Under the Big Montana Sky by Jillian Carole

Publisher:              AuthorHouse

Sometimes self-published books come out OK and then there are books that needed help before they were published.  Under The Big Montana Sky is one of those.

Sarah Erickson and Alice Thompson have been email friends for over five years.  Despite their difference in age, they have bonded and Sarah travels to Montana to finally meet Alice.  She doesn't know that Alice is a very wealthy woman who lives on a large sprawling ranch or that she has a daughter Jo who thinks Sarah is a gold digger.  Jo is furious when she discovers that her mother has created a trust fund for Sarah to be able to pursue her art career and, despite the fact that Sarah doesn't know about the fund, Jo is determined to prove to her mother that Sarah is no good.  What Jo doesn't anticipate is that Sarah will win her over with her naïve personality and Sarah is about to discover things about herself that explain some unanswered questions in her life.  The two women are drawn together until a tragedy forces them apart.  Sarah returns to her home in Houston unsure of how Jo feels about her, while Jo's life spins out of control.  The question is whether anything can get Sarah to return to the Big Sky Country of Montana to give them a second chance at happiness.

The story itself is fairly standard lesbian fare and flows at an even pace.  The problems with the book could have been solved if the company had provided a decent editor to work on it.  There are too many grammatical errors, incorrectly used words, and poorly written dialogue.  Often it's difficult to determine if a character is talking to another character or thinking inside her head.  Then there are mistakes in details.  An example is when the receptionist in the law office tells Sarah everything about her trust fund over the phone, which anyone should know would be a breach of confidentiality.  The relationship is dealt with in a somewhat superficial manner because of a lack of development and the ending seems abrupt.  None of these are flaws that couldn't have been corrected or improved by a skilled person going over the story and making suggestions.  Unfortunately, that wasn't done.  Still, if you can ignore the mistakes, the story isn't bad.

Unbidden Desires by Donna Kelli

Publisher:                 AuthorHouse
 

Unbidden Desires is Donna Kelli's second novel and a continuation of the story begun in her first book Hidden Feelings. It is the story of two teenagers who are trying to understand their feelings for each other and decide what they want their roles in each other's lives to be. As the two girls struggle with their feelings and how to deal with the perceptions of society, it will remind many women of the struggles they experienced—both bitter and sweet.

Hidden Feelings is about Lori Hunter and Julie Conners, who have known of each other much of their lives and attend the same high school, but they don't travel in the same circles, so their contact has been limited. Lori is the star athlete, excelling at every sport she plays, and admired by students and teachers for her humility as well as her skill. Julie is a cheerleader and one of the "in crowd," beautiful beyond belief and chased by every jock in the school. It isn't until the girls end up as counselors at the same summer camp that they come to know each other, first as friends and then, startling them both, as lovers. As the girls try to understand what is happening between them, Lori saves Julie from a male counselor and a near-rape; then the camp closes and the girls return home with nothing settled between them.

As the second book, Unbidden Desires, opens, Julie and Lori are preparing to begin their senior year in high school and their confusion is evident. Neither girl is comfortable with the idea of declaring herself a lesbian and they are terrified that their families and friends will realize that they have more than a friendship. The reader will travel with them as they try to understand what this situation means, their attempts to transfer their emotions to boys, their concerns about what the future can hold for them and the undeniable attraction that keeps pulling them together even when they try to resist it. Meanwhile, the man who tried to rape Julie is stalking the young women and is threatening them with harm physical harm if Julie's family doesn't drop the charges against him. Lori's instinct is to confront the problem head on and Julie wants everyone to forget it and just let it go away, adding another complicating factor to their relationship. By the end of the book some issues are resolved, some aren't, but you will feel that you've taken a trip with which you can very often identify.

One minor problem with this book is that it's a product of self-publishing. Some of the dialogue needs refining and there are grammatical errors that a good editor would catch. The ending of Unbidden Desires indicates that there may be a third in the series. If that is true, Kelli needs to attach herself to a publisher who will give a book the polish it deserves. A hint to publishers: this is one you want to take a look at.

Spider Song by Susan Alexander

Publisher:                AuthorHouse


Joanna Bryce is a very closeted professor at a very conservative college and is having an affair with an even more closeted professor, Carol Davis. All of that begins to unravel the day Joanna walks in and finds Carol having sex with another female professor. While Joanna is trying to decide whether or not to salvage the relationship, Carol is found murdered in Joanna's apartment, and despite the fact that Joanna was out of town, it soon becomes clear that the police consider her a major suspect.

Joanna's life falls apart as she's put on paid leave by the university, not only for being a murder suspect, but a lesbian murder suspect; a promising new relationship with another woman is in danger of collapsing over the turmoil surrounding Joanna; her nerves fray after the buffeting from dealing with doubting family members, colleagues and friends; and the police refuse to clear her name even though they are having doubts about her guilt.

Joanna and her friends realize that they don't just have to clear Joanna, but need to find the killer, especially when it turns out the person may still be stalking Joanna. A set up to catch the killer nearly costs Joanna her life when she learns that people she thought she knew very well she may not have known at all.

Spider Song is a well-crafted mystery. The story moves at just the right pace to allow excellent character development and to let the events slowly unfold. The relationship between Joanna and Carol is revealed in such a manner before the murder to explain why Joanna might have had grounds to commit the crime if she had wanted to. The reaction of her friends and family ring true also. One very close friend nearly ruins their relationship when she has to ask Joanna if she is guilty of the crime. Joanna struggles to understand how someone who supposedly sees her as an almost family member could ask that question, but it really does seem the most natural thing to do in the circumstances.

Dina Miller is totally believable as the young woman who is drawn to Joanna, but isn't really sure that she wants to complicate her life with the mess that is swirling about the other woman. There is also an interesting relationship that develops between Joanna and one of her students who is the other major suspect for the crime. Together they show the frustration and sense of isolation that grow around people who are suspected of crimes, but can't be charged or exonerated.
 
The appealing part about this book is the fact that it remains a mystery until the end. The story evolves with increasing complexity and the twists keep you trying to figure out just who did this. There are parts of the story when the reader will almost believe that Joanna must have done the murder even when you're being pointed in another direction. At the end, the twist is one that you realize you should have seen coming, but you didn't. This is a book that just keeps pulling you in. Mystery lovers will like it.

Passions Unleashed by Donna Kelli

Publisher:             AuthorHouse

Passions Unleashed is the third installment of the story begun in Hidden Feelings and Unbidden Desires.  Lori Hunter and Julie Conners go to college, different colleges, and there is the problem.  While Lori pursues her scholarship at the state university as a member of the volleyball team, Julie will be attending an art college.  They have to maintain their relationship despite separation and lives that are developing in different directions.  Their emotions will be tested by people who would like to drive them apart and by creeping doubts about if they can trust each other.  Whether or not they truly love each other will be determined by a number of factors.

Kelli uses her books to show the awakening of sexual knowledge in young people and how they cope with their awareness.  The vocabulary and situations are designed to reflect the experiences of young adults.  The first two books were especially adept at this, but this book is a weak link in the series.  A good editor could have turned what is an OK book into one that has an intriguing story.  There are too many scenes in this book that do nothing to enhance the reader's knowledge of the characters or to move the plot forward.  For example, there is a long passage about a camp the volley ball team attends and all of the team building exercises they do, but it doesn't reveal anything that couldn't have been said in a few well chosen paragraphs.  The main characters are also becoming less appealing.  Lori is too out of touch about what is going on around her when it becomes clear that she has a problem with a team mate.  Julie suffers the most in this book.  She's jealous, frivolous and, when called upon to trust Lori, the girl she's supposed to be madly in love with, she totally fails the test.  Some of the situations that occur in the book aren't very plausible either. 

People who have been following the series may want to read Passions Unleashed just to keep up with what is developing with the characters.  The ending seems to hint that there will be another book about these two.  Kelli has proven that she can write an engaging story.  New characters might give her a better chance to demonstrate this instead of returning to characters who seem to be growing stale.