Live and Love Again by Jan Gayle

I’m sitting here before you today with dark circles under my eyes and an UP 3 sleep tracker on high alert. I barely slept, and it’s all Jan Gayle’s fault.

Her debut novel Live and Love Again was such a delightful, easy read and I couldn’t put it down until I finished it.

 

So, what’s the story?

Even after three years, Sarah Jarret struggles every day with the death of her long-time partner. Her tough exterior and extreme independence has made her almost completely isolate herself, but Sarah may finally be beginning to get herself back together. Her small custom furniture building business is showing real potential and forcing her out of her comfort zone. And Jessica Whitney, a beautiful and successful Chicago architect, just walked into her life. Jessica and Sarah are immediately attracted to each other, and they fall fast and hard, but Sarah’s guilt and pride may push Jessica away and keep Sarah from opening up to the possibility of new love.

I found Live And Love Again to be funny, warm and entertaining from page 1. It’s an easy read without being superficial or too stereotypical. Sure, one of the characters is insanely rich and successful. Live and Love Again is not ‘cliché free’. Far from it. But who cares when you just want to sit back with a cup of tea and enjoy some lovely lesbian romance?

Balanced & focused book: love it!
The author did find the perfect balance between the genre’s must-haves (rich and successful Jessica) and a more credible, real-life storyline. Sarah took a risk and lost. Now she is trying to “hang on to the middle class”. I really liked seeing this type of struggle in a lesbian romance book. The club of fictional lesbian characters with a lot of money has plenty of members already 😉

What made this book really special to me is how focused the author is. I love (let me repeat that: LOVE) the lack of flashbacks, long (day) dreams, hopping back and forth in time, … She built the story in the here and now, and was still able to give us enough background and insights to understand the characters and their past. This is something I rarely encountered before in this genre.

It’s hard to believe this is Jan Gayle debut novel, really. I’m delighted to see more books are coming. I feel like Jan Gayle will be one of my favorite lesbian authors from now on. Yes, I am very much looking forward to her second book, Best Laid Plans. I’m a fan and have the dark circles to prove it.

 

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