What I appreciated about this book was how it showed two people learning how to reconcile their ideological differences in order to get along. Compromise is such a dirty word to most people (based on my personal experience, anyway) and the author tries to show how two people go about their struggle. It is one of the more developed lesbian novels that I've read. Too often lesbian novels are very short--under 200 pages--and do a lot of telling rather than showing. Aspen's Embers is just over 300 and most of the characters are well developed. The compromise between the two women reflects the larger struggle in the book regarding the forest: should it be managed for logging, developed for housing, or left alone? How feasible are each of these options in light of current economic realities? ( )