Kathleen Knowles

As is my habit, I dove into this book without having really read the blurb. Just a quick glance that let me know it was about a young woman and her friend who moved from the midwest to San Francisco during the 80s. I was a teen/young adult in the 80s and I'm from the midwest so I figured I'd give it a go.

Since it's a Bold Strokes Books offering, I mistakenly assumed it was a romance. It's not and I was just fine with that. Instead, Somewhere Along the Way reads more like a memoir. Most of the book, told in first person POV, focuses on Max and her rapid alcohol and drug filled spiral to rock bottom and her journey to sobriety with the help of AA.

Being a sort of newly sober person myself, I felt a connection to Max. My story doesn't mirror hers in any way but the struggle is mostly the same. I found other resources than AA to deal with my addiction - and probably would have gotten sober much sooner if I'd done research into alternatives earlier - but I know that it works for loads of others. It was interesting to be with Max as she wrestled with many of the same issues I have with the program, even if they didn't hold a real focus in the book. We did get to see Max struggle with the various steps in a pretty superficial but still interesting way.

The other aspects of Max's life that were dealt with were her sexual (I don't think romantic is the right term), professional, and friendship relationships. As one would imagine, none of them went well until after she begins her recovery. I liked that the author made much of her recovery realistic. Max didn't decide to get sober and turn over a new leaf and ride off into the sunset with a beautiful woman who could bring her to earth shattering orgasms at will. She stumbles and wrestles with her demons. But, to be honest, once she's sober for more than a few months, the focus of the book moves more to dealing with the AIDS epidemic and her girlfriend than her sobriety.

I'm not sure if I wasn't a recovering alcoholic if I'd have finished Somewhere Along the Way though. The writing style and voice isn't normally something I would get into. Like I said, it read like a memoir with most of the time spent inside the protagonists head with little in the way of dialogue and in depth interactions with others. I don't recall feeling any connection with another character or caring much about what happened to anyone else. So I'm not quite sure how to rate this. It spoke to me and I read it in one sitting but am I an outlier? I haven't read any other reviews or looked at ratings so I don't know.

I think you'll know pretty quickly if this book will be for you. Check out a sample if you can.

Thanks to Netgalley and BSB for the ARC!

… (mere)

So, this should have been a short story. Maybe longer than the usual short story, but, at least a novella, and not a novel.

It's the story of Sheila and Tony. Sheila is a venture capitalist who works for her father's VC Firm. She and her firm invest in the company that Tony gets a job at as a lab worker. They meet and slowly get closer. But, there's always tension. Especially when the CEO of the biomed startup that Sheila invested in and Tony works for starts doing things that are worse and worse.

I really didn't love either of the characters. Sheila just seemed very, very off. And Tony just seemed to justify everything.

I did really like the idea of this. Based on real life events-ish that it was and such. But, the story just seemed off kilter and repetative.

I was given this ARC by Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.… (mere)

This is Trevor and Gail's story.

Trevor is a sort of pinch hitter when it comes to lgbt issues. When there are lgbtq+ laws and such up for votes she comes in and helps the local organizations get themselves together to fight either for a good bill or against a bad one.

In this case Trevor is dispatched to Indiana to try and stop a "religious freedom" law that lets homophobes discriminate against lgbtq+ people that they don't want to serve.

Gail is an IT person at a library whose cousin Wendy is in charge of the organization trying to stop the law. And Gail gets dragged in to help, and finds herself awed with Trevor.

They slowly get to know each other, going back and forth between a fling or maybe more. They both have issues too that they need to deal with. Gail, her mother and her own internalized homophobia, and Trevor and her past, which we slowly learn about, and it is quite a doozy of a past.

In places it was a bit too much wordy in a sort of run on way. And at times the relationship between the two women seemed a bit forced. But I overall really liked the characters and I really liked how the fight against the law dovetailed at some points but not at others with the relationship part of the story. It was pretty cool

I got this ARC through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.… (mere)

I liked this book. It was both a typical lesbian romance and yet not one at the same time. (Yes, I am aware that that makes no logical sense).

It was about Merle and Hayley. Merle has just broken up with her ten year girlfriend Kay, while Hayley has sort of recently gotten a divorce from her husband of many years because she realized she was a lesbian (amongst other reasons).

Merle needs a roommate and Haley seems to be the perfect one. But, this is a romance, and so both start having feelings for the other. But are they having the same sort of feelings? And if they are feeling the same, can they get through all the baggage that they both are carrying around to get together?

I really liked all the characters in this novel. Both the 'good ones' and the very antagonistic ones as well. Both types were really well drawn and realistic. From Haley's mom and her son, to Merle's friends and even her ex.

I also thought that the main subplot that had to do with Hayley was super intense, added just a bit of action to the book, and was perfectly written.

And then there was Arthur the dog. So, so well done. From the looks to how he interacted with the two women and how they interacted with him. I thought that he stole every scene that he was in. Definitely the star of the novel!

It was a good solid book that was an enjoyable and fast read.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.… (mere)