Tag Archives: Leigh Matthews

Julie Thompson reviews Go Deep (All Out Vancouver #2) by Leigh Matthews

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Go Deep

(This review contains some spoilers)

Buckle up for a rocky road  of doppelgängers, hospitals, concussin’, and a ménage à wedding.  It’s heating up (literally, I am melting into the asphalt) around the Pacific Northwest and what better way to enjoy your burgeoning beach bum status than with a fun, flirty, roller coaster of a  novel? Pack your staycation bags and prepare to head up North of the border, up Canada way!

The second book in Leigh Matthew’s All Out Vancouver series threads through the adventures and lives of the first novel’s crew: Kate, Cass, Em, Hanna, and Steve. If you don’t mind slight spoilers of the first book, read on. We meet new folks: Afra, genderqueer character with a big heart for social justice, who shares a run-down apartment with Scout; Scout, a charming young queer fresh from the prairie; and Alice, a nurse from Vancouver General Hospital.

Other characters share the spotlight, such as Drew, a lawyer trying to get pregnant via artificial insemination, who also coaches the group’s queer softball team. As Matthews introduces more characters into the East Vancouver scene, she deftly alternates between storylines, skillfully merging the disparate lives that are connected like a game of six-degrees of Kevin Bacon or Alice’s chart on The L Word. New challenges arise and old problems fester.

The action starts up in Amsterdam, a few months after Kate and Cass settle in. The edges of their nascent relationship are fraying with the stresses of moving to a new country, new jobs, and most of all, the unsettled bumps in their relationship. They fall back into the same patterns, desperate for change, but unsure of how to make that happen. A change of scenery isn’t enough to help the insular couple from trapping themselves in a cycle of fight-sex-fun. It takes an emergency trip back to Vancouver to break the cycle. Both women are forced to take a long hard look at who they are together and if it’s worth all the drama and heartache. I’m unsure about how deep they’re willing to go to transform their relationship into one that is healthy and mutually satisfying. Cass is a difficult character for me to enjoy, but she manages to grow up a little bit.

Kate sums up the relationship, such as it is when the story opens: “It’s like living with a toddler, an academic, and a sex addict, and I never know which one I’ll come home to.”

Go Deep also explores also explores possibilities for couplings and families. Drew and Scout hook up, leaving the politics of tops and bottoms to the flip of a coin. Outside of the bedroom, they enjoy a relationship that does not involve the possibility of a romantic partner/co-parent, but does open the doors for other options.

Scout is one of my favorite characters. New to town after life on the prairie, Scout joins the softball team and plunges into the East Vancouver queer scene.  Scout is tough, yet sensitive; flirty and fun, yet guarded. It’s the uncertainties, contradictions, and charm that shine through and make this character fun to follow. A case of mistaken identity results in further excitement and complications.

Stability radiates outward to the group from the triad of Em, Hanna, and Steve. Even with a life-threatening illness thrown in, they not only stay afloat, but manage to juggle the drama of their less-than-balanced friends. Theirs is the novel’s romance that gives me warm fuzzies.

Em is the kind of friend we all need on our side. Someone who won’t hesitate to call us out on our crap, but is not unkind about it. I cheered when she tells Kate that something needs to change because the only stories she hears Kate tell about life with Cass taste sour.  Em makes friends wherever she finds herself. In her hospital bed, not only does she plays therapist to Kate, but connects with other patients in an important way. She is the cat herding master!

As far as the supporting characters go, they pop up to provide nudges in the action, but we don’t see them as much, yet. A little teaser of storylines to come, maybe. Matthews drops breadcrumbs about where the next installment may head as the gang pools their talents and passions together for a labor of love.

Kalyanii reviews Don’t Bang the Barista by Leigh Matthews

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dontbangthebarista

If truth be told, my initial interest in Don’t Bang the Barista probably had something to do with my long-held crush on the red-headed, fresh-faced beauty who works the morning shift at the coffee shop a couple of blocks from my office. However, with the turn of the first few pages, it became clear that I had stumbled upon something special. Touted as “a fresh take on the classic genre of lesbian pulp fiction,” Don’t Bang the Barista proves intriguing, endearing and utterly captivating throughout.

Lest anyone be put off, the title is simply an allusion to the advice that Cass offers her friend Kate while discussing the politics of pursuing a barista crush. After all, imagine how awkward it could be if, after a few dates, it all went wrong. Who wouldn’t tread lightly? Yet, could it be that Cass’s concern has more to do with her feelings for Kate than a desire to protect the sanctity of their social space? Cultivating a burgeoning friendship via early morning conversations at the dog park, Cass and Kate enjoy an effortless rapport… until Cass begins to act a bit out of character.

Unable to figure out what lies beneath Cass’s tough-girl exterior, Kate assumes that Cass wants Hannah, the barista, for herself; yet, Kate is too preoccupied with her ex’s return to town to truly reach out and discover what it is that’s bothering her friend. All the while, Cass grows increasingly moody as well as distant. Though others find Cass’s feelings for Kate to be rather obvious, it is only upon determining with whom her own heart lies that Kate discovers it just may be too late.

For all of its light-hearted quirkiness, Don’t Bang the Barista does not shy away from an exploration of the challenges often encountered amid non-traditional relationship dynamics — without any disruption in the tone or flow of the narrative. The way in which Kate supports her bisexual friend, Em, in navigating her desire for a female lover while protecting her primary hetero relationship illuminates just as much about Kate and Em’s friendship as it does the validation of polyamory and conscious/consensual decision-making. The emotional impacts of in vitro fertilization, social alienation and heartbreak are investigated without for a moment compromising the novel’s hip and sexy vibe.

I was struck by the way in which the LGBT-friendly locale of East Vancouver allowed for a more nuanced presentation of the issues mentioned above and a more complex understanding of the characters who encounter them; whereas, in less accepting communities, identity issues — let alone physical and emotional survival — supercede more subtle human needs out of necessity alone. It’s basically a manifestation of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Once we feel safe within our environment, we are better able to enjoy the journey toward self-actualization, creating a meaningful and satisfying existence, which at the end of the day is precisely what the women of Don’t Bang the Barista are seeking.

[Editor’s note: also check out Danika’s review!]

Danika reviews Don’t Bang the Barista! by Leigh Matthews

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dontbangthebarista

Kate is a twenty-something lesbian in Vancouver, still recovering from her last break up (which happened a year ago), and hopelessly crushing on her barista. The title is her friend Cass’s number one rule of coffee shop dating, but Kate thinks it might be worth breaking. Don’t Bang the Barista! follows Kate as she tries to figure out who she really has feelings for, and whether she’s truly over her ex.

I expected this book to be a bit of a guilty pleasure fun read. The back cover blurb begins with “Drawing on the classics of lesbian pulp fiction,” and I can definitely see the influence here. (Quick aside: don’t read any further in the blurb, because it gives away everything that happens in the first half of the book.) But for the most part, the tone is different than I’d expect. Kate is introspective and often seems to verge on being depressed. She is still dealing with a lot of issues from her last relationship and finds reaching out difficult. I also appreciated the detail given to secondary characters in the story. Kate’s group of friends all have their own distinct personalities and priorities, and they are all dealing with issues that are only tangentially related to her. They feel like real people in their own right, not just props in her narrative. There are a lot of details included that elevate Don’t Bang the Barista! from a modern lesbian pulp, making it seem realistic–like the ongoing inclusion of Kate’s dog Jupiter, and references to Kate’s work life, and even discussion of biphobia in the lesbian community. On a personal level, I also really enjoyed reading a book set so close to where I live. The west coast queer politics alluded to felt very familiar to me, and it was fun to recognize some landmarks while I was reading.

But this level of detail and nuance also raised my expectations for the novel. Sometimes the tone seemed to change, and what felt realistic would suddenly verge into the soap operatic. I could forgive that because it meant to be inspired by pulp, but it did feel inconsistent. Most of all, though, I was disappointed with the main romance of the novel. I could understand the attraction, but the love interest behaved pretty terribly throughout the book and by the end that seems to be forgotten in a way that genuinely confused me. Kate was initially angry, and then seemed to change her mind and blame herself. Because this is a romance at heart, this aspect really affected my enjoyment of the novel. The characters and detail were really enjoyable, but the romance I just couldn’t get on board with.

[spoilers below]

To be specific, I don’t understand why Kate (and everyone else, the end) blamed herself for Cass’s behaviour. Yes, I get that Cass is not used to serious relationships, and it’s not that her behaviour isn’t understandable, but that doesn’t make it acceptable. First she forcibly kisses Kate while she’s on a date with another woman (and might I add that Cass has never told Kate that she was interested before this point), then she has the gall to laugh it off when Kate confronts her on it? She acted like a complete asshole. And then Kate is the one who reaches out to her when she goes AWOL, and only then gives a half-assed apology. Then they go camping and Cass storms off in a huff because she heard that Kate talked to a hot girl. Then she holds hands with Kate, says it’s the happiest moment of her life, notices that she’s still wearing her ex’s ring, and then storms off again and goes and tracks down previously mentioned hot woman and sleeps with her, ignoring Kate the whole time, still not actually voicing that she likes her. Oh, and abandoning Kate with people she doesn’t even know. So after Kate finds her own way back, she runs into Cass while going out with her ex, and Cass’s first words to her are “Dude. What the fuck,” still with no apology for ditching her, and then gets pissed at Kate for getting back with ex and storms off again. (Side note, I also couldn’t believe that Kate didn’t get that Cass liked her at this point. She said holding hands with you was the happiest moment of her life and you don’t get the hint? She’s been acting like a jealous asshole 24/7?) At this point, Kate is like “Even if she likes me, this relationship could never work, since she can’t communicate at all” (paraphrase), which is completely accurate. Then Cass sees Kate and her ex at a coffee shop together and again storms off in a huff without saying anything. Kate still tries to seek Cass out, unsuccessfully, and then Kate emails her another half-assed apology and says “BTW I’m moving to Amsterdam BYE” (paraphrase). This is the point where Kate starts blaming herself, saying she pushed Cass away, and how could she do that when she now realizes that this is who she loves?? She waited too long! Kate again tries to seek out Cass, but she’s already moved out of her apartment. So she stakes out the airport to try to convince Cass to stay, but Cass brushes her off and won’t let her finish a sentence. Kate thinks “I could see how much I’d hurt her and I hated myself for it.” Because you got together with your ex when Cass had a) never voiced her feelings for you and b) just slept with another woman and ditched you to do so? You’re supposed to feel guilty about that? It might not have been a good decision, but it’s not because it hurt Cass’s feelings. If she wanted to get together with you, she should have stopped being an asshole and also asked you out. And then Kate’s friends tell her she should have told Cass how she felt earlier and Kate just wallows in guilt, apparently having completely forgotten that Cass has consistently been pretty much nothing but jerkish this entire book.

Sorry for the description of basically the entire plot between Cass and Kate, but I had to go back and make sure I wasn’t remembering things wrong. Where was I supposed to root for Cass? Why is Kate supposed to feel guilty? Why is it that them getting together is supposed to be the happy ending? And, might I add, they only get together because YET AGAIN Kate seeks Cass out on another continent this time. Like I said, I liked most of this book, but the romance is so baffling to me that I ended up rating it 3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. Not a Cass fan, and I don’t understand how I’m expected to be, given how she acts the entire novel.