Book Review: Head Trip by D.L. Line

Shelby Hutchison is the head of IT department of a major Chicago hospital in 2039. According to Shelby, her life is boring - she never travels outside Chicago and she never does anything but work and go home. Even her best friend, Jake, thinks she’s boring. Jake convinces her to take a vacation. She goes to Head Trip, a company specializing in virtual vacations, and signs on for a vacation set in 1985 and involving Russian spies, espionage, and love. On the appointed start day of her dream vacation, she is too excited and anxious to get going to listen to the technician’s instructions and jumps into the vacation with both feet. As the adventure unfolds, she gets more, much more, than she either asked for or bargained for.

Her vacation is cut short by unexpected events, and she quickly begins to have flashbacks and seizures. It is not until she meets the woman upon whom one of the characters, the beautiful Russian spy Tasha, is based that she begins to wonder what Head Trip really is. The two women, Trish and Shelby, begin to unravel the secrets Head Trip is hiding.

Written by D.L. Line, “Head Trip” is creative with a unique plot and setting. It is a well written story and Line’s main character is likable, but the others lack depth. At only 187 pages, it is a fast read, and the reader will be sorry that the book isn’t longer.

During Shelby’s virtual vacation, Line repeatedly has Tasha using Shelby’s full name. At first, it doesn’t matters. But after 65 pages, it simply became annoying enough to want to set the book aside. Then there is Tasha’s repeated overuse of “how do you say.” Again, it makes sense in the first few pages of their encounter, but after pages and pages of its use, it takes the reader out of the story. An editor should have reined in the use of these two distractions early in the book instead of letting it go on and on and on. It’s a good thing the action of Shelby’s virtual vacation is exciting enough to keep the reader reading because otherwise the book would end up unfinished.

The publisher calls this a romance, but it is more of a thriller or action novel. Yes, there are sex scenes, but sex scenes do not a romance make.

Book Review: Desire by Starlight - Radclyffe

Jenna Hardy, who is best-selling romance writer Cassandra Hart, has managed to overcome a childhood full of abuse and poverty. She has life under control, with no intention of letting go of the reins. In the middle of a signing tour, however, her life begins to spin out of control. After a fainting episode, she is told by an ER doctor that she must reduce her stress, begin to eat more than junk food and caffein, and slow down.

Gardner Davis, coroner and veterinarian in rural Vermont, calls Jenna to tell her that a distant relative has died and Jenna is the dead woman’s only heir. Reluctantly, Jenna agrees to go to Little Falls to deal with her relative’s estate. Jenna feels the tug of attraction for the handsome vet who is hiding a past that nearly destroyed her. While she is in the small town, Jenna reluctantly begins to see her life for what it is and what it isn’t. Gard, like Jenna, thinks she has her life under control.

Both women have told themselves so often that they don’t need anyone in their lives that they’ve come to believe it - right up to the point in time when they meet.

Little does Jenna know that a trip to a small town will change her life, and Gard’s, in unimaginable ways.

Radclyffe spins a tale of discovery and, of course, romance. Fans of Radclyffe won’t be disappointed by this outing - there is romance and lots of sex. However, the storyline of two strong women discovering what life has to offer, that change isn’t always awful, and that letting someone in isn’t always a disaster is diminished by the emphasis on the love scenes, which are plentiful, explicit, and seem to overwhelm the story. Radclyffe is a strong writer and her characters are, as always, interesting.

Book Review: Whatever Gods May Be

Sophia Kell Hagin’s debut novel, Whatever Gods May Be, features Jamie Gwynmorgan, a 17-year-old woman who enlists in the Marine Corps because she has no where else to go. After surviving, Boot Camp, Jamie is assigned to Sniper/Scout school because of her prowess with a rifle. Once out of Sniper/Scout school, she is sent to the Philippines as a replacement as a sniper’s spotter in the government’s effort to suppress an insurgent group trying to overthrow the Philippine government. The older man imparts his considerable knowledge to Jamie while keeping them both alive. When he is wounded and shipped home, Jamie is his replacement.

There are twists and turns throughout the book and to give any one of them in a review would be a disservice to the reader. Suffice it to say that each twist and each turn is believable and will keep the reader turning pages as fast as she can.

This is a book about war - war with a known enemy, war with an unseen enemy, war with one’s self, war at its worse, war at its best. The author uses military jargon through out, talks about weapons, and doesn’t sugar coat anything. This book is about the US military being in a foreign country, it is about killing or being killed, it is about a Marine’s life and life in the Marines. More importantly, it is about a young woman’s indomitable will to survive whatever horrors she is forced to endure. Even if you have zero interest in a novel about war, read this one because it is also the story of young woman overcoming horrific hardships under the worse possible conditions.

This is not an easy read on so many levels.The content of this book may disturb the reader because of it’s intensity and no-holds-barred telling of Gwynmorgan’s story. The reader may be tempted to judge this book on its surface, but that would be a disservice to both the reader and the author.

Let it be said that this is not your run-of-the-mill lesbian fiction. The publisher has designated this a romance for reasons passing all understanding. There are romantic elements, yes; but this is not your typical lesbian romance. This is more, much more than a simple romance.

Kudos to Bold Strokes Books for departing from their norm and publishing this book. This book deserves a wide audience, if for no other reason, than to say to lesbian publishers, your readers want more than what is being served up to them now. This book is a start.