Homestead by RadclyffeHomestead by Radclyffe was a natural choice for me. Radclyffe is a staple author in my lesbian romance collection. She is prolific, writes entertainingly and often comes up with interesting background stories for her characters. This book is no exception, although I must tell you that I was not so sure. Homestead is such a boring title that I was not moved to even try the book until I had exhausted all other authors (even some porn masquerading as romances, why do publishers do that? But that is a story for another day).

Anyway, so I finally tried Homestead, after giving it the evil eye for a while I began reading, and was pleasantly surprised. The title might be boring but the book was great fun. There were several hot women, two of them vying for the affections of the farm owner, and even some business sabotage. What is not to love?

On a side note, I can see that Radclyffe did some research on fracking and I was interested to see her take on the process. It wasn’t a large part of the book, but I like authors that bother to do research, it adds depth to the story.

The Characters

There were three main characters in this book and a couple of side characters. The two love interests, R Clayton Sutter (Clay) and Tess Rogers. The third main character was Clay’s personal assistant and bodyguard Ella who was also vying for Tess’s attention.

The characters were well-rounded and written so that they were easily distinguished from each other. I often find it problematic remembering character names so it helps when the characters are really clearly defined.

There were also a couple of side characters who were fun to read about and I would not be surprised to find out that Radclyffe was planning on turning this into a series of books with them as main characters similar to what she did with the province town series.

The Writing Style

The book was to the point, easy to read and never became dull. A great read for a long weekend of doing nothing but sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee and your book.

The Pros

Great characters, original background story, good research. Her male characters were written better than usual and wee believable.

The Cons

A little on the expensive side. It is a fine balance because I know that this is a niche market and the authors need to make money, but I consume a lot of books and would like to spend a little less money on them.

The Conclusion

Worth the read, even with the boring title 😉

Excerpt from Homestead by Radclyffe

Clay didn’t know how nearly fifteen years could vanish without leaving a trace of something – anything – that truly mattered, as if those years and all she’d accomplished amounted to nothing, but as the jet circled the Albany airport, she felt like she was eighteen again, on her way to her last summer of freedom before starting down the path her father had designed for her. She hadn’t flown to upstate New York that summer, though.

She’d gotten a new Land Rover Defender soft top for graduation and insisted on driving up from the Hamptons with her motorcycle in a trailer on the back. She’d also had a bodyguard in the front seat next to her, the one point her father had not been willing to concede. She could spend the summer at the family vacation home on Lake George, but she wasn’t going to go unprotected. He seemed to think kidnappers lurked around every corner, and she knew she could only push him so far. Besides, she’d figured she could lose Manny at will, and she’d been right.

Her father hadn’t wanted her to have a female guard after she’d has a no-so-private tryst with one of his aids the night of her high school graduation, and that had been a strategic error of the kind her father rarely made. Manny couldn’t follow her into the bathroom – and bathrooms always had windows. After the first few times she’d left Manny stranded, he’d given up and decided to enjoy the vacation. And so had she.

Those few weeks had been a beautiful lie, a summer idyll when she’d let herself believe she could be anyone she’d wanted.

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Book Info

ISBN: 9781602829565

Publisher: Bold Strokes Books

Radclyffe online

 

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