Product Description

Solley Rayner hopes a few weeks with her family will help heal her shattered dreams, but she hasn't counted on meeting a woman who stirs her heart. With her marriage in crisis, Solley Rayner brings her children to her sister Janie and partner Marsha's beach house for a much-needed summer break. But all hopes of rest and relaxation are interrupted when a movie stunt crew arrives to film a blockbuster in the bay. Professional stuntwoman Gin Ito, a paparazzi favorite rumored to be a killer in bed, heads up the team of daredevils. When Gin literally drops into Solley's life, how could the lonely young mother's interest not be piqued? And as for Gin Ito, what private pain draws her inexorably toward the small family and the woman who protects it with the fierceness of a lioness?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #135711 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 186 pages

Customer Reviews

Refreshing
I won't waste time rehashing the plot or give anything away. You'll have to read the book yourself.

At first, the book started slowly for me, but as I continued to read, the witty banter and the comedic scenes between the characters was very refreshing and made the book a quick read. I couldn't stop smiling.

I always enjoy a book, where I can get caught-up in the lives of the characters and for a first-timer McKnight did a relatively good job of developing the two main characters. There was greater development of Solley's character and I wish a little bit more had been done with Gin, but all in all Mcknight's narrative style and descriptive technique allowed you to feel what they were feeling. In the light-hearted moments you laughed with them and in their conflicted moments you shared their pain.

I'm always willing to take a chance on new authors, particularly if it's a Bold Strokes book and McKnight didn't dissapoint. For a first-timer this was a good piece of work and I'm looking forward to reading her next book, due out in December, Green-eyed Monster. I've already pre-ordered.

Amusing, fun and surprising, 3-1/2 stars
This book was a constant surprise, in a delightful way. Every time I thought the characters were dismissing deep emotions or weighty issues with some clever puns or banter, the author would suddenly use a metaphor or other turn of phrase to describe the underlying emotions and motivations in a way that you'd feel to your toes. It made for entertainment and pleasurable reading throughout.

The whirl of characters with odd names (except the dog, who probably had the most ordinary name of all: Nelson) came fast and furiously in the beginning as the relationships were established between Solley Rayner, her three children (Jed, Will and Della), her sister Janie, Janie's partner Marsha, and Marsha's good friend Gin Ito, all who will be staying at Janie's and Marsha's private beach house for some summer vacation. Solley is dealing with divorce from her roving partner Dan(ielle), and an impending custody battle, and has been beat down by Dan's unconcern, so is very hesitant to accept her attraction to Gin. Gin, for her part, is dealing with weighty emotions of her own, and throws herself into life with the children and the family as she experiences an emotional reawakening of her own.

The sisters' relationship is hilarious, and I am a sucker for family dynamics. There's also a third younger sister, Grace, who appears later. Apparently the Rayner sisters are notorious in their circles for their whip-crack changes of mood and firey tempers, and Gin wonders at Marsha's ability to navigate the rapids. I really liked how the characters in this book were allowed to have strong emotions, and to express them without the other characters taking everything entirely too personally, and without necessarily sparking an international incident with every raw outburst. They were human. They had faults. Sometimes they'd let it go, and sometimes they'd get in one another's faces. But they all also seemed to give the other party the benefit of the doubt. The author did a good job of portraying the messiness that is families, and the ties of love that bond the strong ones together despite everyone's foibles.

The writing and editing was quality. Overall the book was a lighter take on weighty issues. Motherhood, grief, relationships ending and beginning, paparazzi. It gave them their due, but also succeeded in showing that life can be good and move on from all that. It's only life, after all. An excellent book for vacationing or other escapism, and I look forward to further work from this author.

Humorous romance
Gill McKnight's book is a fun romantic romp. Like other reviewers, I wonder how McKnight came up with names like Solley, Gin, and Sniper. Watching Solley and Gin was heartwarming and heart-rendering. I rooted for them both, but understood their doubts and fears. Marsha and Janie were great secondary characters, Marsha especially as she advises Gin on the ins and outs of falling in love.

All in all, a quick fun read. I wish McKnight would've spent a few more pages wrapping up everything. Too many lesbian romances end with loose ends and unresolved issues, and that was the case here, unfortunately.