Love in the Shadows – Maggie Doolin

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Rating: 3 out of 5.
3.5 stars

A solid novella set in Ireland following Meg from her final year of high school through to the vote on the marriage equality act in 2015. I often find that when I’m reading a novella I wish it was longer – but this one is done well in that it covers the subject manner in just the right amount of detail, but provides a clear narrative so there’s nothing else to wish for.

We open with Meg at high school, where she’s undertaking her Leaving year. She realises that she has a crush on her high school English teacher – leading her to explore how she feels about girls in general. Whilst enjoy isn’t the right word because there’s a lot of introspection on the topic of boys and feelings, I thought this section was done really well.

As the book centres on Meg we follow her through leaving school, to her first job as an English teacher herself. She’s had the opportunity to explore her sexuality at college, but running into someone from her past causes her to look at the realities of being a lesbian in Ireland, working at a Catholic school. Again the feelings side of this is explored really well.

The parts of the book I liked the most were the interactions. I felt they gave a realistic depiction of how it must have felt living in Ireland during this time period (I hope anyway).

It does have a happy ending and I’d recommend to anyone looking for an interesting narrative spanning a large number of years and how a couple grows, whether together or not.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

First Comes Love – Frankie Duncan

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Rating: 4 out of 5.
3.75 stars.

Disclaimer – I did some beta reading on this book before release.

I found this to be an enjoyable read and a great way to pass a couple of hours. It’s not very long and it acted as a great break for other books I was reading at the time.

Brogan is strong in her professional life, moving to Scotland to be the Headteacher at a school. Her family situation means she spends a lot of time by herself but she likes keeping people at a distance since her latest breakup.

Unexpectedly she finds she has feelings for Libby after a chance encounter with her landlords dog. Libby isn’t looking for casual – she’s looking for the one.

I enjoyed the exploration of their opposite characters and their back and forth as to their compatibility and long-term goals. As expected in this genre Brogan’s ex makes an appearance but there is a scene in a coffee shop that just made me love Libby’s best friend!

All in all it’s a nice easy read and I’d recommend to any wlw romance fans.

I received an e-ARC directly from the author in exchange for an honest review.

Short Term Relationships – A.K. Rose

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Rating: 4 out of 5.
This is a great book about the relationships between a group of queer friends and acquaintances in Seattle. Taking place over a number of months, the pace of the book is different to the books I’ve been reading recently, but I really enjoyed having the time to spend with the characters in their day to day lives.

As the title indicates, all the characters in the book have become used to short term relationships for one reason or another. We spend time with four main characters, Kate, Liza, Nathan and Emily.

Kate is perhaps the most used to short term romantic relationships. After the breakdown of her marriage she’s never quite met the right one and has developed a reputation for her short term outlook. Kate is the character that ties everyone in the book together and I really liked her narrative and journey.

Liza is a triathlete and wedding photographer. She’s Kate’s roommate and tends to find herself in shorter term relationships due to her driven attitude to succeed with her triathlons. She’s fallen for someone but isn’t sure to how to broach it with them.

Emily broke up with her husband five years ago, but hasn’t had any success finding a new long-term partner. She’s suffering from a case of unrequited love, watching her son grow older and trying to navigate the Seattle scene, looking for her own long-term partner.

Nathan transitioned three years ago. He fronts a successful local band looking to make it bigger but is lost in his personal life. He’s still very much involved in the lesbian community and isn’t sure how to take the plunge with the person he wants.

For me the cast of characters allows for a very grown up view of why people find each other. Rose explores romance, sex, family, friendships, guilt and grief in an in-depth manner whilst succeeding in not languishing unnecessarily in emotions. This keeps the book moving. The changing viewpoints throughout the narrative helps with this and keeps the book fresh.

It’s definitely more on the literary side and isn’t a quick read, but I would recommend to any queer fiction fans.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

The Stars at Night – Gerri Hill

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Rating: 4 out of 5.
This one is a bit of an odd one to review for me. It’s a nice read, it’s a pleasant book, tranquil in tone and setting, I really enjoyed reading it – but it didn’t excite me. It’s my first read of a Hill book (I know – another author I need to find time for) so I was really surprised to find that it didn’t make me want to grab all of her back catalogue. To be fair – I suspect the lack of excitement for me is probably due to the very laid back nature of the book, which is in this case is appropriate and works perfectly.

Kyler is a park ranger – transferred out to her remote state park after getting caught hooking up with her boss’s wife. I love how the book explores her having fallen in love with her new surroundings, her new hobbies and her sweet embarrassment about them.

Lexie’s parents run the lodge at the state park. She’s been made redundant from her job and is feeling lost so takes takes up the offer to try running the lodge for them. She’s more a city girl and the park is a bit of a culture shock for her. Much like with Kyler the narrative around her realising what the environment, a quieter life and family mean to her make the book.

The secondary characters are great. Lexie’s brother and parents closeness to both Kyler and Lexie allow us to see different sides of both MCs. I loved the communication between all of the characters in this story. The book just feels so open, peaceful and grown-up in character outlook – it’s very refreshing.

Whilst I can’t instantly think of any comparators to this book, I will definitely be checking out more Hill in the future and would recommend this to any fans of wlw romance.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

The Love Curse of Melody McIntyre – Robin Talley

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Rating: 4 out of 5.
This is very different in terms of style than the books I’m usually reading, but I really enjoyed it nonetheless. I found the writing to be refreshing and perhaps that’s due to it being YA, but it’s definitely also down to the writer.

Melody is the stage manager for the performing arts productions at her high school. She’s known as a serial monogamist, even as a junior. Like most people involved in theatre she follows a number of superstitions and her crew manages to convince her that for the sake of their productions she needs to be single or the curse will strike again.

Odile is the school success story. She’s already been to Broadway, featured on some TV shows and is up for a movie. She returns to school for her senior year, adding a certain star quality to the school musical.

The majority of the book explores the things that take place in order to put on a musical – in this case Les Miserables. I love musicals, did perform in them at school, but have managed to not somehow not see Les Mis, so some of the references went over my head a little bit – but it didn’t hinder my enjoyment of the narrative.

Both the narrative surrounding Mel and Odile falling for each other, and the storyline of the curse and the production itself work really well, especially when they intertwine. Naturally as the book centres on a group of teenagers there are some moments of drama but none of it feels out of place or overblown.

All of the characters, even the bit part ones, fit in the narrative and despite the large ensemble I was able to keep track of who was who – which is an achievement on Talley’s part as far as I’m concerned. I also really enjoyed the diversity throughout the book.

It’s a longer book than I was expecting, but I still read it one sitting as it became quite the page turner and was very disappointed when it finished.

I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.