West of Nowhere by KG MacGregor

Publisher:       Bella Books

Disclaimer:  There is a character that briefly appears in this story that is named for me.  The character was part of a prize in a charity auction in which KG MacGregor participated.  The only part I played in the production of this book was to ask KG, if she decided to kill off the character, not to make it too horrible.  I’m happy to say the character survives.

West of Nowhere is a romance plus a story about the ability of people to change.  Amber Haliday is an immature twenty-five year old woman who thinks she has found her place with her musician boyfriend, until he dumps her at a truck stop during a tour.  She is rescued by Joy Shepard, a Navy veteran who is on her way home after leaving her daughter Madison with her ex-partner, Madison’s mother.  This is the beginning of the lesbian edition of “The Odd Couple.”

Amber is self-centered, unfocused in her life and careless with herself and other people.  No matter how hard she tries, she can’t be on time or complete a task without making a mistake.  Joy is obsessive about tidiness and follows stringent rules that she imposes on every aspect of her life.  Her redeeming factor is that she’s as hard on herself as she is on other people, but that’s not very comforting to Amber.  Joy intended for Amber to be a momentary intrusion in her life, but, to everyone’s surprise, Amber gets along well with Joy’s father who is an invalid and needs help taking care of himself.  Reluctantly, Joy agrees to hire Amber as a caregiver and everyone’s lives begin to change.

This is a classic story of people who have a lot to teach each other. Joy needs to loosen up and Amber needs discipline.  Their opposite personalities working on each other eventually produce two better people.  Amber, because she is more willing to bend, will show the greatest change; however, she shows her own strength, especially when Joy finds herself involved in a difficult child custody case.

West of Nowhere is an entertaining story.  KG MacGregor knows how to spin her characters so that they aren’t annoying and her craftsmanship is impeccable.  A reader doesn’t have to worry about wasting money when it’s one of her books.

Photographs of Claudia by KG MacGregor

Publisher:          Bella Books

Photographs of Claudia is about the relationship between two women in two different decades.  Leonora Westcott is hoping to be accepted into a program for photographers and she needs to put together a portfolio.  She meets Claudia Galloway, a teacher intern, who agrees to become her model.  As their sessions progress, the pictures become more intimate and an attraction grows between the women.  Claudia is scheduled to marry a very wealthy man, so Leo is afraid to tell her how she feels, but Claudia takes the lead.  She decides that she wants to spend her life with Leo and returns home to tell her family.  She never comes back.  Years later Leo, who is now a successful photographer, agrees to do a friend a favor and take wedding pictures for a young woman who turns out to be Claudia's daughter.  The passion that was once there reignites, but Leo has risked herself one time.  Twice might be more than she's capable of.

This book starts off a little slow and turns into another "straight woman discovers she's gay" story.  However, it is well developed and tells a poignant story.  The women meet in their twenties and don't see each other again for a quarter of a century.  It's rather sad to think about what they missed in their lives, but there is no guarantee that their situation would have worked out anyway.  As mature women, they might have a greater chance of success.

MacGregor is an accomplished writer.  She knows how to give a story a sad twist without it becoming maudlin.  She also knows how to resurrect it into something happier.  The characters are appealing, the plot flows at a good pace for most of the book and it's an enjoyable book to read.  KG MacGregor is a dependable writer, so spending the time on one of her books really isn't a gamble.

 

Worth Every Step by KG MacGregor

Publisher:              Bella Books

KG MacGregor uses the beauty of Africa and the majestic setting of Mt. Kilimanjaro as the setting of this novel about doing something daring in your life.

Mary Kate Sasser feels a need to do something spectacular in her life.  Life in a small Southern town is stifling her and she craves adventure.  She can't explain to her fiancé and family so that they'll understand why she needs to go to Kenya and climb Kilimanjaro, but go she must.  Addison Falk is headed to the same location for a similar reason.  She has just finished her MBA degree and her father expects her to come to London and take her place in the family firm.  Addison isn't sure what she wants to do with her life, but she knows working for her father isn't it.  She decides that climbing Kilimanjaro will give her a chance to do something exciting and some thinking.  When the women are paired together as climbing buddies, they form a pact to help each other reach the summit.  That act comes to be symbolic not only of them achieving their quest, but finding themselves and each other.

There are three major characters in this story, the two women and the mountain.  As with all of MacGregor's books, the characters are well written and the story is solid.  It is the mountain that sets the tone though.  No matter what happens to Mary Kate and Addison the mountain is there hovering over them.  Massive and dangerous it represents the challenges they face and the decisions they have to make.  There is plenty of humor and sexual tension, but always there is the adventure and the need it represents in both of them to change their lives.  MacGregor has put her personal knowledge of that environment to good use in this book.

Anyone looking for a book to provide some hours of enjoyable reading should give Worth Every Step a chance.  Adventure, suspense, romance, sex, it has a little for everyone. 

Sea Legs by KG MacGregor

Publisher:             Bella Books

Sea Legs is about the lesson that most people learn as they mature.  Appearances are not as important as what a person is like inside.  Anyone who hasn’t figured that out yet hasn’t finished growing up.

A passenger cruise of the Caribbean is the setting for what happens between six women.  Yvonne and her partner Steph are in a long term relationship that is based partially on their different interests, so each has invited a friend to accompany them on the trip.  While Steph and her friend Natalie are enjoying shopping in the ports, Yvonne and her friend Kelly will participate in the sports they both enjoy.  When Natalie’s ex-lover Didi shows up with her new girlfriend Pamela, Natalie’s agenda changes and she sets out to win Didi back.  Since she and Kelly are sharing a cabin, Natalie enlists her to pretend that they are having a relationship hoping to make Didi jealous enough to realize she’s made a mistake leaving Natalie.  Kelly agrees to this ploy despite her growing attraction to Natalie and then quickly capitalizes on the fact that Didi and Pamela are confined to their cabin by two protracted illnesses.  As Kelly introduces Natalie to activities that she would never have tried otherwise, she hopes that Natalie will realize that there is someone in her future besides Didi.

The theme that runs through this book is appearance and how it can influence people’s perceptions.  Kelly is very androgynous and there is a painful scene as she is boarding the ship when Natalie comments about not being able to tell if she’s a man or a woman.  Throughout the story there are comments about how unappealing Kelly’s appearance is, usually from Didi, and there is a point where Kelly begins to doubt herself.  She’s willing to appear more feminine if she thinks it will attract Natalie to her.  Natalie is just as focused on her own appearance and repeatedly comments that what drew her to Didi was her stylishness and how much Didi did for Natalie to improve her “look.”  The reader quickly understands that Kelly is the much more appealing character because of her kindness and intelligence, which Steph and Yvonne recognize from the beginning, but it takes the other characters a while to reach that comprehension.   

Natalie’s character starts out being very superficial, but, as she comes to know Kelly better and opens herself up to new experiences, the reader can see her grow and come to the realization of how shallow she’s been.  Didi is the counterpoint who, with her constant needling of Kelly, practically drives Natalie into a more mature concept of what “attractive” really is.  Didi, who is supposed to be the most attractive and stylish character, is also the most obnoxious.  Her new partner Pamela appears to be rather nice and totally accepting of Kelly, which leaves the reader wondering what either Natalie or Pamela sees in Didi.  Although Didi softens at the end, it’s questionable that she truly understands how silly her attitudes are. 

MacGregor’s earlier books show that she’s always been capable of creating a good romance.  As her writing matures however, she’s developing more depth in her characters and complexity to her plots.  The books are still entertaining but have a strength to them that is more appealing.  Sea Legs should make you think as you enjoy it.

Sumter Point by KG MacGregor

Publisher:              Bella Books


Can an adult wild child and a woman who never really had a chance to have a childhood find something in common upon which to build a relationship? That is the story at the center of Sumter Point by KG MacGregor. As in most of MacGregor's books though, there is more to the story than there seems to be on the surface.

Audie Pippin and Beth Hester couldn't meet in a place less likely to spawn a romance. Audie has to admit her beloved grandmother to a nursing home after she suffers a serious stroke and Beth is the nurse who tends to her. The two women are separated by nine years in age, but an ocean in maturity and life experiences. Audie is a pot smoking, tequila drinking party animal who indulges in all of her interests, including casual sex with multiple partners. Somewhere along the line she has forgotten to grow up. Beth is a serious minded nurse who raised a younger sister and doesn't have time for fun between her job and furthering her education to become a RN.

Don't let surface appearances fool you though. There's more to Audie than is apparent and she shows her caring nature in her job as a veterinary technician at the local animal shelter. Beth is frustrated that she's old beyond her time and that she hasn't found a relationship that has fulfilled her. The two of them meet in the common ground of caring for Audie's grandmother, Violet, who is the center of Audie's universe and a role model from Beth's earlier days. As they combine to care for Violet, they come to learn about each other and discover that they each might be exactly what the other one needs. Things will not be easy however as Violet's health wanes and Audie fights the attraction of a more frivolous life. A crisis involving Beth's duty as a nurse may drive them apart or cement the relationship, but Beth isn't sure what will be the eventual outcome.

Sumter Point is the latest in the string of romances written by KG MacGregor. As usual in her books, MacGregor creates characters that are deeper than appearances. Both Audie and Beth are escaping from unhappy instances in their childhoods, but they've gone in opposite directions to accomplish that and they make an interesting contrast in coping. MacGregor also likes the theme of having women who are slightly separated in age and showing that these relationships do have potential despite their different places in life. What brings Audie and Beth together is their caring natures and age has nothing to do with that. 

Sumter Point also confronts the difficult issue of dealing with the elderly, the strain of having to commit them to nursing homes and, ultimately, facing the balance between maintaining their dignity and tending to their health needs. Anyone who has had to cope with a loved one's decline will understand Audie's anguish about what is happening with her grandmother. Beth's struggle to serve her patients when they no longer want to go on and trying to help the families to understand this is an issue that many readers will be able to relate to.

Sumter Point is not a sad or depressing book, but much of it will cause you to think. That isn't a bad thing. There is enough of the romance between Audie and Beth to keep you reading and the understory will have you considering many points. Overall, it's a book that you really should read.

Secrets So Deep by KG MacGregor

Publisher:                  Bella Books


There are many kinds of secrets. There are those that you keep to protect yourself and those that protect other people. There are the ones you keep out of pride, the ones out of love and the ones you keep out of fear. And there are the secrets you keep because you're professionally required to do so or you think society doesn't leave you any other choice. All of them have an impact on how you live your life and all of them are found in Secrets So Deep. 

Congresswoman Glynn Wright knows about secrets. She loved her husband Sebastian "Bas" totally and since his accidental death has tried to fill his Congressional seat as he would have. That means hiding her bisexuality from her constituents who tend to be more conservative. She has also chosen to cover up the fact that she is being treated for breast cancer. All of her secrets may become inconsequential though when her son Sebastian, Jr. "Sebby" tries to kill himself, again.

Glynn is devoted to her son, who she knows has been suffering terribly since his father's death. She will do anything to see him made well and decides to put her trust in Dr. Charlotte Blue, the psychiatrist who does his intake at the hospital, by revealing everything in the hope that it will do some good for Sebby. When Charlotte recommends a residential facility under another doctor's care, Glynn agrees even though she misses her son.

In her loneliness, she turns to Charlotte as a friend and it isn’t long before they develop stronger feelings for each other. Those feelings are going to be seriously tested when Glynn finds herself under suspicion in a courtroom. Now all will be revealed – her lifestyle, her illness, her involvement with Charlotte. Can she salvage her political career? Will this set back her treatments? Will she lose Charlotte? And, most importantly, how will all of this affect her relationship with Sebby?
 
KG MacGregor has demonstrated her mastery of the craft in this story. Her plot is not linear or one dimensional as in many books. There is the political plot of Glynn trying to do her job, the medical plot of Sebby's treatment and the love story involving Glynn and Charlotte. The separate plots flow together and wrap around each other creating a cohesive story with great reality. MacGregor's characters are extremely true to life. Glynn has weak and strong moments, periods of indecision when she's not sure what is the right thing to do. Charlotte had doubts about Glynn's innocence, as anyone would who hasn't known someone for very long. The reader can feel and identify with what these characters are experiencing. This is one of MacGregor's best written books and definitely worth reading.

Just This Once by KG MacGregor

Publisher:               Bella Books

There is always much talk about how romance novels are written to a formula—woman meets woman, an obstacle comes between the women, the women work things out. There is nothing inherently wrong with writing to a formula as long as the story is well told. KG MacGregor always tells a story well. 

Just This Once is the story of Paula McKenzie and Wynne Connelly. Paula is the assistant manager of an upscale business hotel in Orlando, Florida, and Wynne is one of the guests. Wynne is traveling from Boston on a regular basis to help with the merger of the company she works for with a much larger travel organization. The women are drawn to each other and begin spending time together at various activities. Neither of them believes the relationship has much future because of the distance between them, but they can't seem to resist each other. That is, until a secret that Wynne has been keeping comes to light. What seemed to have been a promising romance is destroyed by a lack of good faith…or is it? Finding the answer to that question becomes an interesting study in whether trust, once violated, can ever be restored.

This is not a new story, but it is one told with style. Too often writers seem to be in a hurry to settle their stories and they rush events at a pace that doesn't seem natural. One of the nice points is that MacGregor gives her characters time to develop their relationship and then more time to deal with the problems that arise between them. They don't disagree one day and suddenly realize the next that they are soul mates meant to be together no matter what has happened between them. The book covers a span of years to deal with the betrayal that Paula feels Wynne perpetrated. Wynne has to prove that she can be trusted again, and that doesn't happen overnight. MacGregor also manages to make both characters human and people that a reader can relate to. Wynne has made some bad mistakes, but the reader will recognize how these occur in real life when people lose control of events in their lives. Paula's reactions are also perfectly understandable and ring true to experience. What this book demonstrates is a maturity of style and life. 

This isn't MacGregor's first novel and it shows that she is growing into her storytelling art. It's a pleasant read and a well-told story.