda hoping that the matches don’t work out but that would mean losing her job. 

Adley and Steph are pleasant characters. The scene-stealer is Adley’s niece, Tilda. The attraction is decent. There is some sort of angst that we’ve completely forgotten. Part of the book reads really well but then when the conflict starts getting introduced, it is a little meh. 

On the whole, this is a non-intense, mostly predictable romance.

⭐⭐⭐

Goode Deal by JJ Arias

 

⭐⭐⭐

This is an age-gap, office romance with a little bit of rich-girl-poor-girl mixed in. 

Carmela Bravo is a successful real estate agent who loves her job. She has a great relationship with her boss, is driven and is aiming to break into new territory. Rhiannon Rodriquez is an ambitious young lady who took a few years of college before deciding it wasn’t for her. Now she’s become a real estate agent who works in a dubious set-up and is not above using dubious means to move forward. 

In their first meeting, Rhiannon uses her charms on Carmela to gather information about the house that Carmela is holding and open house for and subsequently torpedoes the entire deal for Carmela. Somehow, Rhiannon manages to get a job in the same company as Carmela. Almost the first thing Rhiannon does is to steal an opportunity that Carmela has been working hard for. 

Given this beginning, the interaction to develop into a romance is a little farfetched, but that is what happens. There is background about both the women that gives some context to their personalities. 

On the plus side, Carmela is really likeable from the start and Rhiannon also kinda grows on you as the story progresses. The interaction between the two is fairly nice and the attraction between them is also well done. 

On the whole this is…well, nice.

⭐⭐⭐

Succulents and Spells by Andi C. Buchanan

 

⭐⭐⭐

Laurel Windflower comes from a family of witches but so far her real powers evade her. Sure, she can cook up some potions and stuff but feels rather like her life is going nowhere. 

Marigold Nightfield arrives in Laurels life seeking information about a monster living in Laurel’s house. A mostly benign monster. Marigold is a scientist doing research on monsters. Marigold’s family had magic but she has none. 

During Laurel’s first visit to Marigold’s mansion she is almost knocked over by the presence of some hidden magic. The two women set out to find what secrets are hidden in the house and end up discovering much more than expected. 

This is a rather sweet book. Well written. Two likeable MCs. A rather involved magical realm. Nice chemistry between the mains. We really liked Marigold’s self-awareness and self-acceptance, and we liked everything about Laurel. 

It does take some time to get into the world and complexities that are created in the book, but that’s part of its interestingness. The book doesn’t end with a cliff hanger but there is definitely promise of more to come (hopefully because there is so much more to be explored yet).

A nice enough read.

⭐⭐⭐

The Lesbian Billionaires Last Hope by KC Luck

 

⭐⭐⭐

Review-lite

…because…the next predictable instalment of the predictable stories in the series

• Unimaginably rich, closeted women from across the world form a closed association: The Lesbian Billionaires Club 
• Extremely predictable (slim) stories of each billionaire told with heavy-handed tediousness
• To be fair, this one has more of a storyline than the two preceding it
• Lots of sex – these books are all erotic romances
• Hope is rather likeable
• These billionaires have absolutely suck-y security – all of them in all the books
• The next one promises to be one starring socially awkward billionaire, Kris, and billionaire arch-villain, Georgia DeLane who is almost a cartoonish caricature, but still our favourite character in this series  

⭐⭐⭐

Lix 2: New York Underground by Emily Hayes

⭐⭐⭐

This is the second instalment of the story of How Lauren Became a Submissive. Considering that this and the previous book are mostly erotica, it is not exactly necessary to have read the first book to read this one.

Lauren, the gorgeous femme, and her girlfriend, Quinn, the butch stud owner of an erotic club for ladies in LA, Lix; decide to go on a holiday to New York. So they have sex. They research erotic clubs in NY. Have sex. Go to NY. Have sex. Go to a club, get a joint lap dance, have sex. Go to a party for ladies. Have exhibitionist sex. Go shopping for fetish clothes. Have sex. Go to an erotic club. Have a threesome. 

And just when it seemed like there would be nothing more to this book than sex, post the threesome, Lauren has conflicting emotions including sadness and the two have something of a fight. Then they go to a workshop for Kinky Lesbian Relationships and get educated on a concept called sub drop. 

Then, of course, they have some more sex before going back to LA.

Lauren is altogether too bouncy and excited about sex, Quinn, kink and being a sub. We understand that Hayes probably wrote Lauren's over excitement about being a sub to ensure that no one has any doubts about her willingness (eagerness, more like it) to be in this role. To drive home the point that Lauren is doing it because she wants to do it. But really, it smacked too false. Also, isn't Lauren in her thirties or something? (We know Quinn is almost fifty.) So all that bouncing and squealing?

Most dialogues are stilted. Some of the sex is hot. On the sex level, there is vanilla sex, dildo, exhibitionism, voyeurism, mild spanking and a threesome.

Quinn remains not particularly likeable despite Hayes' best efforts.

The most real and engaging moments in the book are when Lauren struggles to reconcile the fact that she is a strong, independent woman with the fact she is Quinn's willing sub. When Lauren worries about how this dynamic during sex will impact her personality. Lauren after the threesome and her feelings about Quinn at that point were what made this book a notch above just plain erotica and earned its stars.

In the hyper-local niche of lesbian erotica, this is one of the better ones.

⭐⭐⭐

Something Far Away and Happy by Bryce Oakley

⭐⭐⭐

College romance; heartbreak; a decade thence. 

Julia Evans was completely swept away by the dashing Remington Van Der Meer when they were both studying in McManus College. Julia was pre-med and Remington was on her way to join MIT for MBA. Remington asks Julia to go to Boston with her and Julia agrees. As she is packing, Julia receives an email ostensibly from Remington with a link to an article about Remington's engagement to a woman who is definitely not Julia.

Ten years later, Julia is an interior decorator and has been offered a meeting with a hermit-like fresh divorcee living hidden in the mountains to redo their entire house. The meeting was set up by the hermit's assistant, but it is still a big enough job for Julia to make the trip. 

What Julia doesn't expect is that the new divorcee will be her Remington, still as attractive as ever. Or that their chemistry will still be bubbling like a decade back. Or that Remington feels that Julia had cheated on her all those years back.

Julia and Remington are both nice enough. We liked Julia more between the two, though there's a lot of sweetness in Remington too. The whole past break up was a tad too convoluted. We were rather disappointed with the lack of any real moving angst about the past in both when they first re-meet. The fact they don't address the past immediately was also surprising.

We always want to like Bryce Oakley's books more than we actually do. We're usually let down and left feeling that the relationships she writes don't have depth and that emotions are not fully developed. Everything falls just a little short for us.

This is a middling book with a couple of fun dialogues, a couple of fairly good sex scenes, fairly likeable MCs and maybe a couple of good supporting characters.

⭐⭐⭐

Lix: A Lesbian Romance (Lix Club Book 1) by Emily Hayes

⭐⭐⭐

This is erotica with a thin veneer of romance.

Kelly Quinn is the owner of Lix an exclusive women's club which offers an environment for all manner of kink with non-judgemental acceptance. Lauren, a very femme, currently single lady is encouraged by an ex who is currently a good friend to explore Lix by herself to help her move out of her comfort zone. The day is the club's Leather & Lingerie theme.

Quinn is immediately attracted to Lauren and vice versa. However, Quinn is dealing (or not) with her own dark memories and is strictly a no-relationship person. Lauren is not particularly looking for a relationship either. But ultimately things do get more serious between the two.

This is erotica. Make no mistake about that. There is BDSM -- more the domme-sub dynamic than physical pain (though there is some of that too on a mild level). There is voyeurism and exhibitionism. There is lots of sex.

Quinn is forty-eight and though we don't recall Lauren's age, this is an age-gap lust driven relationship. The one thing we really liked in the dynamic was the fact though Lauren is described as a natural submissive during sex, she is no pushover otherwise. She's not willing to take any crumbs given by Quinn and has enough self-esteem to know she deserves better. We also liked the fact that each time Quinn behaved like an ass or shortchanged Lauren, she apologised and corrected her behaviour. The dialogue is stilted and unrealistic but that's really not a big draw for this one.

As an erotic romance, this is one of the better reads.

⭐⭐⭐

Back to Ruby's (Ruby's Bar Book 2) by KC Luck

⭐⭐⭐

This book is like reading an episode of a dramatic lesbian TV series.

A group of seven friends hang out together regularly. The group comprises two couples, one desperately want-to-be couple and one happy-to-mingle single. This is the story of the couple that wants-to-be: Rey and Marty. Rey and Marty are roommates who need to move soon. They both nurse hidden feelings for the other. They are keen on moving together but can't find the right place, so the possibility of moving separately is getting real. One of the other couples, Liza and Tate, have having relationship problems. The third couple, Allie and Vivian seem to have got it all together with their personal and professional lives, but things are not quite what they seem. Exes turn up to throw spanner in the works.

The Rey-Marty relationship is agonising. There is only assumption and non-communication between them. So much so that the angst only feels irritating and you actually want to beg them to have one blessed conversation. Just. Plain. Irritating.

The best thing in the book is how staunch Allie and Nikki are. We're not particularly fond of the great butch-femme binary and typecasting which this book has. But that pairing seems to have its takers, so who can argue about that?

While not a great read, this is nevertheless an easy read.

⭐⭐⭐

Star Struck: A Lesbian Romance by Mia Archer

⭐⭐⭐
Tabitha Cartwright became a teen sensation starring in a popular superhero TV serial. Now a young adult, she's in the process of transitioning onto the big screen. There are rumours about her and an actor and a studio wants to cash in on the interest in the possible romance of the two former child stars by making a cheesy romance with the two in the leading roles. Amy is an extra on the set of the movie for the meet cute scene. She's had a crush on Tabitha forever but knows to keep her head down if she wants to have anything like a career in the movies. Except that Tabitha singles her out to hang out. Amy is surprised to discover that Tabitha's sexuality is one of the better kept secrets about her.

As Tabitha and Amy find more and more in common, the movie is quickly getting all but derailed.

We wish we'd got a better sense of what the two leading ladies looked like. We know Tabitha has a radiant smile, but little else. Also, both Tabitha and Amy behave like irresponsible teenagers most of the time which, given their backgrounds didn't quite jell.

Tabitha and Amy have great chemistry in the first couple of scenes but it doesn't pop the same way later. Even the relationship didn't really grow. In fact, though there was an immediate U-haul, the relationship didn't quite move past the initial awkward stages since they never got around being completely emotionally open and vulnerable with each other. Amy in particular was rather unmindful and uncaring about the situations she was putting Tabitha in. She also didn't have any real appreciation of Tabitha. We didn't get the sense that Amy actually saw Tabitha. And that was rather sad. The onus of making the relationship a relationship lay entirely with Tabitha and though she seemed to put in everything, it never seemed like her efforts were returned in any way.

With the way things are between them in the end, this is more HFN than HEA unless Amy does a whole lot of maturing emotionally rather quickly -- something that we don't see happening.

This book constantly teetered on the possibility of moving to magnificence. At every point we hoped that it would move into being more detailed, have greater depth and explore more dimensions in characterisations and the relationship -- but that never happened. As someone once said (think it was Somerset Maugham) people don't write as they want to, they write as they can. We just wish there was more to this one, though.

Overall, this is an okay read in the short reads niche.

⭐⭐⭐

Darkness Past by Sheryl D. Hancock

⭐⭐⭐

This series is like a long-running TV show which has on-going storylines of many of the characters and new plot lines and characters keep getting added.

The series is about a bunch of people in law and law enforcement. So there are all these extremely chivalrous, awfully attractive, mostly butch women and their gorgeously femme partners. The main characters and relationships in this one from previous books are Kana-Palani and Cat-Elizabeth. Kashena-Sierra are the new couple.

Women trapped in bad marriages and cheat their spouse with one of the irresistible law enforcement officers of the group is a recurring theme which continues in this one. Somehow, we get the feeling that Hancock is not particularly fond of Elizabeth since some of the most awful things happen to her. For the record, we think Elizabeth is one of the most vulnerable people in the series and our heart really goes out to her.

You can read them as standalone since enough backstory about the main ongoing couples is woven in. But that may not be completely capture the texture of the relationships. We admire the author for achieving this TV-serial-like effect in her writing.⭐⭐⭐

Finding Home by Jamey Moody

⭐⭐⭐

If there was ever a romance that made us want to join a gym and get active, this one it is.

Olivia King's last relationship ended badly and she took refuge in food. The break-up shook her confidence and the new weight and shape earned by eating her grief has broken her self-image. Low on confidence now, Olivia decides to join a gym. 

Frankie Dean is one-third owner of a popular gym, Your Way. The three partners, Framkie, Desi and Stella firmly believe that exercising is not only to lose weight but that the benefits of exercises encompass even mental and emotional well being. Frankie has been dumped by her last girlfriend, Laura, who is about to get married to a man now. As a result of being dumped more tan once, Frankie has serious self doubts about her ability to choose a partner.

When Olivia walks into the gym, Frankie is immediately attracted to her and vice versa. But the complexes each one is carrying prove to be hurdles. And when they finally reach out to each other with a life-altering kiss ending a perfect date, Laura returns.

This is clearly the start of a series set in this wonderful world where every single character is gay. We'd like to live there -- but that is irrelevant.

The characters. Dumped Frankie being non-bitchy about her ex is so likeable. And then, through her therapy and conversations with Laura when she returns reveal that the fault of the break-up lay with Frankie. Then, not so likeable any more. In fact, this was one book where we were rooting for Frankie and Laura to get together instead of Frankie and Olivia.

Which brings us to Olivia. She is so, so appealing and engaging. On a business trip, she has a one night stand with Jenna and that is the couple we wanted to happen. So in our ideal version of this book, the HEAs would be for Frankie-Laura and Olivia-Jenna. But Moody stuck with getting Olivia and Frankie together and we're feeling like a tantrums-y, sulky, pouty child about it.

The moments between Olivia and Frankie were nice but the chemistry was just okay. The oddest thing is that we felt Oliva had chemistry all by herself. She just sizzled with every single character in the book. Even in the Olivia-Frankie scenes, Olivia had fantastic chemistry but Frankie didn't -- therefore the median became just okay. So the reason this is odd is because chemistry is between people, right? We thought so too till we read this one.

There is drama in the circumstances but the ladies are not dramatic. So there's a smooth calm in interactions and relationships. Which was rather interesting. From the Easter eggs and the trajectory, we expect Stella and Jenna to become a couple in the series. 

One the whole, this is a rather smooth, easy read with just enough crossed connections, angst and drama. 

PS: We're still not happy with what happened with Laura. She deserved love and her own HEA.

⭐⭐⭐

Original Sin (Joanna Mitchell Thrillers #3) by Barbara Winkes

⭐⭐⭐

Joanna Mitchell, one time detective, arrested for murder in the past but exonerated is on the verge of getting married to her girlfriend Rue. Before heading back home, Joanna wants to meet her mom, Mary, who’s left her as a young child and disappeared on the family never to be heard from again. Mary, the lead singer with a middling cover band seems to be happy and excited to meet her daughter but is evasive about giving any answers. Things take a weird turn when people around Mary start getting murdered.

This is a fast-paced, no nonsense, taut crime mystery which is part of a series but can be read as standalone though there are a lot of references to past events. The crime / mystery aspect are exclusive to this book but the previous books become important for the backstories of the leading ladies.

The lead characters, especially Rue and Mary, are extremely likeable. There are very well etched out secondary characters also. The big reveal is interesting and fairly convincing.

Basically a quick, involving read. 

⭐⭐⭐

It Was You by Kim Hartfield

⭐⭐⭐

Boy likes girl. Boy is not so smart, girl is super-smart. Boy asks gay sister to help. Sister and girl get along like a house on fire in texts. Then girl meets girl.

It’s not an awfully original storyline, but not too long and well written.

Sam works in a coffee shop and likes his colleague, Judi. Judi is all sorts of great and Sam wants to ask her out. Though she’s given him her number without reservations, he wants to impress her with his smarts (of which he has a very short supply) so he asks his sister, Elle, to text Judi. Judi and Elle have a whole lot in common and their text chats are totally amazing for both of them. Except that when Judi talks to Sam in person it is an entirely different experience for her.

Elle is a librarian and has volunteered to be a part of the organising committee for the first ever Pride festival in their town. In the first meeting she is introduced to a super-cute girl and asks her out. The girl lets her down gently confessing that she’s crushing on someone else. In the second meeting for the festival, Elle realises she’s misheard the super-cute girl’s name as Julie. Said girl is brother Sam’s Judi who went on one date with him and is now totally out of him.

Inevitably, Elle and Judi start seeing each other and Elle never finds the right moment to confess the past. Obviously, it cannot be hidden forever nor can it end well.

This is the plot line of a romcom. There are plenty of moments and situations that are also romcom. But the emotional weight in the narrative makes it decidedly not a romcom.

Judi was instantly likeable and just grew in her likeable quotient. Elle started off likeable, veered into not-so-likeable (particularly in the Valentine conversation besides the whole keeping important facts hidden thing) and became likeable towards the end again.

This is an okay read, particularly because it is not too long.

⭐⭐⭐