#treesreads

[turtlelady9]

My rating for this book is 4/5 Stars

This story was a very sweet, well-written romance with believable characters and obstacles in their way. Two biromantic/bisexual young women fell in love when they met at an Armenian neighborhood center in San Francisco as they attended Armenian cultural events together.

The story was all told from the first person point of view of Nareh whose long time boyfriend proposed to her at the beginning, but she never agreed. He went away and she told her mother she would attempt to meet an Armenian man. Instead, she met and fell for another Armenian woman. They shared some steamy and sweet kisses, one short smut scene and woke up in bed together a few times.

The story showcased Armenian food, dancing, religion, witchcraft and the occult and the Armenian genocide and its continued significance today.

Some of the harder parts of the book: A lot of internalized homophobia / biphobia for Nareh and external homophobia from Nareh's family, forced public outing that Nareh denied, Nareh being unsure if she should be with a man or the woman she fell for, a hostile work environment for Nareh, the major conflict being resolved very quickly.

[turtlelady9]

Lesbian / Sapphic Romances found at my local Library

[turtlelady9]

Rating this one 5/5 Stars

Read about twenty holiday romances and this was by far the best one for me. Actual lesbians, great character development for all characters, very little repetition, lots of fluff, humor and romance, fun family scenarios, cute and silly pets, slow-burn but worth it for the steamy kisses and mild smut, definitely had a u-haul aspect to it near the end, but it didn't feel forced, realistic conflicts with realistic resolutions, plus a great happily ever after ending which everyone loves.

[turtlelady9]

Want to read more average people lesbian / sapphic / queer romances where no one's got their life together. Been reading about too many rich and well-established women. Guess that's the fantasy everyone's got.

[turtlelady9]

Grew up reading: Little House On The Prairie, The Babysitter's Club and Babysitter's Little Sister (with Karen) Series by Ann M. Martin, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys and a lot of 90s horror authors Caroline B. Cooney, Christopher Pike, M.C. Sumner and R.L. Stine

[turtlelady9]

Rating 4/5 Stars for overall series content. This is a 10/5 stars as a romantic comedy. The first book is absolutely phenomenal and the short follow-up had great snippets from their HEA life. All told in third person from Brooke's POV with some omniscient narrator.

Brooke Kent was a shy, soft butch computer engineer from a well-to-do English family who fell for Anna Fourchette, a half French, gorgeous gourmet chef and steak restaurant owner. They both nursed serious crushes on each other for nearly a year before Brooke invited Anna to be her fake date / girlfriend for her younger brother's wedding in England. She had not seen her family in over a dozen years because of her parents' rejection of her sexuality when she was a teen. Her brother and his wife-to-be welcomed her and Anna with open arms as he truly missed her.

Brooke and her friends were regular customers at Anna's restaurant and Anna always paid special attention to Brooke. The week before the trip, Brooke and Anna met several times and got to know each other much better. Over dinners and other shared meals, cheek kisses and warm cuddles on the couch they very clearly greatly cared for each other.

Anna was incredible in all her interactions with Brooke's homophobic mother in England, which led Brooke to stand up to her. Brooke and Anna were so adorably loving and supportive of each other the whole way through. Their love confessions after only a week and a half of 'fake dating' didn't even feel rushed.

Included: Fools in love with so much mutual pining/yearning, Unsure of the others' feelings, 'Fake dates' that were very realistic, Falling asleep together on couches, Only one bed/sharing a bed, Steamy kisses and sexy, sultry smut, Found family with friends, Astounding initial love confessions and their later proposals and wedding vows were amazing

Main Cons for Me: Author briefly mentioned her characters were reading another queer/sapphic author's book that I haven't read, but that other author and book gets tons of hype that I'm not sure it warrants, the first story was a very long read at over 400 pages and the main characters were basically just two well-off young women who only had trouble in the love area of their lives

Trigger warnings: Homophobia from parents, internalized homophobia, separation from family for being gay/queer, contemplating fixing relationships with homophobic family self-confidence issues, past car accident and injuries talked about, fertility issues but they do have a family

[turtlelady9]

Rating this one 4.5/5 Stars

This was a poetic, silly, steamy and sweet love story. Courtney and Thea met at Courtney's best friend Samantha's bookshop in small town Kansas when a bearded dragon hopped onto Thea's arm while Courtney opened boxes in the shop. Courtney was a famous cellist who hid out from problems in her life. Thea worked at the tattoo shop next door, but not sure what her actual job was there. She did a piercing for Courtney. She was a stars and skies focused freelance photographer.

They fell in love over lunches and while visiting different places around the town and being out in nature at night to view stars. They had a third act fight because Courtney kept it to herself that she was this cryptid and reclusive famous musician that Thea enjoyed and talked about with her. Courtney kept things quiet because she wasn't sure she wanted to go back to her musician life and the singer and band she worked with because someone from her past was trying to hurt her and her musician friends. She wanted to protect her friends and Thea.

Thea soon apologized for her overreaction about Courtney's secrets and they reconciled rather quickly. They made a long distance relationship work for awhile as Courtney toured with her musician friends. Thea photographed them all performing under stars in Colorado under a very lucrative photography contract. Eventually, Courtney came back and settled into a simpler life with Thea in small town Kansas.

Told in first person with dual POVs.

Trigger warnings: Past abortion discussed, Religious abuse and trauma

[turtlelady9]

Rating this one 4/5 Stars

Told in omniscient narrator. In many ways, this was much more Wil's story than Katie's, but there was a looking glass shining in equally on every character, not just the two of them.

Katie and Wil were childhood friends and then best friends senior year of high school when they rode around in Wil's Bronco together in failed attempts to solve town mysteries. Katie left for acting training and stardom. Will went to college and stayed home after with her Mom because her dad died. Wil put her life on hold until she found her way again in the year before Katie returned to her life. She put a TikTok series together where she kissed random people twice a week for one kiss only.

When she and Katie were reunited thirteen years after senior year ended, of course sparks flew! They engaged in super hot fully clothed sex, but didn't actually kiss until much later in the story when it became evident Katie would be Wil's last first kiss ever.

This story took me a full week to read because it was a very emotional rollercoaster of a love story. It had big feelings and big possibilities, but also a big world and one particularly bad actor (Katie's abusive, older ex-bf) that tried to stamp these ladies down and diminish who they were and what they had, but they failed. Their love prevailed.

This story reminded me a bit of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo. It almost could be a version of that story for stars of today; actual movie stars and social media stars paired together. These ladies now were able to be braver and stepped out and gave the media and general public their true love story in a way that worked well for them while it began and as it continued to unfold.

Katie and Wil didn't really date at all as they were each other's person and easily fell in love with each other almost immediately after they reconnected. There was a lot of mutual pining and yearning. They both had cute cats and these fiercely overprotective moms who were lifelong best friends themselves.

During the first half of the story, not the hugest fan of Katie's mom, Diana. She helped keep Katie away from contact with Wil in the years they were apart. She also discouraged how much time they spent together once they reunited. Eventually, she relented when she saw how Wil was so good and the right one for her daughter.