Olive Oil & White Bread by Georgia Beers

Publisher:       Bywater Books

A straight person would not write this book. It wouldn’t occur to him or her that there was a need to write a book about a couple that meets, falls in love, and has a completely normal life that spans a long relationship. Where is the story in that? Well, Nicholas Sparks might write it, but it would be short and poignant.

Gay people don’t usually write these books either. Their books are about “hot young things” consumed with sexy encounters that may turn into relationships, and that is usually where the story ends. Sometimes they throw in a message with the story and a romance. Or they write mysteries, supernatural stories, space adventures or whatever the genre and the main characters are made lesbian or gay, but really don’t need to be. Basically, the reader is getting a straight story with gay/lesbian characters and the readers like that because they can relate to the characters. That’s fine.

Then there are exceptions like Olive Oil & White Bread. There is nothing extraordinary about Angie Righetti and Jillian Clark. One is a salesperson and the other teaches elementary art. They fall in love, buy a house, then buy another house, acquire a dog, deal with family events (happy and sad) and confront what can happen to a relationship when it’s taken for granted instead of nurtured. That is what makes the book worth reading. The reader gets to see the couple grow together and apart and back together. They deal with situations everyone faces - the death and aging of parents, the differences in families and the struggle to balance work with home. There are the crushing effects of the losses of a beloved pet and a life-long friend. In other words, these are just normal people going about their lives. And that is what makes this book important.

If you have friends, family or anyone who “just doesn’t get” what gay people are about; if they don’t understand the importance of gay marriage; if they think gay people are a threat or different or whatever, this is the book you want to give them. This is the book that will show them that gay people don’t have wild and perverse sex lives (at least not all of them), they buy houses in the suburbs, love and screw up. In other words, they’re just normal.

Georgia Beers has many strengths as a writer. She’s written outstanding romances, poignant stories based on 9-11 and won awards for her books. Olive Oil & White Bread may be her gift for the gay community to the rest of the world though. It proves there just isn’t that much difference between us.

Slices of Life by Georgia Beers

Publisher:       Brisk Press

It’s always nice when a book, or in this case, novella, takes a different approach to the normal format and provides an interesting hook for the reader.  Georgia Beers accomplished this in her collection Slices of Life.

The collection provides a glimpse into the lives of eleven different characters.  Each of them deals with a situation that isn’t unique, but can be instructive.  There is the secretary involved with the cheating boss, a UPS delivery woman who fails to see her own attractiveness to others and a woman who realizes through her most important friendship that she needs to redefine her life.  As the chapters progress through the teacher, the barista, the landscape architect and others, the reader is allowed into the lives of every-day people, where nothing extraordinary happens, but something significant does.

Beers stays true to her device.  She doesn’t tell us too much about the characters, which is typical of many short story collections.  Authors often try to cram a novel worth of information into a few pages and overload the story with details.  Beers tells just enough to make the story work.  The reader doesn’t know a lot about any of the characters, but a sufficient amount to understand what is happening in that instant.  An instant is all the reader needs.  Each one is a “slice” of that character’s life, as if the reader dropped in for just a moment to witness what is happening.  The stories seem to tell more because each one features the character for the next chapter, so the reader is progressing through each link in a chain.  Eventually the novella comes full circle when the final chapter deals with the partner of the cheater from the first vignette. 

The beauty of this volume is that it leaves the reader wanting more.  Any one of the stories could be turned into a full length novel and it’s quite possible that the reader will want that.  The resolution to each situation is indicated but not spelled out, so you can almost imagine the reader saying, “But what happened next?”

Fans of Georgia Beers’ work will not be disappointed.  She proves again why she wins awards.  New readers should be intrigued enough to want to check out her other work.  It’s good to give the work of new writers a chance, but it’s also helpful to know which authors can be depended on to deliver a good story.  Beers goes in that list.

96 Hours by Georgia Beers

Publisher:        Bywater Books

Writing a book about the tragedy on September 11, 2001 will never be easy.  The horror, pain and suffering caused by the events on that day make it a topic that many don't want to read about.  It has to be handled with great caution to avoid being too maudlin or a nationalistic rant disguised as a patriotic story.  Georgia Beers used her considerable talent to approach the subject by dealing with a side event that reflected the best of humanity instead of the irrationality of the terrorist attack.

Erica Ryan and Abby Hayes are just two people trying to get to New York.  Erica is returning from a business trip and Abby is on another leg of her aimless wandering around the world.  Their flight is routine until they suddenly find their plane landing in Gander, Canada.  This small town finds itself inundated with people as US air space is closed and planes are diverted to other airports.  For ninety-six hours these refugees are stranded outside of the US as they desperately try to contact their families for information.  Their support system becomes the people of Gander who open their homes, stores and facilities to care for total strangers.  Erica and Abby are brought together by a special couple who take in four of the passengers.  Erica is a realist who doesn't believe in lasting relationships, but she finds the warmth of the Gander people reaching into her and she begins to connect with others in a way she hasn't felt in a long time.  Abby, an eternal optimist and free spirit, experiences just the opposite.  As she is drawn into the tragedy by the scenes on television and the fear of the people around her, she loses touch with her basic values and attitudes.  The women are drawn to each other for support, but they only have ninety-six hours and there is no guarantee that what they feel will last beyond that time.

Beers set herself a difficult time constraint.  Her characters only have four days to show their personalities, interact and create a plot.  Things have to happen more quickly and intensely.  The combination of fear and uncertainty from the attack and the confusion of being in a strange place heighten the emotions and the characters' willingness to form instant relationships.  It also makes all of it believable.

While this is a romance, it captures another story about the people of Canada.  A reader might think that Beers is exaggerating the openness and friendliness of the Canadians, but anyone who has spent time in the country knows that she did them justice.  That they would respond so freely to help the shell-shocked passengers indicates the quality of their national character and why they make such good neighbors for the US.

96 Hours tells a unique story that was lost in the chaos that followed the attack and it shows how life altering just a moment in time can be for people who are caught on the fringes of a historic event.  Beers captures the confusion and terror of that time, but tempers it into a palatable story of some heroic people and two women who fall in love.  This definitely ranks as one of her finest books.

Starting from Scratch by Georgia Beers

Publisher:               Brisk Press

Georgia Beers shows once again why she has a legion of fans as she presents a romance that reflects the difficulties of two women who are falling in love, but who believe they are pursuing contradictory objectives.

Avery King leads a very limited life, but she likes it that way.  A failed relationship convinces her that being alone might not be so bad as long as she has her dog Steve to come home to.  Besides that she goes to work, visits her beloved grandmother, and spends time with a few close friends.  When life challenges her, she works through the situation by baking.  She's about to do a lot of that.

If there's one thing Avery is sure of it's that she doesn't do well with children, so she can't believe it when a friend calls in a debt and has her coaching a T-ball team.  One of the children Max is special though and he has a beautiful mother who becomes very special, too.  Elena Walker seems to be everything Avery wants in a woman, but she comes with a child and Avery isn't sure she wants the responsibility of that type of relationship.  Baking isn't going to provide the answer to this problem.

Beers shows her writing experience in creating this book.  She knows how to pace a story so that the events unfold gradually and at a believable pace.  Avery doesn't suddenly discover overnight that she loves children and events don't tie themselves up with the speed of a runaway train.  Everything unfolds gradually, including any conflict or resolution that arises.  She creates characters that the reader can not only relate to, but feel that she knows.  The dialogue is realistic and the events seem true to life.

Starting From Scratch is what Beers' fans expect from her, a solid romance with appealing characters and a great deal of humor.  A reader looking for mystery, suspense or adventure won't find them here, but will find a satisfying book worth spending a few hours with.  Remember there's a cute dog and a cute child and the book becomes pretty irresistible.

Mine by Georgia Beers

Publisher:                Bold Strokes Books

Courtney McAllister has been unsuccessfully trying to pull her life back together for the three years since the death of her partner Theresa in an accident.  Moving on is a hard thing to do though.  Therapy and her group for surviving spouses help, but not enough.  She’s still living in the house she and Theresa bought together and the memories come too easily.  Her friend Amelia finally convinces Courtney that selling the house and finding something smaller is a step in the right direction and that’s when she meets Rachel Hart, Million Dollar Producer of real estate sales.  Rachel is consumed with her career and not interested in long term commitments beyond her regular volunteer work at the animal shelter.  She has no family or friends to distract her from selling property until she meets Courtney.  Each of these women is searching for something that she can call hers.  Courtney is looking for a new life, possibly a new love.  Rachel is hoping for someone who will put her first and that might be Courtney if she can finally lay Theresa to rest.

Beers has mastered the genre of romance writing.  Another in her series of novels that explore the emotions that go into building relationships, once again she has created appealing characters tied together in a plausible plot.  This time she shows two women who have shut themselves off for different reasons and then explores how they help each other to change their lives.  Beers is a believer in the concept of the traditional romance formula, so the reader looking for that should find this book entertaining and satisfying.

Fresh Tracks by Georgia Beers

Publisher:                 Bold Strokes Books


What better way to spend a holiday than surrounded by friends in a place that you love? This is the opening premise of Fresh Tracks by Georgia Beers. What starts out looking like a simple story of friendships however, quickly becomes a study of relationships - how they change, how they affect the ways we view each other and how they can be threatened if they aren't nurtured properly.

Amy Forrester and Jo Cooper have been partners for many years. They share an extremely stable and loving relationship that is still nurtured with a healthy sexual desire for each other. No lesbian bed death here. They share many interests and friends and open their cabin in the woods to four of their friends to spend the holidays between Christmas and New Year's with them. The surprise addition of Jo's niece Darby to the mix doesn't seem to be a problem, at first.

What Amy and Jo don't know is that their friends are not as happy as they themselves are. Molly and Kristen are in serious trouble, struggling to restore a relationship that is being killed by overwork and misunderstandings. If they aren't careful, they can lose everything they share with just a few harsh words. Darby, who has a reputation for loving and leaving her women, doesn't intend to be the troublemaker in this situation, but finds herself drawn to Molly in a way she's never felt before. If Kristen isn't careful, she's going to find that all of the hours of work she's been spending creating a career to support her dreams for herself and Molly will have built a future for no one. 

Sophie is trying not to let her broken heart ruin the holiday for everyone else. She's struggling to survive her first holiday alone since discovering that her lover had been cheating on her and left her. She vacillates between bitter anger and despair that she will ever trust anyone again. Unfortunately, Sophie finds herself rooming with a woman who represents her own betrayal. 

Laura is living on her own for the first time since cheating on her unsuspecting husband with a woman she found out didn't love her after all. She's trying to cope with a new understanding of herself and the guilt she feels over how she treated her husband. What she doesn't need is the condemnation that radiates from Sophie, who just can't help herself. 

Amy and Jo find that, instead of a pleasant few days enjoying the wilderness with their friends, they have to deal with all of the drama spilling over from this group. They have to strike a balance between supporting their friends and letting them solve their own problems. More than once they're going to wonder if they should have just kept the cabin to themselves.

Fresh Tracks is a thought-provoking book. Beers takes a nice story and turns it into something more. All of the characters are likeable, but some of them do some very unlikeable things. What is interesting is the way the relationships are juxtaposed to force the reader to examine them as opposites. There are lessons in how actions that are taken for the best of reasons can sometimes lead to negative results and that people who make terrible mistakes can have other redeeming qualities about them. 

There is also a subtle message about the power of forgiving people for what they have done as a release for the person who is doing the forgiving. Too often in real life it seems easier to carry a grudge than to try and understand things from another person's perspective. Different characters struggle to understand that other perspective. 

The story in Fresh Tracks isn't new, but the way it shows the interactions between the characters makes it interesting. Beers always provides a good story. This one might also make you think.

Too Close to Touch by Georgia Beers

Publisher:               Bold Strokes Books


Too Close To Touch is about a woman who has dedicated her life to trying to please "Daddy" and lost herself in the process. In becoming successful in her career, she has bottled up her emotions until she doesn't have any, except anger. 

Gretchen Kaiser is an extremely capable corporate executive. She's the type that companies hire to come in and solve problems, which is exactly what she intends to do in her new position. She takes no prisoners and accepts no excuses. She knows how to compete in a man's world, but she has some problems being a woman. Gretchen runs her personal life with the same efficiency that she runs her office. Relationships are things that should be briefly experienced, conquered and then discarded to move on to the next challenge. The only real goal she has is one that it seems she'll never reach. She wants to hear her father say he's proud of the work she's done.

Kylie O'Brien is a caretaker. As an administrative assistant, she takes care of people. She's good at it and she's enjoyed her job so far, but this new boss has her stumped. She senses that there is a real person somewhere inside Gretchen Kaiser who wants to break out, but she's not quite sure how to help her do that. It doesn't help that her life-long best friend Mick works for the same company, had an unpleasant run-in with the new boss and uses every opportunity to try to convince Kylie that Gretchen is a hopeless case. Then again, Mick has an agenda of her own when it comes to Kylie.

Beers has created a pleasant romance that follows the traditional pattern - women meet, women conflict, women see if they can work it out. What makes this book interesting is the development of the character of Gretchen. Anyone who has ever tried to please a difficult success driven parent can relate to how she is handling her life. The question in the book is whether or not she can finally overcome that need to find fulfillment in her own life that her father never had. It isn't an easy struggle and that's what makes the book appealing. There are no simple solutions for Gretchen. She fights her emotions in a very real way and makes mistakes along the way that hurt Kylie. 

There are times when the way that Gretchen expresses these new emotions seem unacceptable until you realize what a struggle she is going through and the role that each experience is playing in the process. Often Gretchen is reacting in the only way she knows how. There are times when Kylie just can't deal with this woman, even though she realizes she loves her. Beers doesn't tie the story up neatly at the end either. She leaves some questions open, which is appropriate for her character. Gretchen herself becomes an open question looking for a lot of answers. This is a very satisfying and thought provoking book to read.