Danika reviews The End by Nora Olsen

Posted on August 29, 2013 by Danika Ellis

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book. First of all: “Five queer kids save the world”. What better tagline is there? And I love the cover. To begin with, we meet each of these kids briefly in 2009. Each scene ends with an intriguing line something like “They wouldn’t see ____ again until 2014.” After that, we skip to 2014, when nuclear war has broken out. It is wiping out most of the human race. But, of course, our main characters are survivors, partially to do with some of them having magical amulets. Which is interesting, because it turns out that The End is a Fantasy novel. The nuclear apocalypse is caused by a squabble between two gods. The tone shift between this and the destruction on Earth is a little bit jarring, and overall it didn’t quite match up for me.

I liked the premise of this book (though the gods bit was unexpected, especially Muldoona and her Frotress of Despair), and most of the characters. Skilly is over five thousand years old, thanks to his amulet. He is bisexual, and has had to watch everyone he’s ever loved die. The concept is interesting, and he seemed to be a realistic result of that background. Then we have Julia, who I can’t seem to describe succinctly, but I really liked her. And Marley, who was locked in a juvenile detention facility when the end of the world started, and is another favourite character of mine. Vikki is a childhood friend of Julia’s, and is a survivor of not only the apocalypse but also eating disorders and a dysfunctional home. And then there’s Ginger, who seemed completely underdeveloped. She is the other bisexual character. After reading the Bisexual Books tumblr, especially their review of The Difference Between You and Me by Madeleine George, I’ve been trying to pay more attention to the portrayal of bisexuals in the queer books I read. Unfortunately, I’m not sure The End handles this representation very well. Ginger ends up almost completely unlikeable, and [spoilers, highlight to read] her magical power is “sex appeal”. Oh wait, never mind, it’s “persuasion”. So she’s really good at manipulating people. Worse, she betrays the whole group, though she goes on to sacrifice herself for them as well. [end spoilers] Skilly also ends up pretty unlikeable.

Other than that, I felt like the ending was a little anticlimactic, and also left with some unanswered questions. I loved the premise and the beginning, but between the tonal shifts, the representation of bisexuals, and the lackluster ending, I felt disappointed. I still liked it, but not as much as I wanted to. (Which is similar to how I felt about her other book Swans & Klons, so it makes sense.)

Link Round Up: August 21-28

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Danika Ellis

AfterEllen posted “Batwoman #23″ finally gives us what we’ve been asking for.

Autostraddle posted Read All Of The Books: The Fall 2013 Queer Books Preview and Lez Liberty Lit #27: Hamlet Dies.

Band of Thebes posted Flavorwire Lists “50 Essential Works of LGBT Fiction”, which I would link directly, but I think BoT’s commentary is worth reading. As always, this list is very heavy on the “G” in “LGBT”.

Good Lesbian Books posted

LadyLike Book Club posted Episode 17 – Broken Trails.

Lambda Literary posted The Banal and Profane: Paige Braddock and R. Erica Doyle: Physics and Feelings.

Queer Books Please posted Episode 31 – I Can’t Think Straight (book v. movie).

Women and Words posted Coming Attractions, September 2013 and Hot off the Press, August 2013.

Malinda Lo posted My brief moment on the bestseller lists and 1 month till INHERITANCE: Read the first 2 chapters!

Just Queer Folks: Gender and Sexuality in Rural America by Colin R. Johnson was reviewed at Lambda Literary.

Love by the Numbers by Karin Kallmaker was reviewed at Frivolous Views.

From the Boots Up by Andi Marquette was reviewed at Loving Venus – Loving Mars.

Letters Never Sent by Sandra Moran was reviewed at the Rainbow Reader.

Madame Xanadu Vol. 2: Exodus Noir by Matt Wagner was reviewed at Good Lesbian Books.

For even more links, check out the Lesbrary’s twitter page! We’re also on Facebook and tumblr.

This post has the covers linked to their Amazon pages. If you click through and buy something, I might get a small referral fee.

Rachel reviews Pages for You by Sylvia Brownrigg

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Danika Ellis

Sylvia Brownrigg delivers a beautifully done, complex novel, Pages For You. The novel follows the life of seventeen year old Flannery Jansen as she begins her first semester in a campus college. Just learning about life and naïve about love, Flannery meets twenty-eight year old graduate student Anne Arden, a more experienced, and hardened by life woman. Flannery is immediately attracted to this enigmatic young woman, and realizes that she must be gay. After some rocky starts, Flannery and Anne become lovers, where Anne teaches Flannery some real life lessons. Flannery goes along in a happy, romantic existence for a while, until she and Anne become more distant as it becomes clear Anne is hiding something. And then a shocking revelation leads to the devastation of first love and loss, where Flannery must learn to stand on her own, using all the good Anne has taught her.

Pages For You is told with a great eye for detail. The way Brownrigg describes the seasons and campus give a New-England feel to the story, which makes it a bit charming. The characters are real and complex, as all humans are. Flannery is a likeable young woman with her questions on life and her realization about her sexuality. She starts out very quiet and shy, but as the novel progresses she becomes more self-assured.

There were a few things about the novel that didn’t sit right though. Mostly it was the relationship between Anne and Flannery, and Anne herself. All through the book, the differences between naïve Flannery and fiery Anne clashed in a way that made it hard to believe they would ever love each other. And they never seemed to share an equal partnership. Anne seemed throughout the novel to be the one “in charge”; making all the decisions and sometimes treating Flannery like a child. And while Flannery was open to talking about her past, Anne didn’t reveal enough about herself, and of course there was the secret that she hid from Flannery until the young woman stumbled upon it one day.

Anne Arden was not a likeable character. She was too blunt, and said hurtful things sometimes, belittling Flannery. She seemed cold and distant, and I found it hard to care about her. It was clear that Anne was not really serious about Flannery, and her later actions made her even less likeable. I found her to be quite selfish, and felt that Flannery deserved a lot better. It was a relief that their relationship ended, as it never felt like a real relationship to me.

Pages For You is well written and a story of first love a lot can relate to. But for someone looking for a novel with partners who respect each other equally, and do not hide things from each other, then this is, I’m afraid, not the book to read.

Danika reviews The Furthest City Light by Jeanne Winer

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Danika Ellis

The Furthest City Light is a book about a public defender determined to win the case presented against her client, a woman who defended herself in an abusive relationship. Until it’s not about that at all, and the result of the case thrusts our protagonist in a situation she never planned for.

[Minor spoilers follow, just describing the setting change after page 50 or so]

This book was, how do I say this… weird. Predominately, it’s that the first 50 pages or so are about the trial, and the rest of the book is about war-torn Nicaragua. But from the first bit of dialogue exchanged between Rachel (the main character) and her client, I felt off balance. The first time Rachel meets Emily, her client, Emily says, out of nowhere, “I have walked out in rain–and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light.” And Rachel replies, “They’re from ‘Acquainted with the Night’ by Robert Frost.” That is such a jarring and artificial bit of dialogue. I also was surprised to find that the book was set in the 80s, because it didn’t seem very different from a modern-day book, except that she had to find payphones instead of using a cell phone. After reading the author’s bio (which is at the beginning of the book), I realized this must have been to replicate the conditions of Nicaragua when she visited. In fact, this book has a lot of similarities to her bio: she was also a defense attorney and a rock climber, and also participated in the Sandanista revolution when she visited Nicaragua.

I had a few major issues with the book, however, apart from that weird dialogue. The first is Rachel’s relationship with her long-term girlfriend, Vickie. I made a note in the beginning of the book that Vickie seemed flat, and she never seemed like a complete character to me, probably because we don’t see her a lot. More importantly, though, their relationship is terrible. Rachel completely neglects her throughout the book, and it felt really uncomfortable. I don’t even really understand why she was in a relationship at all for this novel, since it just created that awkward tension. And at the end, [spoilers] there’s no resolution on their relationship at all[end spoilers]. And there isn’t really much of a plot. I understand that it’s kind of the point, [vague spoilers] that they don’t accomplish anything [end spoilers], but it doesn’t really pull me along in the story, since Rachel’s personal journey/identity crisis is pretty subtle as well. Also, [spoilers] at the end, she gets really sick and then NEVER GETS ANY PROFESSIONAL TREATMENT. What? She just decides to rest for months and never gets a diagnosis even though she is seriously ill. And again, there’s no closure or explanation [end spoilers]. But my main objection is that I had a vague feeling of unease reading about her trip to Nicaragua. I realized that it was because the horrific conditions in Nicaragua are used as just a impetus to Rachel’s journey of self-discovery. It’s that Eat Pray Love-style traveling to find yourself, which uses other countries for your own benefit. It’s even worse when it’s in this situation, where the conditions in Nicaragua were catastrophic. Using that setting for your character’s own existential angst seems demeaning to the situation. I also don’t really understand why this story took place in 80s Nicaragua, other than because the author was familiar with it. If it took place in current-day Nicaragua, or another country, then at least it could be raising awareness of crises happening now. But having it take place in the past negates that.

Between the lackluster writing, lack of plot, cringe-worthy relationship, and questionable use of setting, I was disappointed by this one. But again, tastes differ: Literally Lesbian posted a glowing review of this title.

TB reviews Morning Rising by Samantha Boyette

Posted on August 23, 2013 by Danika Ellis

When I opted to read Morning Rising (Guardian Of Morning Book 1) by Samantha Boyette I wasn’t sure what to expect. She’s a new author to me. But the premise of her fantasy novel intrigued me. So last night I sat down on my couch and started the book. At first I was baffled. Kara Hart, a teenager, doesn’t know what’s going on except she’s in a different world and she has three days to save a girl named Dylan. At first, I wondered if Boyette forgot that readers can’t read her mind. Then I started to enjoy her ploy. It forced me as a reader to become active in the story. Not only did Kara have to figure out what was going on, so did I. I became concerned about the main character, Kara, and started to cheer for her.

Slowly I learned that Dylan is no ordinary girl. She is in fact a princess and Kara is her Guardian. The Guardian has just a few days to rescue Dylan from Inbetween and to take her back to their world. Along the way, Kara finds helpers for her quest.

To add an interesting twist to the story, Kara and Dylan like each other. In fact, while this is a fantasy, it is also a love story between two teenage girls. And it demonstrates the power of love.

At times I felt a little uncomfortable about some of the mature subjects for this young adult book. I see why the author included the scenes but it did make for some difficult reading at times. On the whole, I enjoyed this novel. It was a quick and fun read. I read it in one sitting so it kept me interested until the very end. I should note that this book is the first part of a trilogy. If you hate books that end with a cliffhanger this isn’t the book for you. If you enjoy an entertaining young adult fantasy novel about two teenage girls in love, why not give it a try.

Link Round Up: August 12 – 20

Posted on August 21, 2013 by Danika Ellis

Autostraddle posted

Danika Leigh Ellis (that’s me!) posted 20th Century Book Tag (All Lesbian Picks!).

Good Lesbian Books posted

Queer Books Please posted Four essential questions for the lesbian reader and Episode 30 – Four Essential Questions for the Literary Lesbian.

The Rainbow Project posted Rainbow List Update for August.

Sistahs On the Shelf posted A to Z Book Survey.

UK Lesbian Fiction posted The Polari Longlist – Everything you need to know (and more!).

Women and Words posted Categorisation or Segregation? and a giveaway of Trusting Tomorrow by PJ Trebelhorn.

Lucy Corin was interviewed at Lambda Literary.

Malinda Lo posted Win an ARC of INHERITANCE at Goodreads.

The Two Princesses and the Battle of Tresent by Carey Casile was reviewed at Good Lesbian Books.

Beyond the Pale by Elana Dykewomon was reviewed at Out In Print.

Avengers Academy Volume 3: Second Semester by Christos Gage was reviewed at Bisexual Books.

Don’t Explain by Jewelle Gomez was reviewed at ELIXHER.

Walking the Labyrinth by Lois Cloarec Hart was reviewed by Casey the Canadian Lesbrarian.

Lunatic Fringe by Allison Moon was reviewed at Good Lesbian Books.

Surge Narrows by Emilia Nielsen was reviewed by Casey the Canadian Lesbrarian.

Chord Box by Elizabeth Lindsey Rogers was reviewed at the Lesbrary.

Death by Silver by Melissa Scott and Amy Griswold was reviewed at Out In Print.

For even more links, check out the Lesbrary’s twitter page! We’re also on Facebook and tumblr.

This post has the covers linked to their Amazon pages. If you click through and buy something, I might get a small referral fee.

Katie Raynes reviews The Ghost of a Chance by Natalie Vivien

Posted on August 18, 2013 by Danika Ellis

The Ghost of a Chance by Natalie Vivien is a story that revolves around loss, acceptance, and healing. Darcy Morrow has just lost the love of her life in an accident, and she is utterly destroyed – the only person who even begins to reach her in the weeks after the accident is Alis, a nurse who Darcy’s mother-in-law hired to look after her (and who also cared for Darcy’s partner several years ago when she had cancer). The novel follows them through Darcy’s navigation of her grief and the development of their relationship from friends to something deeper.

The first thing that struck me about this book is that it’s gorgeously written. Every sentence feels carefully constructed, and some of the comparisons and word choices are so perfect that I would read them over and over, boggling. Natalie Vivien also does a heartrendingly good job of portraying a woman who has just lost the love of her life. The pain that Darcy goes through is transmitted to the reader with merciless realism (I’m not going to lie – I cried a lot reading this book, and books rarely make me cry). I felt like Darcy’s grieving process was handled very well, not rushed or glossed over or shown to be less significant than such things are. In fact, the whole story had really good pacing, from the overarching themes of romance, healing, and freedom to the individual scenes and how they flowed into each other.

I was also really impressed by how complex all of the characters were. The narration is from Darcy’s point of view, and she goes through so many emotions and grows so much during the course of the story that it’s very interesting to be in her head. Alis and Catherine (Darcy’s deceased lover) are very different people, but they’re equally developed, Catherine through flashbacks and Alis through the course of the novel. This isn’t something that I’ve noticed happens very often in stories where the main character has a lost love who died before the story started – usually the deceased partner is more of an archetype, without any depth, or the “replacement” pales in comparison to the first love. Neither Catherine nor Alis outshine the other; they’re both perfect for Darcy in their own way, but it completely different ways, and Alis doesn’t replace Catherine. It was very satisfying to read this complicated situation done so thoughtfully.

There were various little elements woven throughout the story that I loved, too. Darcy is a librarian, and her return to a healthy state of mind included interaction with her coworkers and time spent at the library. I’m married to a librarian, so it was very charming to read about Darcy’s love of her profession. Also, Catherine was a playwright and had been working on a lesbian version of Twelfth Night when she died. The completion of this manuscript is an important thread in the story, and it delighted my inner (or not so inner) Shakespeare nerd to no end. The whole novel was a really fulfilling read.

Danika reviews Finding Bluefield by Elan Barnehama

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Danika Ellis

Most times that I write a review, I try to balance the things I liked and disliked about a book, to try to give a balanced, but truthful review. I’ve got to be honest with you and say this outright, though: this is one of my least favourite books I’ve read in a while. It’s a book that spans several decades, that focuses on two women trying to build a family together in the 60s (and 70s) in the southern United States. As would make sense for the time period, they witness racism (not directed at them) and homophobia. There are racial slurs and racialized violence and other triggering content in this book. As much as that plays its part in the book, I don’t feel like it got the focus it should have been given if the author was going to include it, however. It seemed glossed over considering the violence that happens.

As for the characters, I didn’t feel any really connection to Nicky and Barbara, our main characters. That’s probably just a personal thing, but I didn’t feel like I really knew them or related to them. One other major character ([spoiler, highlight to read:] their son [end spoiler]) didn’t seem to get any characterization at all [spoiler] and he leaps in age through the novel, so that you don’t even get a sense of his personality as a child before he’s an adult [end spoiler]. The writing was not terrible–though I left it at my mom’s house when I was visiting, and she picked it up and said “It wasn’t written very well”–but it wasn’t anything impressive to me. The pacing was a little strange, with most of the conflict happening at the beginning of the novel, and leaps in time happening throughout. When I got to the end, I didn’t feel any real closure. It just seemed to drop off. There was also one section (the beginning of chapter 10) where I actually couldn’t figure out what was happening, even after reading it several times. Was it a flashback? A phone call?

It was about 60 pages in when I really started to not be impressed with the novel: [spoilers] first of all, a black man is (we are lead to believe falsely, which makes sense for the time period) accused of raping a white woman. Again, if this was more of a central theme to the story, I don’t have a problem with tackling the reality of racism, especially in this time period. However, Nicky replies that this woman couldn’t possibly have been raped: no one needed to rape her, because she just needed to be bought a few drinks, and she was probably just too drunk to remember. I felt uncomfortable with this whole scene, because although I believe he was falsely accused, the idea that this woman couldn’t be raped because she has sex with men often is really gross, not to mention that if you’re so drunk that you have no memory of it, you can’t really give consent. In a completely separate event that made me question the novel, one of the main characters goes out and sleeps with a man without telling her girlfriend and comes back and basically says “I thought you’d be happy because now we get to have a baby!” Her girlfriend is at first appalled and then just sort of accepts it, but then years later sleeps with some woman to get even and never tells her girlfriend and it never comes up again. It just seems super unrealistic. [end spoilers]

It was about that time that I flipped over the book and realized that this book was written by a white man. (Also, DO NOT READ THE BACK COVER if you’re going to read this book. I read about half of it at the 60 page mark and it spoiled all the way up to where I’d read plus a few more chapters. The rest of the blurb spoils up to about 20 pages from the end of the book.) It’s not that I don’t think men can write about lesbians, or that white authors can write about racism, but I will admit that I am more skeptical. And when I saw that, it made me think, “Ah, that explains that bizarre way one of the main characters acted in their relationship.” It didn’t seem to show a realistic view of lesbian relationships.

My main problem of Finding Bluefield is this: it tries to do too much. It’s as if it’s trying to document racism and homophobia in the 60s and 70s South, but a) it’s trying to tackle all of that in a 216 page book b) with no personal experience with that prejudice and c) there are already many great accounts of lesbians who actually lived through this time period and experienced it. If you want to know what it was like to be in a lesbian relationship then, read one of those books. (Or watch “Forbidden Love: The Unashamed Stories of Lesbian Lives“, which is a documentary that weaves in hilarious re-enactments of lesbian pulp narratives.)

I know that tastes can differ pretty widely–this book just got a very positive review on Lambda Literary–but it’s not one that I can recommend.

Tag reviews Say Please: Lesbian BDSM Erotica edited by Sinclair Sexsmith

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Danika Ellis

Reviews for this anthology abound, because it was a big deal when it came out, continues to be a big deal, and will be a big deal for a long time. I first heard of Say Please in an interview with Sinclair Sexsmith on Autostraddle in April of 2012, and while it seemed really interesting I definitely wasn’t ready for something that played with gender dynamics the way everyone said it did. Now that I’ve finally buckled down and read it, I’m exceedingly glad I did, particularly because of the play with gender dynamics. Sinclair Sexsmith had also gone under my radar until Say Please, and so far this is the only writing of hers I’ve read, but the quality of her writing and her taste leaves me sure I’m going to seek out more as soon as possible.

The introduction to Say Please is straightforward and functions to be both enticing and to warn away from kinks the reader may not be into (for example, even though I did read it, the vomiting in “Purge” is on my list of squicks to avoid and I appreciated the warning so I could brace myself). So if you have particular kinks you’re interested in or would like to avoid, the introduction is very clear for each story what the kink basis is.

What really makes this collection for me is how well each author ties everything together. It’s about BDSM, yes, but each character has the kind of depth that really draws a reader into every story. I don’t remember thinking at any point that any character was flat or boring, or that the pacing for any of the stories was off– just the opposite. The only way I managed to spread out my reading of Say Please was by only reading it on my lunch breaks at work, and even then it was over too soon.

The gender play and playing with what defines “lesbian” really resonated with me, though the emphasis most stories had on toys and referring to them as “cocks” rings differently with me on one day than it does on another. Anyone seeking only femme-identified lesbians in this anthology might be disappointed, but for a diverse selection of genderqueer dynamics, Say Please can’t be beat. For its being erotica, the writing and characterization for each piece is fantastic, making for a great collection.

Link Round Up: July 30 – August 11

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Danika Ellis

AfterEllen posted Mary Gaitskill on her bisexuality and writing queer and AfterEllen.com Book Club: “And Playing the Role of Herself”.

Autostraddle posted

Band of Thebes posted The Polari LGBT First Book Prize Longlist 2013.

Bisexual Books posted Bi Notes for a Bisexual Revolution BookChat : An Introduction.

Good Lesbian Books posted Lesbians in Sport: Fiction & Nonfiction.

I’ve just discovered the LadyLike Book Club, a lesbian romance novel book club podcast! Check out the trailer for their podcast, then start with Episode 1 (or 2; the trailer and episode 1 are pretty much the same)! They’re up to Episode 16.

Lambda Literary posted New in August: Wayne Koestenbaum, Lucy Corin, Mark Morrisroe, Saiya Miller and Liza Bley and Lit! A Queer Reading : Ellis Avery, Melissa Febos, Shelly Oria, and Rachel M. Simon.

Literally Lesbian Book Review posted READ THIS NOW! The Furthest City Light: The Book of the Summer.

Queer Books Please posted Episode 28 – ANNIE ON MY MIND (or how I was a teenage book thief but now I try to forgive myself) and Episode 29 – The longest quick reading update there ever was.

Sistahs On the Shelf posted A to Z Book Survey.

“Never Saw A Girl Like Her: Female/Female Relationships in Sarah Waters’s Novels