An interesting debut, this writer shows promise, Pauline has based her book around Jess a 'love them and leave them' type of lesbian who falls in love with a straight friend and turns her live upside down.
Rating:
If that
sounds like a cliched story, it doesn't come across like that in the book.
Set
in Croydon this book is a welcome addition to lesbian fiction from the UK. The
author tells a good story, keeps you interested in the characters which keeps
you reading because you want to know whats happens next.
She writes
particularly well about friendships, you can feel the closeness between these
women, although some are more developed than others who are just names on a
page.
The author is less adept at writing dialogue, it can come across as stilted, or like its being used just to move the plot along and as a result
often doesn't sound realistic. Which is a shame as this has a bit of an impact on quite big scenes in the book and some of the emotional moments.
Some of the plot also didn't work for me, predictable at times as you might expect from a romantic drama/chick lit style piece. As a writer you
can get away with that if the way that you write is gripping enough or full of
meaning and careful use of words that as a reader you are swept away with the
beauty of the language, unfortunately this writer doesn't do that. However, as a first book it may be forgivable and the style can develop; the story
and characters are there and those are the essential factors. George does write very good sex scenes not cliched but real and believable, (even though
they all have washboard stomachs!!!)
The book was a good read, I found myself caring about
and engaging with Jess - wanting her to find happiness, getting frustrated with her at points when
she was uncomfortable with her feelings.
The ending was a little unsatisfactory, I
won't say more so as not to ruin the story, but I think it put the main character
through unnecessary soul searching, it seemed to me that what she was being
asked to accept was a huge change without any time to adjust so punishing her
for months seemed a little harsh. The fact that I cared so much about her though, has
to be a good sign!
I look forward
to reading the author's next book.
By Claire
