Damage Control by Jae

2.5 Stars

The Hollywood Series - Book 2

What a disappointment.  This is an f/f romance novel. It is 350 pages long.  I was 70% in before one of the main characters kissed the other main character.... on the cheek.  *eyeroll*   There's slow burn and there's almost stopped,

Y'know, the majority of the f/f romances I've read spend an awful lot of time with their characters indulging in the same internal monologues over and over and over again.  Is this a feature of the f/f romance?  If so.. me no likey.  None of them seem truly happy at all. 

Now, Jae can write, but if I'm honest, we don't need to have every movement of the characters detailed.  Step by step construction of sandwiches for instance.  There was just a lot of faffing about while one character discovers and finally admits that she's a lesbian and the other character discovers that maybe the job isn't everything.  Sort of.  There was no real plot to my mind.  Just a series of incidents along the way to the couple getting together, coming out and maybe an HAE?  I'm sure the author intended an HAE but I wasn't convinced. 

I will say that the one sex scene was extremely well written, steamy and hot.  It just seemed to take FOREVER for the couple to get to any place intimate!  Even when they were supposed to be baring their inner thoughts and souls earlier in the book, it didn't feel that way. 

And one of the weirdest things.  One of the MCs, Lauren, the PR person, had this thing where she would cough a little when she was tired.  I'm sure it was meant to be a cute little quirk, but all I could think of every time it was mentioned all I could think of was Love Story and kept expecting her to be diagnosed with cancer. It really was unsettling.

Anyway, despite seeming to have all kinds of tropes I like, this was a big disappointment for me. It felt more like Grace's sexual discovery and coming out story rather than Grace and Lauren's love story. 

Seduction for Beginners by Jae

Seduction for Beginners is a short story that I read last night when I couldn't decided what book I wanted to read next.  I haven't included it in my lists as a book read, because honestly. at less than 15,000 words, it's not really a book in my mind.

Anyway, this was a really cute, sexy story about the first time a couple gets intimate, all the way.  And it was truly the best of the lesbian romance stuff I've read lately.  There was really no angst, there was no dead previous partner, no deathly diseases, no crazed exes, no heart-broken character.  Annie, half of the couple, is only recently come out (there was a book that preceded this story, but I've not read it.) and her partner, Drew is the more knowledgeable one.  Drew is letting Annie be the guide in the physical aspects of this relationship, taking things at the speed she's comfortable with.  And now, Annie has decided that it's time to go all the way, as we used to say back in the day.  :)

It was cute, it was sexy, it was fun and I really liked the author's voice.  Now, if only her books were a reasonable price or would go on sale, I'd read more of her!  :)