Unfortunately this was my least favorite Galli book. I just didn't seem to be as 'in' it as some of the others. Though still a 4 star work. Heh, in a way that says something, that I feel let down. And it's a 4 star work. I'd been giving out 5 stars to Galli's work for last few. So it is a let down to fall all the way to 4. heh.

This is another one where reading another book with vaguely similar premise, only vaguely mind, can have an impact on the book read later. I recently read a book set at a ski mountain where two women hook up. Well, Mending Defects is set at a ski mountain where two women hook up. And, well, that's basically the entirety of the similarity. Trails Merge was about a family owned and run ski resort outside Chicago that seemed to mostly consist of family and a few strays. Mending Defects involves a town in Colorado near Denver, which happens to have a ski trails set up nearby, but the book is mostly about Aspen, the town, and not Aspen, the ski resort.

So. Character 1: Glory Eiben is an accountant and on the counsel (I forget if it was the "town" counsel or the "school" counsel, though everything seemed tied to school stuff). She is also one of those people who wouldn't have made it to age two if she had been born one year earlier. Then she wouldn't have made it much past age 17. But she's still alive and slowly moving around at the ripe old age of 30. The advances of medical science keeping her alive with her genetic heart defect. Her outward personality is one of a calm laid back person, which mostly matches her inner person. Though she can be stubborn, and is really intent on trying to deflect, as much as possible, the fact that has has this medical issue. So much so that she can stubbornly put herself into health risks simply because she finds herself near someone who does not yet know she has this medical problem. Though they kind of notice when Glory's fingers and lips turn blue.

Character 2: Beatrice L. Coleridge, better known as Lena, was a school principal back in Baltimore. Now she's the school principal at the high school in Aspen. She's roughly 40. I think she might be exactly 40, but not certain. Her last long term girlfriend was about 5 years her junior. And acted mature all the way up to seconds after commitment ceremony was over. At which point she reverted to her true nature of being a spoiled brat. Naturally this causes Lena to be leery of anyone younger than her, at least in terms of potential romantic entanglements.

So. Book opens with Glory noticing that there's a woman standing around over at the house next door. And finally realizes that all those moving vans were not in fact related to the old owners of the place. At least the woman standing there doesn't look like a member of the old owners family. So Glory does the neighborly thing - grab a bunch of food she herself made, tossed it into a picnic basket (or whatever she tossed it into), filled a thermos with coffee, and slowly walked over to her new neighbors house. With one or more pauses on the way. To rest. Lena's kinda standoffish but eventually allows Glory to give her the stuff.

This is a slow burn kind of romance. Small town. Neither immediately admits 1) lesbian; 2) any romantic interest in the other. Though they eventually do so. But even when that occurs, things still move like molasses.

Some of Lena's thoughts are relayed through a journal she is keeping, so the book is a hybrid. Mostly a one person point of view book, from the point of view of Glory, but not completely. Since events would unfold, seen from Glory's POV, then, occasionally, some of Lena's thoughts are revealed through a journal. ( )

Heart patient falls in love with a new neighbour. sweet and lovely. the usual girl meets girl, some secret keeps them apart, they overcome it and all live happily ever after. easy read, well written. ( )