Graphite & Glitter by Shea ConnorGraphite & Glitter by Shea Connor is her first foray into lesfic. The story starts with Adrienne Michaels shepherding her best friend and all her other bridesmaids on their bachelorette night of bar hopping. She’s the one responsible for making sure everyone gets back on the bus for the trip to the next bar. She’s not only the only sober one in the party, she’s also the only lesbian.

One of the bars on the route advertises an all-female glam rock band, and Adrienne finds herself captured by the bass player. Seeing this, the bachelorette and others decide to invite the band along for the party.

Things are definitely hot and heading somewhere even hotter! After this one night stand, the two women part, thinking that’s the end of things. Until it isn’t. The rest of the book is about how these two women grow a relationship out of that instant attraction and connection.

The Characters

Adrienne is an interesting character. She’s a good sport, and a great friend, although if any other friends ask her to be their maid of honor she definitely plans on passing. But for her very best friend, nothing is too much to ask. She’s an artist who gave up art for architecture in order to please her father. It didn’t seem to have the desired effect, though, because once she came out, things between them grew strained. She sees the love between her best friend and her new husband, and wants something like that for herself, so when Tessa hunts her down to offer more than one night, she takes a chance.

Tessa Smith starts the book off as the bad girl rocker who takes the opportunity for fantasy and fun with Adrienne. She knows it’s only supposed to be one night, but she just can’t seem to stick to that. Music is extremely important in Tessa’s life, and the only thing left to find out is whether music trumps any of the feelings that start to grow between the two.

The Writing Style

Connor uses third person to tell this story, and we’re limited to Adrienne’s view point. The story flows nicely, and kept me turning pages. After the sexiness of their initial encounter, Connor takes us on a journey to build the relationship between Adrienne and Tessa. There are some serious things that happen in both of their lives, and it makes both of them stop and think about what exactly they want out of life, and out of their burgeoning relationship.

The Pros

I have to say that this one night stand was extremely hot. I could feel the sizzle between the two women, and when they left each other the next morning, I wanted to smack both of them for not getting the other’s phone number. They had really good chemistry. I also liked how that transformed into a deeper kind of relationship later in the book – that part felt really sweet.

The Cons

I’m not sure it’s a con, exactly, but it felt a little weird to me to have the exciting sex start the book, and then kind of slow down to let the relationship catch up. I kept expecting more of the hot stuff later on.

The Conclusion

This book was a nice short read with plenty of sizzle that also didn’t skimp out on growing the deeper emotions. I enjoyed learning a bit about the music stuff, but also found Adrienne’s emotions interesting and genuine. It’s a sweet little pick me up that just hits the spot.

Excerpt from Graphite & Glitter by Shea Connor

Adrienne dropped the lid on the washing machine and pushed the button to start the cycle just as her phone buzzed in her pocket. She sighed and pulled it out, ready to answer yet another question about the wedding. So far she’d told two groomsmen – again – where to drop off their formal wear, given the church number to a wedding guest who’d lost an earring, and reassured the caterers that the final payment had been made and that maybe it hadn’t shown up on their end yet because it was Sunday, dammit.

Well. Maybe she’d kept the dammit to herself.

She braced herself to keep from unloading her frustration on the person contacting her this time, but the text showing on her lock screen, from an unknown number, just read, How’d the wedding go?

Adrienne still didn’t recognize the number, so she unlocked her phone to check the thread. Just as she did, a second message came in. It’s Tessa, by the way. Probably should’ve led with that. Hope it’s okay that I tracked down your number. 😉

Adrienne’s heart skipped, and she wandered over to perch on the edge of the sofa, staring at the words on the screen. Her mind filled with images from the previous weekend, Tessa spread out naked on the hotel room bed, eyes dark and dancing, lips swollen from their kisses, hands reaching out to pull Adrienne closer.

Adrienne swallowed against a dry throat and typed out a response: I’m glad you did. Wedding was pretty much perfect. Great day, beautiful ceremony.

Awesome! Glad you had a good day. Resting up today?

Adrienne smiled and slid back to curl up against the cushions. And doing laundry. Things are kind of a mess around here. It’s been a busy few weeks.

I’m not keeping you from it, am I?

Adrienne hurried to respond. No, just waiting out the laundry right now. Do you have a day off?

The day, but not the night, came the response. The band’s playing up in Kennesaw tonight.

Hope it goes well, Adrienne replied. She tried to think of something to keep the conversation going, but Tessa took care of that.

Look, I’m gonna be up front. I know last weekend was basically a one-night stand, but I’ve never been much for those. I’d like to see you again.

Adrienne’s fingers trembled as she typed out her answer. I’d like that too.

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Note: I received a free review copy of Graphite & Glitter by Shea Connor. No money was exchanged for this review. I will always review books as honestly as possible and on occasion I refuse to review books.