Hunting Astrid by Thea Landen

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is an imaginative sci-fi romance where the imaginary world and the romance are equally important and equally detailed. 

Astrid Carlisle is a gifted programmer. Right out of college she is snapped up by Satera Industries an interplanetary organisation that develops tough simulations and hires mercenaries. She develops life-like simulations that are used as tests during the hiring process by Satera. The office is based on a rather remote space station so most people who come there are either coupled (or familied) up or diehard workaholics. Astrid is something of a workaholic but would like to have someone to share her life with. 

After running the latest batch of applicants through the simulation, during the debrief at the end, Astrid’s eye is caught by the winner of the test – a dark-haired, arresting lady. A lady she bumps into on her way back home later in the evening and who seems to have invited her out. Astrid can’t be sure – though, she is. Flustered, she exits the train without even asking the lady’s name.

Satera is lax about legalities and there aren’t many rules that their employees have to follow, so egged by her colleague (and friend), Astrid goes through the application and learns that the lady is Tabitha Knox an ex-Marine. She gets Tabitha’s number and with just hope on her side she sends a message asking to meet in the evening. 

The evening is more than expected because of the crackling electricity between them. 

This is a short book packed with action, emotion and attraction. Despite the length, Landen manages to etch the characters in detail. We completely felt Astrid’s vulnerability, intelligence, liveliness, humour and tentativeness. Tabitha is a perfect counterpoint with her self-assurance, worldliness, responsibilities, exuberance and attention. The attraction and chemistry between the two are palpable and you’re waiting for the first kiss. (When the first kiss does happen, it is everything we wished for).

The simulations, which form a goodish part of the narrative, are involving and immersive. We loved that Landen used the simulations as the setting for a date – very escape room meets virtual gaming hip. 

This one could’ve been twice the length and we’d totally have read it in one sitting. 

PS: Don’t miss the note to the readers from the author in the beginning. The first para is hilarious and captures why writing lesfic is no easy job. Ms. Landen, please don’t feel under-confident about your writing skills – they’re spot on. And maybe another one in the same world about Rowan Satera? (One can always wish, right?)

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Must Love Silence by Lucy Bexley

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Misanthropic Reese Walker hasn’t left her apartment for 272 days. Her job as an audio book narrator of lesbian romances (mostly) allows her to work from home and that suits her just fine. Her biggest problem is her aggressively nice and kind neighbour, Judith. Her entire social life consists of her sister, lo, who is currently in rehab for alcoholism, and an old friend, David. 

When she is forced to answer an unexpected and unwelcome knock on her door, she receives a bill from the rehab of a large amount of money. Fiercely protective, Reese knows she needs to somehow raise the money for Lo. Via David she receives and offer to read a book that may just help her earn the required money. The catch is that she needs to leave her house and record it in a studio in New York under the supervision of the author, Arden Abbot.

Hot, sexy, successful Arden turns out to be something of a micromanager picking on Reese’s pronunciations of words like ‘Sarah’ and ‘and’. Reese is neither happy with Arden’s ‘helpful’ suggestions nor with the fact that Arden is impossibly sweet and attractive. Reese mentally rages against Arden till she realises that Arden is fighting battles of her own. 

The story is narrated entirely from Reese’s point of view so we are privy to all her thoughts, feelings and emotions. She is not awfully likeable or dislikeable. Mainly, she is funny in her extreme reactions to ‘people’ and ‘outside’. At some point, we also realise that besides being misanthropic, Reese is also an introvert and cannot handle being around people too much. 

Arden is a lovely, lovely lady. In fact, the whole relationship growth between Arden and Reese is skewed in the beginning with Arden making all the effort in both, their professional and personal interactions. 

These are two women dealing with their own demons and trying to handle their own imperfections while making the effort to grow and let another person in. That is so heartwarming. We loved that the conflict is totally organic and completely in keeping with the characterisations. It is a situation where, very interestingly, both are right in their actions and expectations and both are wrong in dealing with the other.  

But what really makes this book a highly engaging read is the humour. The writing is awesome (though there are a few regrettable typos – but nothing too bad). 

This one is a perfectly lovely read with a cast full of likeable characters.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Pitifully Ugly by Robin Alexander

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Review-lite

…because…Robin Alexander

• Robin Alexander humour and hilarity all the way
• The dildo mishap scene? Totally ROFL
• More feinting by MCs than expected
• Really liked both the ladies….but Hailey a tad more

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wrong Number, Right Woman by Jae

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This one is the ultimate fantasy and wish-fulfilment of all shy, socially awkward, overweight lesbians (including us).

Shy, sweet and awkward Denny works in a grocery store and has her sister, Salem, and tween niece, Bella, living with her. Thirteen years her junior, their parents kicked Salem out when she got pregnant at seventeen and Denny became Salem’s safe port and also something of a defacto parent to Bella.

One evening, fashion-challenged Denny receives a message from an unknown woman asking first-date outfit advise. Turns out that the unknown woman had a wrong number but the texts continue. Enough to become a highlight for both, Denny and Eliza.

Their connection deepens and their relationship slowly moves from texts to calls to actual in-person meetings.

We absolutely love toaster-oven romances. We are suckers for the ‘gay for you’ trope. We adore assertive femmes. We like slow burn. We are all for sizzling chemistry. And this one checks all these boxes.

We love the way Eliza takes the time and interest to understand Denny even when they’re just texting. That, right there is one fantasy. We love that Eliza takes the time to understand herself and then gathers her courage to make herself vulnerable to Denny. Fantasy two. We love that Eliza is sure enough about her feeling to be open about her relationship with Denny to her family. Fantasy three.

There is some mess with the timeline in the narrative in the sense the period of time Eliza and Dennt have been texting; how long since they've known each other; how long since they spoke or met -- it's all a little wonky but not detrimental.

Our only real issue with this book is the butch-femme binary. We are so not fans off that. It’s not like we want two femmes. But we do like chapstick lesbians, people on the spectrum, more female-presenting women much more than the suit-and-tie wearing, male-presenting butches. Somehow the butch rather puts us off. But we seem to be in some sort of a minority about this.

Despite our reservations, this is a wonderful romance with a fabulous leading lady in Eliza.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Forever and a Day: a Those Who Wait story by Haley Cass

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Do you ever revisit characters from books you’ve enjoyed and imagined how their lived turned out? Bet you do that. Looks like Cass also felt that about Sutton Spencer (heart eyes) and Charlotte Thompson, the leading ladies in Those Who Wait.

This novella is essentially a long epilogue about the couple, their lives and their relationship post the halcyon romance. There are pit stops for all important moments which give a complete picture about their day-to-day interactions and about how their relationship is unfolding. Also about their extended families and career trajectories.

We love that Cass keeps their core characterisations intact and builds them further. This is the perfect future that we wanted for this pair and are quite delighted with having read this.

Definitely not a standalone novella – you absolutely need to read the fabulous Those Who Wait before reading this.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Traumatic Love by Ellen Hoil

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Books perform many functions. They entertain, yes. They are also portals to many thoughts, feelings and experiences that one may not live otherwise. Then there are books that sensitise reader to mindsets, emotions and behaviours that may seem difficult to fathom but have strong roots and basis. This book achieves all three.

Dr. Nydia Rogers is the Chief of ER at Riverview Hospital. Professionally she is a dedicated doctor and personally she keeps mostly to herself. She has one friend, one of the nurses, Trudy, with whom she goes back decades. While Nydia runs the department efficiently she faces constant haranguing from Dr. Goddard about her gender and sexuality. Not to mention that Goddard is also lackadaisical about his work and blames her for pulling him up. Inexplicably, she keeps a civil tongue in her head with his despite his disgusting vitriol.

Jo Powers is a cop mostly working in cases of domestic abuse. While responding to one such attack, Jo is hit on the head by the wife of the perp aka, the woman being beaten up, herself. Thus Jo finds herself in the ER and under Nydia’s ministrations.

The two women have a magnetic pull towards each other till Nydia learns that a cop and immediately shuts down creating a massive gulf between the two of them. The connection between them draws them irresistibly towards one another. However, Nydia has a past that she hasn’t dealt with and the going in rocky – till past issues are resolved.

Writing about Domestic Violence and Intimate Partner Violence can never be easy and in this one, that forms a large part of the context and character development. Right in the beginning, Hoil underscores the fact that people in an abuse situation often make excuses for the person abusing them (ref: the woman being beaten was the one who swung the baseball bat on Jo) and a depressing number of people go back into their toxic environments.

Jo has been witness to domestic violence as a child. However, her mother removed Jo and her sister, Electra, from the acidic environment as soon as their father turned on the girls. Jo is healed and grown up to be a sorted, steady person. The love between the mother and the two girls forms Jo’s bedrock. Since she is a well-adjusted human being, Jo can do her work effectively, taking joy in the miniscule percentage of people who get out of their putrid environments with law intervening at just the right moment. The past exposure to violence and the love that now surrounds her makes Jo capable of loving with an unwavering staunchness that may not have been understandable otherwise.

Nydia is psychologically a much more complex character. The extent of her past experience is revealed slowly through the narrative but right from the start, you know there is much more going on with her. When she freezes Jo for being a cop, you know that there are layers to her. Through the story, she flip-flops, lashes out and has irrationally strong negative responses that she unleashes on Jo. Jo remains staunch and stalwart through it all, figuratively holding Nydia through her roiling emotions.

Before you get an idea that Nydia is just an unreasonable handful, we’d like to clarify, she is also loving and giving in perfect ways. There is one moment when Nydia looks at Jo, has overwhelming emotions and thinks that she never wants to stop feeling that way about Jo. This was one of the most beautiful moments of love we’ve seen. And this, right here, is Hoil’s achievement. Nydia fluctuates rather wildly and widely, but Hoil writes in a way that you can somehow sympathise with her. You are right there with Jo in wanting to soothe. In wanting to understand. In wanting to protect. In wanting to engulf Nydia in love.

The relationship between Nydia and Jo is a fine balancing act that Hoil addresses superbly. At one point, when as a reader you feel okay, now this is just too much, Jo responds in the exact same way. In her conversation with her friend, Duncan, she expresses the exact same sentiments that you feel about the emotional rollercoaster that Nydia and their relationship is. With that Hoil scene and exchange, establishes that Jo is not a doormat and not unaware of the yo-yoing. She is fully cognizant and is choosing Nydia over and over. That is what love should always be – you choose someone in their completeness. And this scene strengthens the romantic aspect of the story immeasurably.

The psychological conditioning that the environment you are brought up in has a very, very far-reaching impact. Without overtly stating this, this fact is laid bare in the fact that Nydia allows Goddard’s insubordination, venom and attacks for as long as she does.

(On reflection, it is easy to see why Nydia’s emotions go haywire when her relationship with Jo starts. In order to exist, Nydia has suppressed her feelings and memories. As her emotions for Jo grow, the Pandora’s box of all her emotions is opened and she is just churning with all these feelings she hasn’t named or acknowledged. It is little wonder that she is all over the place.)

Sensitisation to others, an understanding of other ways of being and an ability to empathise with reactions that could and would seem irrational – this book achieves these and creates a profound impact. Reading it was a definite emotional growth for us.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Night Life by S.J. Hartsfield

⭐⭐⭐⭐

This one has the setting of a romcom but is written with the seriousness and earnestness of a romance. It still works.

Ronnie Kent is the "hottest blonde" escort on the roster of Night Life, an escort agency owned by one Karla. Ronnie enjoys her work and is the most popular escort in the agency. When an unusual booking is accepted by Karla at a premium price, Ronnie is the girl of choice. The booking is unusual inasmuch it is not made by the end client and the contract that ensures a clean health undertaking is not signed by the client either. Though this is not okay, the money is phenomenal and Ronnie rather likes the idea of being a 'gift', so off she goes.

Ronnie's client is Diana Silver, child of wealthy parents whose mother has political ambitions. Diana's mom disses Diana's education in hospitality but nevertheless has Diana working as an event organiser (party planner) in the family business. The overbearing mother is also not the least bit subtle about trying to matchmake and finds a suitable match in Evelyn for Diana and throws them together under the guise of the two of them working for her campaign. 

After a tentative start to their evening together, Ronnie and Diana have a exceptional time together. So much so that Ronnie can't wait to be hired by Diana again. 

Soon Diana becomes Ronnie's 'regular' and Karla happily fleeces Ronnie into paying stupid prices for Ronnie. However, Ronnie, Diana, Karla and Diana's mom did not consider the possibility of feelings rising between Ronnie and Diana.

This is an erotic romance. Erotica drives the romance and almost every scene featuring Ronnie and Diana together is a sex scene (through most of the book). But there are enough feelings (especially in Ronnie) to also make this a romance.

Ronnie is quite lovely. Diana is weirdly helpless and wimpish with the whole mom dynamic. Plus her lack of spine and leading Evelyn (who is a stellar person) on is miles away from endearing. Also, her tendency to treat Ronnie as hired help is less than nice or loving or romantic. That the romance works despite Diana is a tribute to Ronnie's likeability factor and the awesomely hot sex scenes.

Entirely unexpected is the adorable epilogue. Now that certainly brought a smile on our face and ratcheted up the rating for the book. 

This is an enjoyable read, on the whole.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

The Love Factor by Quinn Ivins

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Set in the late 90s, this is a teacher-student romance but written so convincingly that it is not the tiniest bit discomfiting.

Carmen Vaughn is a tenured professor in the political science department of Maryland University.  Her subject is statistics. Carmen comes from a Roman Catholic family and her department is notoriously regressive, so her personal life is strictly under wraps – particularly because she is gay. Carmen has no illusions about what coming out would do to her personal and professional life so she chooses to be quiet about her sexuality and completely professional (and brilliant) at work.

Molly Cook is an activist at heart but has decided to be pragmatic and at almost thirty, she has returned to studies with a goal of doing Phd and then getting into research and academics. But Molly’s natural instinct is to fight for changes and try as she might, this part of her won’t be repressed.

Molly is attracted to Carmen right from the beginning and her natural gift with numbers helps her excel in class. Carmen offers her the position of TA for a semester and Molly is delighted at the thought of spending more time with Carmen. Unwittingly, Molly also discovers Carmen’s best kept secret. Molly promises silence but cannot help hope flaring that the chemistry between them may find an avenue. However, Carmen shies away from that possibility.

While they are navigating their personal attraction and their professional relationship, one homophobic faculty publishes a report with some highly suspect anti-gay findings; new queer-identifying students refuse to disappear into the woodwork and both the women get drawn into unexpected situations.

Molly and Carmen are wonderful characters. It is strange to realise that even in 1997 (which doesn’t seem that long ago), being gay was so tough. Carmen’s character has in interesting arc while life and circumstances make the deeply-closeted lesbian and a closed professor undergo many changes becoming almost the complete opposite by the end of the book.

The relationship is mostly pining and burning, but it is so convincing. The chemistry between Molly and Carmen is awesome and the caring that they have for the other is really special. You cannot but help root for the two of them to get together already.

We love the title which smartly uses a statistical term in the romantic phrase. We thoroughly enjoyed the meticulousness with which the 90s have been written (floppy discs, long distance landline calls, Smashing Pumpkins…that’s just a tiny sample of the perfect details). We loved Carmen’s journey and the romance.

Obviously, we recommend this one.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Christmas Gi by A. Emma Hollis

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Riley Bale, a Senior Analyst for a non-profit think tank, walks into a plexiglass wall and knocks herself out. When she gets up, she seems to be in a hospital but also seems to be hallucinating a green woman wearing green who keeps appearing and disappearing. To compound Riley’s confusion, the green being introduces herself as Gi and patters something (completely seriously) about Christmas Miracle and Super Bonus.   

Dr. LeAnn Jensen is not having a great morning, what with having a super-bumped up head. She attends to Riley, confirms that the latter is fine and releases her.

When Riley reaches home, Gi is waiting intent on helping Riley find happiness via finding Riley’s Christmas lesson and thus earning her own Super Bonus.

This long-short is the pinnacle of the hard-to-pin-down-yet-madly-funny absurdist (or surreal) humour. The premise is fantastical. The cast of characters are convincingly real and impossibly accepting of the fantastical in their lives.

The main protagonists are Gi and Riley, though they aren’t the romantic couple. There are a bunch of other characters and every single one is totally likeable. But in the whole sea of fun, nice people, Gi raises head and shoulders above everyone else on the adorability factor.

The writing is smooth, flowing, fluid and fun. Humour is difficult to nail but Hollis nails it with panache with the premise, the dialogues and all the scenes. For a short novella, this one packs one hell of an explosive humour punch.

This book is a perfect mini-break of a pocketful of fun.

PS: Senior Analyst for a non-profit think tank – definitely one of our dream jobs!
⭐⭐⭐⭐

Hairpin Curves by Elia Winters

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Friends-to-enemies (sorta)-to-friends-to-lovers. This one covers a wide range in the relationship of the two leading ladies with excellence.

Megan Harris and Scarlett Andrews used to be inseparable in school. But that ended when Scarlett ditched Megan in college. They were supposed to go together but at the last minute Scarlett decided to go a more prestigious college elsewhere. Then when one tried to reach out to the other they were ghosted. Now they don’t have anything to do with one another though they live in the same town. Their school group used to be a trio with Juliet completing the triumvirate till she moved to Quebec. Now Juliet is getting married and would really like her two best friends to be there. So with all sorts of reservations, Megan and Scarlett decide to make a road trip from Florida to Quebec, together.

As they start travelling together, they rediscover each other. Learn things about the other that they didn’t imagine. Gain insights and understanding about their own and the other person’s behaviour.

Megan and Scarlett are everyday women written with such depth and detail that they become real. Their fears and anxieties resonate. Their hopes and dreams are tangible. Their disappointments and self-doubts are empathise-able. The attraction between them is believable. Particularly the back history when one had an unspoken crush on the other and the other had a feeling that she didn’t recognise because she was unaware of her sexuality.

Initially there is quite a bit of what each found wrong in the other when they were friends. While this sounds like they didn’t really like each other, it is something that is so, so real. When we’ve split from someone it is easier to focus and remember what we didn’t like about them rather than all the great things about them that leave us pining for what is not.

The only thing that was not quite easy to swallow was the easy nudity and un-understandable comfort with masturbating in the other’s presence. That didn’t flow too well with the otherwise perfect narrative of re-finding their old friendship.

As always, we have a soft spot for the person who is braver about going out on a limb with their emotions, so Scarlett wins for us. Not only for her bravery towards the end but her vulnerability throughout, for her honesty and for the way she puts Megan first.

This one was a lovely read which we completely recommend.

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Maid for You by Mariah R. Embry

⭐⭐⭐⭐

An age-gap, rich-girl-poor-girl romance with a borderline romcom storyline set in the surreal 2020 lockdown context.

Twenty-four year old Octavia is an undocumented immigrant in the USA from Mexico. She’s already had a rough life and nothing has got easier because of her immigration status which compels her to work as a maid for a barely living wage. The latest posting that her agency gives her is as a live-in maid in celebrity rockstar, Jay Firefly’s home. Forty-two year old Jay is not only a famous rockstar but lives the quintessential 70s rockstar life indulging voraciously in women and drugs. Jay has a roster of ‘girlfriends’, basically models whom she pays to be her girlfriends. She doesn’t particularly do relationships. Or emotions.

There are rules of working with Jay. One big one being never to make eye contact with the rockstar or talk to her. Maids are supposed to be invisible. Octavia is acutely aware of this and does her best to disappear, but something keeps pulling the two women in each other’s orbit and blurring out every line in Jay’s rules for maids.

When the state declares shelter in place, the two women are locked in the house together and there is no putting a lid on their irresistible attraction towards each other. And surprisingly, the attraction is much more than mere sexual attraction. There is a lot of tenderness and caring between them and they find themselves sharing their pasts, their deepest selves.

But post-lockdown, the real world enters bringing along outside attitudes, judgements and problems which the new couple must find a way of dealing with.

Embry writes Octavia and Jay excellently. Octavia with her past, her experiences and the fact that she is completely alone in the world quickly evokes protectiveness. But she is also hardworking, feisty and fearless about her rights (for example, her right to a day off). She doesn’t back off, make herself a doormat or become pitiable in any way, at any point. Thus she becomes an entirely enjoyable character.

Jay Firefly is introduced as almost a Harold Robbins-esque character. Living life large and on the wild side. But despite her philandering ways, her lack of respect for everyone and her generally piggish behaviour, she always remains very human. There is a vulnerability in her that is visible in every interaction with Octavia. As their relationship progresses and they peel of layers, Jay as a person is explained so well that all her behaviour makes sense.

There is an age gap and it was nice to read about the small ways in which it shows. However, the ways that the age gap manifests are too small to impact their relationship. We love the way Jay commits to Octavia in every way possible and protects her steadfastly. We also liked that Octavia remains fallibly human enough to want to assert herself and her power unambiguously with anyone disrespecting her.

The chemistry between Octavia and Jay is so, so, so hot. All the burn, all the inexplicably out-of-character behaviour that culminates into really great sex scenes. And plenty of them – which is always a good thing.

Embry brings in all types of safety factors smoothly into the narrative including tools for safe sex and safety in the times of covid-19. There is a lot of use of drugs but it is never particularly glamourized. In fact, it is mostly used to show degenerate behaviour.

This is a light, slightly escapist and thoroughly enjoyable read.

PS: We do wish one of the minor characters, Vivica had been given a better deal because she was unexpectedly quite a tragic character. For everything that she was and she had been, she should’ve been more successful, had more love in her live and been happier. Guess we just want utopia for all pen-people that we like.     

⭐⭐⭐⭐