3.5 stars. This was an enjoyable sweet romance that pleasantly surprised me.
Garet is an author and illustrator of children’s books. She takes an assignment as a substitute art teacher in a small town outside of Atlanta. She believes relationships always end and refuses to have more than one drawer in any girlfriends dresser.
Tess is a single mother, mandolin player and music teacher at the school Garet has taken the assignment at. She hasn’t dated in a really long time, preferring to focus on her daughter June instead.
I have to say that it was June that made this book for me. Vaun used her character to perfectly bring out Garet’s personality. I loved how the relationship between Garet and June organically grew and with it the relationship between Garet and Tess too. There are a couple of scenes with June that really had me smiling and wanting to read more.
What I am now nicknaming “the inevitable angst” later in the book happens, it’s quickly resolved and doesn’t feel too uncharacteristic for either of the main characters. I also felt the ending was really appropriate for both of them.
I’d recommend this to any wlw romance fans and I’m definitely looking forward to reading more Vaun now.
I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
3.5 stars. There are some elements of this book I really enjoyed and others I still find myself a little unsure on. Overall I’d say I found this to be a pleasant read, with some really likeable characters, but I wouldn’t find myself wanting to re-read I don’t think.
Matt is a single mother. Her wife was an Army nurse who died in Afghanistan six years ago. She hasn’t had the opportunity to have anytime to herself or to think about moving on romantically. The Army, her in-laws and her son have all had negative reactions to her possibly finding a new partner.
Her best friends take the opportunity to send her to a lesbian resort when her son heads to camp for the summer and to make sure she “participates” fully, they decide to go with her.
Kelly is an electrician who planned to go to the same lesbian resort with her now ex-girlfriend. She owns her own business and is looking for the opportunity to relax and get away.
I liked both characters independently and together. They undoubtedly have chemistry and I enjoyed them getting to know each other. Matt’s bumbling lack of confidence was amusing and I enjoyed the interactions that the best friends provided too. Despite the fact the majority of the book takes place over a mere ten days or so, and mainly in one setting I was impressed at the way Cannon succeeded in keeping the narrative fresh.
The ending is the thing that really threw me off giving this a four star review. I liked the reason the Kelly and Matt are pulled apart, and I even liked how they are brought back together, I just didn’t like the where or the situation it took place in. I think it was done in order to show a clear delineation of Matt moving from one partner to another in her life, but it made me uncomfortable that it would take place in that environment. It’s likely to be my own personal opinion though – so don’t let it put you off giving this a try.
I will definitely be checking out more Cannon books in the future.
I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
I really wanted to be able to say I loved this book. I was surprised to find that this was my first Bryant read and I’ve heard such great things, but the thing is I only liked this one, which I found really disappointing as it’s clear to me that Bryant is a great writer, I just couldn’t get into the characters or storyline. I read some early reviews of this and it seems to have been a polarising you either love it or hate, but I’m firmly in the middle.
Nico owns a packaging company with her sister. She’s the artistic director and an artist in her own right, mainly specialising in welding. She’s had some bad experiences in the past with girlfriends just wanting her for her money.
Sophia is a chocolatier, inheriting the family business that her brother is now attempting to run dry. She wants to branch out into higher end chocolates and for that she needs high-end packaging.
If that had been how the two had met, I would have been on board with that storyline, but in fact they meet because Nico notices Sophia on the train, somewhat stalking her in an attempt to get her to notice her. When they then run into each other at Nico’s place of work, she lies about her role in the company in an attempt to hide her money.
This was the second book based around deception that I read in a row, which may have coloured my opinion slightly as I felt the deception aspect of the storyline was handled in a way I was more comfortable in the other read. In Scent the deception goes on for a long time, with Nico’s family trying to encourage her to be truthful to Sophia throughout.
Again, I could somewhat understanding Nico’s reasoning for the deception, but the other problem I had was that I couldn’t relate to Nico as a character either, making the deception seem even more jarring for me. Nico is self-centred, making lots of decisions that don’t include Sophia and we’re lead to believe is self-assured in her looks as well.
All in all, I don’t hate this like some, but I don’t love it either. Some have described this as having a 90’s rom-com feel and I completely agree. They all have elements to them that probably shouldn’t sit well, but you end up getting swept away in the love at the end, and for many this will be what they feel about this book – so I encourage you to take a chance on this one and see how you feel.
I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Great ending to a great series. I read this whole series in week or so, so whilst this is a review of the final book, it’s also of the series as a whole (so there may be some spoilers prior instalments). I’m considering this a five star book due to it being the closing part and how I feel about the series, but from a writing point of view I preferred Cash and the Sorority Girl slightly.
There isn’t really anything else like this out there in queer fiction at the moment that I’m aware of and I love how much it stands out. It hit me whilst I was reading the third book in the series – Cash and the Sorority Girl – that one of the reasons I love this series so much is its inherent queerness. The discussions of the patriarchy and heteronormativity in an everyday manner and how it flows through the whole series are fantastic.
The narrative of this final part neatly closes up the issues Cash is facing due to her drug dealing past and her former supplier Henry who previously tried to kill her and her ex-girlfriend Laurel. The situation throws them both back together to work with law enforcement to both hide from and find Henry.
All of the characters are great, Cash and her sarcasm, knowledge, values and the way she lives her life are obviously the thing everything revolves around, but the other characters are well written and bring out all of the sides of Cash.
Laurel as an ex-cop has a lot to work through and convince Cash of in this book after she walked away to find herself. The romance between Laurel and Cash isn’t the most important part of the book to me, but it is a huge part of the narrative. The power dynamics, the second/third chance to make it work and both of their reluctance to address their own emotional feelings make for compelling exchanges and portrayal.
I really enjoy the roommate relationship that Cash has with Lane. Her being Laurel’s sister adds a dimension to it, but at its heart this relationship shows Cash at her best, just as her relationship with Andy as a teenager does too. Andy’s teenage moral beliefs are very black and white and I love how Cash responds to this and how Andy has grown throughout the series.
Of course, it would be remiss of me not to mention Nickels the cat, who has her own unique personality and provides some amusement.
I highly recommend this series – it stands out in wlw fiction, but it’s important to begin at the beginning with Cash Braddock. Despite the hard topics the whole series is easy to read, and all of the books are page turners. This was my 300th book this year and it was the perfect book to end the year on.
I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Wren lives a quiet life on her farm, training horses and free from technology. She’s experiencing money difficulties and prefers to live by a barter system. Her accountant encourages her to find new avenues for income to ensure that she gets to keep the farm she enjoys so much.
Gina is a social media influencer. When she experiences a cyber threat and her identity and residence are leaked to the general public she begins the search for a new place to live and alternate sources of income. She answers the advert to help Wren with her publicity.
I really liked both characters – separately. Both are written really well, and their respective careers and feelings are explored in depth. I just couldn’t see them together. Whilst we’re told they have this instant connection and feelings for each other – I didn’t feel it. The reasons why they couldn’t be together also felt very repetitive as we hear it from both of them, repeatedly. When they do get together there’s very little discussion of them being a couple outside of the bedroom.
This had so much potential and I’m sad I didn’t enjoy it more. The setting is depicted really well – both Seattle itself and Wren’s farm. There’s also plenty of animals providing amusement which I really enjoyed.
I think romance fans will probably find something to enjoy in this book, but if you’re new to Walsh’s work I’d probably recommend starting elsewhere.
I received an e-ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
LGBTQ+ Reader 