Uncommon Emotions by Lynn Galli

Publisher:                Outskirts Press


Suppose you were walking down the hall at work one day, minding your own business, when suddenly someone pulled you into a closet and gave you the greatest kiss you ever had in your life? And it was a woman? And you were straight? You thought. If you found yourself reacting in a way you had never felt before, you might have to follow those uncommon emotions to rethink your whole life.

Joslyn Simonini is a "turnaround specialist." She is hired by companies to tell them how to improve their operations and profits, which often causes employees to dislike her since they fear their jobs will be the first thing she will want to cut. Joslyn understands their feelings, but she's not there to get involved with their concerns. She's there to do an efficient job and move on, which doesn't require an emotional connection with the people she's dealing with. Until that kiss.

That incident begins the unraveling of Joslyn's world as she has known it. She finds herself working with Raven Malvolio the chief financial officer of the family owned business she's been hired to improve. A working relationship quickly grows into a friendship. Joslyn hadn't found previous relationships with men particularly dynamic, but her contact with Raven has her questioning not only her sexuality, but the ethics of her job. She finally feels she has met someone she can let tap into the emotions she has kept hidden for so long, but she has also discovered a secret about the company that could destroy everything. Joslyn and Raven will have to answer some difficult questions about the priorities of family obligations and professional ethics to determine if a relationship is possible between them.

Galli does a good job of building her story and creating her characters. Joslyn starts out as a very repressed character who gradually opens up as events occur. The opening scene of the kiss starts the book off with a nice comic touch without becoming slapstick and then plays nicely into Joslyn's overly developed sense of professionalism when she first meets Raven and suspects her of being the office letch. Incidents occur at a nice pace in the book and give the reader a chance to get to know the characters and who they are. 

This is Galli's third novel and she has developed the ability to write a good solid story with appealing characters that provides a few hours of pleasant reading. Romance lovers will enjoy this book.