Jaye Robin Brown

Finally an LGBT novel that just reads like a good old romance novel and not like a platform for sprouting gay rights. This is a lovely book about two girls who live very different lives but collide one summer due to driving lessons and a meddling grandmother.
Piper is out and proud and has a dream to ride in the Olympic games Equestrian events. She's just broken up with her long time girlfriend who has suddenly gone straight and has lost her current horse coach , so accepts an invitation to spend Summer with her Grandmother, riding horses at a prestigious up state stable while she mends her broken heart.
Kat is not sure who she likes and is afraid of small town gossip but accepts the offer to teach Piper how to drive by taking her for lessons to and from her horse riding.
The chemistry is instant and as the two learn more about each other, make mistakes and discover how to have a proper relationship; we the readers are taken along for the ride.… (mer)

On the one hand, a very readable book -- good characters, good messages, good dilemmas that are thoughtfully addressed.

On the other hand, I have a really hard time with this sort of social drama book -- you see the train wreck coming, it's based on the main character's choices, they keep heading straight into those oncoming lights, and you're just waiting for impact.

I especially have a hard time with the social drama in this book because it feels so engineered -- not, perhaps, unrealistic, but very much an experiment we watch play out based on a premise that was kinda shaky to begin with -- if preacher Dad is really cool with Jo's sexuality and choices, why ask her to lie low? I am glad that he is eventually called on this behavior and she finds her way through, but it did kind of drag in the middle while we waited for the train to hit.

Also, I appreciate reading a book about faith that is so clearly embracing all kinds of faith, including goddess worship as not necessarily unchristian...at least, I like that idea, but it's never been a reality that I've seen. In my experience, Christians don't buy representations of goddesses for their faithful children. Especially not in Baptist Georgia. I hope this means that things have changed significantly, but I guess I'm babbling, so I'll just let it go.

Sweet girl love story. Main character who has confidence in herself and the love of her family. Those things are excellent.… (mer)