*I received this book from NetGalley in return for a fair review.*

 

24/7

by Yolanda Wallace

Pages: 240 pages

Published Date: March 15 2016

Publisher: Bold Strokes Books

Series: N/A

 

Review

Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

Read: February 1 to February 2 2016

 

 

My first book by this author.

 

First off – I had an idea that I would be reading one of those ‘danger’ type books based on the book description, but I didn’t realize that it would be both a mystery and a thriller. Plus the nature of the danger was a lot more extensive than I realized.

 

Second off – issues. I have four specific issues, all of which might be there when the book is officially published, or 1 or more might not be. Keep that in mind. Ack. The second issue turned out not to be an issue. At some point in the book Finn mentioned that she had never seen the pyramids in person. Then much later in the book she said she saw the pyramids in person. My mind was playing tricks on me. No, not what I just wrote, that happened. I just thought they both referred to the Egyptian pyramids. But no, they referred to Egyptian (for having seen in person), and Mayan (for never before seeing in person before now). There might be some section where that is reinforced, where I got the idea wrong, but I think this specific issue was on my end. A misunderstanding on my part. Cleared up when I went looking for it to put into this review.

 

First issue: Power play during sex. ‘She enjoyed the power play. Giving up her own in order to submit to Finn’s. So different to what she was used to’ (exact quote). I had to stop reading when I read this part. Briefly. It’s vaguely unfortunate. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the comment or issue, it’s just that it’s kind of a cliché in lesbian fiction. One or another woman, at some point, makes some comment like ‘normally she is in command, but now she isn’t, and she liked the feeling/giving up control’ (not an exact quote). It’s the concept of a strong woman finding pleasure/fun/etc. by giving in, by allowing the other to have control. It is, more than anything else, my own fault. I just read a book (or three) right before this one that had the exact same sentiment. So it gets a little weary-ing to keep coming across it. Luckily it just gave me brief pause and did not otherwise ruin the book. Not an issue that impacts the rating in any way.

 

Second issue: pyramids. Turns out to not be an issue.

 

Third issue: Ending. I liked everything about the book, for the most part. Beginning, middle, and the end. Except for the last paragraph. I, for obvious reasons, can’t be more specific. It’s not an issue that impacts the rating, though.

 

Fourth issue: Both Luisa and Finn have this habit of constantly talking to themselves. Out loud. Luisa, if I recall correctly, only talked to herself when she first arrived in her apartment, though maybe she also did so at other times. Finn, though, seems to be constantly talking to herself. I don’t mean internal monologue, I mean literally mouth open, words coming out, addressed to herself. It’s vaguely distracting. Though I’ve known plenty of people who ‘do that’ in real life. Since I put this thought down for most of the other issues: the talking to themselves issue does not have any impact on the rating or enjoyment of the book.

 

Characters

This book is one of those two person point of view type books. Told from the point of view of Finn Chamberlain and from the view of Luisa Moreno.

 

Finn Chamberlain is a travel writer for a print magazine. A comment is tossed out about it being one of the few print ones still around (or something like that). Her job apparently consists of receiving phone calls to immediately head to anywhere in the world on roughly no notice (I guess there might be 24 hour notice, that might be what that 24/7 title might be about; I might be dim as it finally hit me what 24/7 is actually about (I think) - she gets 24 hour notice for a 7 day working vacation). She prefers the kind of trip where she can wander the location herself. Set her own agenda. That is not her current assignment, though. Her current assignment sends her to Cancun, specifically to be a member of a tour group called SOS (Sisters of Sappho; hmm, that’s also the name of a series of pornographic videos, I did not know that). SOS is a tour group for lesbians. She’s originally from Montana, but has seen lots and lots of the world now ('my passport has more stamps than most people have in theirs'), and now has an apartment in San Francisco.

 

Luisa Moreno is an ex-military person (I do not recall if it was ever mentioned if she was enlisted or an officer), who, because of an issue involving corruption, moved from the military to the police. Specifically the Mexican Federal Police. She has a strong sense of honor, and a need to serve her country. This is difficult, in some ways, when that country is Mexico, and corruption is rampant. Especially with how much control the drug cartels have.

 

Others: Ryan, Jill, Aurora, and others are members of the tour group. And, as might be expected, lesbians. Jill and Ryan are friends who may or may not want to be more than friends. Aurora is described as an African-American woman with a large Mohawk, is in a wheelchair, and is on the older side of the tour members.

Javier Villalobos, and Mrs. Villalobos. Mrs. Villalobos is Luisa’s next door neighbor and Javier is her grandson (Mrs. Villalobos grandson, not Luisa’s grandson) who works as a vender near Chichén Itzá. Mrs. Villalobos keeps trying to set Luisa and Javier up.

Director Chavez is Luisa’s boss in the Mexican Federal Police.

Ruben Huerta works in the Records Management. The first coworker to be friendly to Luisa. The others jeer and leave rats on her desk.

 

Romance

The romance is different than ones I’ve come across before (I’ve a vague feeling that I have used this expression relatively numerous times this year). It’s one of those that seemed doomed from the start. Being, as it did, start with a ‘quickie’. As I’ll probably mention in the plot section, Luisa and Finn meet at the Dallas airport. At a bar in the airport. They feel a connection between the two of them, and they hurriedly act on it in the limited time they have before their two separate places take off.

 

Both go into it expecting nothing more than a fling, though it is out of character for Luisa to act such. But two events occur at the time of the 'quickie' that make them think it might not be a one time thing. They exchange telephone numbers, and Finn gives Luisa a pig (I’ll admit that I got a little misty-eyed, oddly I know, when that pig got handed over). That little pig had gone with Finn everywhere, all over the world.

 

As I mentioned, the romance is different than one I’ve explored before. Started with a quickie in a hotel room. Followed by telephone calls while both are separated by many miles (one located in Mexico City, the other in Cancun).

 

Feelings developed on both sides. And . . . um . . . stuff. I do not know how to close this section.

 

Sex

I sometimes have a separate section for this topic, and sometimes do not. Mostly so I can say something like “yes, there is graphic sex that takes place in this book”. And, so: graphic sex occurs. For some unknown reason, my life seems to involve reading books that have sexual encounters, mixed with ‘other stuff’. And those sexual encounters seem to almost always happen while I’m on the train. No idea what’s going on there. Other than something I previously mentioned, that ‘power play’ comment, I liked what occurred. And as I tend to say, that’s all I’m going to say on the subject.

 

Mystery/Thriller

Once Luisa starts her job with the police, she is given the task of continuing an assignment her missing predecessor had been working on. Investigating the Jaguar cartel and trying to determine who the secretive leader might be. Plus unraveling several other mysteries along the way. And this isn’t just something to say that Luisa is doing while Finn is off on a working vacation, Luisa is actually shown doing investigations and interviews. Putting the pieces together. Etc. And clues she picks up are instrumental in solving the mystery.

 

The thriller part . . . I’m not sure how to mention it without risking spoiler stuff. Let me look at how the book is described again. Yeah, I can’t mention what occurs. This is annoying. I kind of wish this was mentioned in the book description so I could then make comments on it in this review, but I can’t. Let’s just say that somewhere along the line, the investigation that Luisa is conducting, and the working vacation Finn is on, merge and danger explodes all around them.

 

Plot

The book is structured into days. With a chapter that takes place before the vacation in Cancun and one that takes place after. The events, not including those two other chapters, take place over a seven day period of time.

 

During each day, the women follow their separate paths. After arriving at her new job, Luisa spends each day investigating the Jaguar cartel, while Finn experiences whatever the resort has to offer. At the end of each day (sometimes during the day, and sometimes a connection fails to occur for the night call) the two talk on the phone.

 

Somewhere along the line the danger/element of risk ratchets up until the book turns into a thriller/suspense tale. I can’t really be more specific without being all spoiler-y and stuff. I rather like it, though. I can say that much. My heart was beating fast, my breathing, at times, was also kind of fast, my irritation level with humanity was at a heightened level (here referring specifically to the really annoying people who refused to stop entering/leaving/walking near me while I attempted to read). Exciting all the way around.

 

Setting/Location

In terms of setting/location, there’s one specific thing I wish to note before I move on: I did not realize that the first meeting between Finn and Luisa would occur in Dallas. I had this vague idea that they would first encounter each other in Mexico. Only reason why I thought that, I suppose was because I wasn’t using my brain. Yes Luisa is a Mexican Federal Police officer, but that doesn’t mean she is bound to only travel within the confines of Mexico. So . . . now that that is out of the way.

 

The book takes place in four specific locations, and three ‘additional’ moving situations (I won’t mention these specifically in a separate paragraph – I’m referring here to airplane flights, boat chases, and bus trips). The book opens in the Dallas airport. And a hotel in Dallas. Nearish to the airport, I assume. Other than conveying the idea that the people are in an airport bar, and in a hotel, which was done well, I had no real connection/feeling for Dallas. Nor did I expect to do so.

 

The second location that the book wanders around in is Mexico City. Completely, in terms of main characters, wandered around in by Luisa. Some things were added, monuments, the difference air has (humid; lack of – because of elevation) to improve upon the concept of ‘this is Mexico City’. I felt like I was in an apartment building, police station, etc., then out and about visiting a jail and then a rural town like village. The apartment building and police station could have been anywhere. The rural town location felt like Mexico.

 

The third location that the book wanders around in is Cancun. This is one of the few moments when a book wanders around in a foreign country, and I have firsthand knowledge of the location. You know what Finn does in Cancun? Stay in the resort, walk on the beach, and go to Chichén Itzá (which isn’t in Cancun, but is something people can and do like to visit while vacationing in Cancun; since it is a nearish Mayan city). So, my first hand knowledge is, for the most part, useless.

 

The family and I mostly didn’t stay in the hotel. Except for an occasional use of the pool, that is. It was connected to a beach, but none of us visited said beach. Mostly because the beach was said to be quite rocky. Instead we went to Cozumel to do beach/snorkel stuff. Which no one does in this book (nor should they have had to just because I did, heh; on the other hand there is a boat chase that mentions ‘a small island’, it’s vaguely possible this unnamed ‘small island’ might have been Cozumel – more than likely that ‘small island’ was Isla Contoy, or Isla Mujeres, especially since an island of 250 miles, Cozumel, isn’t exactly small. Hmm. Isla Mujeres looks puny in comparison to Cozumel on the map, yet has a given area of 425 miles – I give up. hehe).

 

Right, but a visit to Chichén Itzá did occur in the book, and I did also visit Chichén Itzá. I assume the book is supposed to be contemporary, i.e., sometime around 2015 or 2016. And I visited a decade or two ago (I can’t be more exact, it’s possible it was literally 2 decades ago). So the fact that one of the best memories of my life consisted of running up and down the temple stairs while everyone else crawled, while the same temple is described as being roped off doesn’t necessarily mean anything. Maybe it wasn’t roped off when I went, but is now. Allowing the vendors onto the land, though, is confusing. I can see them deciding to safeguard the ruins by roping it off. But to do that while also allowing vendors onto the land seems counterintuitive. Since there were no vendors allowed onto the land when I went. They were all outside the gate (being that these events of mine occurred 2 decades ago, my memory might be faulty; though there is a ‘gift center’ and like that is in the book, and in my recollections). And yes, there is an important moment when Finn happens to visit a vendor at Chichén Itzá, but she could have done that outside, since there is time spent outside the gate. So, long and short – I had a good sense of the pool area of the resort, one room (Finn’s), the beach area nearish the hotel, and Chichén Itzá. Also, the trip in the bus, plus the views from said bus (driving along, looking out and seeing really run-down, 3rd world like dwellings barely standing up), vividly call back memories of my own trip on a bus in between my hotel and Chichén Itzá.

 

Overall

Bah. Here I am doing a run through of my review to try to catch a few mistakes (likely failing), and I come to this section. And see it blank. Mmphs.

 

Overall, I rather loved this book. Somewhere along the way I thought that I might end up giving this book somewhere around 4 stars, or the like, but by the time I was done, the book was firmly in five star territory. So, um, I liked it, and stuff. Yay?

 

I liked this book. I recommend this book. If you want to know what Cancun is like outside of a resort, this isn’t the book to read. Otherwise, there is nothing to detract or keep me from recommending this book.

 

February 2 2016

Break Point - Yolanda Wallace Sports-themed lesfic is not my usual reading choice, mainly because I've always felt that sports action is much better watched than read. But this is book is set in pre-WWII Nazi Germany, a turbulent historical period that always lends itself to good storytelling.

Helen (American) and Meike (German) are amateur tennis players who meet regularly on and off court, in major tournaments around the world, and in bed. Meike's desire to concentrate on her singles career makes her dump Helen as both a doubles partner (for strategic reasons since Helen is a major rival) and lover. Meanwhile, Hitler wants to use Meike, who is physically a perfect model of the German aristocrat, for propaganda in furtherance of his dream of Aryan supremacy. Helen, on the other hand, sees herself being forcibly recruited by the US government to spy on Meike.

The main characters, Helen and Meike are inspired by a couple of real tennis greats of that era, and the 'greatest tennis game ever' played. The author's attempt to fictionalize the characters and the events that transpired are moderately successful, though sometimes believability was stretched too thin for comfort. Those times, it felt like the author was trying to place the characters in certain situations in order to fit the narrative, but the set-ups were not always believable or logical. E.g. Helen's cross-dressing, her spy training, her shoulder injury, her very careless reporting, in fact the whole forcing-Helen-to-spy-on-Meike situation, which just seemed like a totally pointless affair because why exactly should the US government care if Meike is a Nazi or not? Especially since the government's own spooks are so much better at sussing out the truth than Helen. Also, at one point, Meike worries about millions of her compatriots being killed or sent to concentration camps. That fact wouldn't have been common knowledge in 1938. Also, if I remember my history, the millions are Jews from other countries, not Germans. Oh and the ending is a complete fairytale, though that's par for the course for lesfic romances :) I also found it strange that Helen has an agent representing her but no coach. As for the romantic aspect, I can't really say that there was much development, as the main characters seemed to just love each other from the start, and only their careers got in the way of their relationship.

I was almost ready to write this off by the 60% mark but what totally saved it for me is the final third act, which saw some furious action and lots of drama on and off court. And of course, the greatest game ever played. In summary, totally get this if you're a lesfic fan who likes some intrigue, some danger, some loving, and some awesome tennis!

4 stars

P.S. YA fans might also like the book. For some reason, probably because of the way they're written, both of the leads appeared to me as YA rather than the twenty-somethings they're supposed to be.

ARC Received from Netgalley

Meredith (a Vietnam medical vet) is a grandmother to Jordan, who is an outspoken opponent of war and student at Berkeley. They are preparing to go on a road trip together which is what they do yearly over the summer to live and work in a new place of Jordan's choosing. I thought it was an interesting concept and really liked their interactions from the start, though it seemed highly unlikely Jordan would pick out the town where Meredith's former flame lived. It's possible I missed a reference in the narrative as to why she picked that place in particular, but I don't recall it. I could be wrong about that though.

Really well-developed story with Meredith's past that is told to her granddaughter during their travels. You learn about Meredith's evolving relationships with her future husband George as well as a woman she considers the love of her life. However, this book is primarily about the acceptance of yourself as well as learning to live with the judgment of others. The second half is more focused on Jordan and her need to determine if she is capable of living with people's perceptions and her ability to be satisfied living with a disabled veteran and the challenges associated with that. There's a lot of growth exhibited by the main and secondary characters, although I would have been happier with a little more transition for Jordan, in particular. She started the story being very gung ho about being anti-war and very outspoken then quickly changed course after moving to this new town with her grandmother and meeting Tatum, a local veteran. I genuinely liked the person she became during this summer, but I would have liked witnessing more of an arc. Aside from that, very well done with believable characterizations and conflicts.

This is a story of love and loss. However, it is more about the decisions we make in life and how those decisions involve not just our happiness but our fear of recrimination. It's about our ability to be self-aware enough to see our own shortcomings, and what we are prepared to live with in the face of imperfect circumstances. I've only read one other Yolanda Wallace book at this point, but I will definitely be picking up another one, as I enjoyed what she was able to accomplish with this one.

New features this year:

-a return to judging which are the “best” (why not? I’m no more unqualified than anyone else.)

-bonus features of Best of 1813 and Best of 2113.

-the author’s original title for their book, if I was able to discover it.

-I will disclose when my opinions are influenced by nepotism and intrigue, which is more than a real reviewer will do.

-as you can see, I'm using BookLikes now, and this will be a series of posts instead of one really long Facebook note.

 

Best of 2013: FICTION

 

Clearly I did not read very many novels for grown-ups that were published in 2013, but I did stumble across a few things that were extremely good.

 

The Top Two plus my handsome cat.

 

Top Five:

 

I Know Very Well How I Got My Name by Elliott DeLine

I could say that this was the best novel of 2013, but that would be a charming understatement. How about one of the best novels of any year? It’s about a kid growing up transgender, although there are many are other elements to the story. I wrote a full review here.

 

Love Minus Eighty by Will McIntosh (Author’s original title, and title of original short story in Asimov’s: “Bridesicle.”)

In a grim future, the dead can be cryogenically frozen and brought back to life—for a price, leading to an industry where dead women are revived for quick “dates” where they must convince their rich suitors to choose them for resurrection. This book made me think about questions like what is love and what is life and why we die and why we fear it, without ever swerving away from being a cracking good science fiction story. Also you don’t usually encounter well-written lesbian characters in science fiction by men, but here you do. And it had the coolest cover! There is a parchment wrapper that overlays the cover, acting sort of like a scrim on a stage—it's hard to explain, just look at these pictures.

 

 That's with the paper overlay on.

 

That's with the overlay off.

That is the overlay itself. The whole thing is a book design triumph!

 

Nevada by Imogen Binnie

A young woman who’s transgender is living in NYC in the recent past and working at the the Strand, but then her life becomes completely unglued and she goes on a journey. Loved it. I wrote a full review here.

 

News From Heaven: The Bakerton Stories by Jennifer Haigh

Haigh’s awesome novel Baker Towers was set in a poor mining town, and she returns to the same setting and some of the same characters with these stories. I’ve mostly thrown in the towel on contemporary literary fiction, but Haigh is a subtle and wonderful writer. The story that stuck in my head the most was about a Bakerton girl who goes to work in New York City as a maid to a wealthy Jewish family. I liked having read Baker Towers first, but I think these would stand alone.

 

Artificial Gods by Thomm Quackenbush

Full disclosure: I know this writer slightly. A college student in downstate New York encounters some strange phenomena that she can’t explain—could there be aliens among us? Full review here.

 

What Else?

 

Dr. Sleep by Stephen King

It’s a sequel to The Shining, all about Danny when he is all grown-up and an alcoholic himself! The first couple chapters were kind of gross and then after that it was strangely non-scary with somewhat unthreatening villains/monsters, which suited me fine. It’s basically an unrelated story with some Shining-connected material thrown over it, also okay by me. My favorite part by far was seeing the characters who were in AA changing their lives aided by the fellowship of other alcoholics. There was an incident that Danny was haunted by and felt guilty about, and I kept thinking that he was overreacting and every addict has a story like that or far worse. Then this issue was beautifully addressed in the very end. Look, this novel is not as good as The Shining, and how could it be, but I quite enjoyed reading it.

 

Murphy’s Law by Yolanda Wallace

I love reading about mountain climbing, and this lesbian romance is set on a mountain climbing expedition in the Himalayas, so it was perfect for me. I expected headstrong climbers, terrible weather, low oxygen, life-and-death situations, and lots of smoldering glances. I was not disappointed!

 

Hit Me by Lawrence Block

I’m a big fan of the Keller series, about a stamp-collecting hired killer, and this is the latest installment. They don’t call Block a Grand Master of Mystery for nothing!

 

The Arrivals by Melissa Marr

People from all time periods who may have died are mysteriously transported to a world full of magical hazards. Right after I read this book, I read an essay by Robert Silverberg in Asimov’s that was about translating Westerns into science fiction by just changing the names (like “horse” into “greeznak”) and whether true conceptual originality is even possible. Those concerns are all extremely relevant to this novel.

 

Next Up: 2013 YA

 

In the middle of a busy airport and just about to catch a flight, a woman suddenly suffers total amnesia. The premise is a bit far-fetched but once you get past that, its a light, enjoyable read. Not much goes on until her memories return in full force, and suddenly she needs to face a life altering choice.