D. Jackson LeighRezensionen

I wanted to love this book so much. I mean, THREE DOGS?! And three RESCUE dogs?! I have two rescue dogs and a rescue cat - how could I not fall in love with this? The chemistry between Perry and Ming was pretty good, and there could have been lots of great interactions dealing with their differing views on dealing with the challenges of life, but that's not what happened.

One of my biggest pet peeves in wlw books - or any book, really - is angst or drama completely based on non-communication. And the way it was handled in this book was just too much for me to get over. It became unbelievable to me that the big secret had never been discussed and that ruined it for me. There were other aspects that bugged me but the not talking to each other was the biggest thing.

I've enjoyed other offerings from D. Jackson Leigh and I'll absolutely dive into the next book she writes but this one wasn't my cup of tea. I bounced back and forth between 2 and 3 stars but settled on 2 due to the level of frustration I felt while reading.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the ARC.

2.5 rounded up

I really wanted much more from this book. There was so much potential for deep, meaningful character study with issues of grief and PTSD but these things were barely discussed. It was like this person who meant so much to the characters - one of whom was her 11 year old child - was completely forgotten about, with the exception of the money that she left. Was just so much more superficial than I had hoped.

It's been many years since I read a book by D. Jackson Leigh. With all the awful news in the world right now - and my regular reading and watching very dark material - I needed an angsty romance novel to lift me up a bit. There are two things I love with my romance: believable angst and laugh out loud humor. Blades of Bluegrass wasn't funny but the angst was about perfect for me.

Overall, I enjoyed being on the relationship journey with the characters but did wish there had been more depth with regard to their connection and learning about each other. I would have liked to see them interacting more deeply and honestly about Teddy's dead wife and her grief. I think there could have been a better balance between the horse breeding/racing business, the military/congressional hearing arc, and the growing relationship between Britt and Teddy.

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed all aspects but did want more of the romance/relationship building than there was.

I'll certainly not wait so long before picking up another of the author's works!

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for the ARC.

3.5 rounded up to 4.0

Perry Chandler runs her life on a minute-to-minute schedule and seldom deviates from the schedule. She’s even published books on how the rest of us can be as time efficient as she is, and she has a podcast on the subject as well. When her schedule is blown to smithereens and her life turned upside down by her mother delivering three senior dogs to her doorstep. Perry is beside herself. She immediately calls the number the previous owner provided for a rescue group. When Ming Lee, a physician, shows up at Perry’s front door, there is an immediate attraction (but romance is not on Perry’s schedule) to help get the dogs adopted. Ming too has a podcast that is in direct conflict with Perry’s podcast. What follows is unthinkable, Perry bonds with the dogs even when they throw a monkey wrench into her tightly wound schedule.

Leigh has given readers a fun well-written romance with a few twists and turns and three lovable mixed-breed mutts. The characters are interesting, and Perry will make many of her readers shudder at her insistence that everyone’s life should be like hers. Both women are strong-minded and likable especially when Perry begins bonding with the dogs.

Leigh would have been better off with an editor who insisted she cut out, or at least cut down on the details of the Perry’s podcasts. Leigh has turned those podcasts into a preachy oversharing of information by giving her readers the details of several callers’ reactions to the day’s topic and interactions with other listeners. It won’t take some readers long to skip over those pages since they add absolutely nothing to the story. If Leigh had spent time developing her characters and ensuring that readers understood them better, this would have been a much better book.

If you’re a fan of Leigh’s books, you’ll undoubtedly love this book. If you’re new to her books, remember that you’re allowed to skip over those pages when nothing happens except for the author preaching at her readers.

My thanks to Bold Strokes Books for an eARC.

It's the story of Britt and Teddy. Britt is a US Army soldier who lost an arm in Afghanistan. And it's a complicated, very complicated story about why and how that happened.

Teddy is also in the Army, an Occupational and Physical Therapist who is assigned directly to Britt to help her rehab. She's also told to go live on Britt's grandfather's horse farm to rehab Britt. All because of who Britt's father is. They get closer as they work together of course, and start becoming friends, and then more.

There is then the big subplot of the novel. What happened over there to have Britt so dead set against everything that is the US Army (the brass especially).

The subplot was incredibly intense and very current (which is a depressing and horrible thought). And I thought that the two stories really meshed well together. A twist in one leading to the other and vice versa.

It was a really great read (not surprisingly, since I always like something about a D. Jackson Leigh novel).

I was given this ARC by Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.

4.5 stars

We are kind of in love with this book. We are in love with the love story (it is a love story rather than just a romance), the people and everything else. It is a book that wraps itself around you and warms many places within you.

Read the full review @https://www.bestlesficreviews.com/2019/01/ordinary-is-perfect-by-d-jackson-leigh.html

This book had so much going on. There was a bit of a age difference romance going on, each of the main characters had some serious baggage to wade through, there was also a bit of 'family member dies and relative meets the neighbor and falls in love' going on. Although, in this novel that is ramped up to 11.

Autumn's cousin (who was more like a sister) Becki dies, leaving an 11 year old child, Gabe alone. In her will she gives co-custody of Gabe to both Autumn and a neighbor who has been a guiding force for the both of them, Catherine.

They are totally different people. City vs. Country. Loner vs. a person who seems very much to be a people person, etc. And yet, they're thrown together to be parents for this precocious kid and find themselves drawn to one another.

I really liked a lot of the novel. Honestly, the only part that I really didn't love was the fact that the issues that Autumn had with some of the twists in the book never really got a fair shake from the other characters. She sorta gets told by secondary characters to 'grow up', that life isn't black and white, but shades of grey. Perhaps I'm too much of rules sort of person, but, I would have liked her issues to be better addressed j just a little bit by the end of the book, instead of having the thrilling ending that we got.

I received this book via Netgalley thanks to Bold Strokes Books.

So I knew going in that this was the second in a series and from what I read in Missouri Vaun's first novel, Take My Hand, that it might be interconnected and not just set in Pine Cone, Georgia like the rest. But, honestly, this book got almost another full star because, holy crap, it's super intensely interconnected. Yeesh. There are the same characters, and then there are the same characters in the same scenes from a different characters point of view and yet the scene seems only slightly different (because of the differing point of view only). Wow. Impressive is not a big enough word to explain all this. Wow.

This story is about Trip and Jamie. The Vet, and the new Deputy from the previous book. In the first book I sorta had the idea that these two would be in another of the books and I was right. But, I most definitely didn't guess what their story was going to be, and it was a doozy of a story in all the best ways.

They have quite the past and nither of them got out unscathed. And then add to that Petunia, the drug sniffing dog (and Jamie's partner) story. This book was chock full of goodness.

And with what was in this book about what might be in the next book in the series? Whew and wowza, that's going to be awesome. Bring it on VK Powell!

I was given this ARC by Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.

A lot of the time a book will have one of the women who fall in love be a rough and tumble type and the other much more a city type. I thought that this novel and how it changed that story line was sorta cool.

Teal is a now infamous (unfortunately) former Senator's aide whose life was ripped to shreds when her affair with said Senator was outted to the media (now there's another novel right there. :))

August is a former lawyer whose entire life is blow up (figuratively at the beginning of the book) when she turns in her partner (romantic and law) for getting into bed with a drug lord type.

So August is hiding out at the ranch that she recently inherited, and Teal is trying to disappear across the country, get away from the media and her story. But she nearly croaks when her car breaks down and it's August who saves her. And so starts an interesting but pretty normal sort of romance.

I liked the characters, both main and secondary. And while I started out not totally liking August's ranch hands, by the end I had really started to like them and sorta wanted more info on them too.

It was a fun read and he, it's always good to read a book set in the super hot parts of the country when it is cold as hell outside.

I got this ARC through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.

I started off rather disliking Marc. For many varied reasons. But it’s Bridgette who really pisses me off in this book. Talk about taking miscommunication to an extreme. She keeps herself bottled up tightly, leaving many to get the wrong impressions, etc. Including me, the reader.

I said in the last book’s review that I saw Bridgette as cold in the first book she appeared in, and then realized I was wrong when I’d seen inside her head and saw how emotional she actually turned out to be. But then I realized a truth. She is cold. To everyone outside of her. Not letting those ‘others’ know how she actually feels, and . . . etc. etc., I’m just repeating myself now.

And Marc, despite being a reckless manic seemingly eager to kill herself as a guard against feeling lonely and unwanted sure seems to keep putting herself into positions to be punished. Despite many attempts to blow her off by Bridgette, Marc kept going back for more. And then when she was at her lowest, weak, concussed, broken, whimpering in an emergency room, she clung to Bridgette’s promise to stick around. And, of course, Bridgette didn’t. Didn’t even say bye. Can you see why I kind of loath Bridgette? She’s in her own little pain filled world, acting hot and cold with Marc, and basically apparently not caring about anyone else outside herself. Because. She be broken. She watched her brother die. By bulls. And Marc rides bulls. This pisses off Bridgette. Not that she ever actually even hinted at what kept making her go all cold towards Marc, but, bah. Hot and cold. Hot and fucking cold.

Already knew Marc was crazy, I mean, you have to be to get onto a bull and ride one for money. Repeatedly. So she might actually be ‘perfect’ for Bridgette, eh? Since Bridgette’s a crazy little bitch. Even when she realizes where her heart truly lies, she still acts like a crazy little bitch. turning up at 3 am, not letting Marc say anything. Telling her to just listen. Then just kissing her instead of talking. Crazy little bitch.

Bridgette: You scare me.
Marc: Scare you? I scare you? Every time we get close, you disappear on me. I feel tossed back and forth, worse than the first time I rode a bronc. Is sex all you want from me?

Well. At least Marc’s been paying attention.

Bridgette, paraphrasing, ‘all I ever do is turn up, fuck you, and flee. Continue riding bulls and we are done. *flees after saying that.’ Self-centered little fucker. “God, she needed Marc’s passion. She also needed her trust.” Um, what the fuck? Why should Marc have any reason to trust her? Has she ever shown any sign Bridgette is deserving of trust?

Bridgette asked Marc to give up her life, her career, and in returned offered to give up . . . nothing. No, you can’t say something like ‘offered her heart.’ Not when love’s a two way street and both were giving up their hearts. So, to reiterate, Bridgette wanted it all. And was going to give up nothing to get it.

This is unfortunate. I thought I'd written something for this one before now. It's tougher to do so when days have gone by, 3 to be exact, and I'm 52% into the third book in this 'series'.

I'll start with that, with that '' around series. Skylar and Jessica are in this book as well, and in the third, but this is one of those 'switching the main characters' type series. Also tending to use some relatively minor character from the previous book as the 'star' of the new. Well, in this one the main character is Tory, the veterinarian from the first book.

Tory dates two women more or less at the same time in this book. Mostly without telling either about the situation. It's vaguely 'okay' since Leah kept saying, over and over again, that she just can't have a relationship right now. And kept pushing Tory away. Despite obvious feelings both share for each other.

Leah can't have a relationship, apparently, because she's only in the area long enough to put her mother into an assisted living place (she's got dementia, the mother that is), and find a new job. Elsewhere. As a reporter.

Tory is also dating someone new to the area, an artist-in-residence at the local college. Bridgette. To a certain extent I felt two things about Bridgette, 1) she might be an interesting character; 2) my she's cold. She's kind of an emotional basket case in the third book, so my second thought was wrong.

I've read 52% of the next book, as I think I mentioned, but I mention that again because I just now recalled that I kind of despised Leah when I first meet her. I'd forgotten that when she turned up in the third book. I didn't particularly like her sense of humor, her attitude or anything, really, about her. Playfully pointing a shotgun at someone who had just been shot by said shotgun, while giggling about wishing she had handcuffs so she could live a particular fantasy out in real life . . . which of the two women are the ones with some mental problems? Leah or her mother? I mean, shesh. That's just . . . disturbing.

The three books, at least so far as I can tell from the little I've read of the third, seem to have a certain formula. All three books seem to involve women, at least one in each book, who are 'players'. Either they, or the person they pursue, can't imagine settling down into a relationship. Skylar doesn't think she deserves to be in a relationship (book 1), and is a player. Leah doesn't want to be/can't see herself adding the "problems" of being in a relationship, while Tory, despite this going against her normal nature, gets honorary player status by dating two women at the same time. And then Marc, in the third book, is both a player, and someone who doesn't fancy they'll ever be in a relationship (plus she has a massive chip on her shoulder, and self doubt, like Skylar); Bridgette doesn't appear to be a player but she does suddenly find excuses to make her flings just be flings, and flees entanglements. She's got reasons, but . . it's fun to just word things the way I did.

So basically there's been only one character I've liked from the beginning, and while the other main characters have, mostly, grown on me (I've not reached that yet with the third book), I still find it interesting how much I dislike most of the characters in this series. At least initially. Except for Tory.

Oh. I forgot Tory and Jessica were in a relationship before Skylar hooked up with Jessica. So, that happened again in book two. There it involve Tory, Leah, and Bridgette. I keep forgetting if that's Bridget or Bridgette, but bah. That specific theme hasn't, as of yet, reared it's ugly head in book three. At least I only recall two people involved in it, romantic wise.

Well, this was a weird little write-up.

My first read by this author.

When the book started, I didn't particularly like any of the characters. I suppose it's good, then, that I made something of an impulse buy or otherwise I am not sure I'd have continued. Oh, maybe 10% chance I'd have stopped. Not much more than that. But the characters began to grow on me, at least the two main characters, Jessica and Skyler. Kate never really grew on me. I had trouble seeing her as more than an rich old overly-opinionated woman, who stubbornly got her way, put up a show of supporting otherwise, while at the same time undermining them and undercutting them. Specifically Skyler. And her constant jabs, teasing or otherwise, about Skyler's sexual relationships, and the implied, though not directly expressed and not actual, opinion that Skyler isn't good enough. At least in the romance department. So, yeah, Kate never grew on me.

So. Long long ago I used to read horse books. I've read all but one of Dick Francis horse books, about 4 by another champion jockey, something like James MacGregor (or he was the co-author), and one or two by a third champion jockey (Bill Shoewalter(sp?)). Plus a bunch of westerns, and other horse related books by other writers. So, in other words, I grew up reading horse books. Took me a while, though, to mix that with a lesbian theme. This is something like my *counts, 2 Mounted police books, 1 book with blind character, 5 in the Chase and Rowan series, 1 set on a ranch in Wyoming . . . * so this is something like my tenth book that involves both horses and lesbians (ETA: 11th, I'd forgotten one lesbian historical fiction that included horses as transportation). I do not really have much point, just - I used to read horse books, finally got around to trying them with lesbians added in and . . . now I've read ten of them.

So. First part of the book had characters that annoyed me, but I pressed on. They grew on me, I got interested in the story, then about the 88% mark . . . I started to get bored. Which is confusing since stuff happened. Lots of stuff. Just . . . I somewhat lost my interest. For a moment or two. Ten horse competition picked up and excitement and interest returned.

A good solid book, despite my reluctance to try it, then my initial dislike of the characters.

Very enjoyable romance with a bit of mystery and some horse racing thrown in. Topical and informative too. Who knew cloned horses are now on the way to being officially allowed to race. :) Loved both of the lead characters, but especially Mae.

Mae St. John is a young woman from Georgia whose Grandmother, the woman who raised her, just died and that, along with that fact Mae also finds herself with only a bit of hidden money and her grandmother's dog Rhett's 'trust fund', and she's being kicked out of the house she grew up in because it has been foreclosed on. Then, she finds out that her father (who she thought had died) is alive and well in another state.

Louisiana is where Mae, through her father, meets and gets 'hired' (sorta) by Whit Casey. Whit is a horse trainer and runs a magazine and website about quarter-horses as well. Whit has even more than that on her plate also since her father, Clinton, a very well known horse trainer, is in the early stages of Alzheimer, not to mention Whit is about halfway broken up with a semi-in the closet girlfriend and Clinton Casey has gotten in with the wrong people and is about to lose the farm if an up and coming horse with a good mom and pop doesn't come through in the races.

There were things that I really liked, things I didn't really like and then there was Clinton Casey's disease. I thought that it was really, really well done and well written the back and forth between good days and bad, heck, between good hours and bad hours, but because it was so good and well done, at some points it was heart warming, but more often it was heart wrenching and were a little hard to read.

On the topic of things I liked, I really, really liked the character of Jodi. She threw an interesting and different twist into the story, one that I didn't see coming and that made the story that much more cohesive.

On the other hand, my main problem with the book was at the beginning. It took me a bit to get into the novel because I thought that a lot of the characters were just really unlikable at the beginning. For the most part as the book went on I started to like most of the characters better, especially the main character, but, at the beginning I just couldn't stand them. I'm glad I finished the book, but at the time, I was wondering whether I even should.

Overall a solid lesbian fic book with a lot of information on horses and racing that I didn't know and a story that after a rocky start, held my attention.

I got this advanced galley through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.