Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #873952 in Books
• Published on: 2005-09-17
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

Fantastic
I've owned this book for about a year, but put off reading it because I wasn't looking forward to the angst. Was I ever wrong! I loved this book. Turning Tides is the story of 2 co-workers who fall instantly in lust, but fight it as hard as they can. Allison fights her attraction to MJ because MJ is her boss & Allison doesn't think workplace romances are a good idea. Allison also has issues with controlling, domineering people, and MJ is the most controlling, domineering person Allison has ever met.

MJ is emotionally damaged/stunted and terrified to risk even the smallest chance of being hurt. She compensates by being one of the nastiest b*tches I've ever encountered in a book. I did not like her at all. Naten does a good job of revealing the reasons for MJ's nastiness. She also begins to redeem the character by showing MJ grappling with her own demons & trying to change her ways. MJ desperately wants not to hurt Allison, but does so everytime she tries to protect her own heart. Angst ensues.

Naten does an excellent job of showing how MJ is unable to stop herself from destroying the thing she wants most. She is emotionally paralyzed; she sees the train wreck coming & knows what to do to avoid it, but cannot force herself to act. It takes Naten 300 pages and 2.5 years to change MJ's behavior, which seems about right. Anything less would have been way too easy. Frankly, MJ deserves to suffer after the way she treated Allison.

I also liked the fact that MJ & Allison fight falling in love not because they are afraid to be labeled as lesbians, but because they are screwed up lesbians who need therapy. Lots of therapy. The only thing I found less than satisfying in this book was the awkward way Naten worked the "turning tides" phrase into her prose. The phrase shows up about 6 times in the last 50 pages, and brought the beautiful flow of Naten's words to a screeching halt every time. Other than that, the book was very well written, had no glaring editorial errors, and featured well-developed characters who went through believable emotional growth. Definitely worth the read, even for those of us who try to avoid angst-fests.

A character-driven novel with real depth
Turning Tides is not lesbian genre fiction; this is literary fiction about lesbians. It's romantic, but it's not a romance. It's a character study with a tight plot and genuine emotional resonance. Even the minor characters are fully-realized and developed. I highly recommend Turning Tides. I know that I will read it more than once, and that it will have a permanent place in my library. This is a book to keep, not to sell on to Amazon Marketplace. I hope that A. K. Naten will publish again soon, but in the meantime, I know that she writes online at the Academy of Bards. I also read her work at [...].

A Must Read!!!
This book is a must read for all lovers of romance, gendre notwithstanding. As a first time Writer Ms. Naten hits the nails squarely on the head in taking the reader through the emotional journey that the two principal characters MJ and Allison must go through before the clever ending. I would recommend this book unconditionally. I look forward to more books from Ms. Naten.