Customer Reviews

Blessed Twice

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I've never posted a review on Amazon yet but Lynn's latest book, Blessed Twice, has compelled me to do so. I have read all of Lynn's books and this one is her best in my opinion. It still contains her wonderful sense of humor and we get to visit with some of the Virginia Friends. But it also gives us a different dimension as we see both Briony and M struggle and then deal with the healing process of the issues they face through patience, compassion and love. You can't help to also fall in love with Briony's son Caleb as you witness his wonderful friendship with Hank, a friend who has his own special needs.
As with any Lynn Galli book, she gives us humor, a wonderful storyline where I couldn't put the book down until it was finished and the sex scenes in this book were more special with Briony trying to deal with the loss of her 1st partner and M discovering love for the first time. Plus the added bonus about this book is I was educated about a real life issue as we follow M through her healing process. I laughed, I cried and I loved the support and understanding provided by Jessie, Quinn and Willa to both Briony and M. If you haven't read the previous books by Lynn, I don't think you need to read them first as Lynn does a great job of quickly explaining the role these 3 Virginia friends played in the previous books. But I strongly encourage you to read them as I've enjoyed them all.

I'm a huge fan of Lynn Galli's and would read anything she writes, but I didn't think she could top Uncommon Emotions. I was wrong. Blessed Twice is funny, poignant, honest, a little startling at times, but wonderful overall. Like all of Galli's offerings, there's nothing typical about this romance. The hilarious dating scenes are worth the price of the book alone. And as always, any visit with the friends in Virginia is an enjoyable read.

Lynn Galli has graced us with another winner. "Blessed Twice" tells the story of Briony Gatewood, a character from one of Lynn's earlier novels, "Imagining Reality." Briony is a widow; her partner died in a rock climbing accident several years ago, so she and her son move to Virginia for a new start in life. At the university, Briony meets the enigmatic M. That's right, M. And not the M from James Bond, either!

M is a most interesting character. Seemingly cool and aloof with her colleagues, she shines in the classroom with her students. Briony and M are roped into team-teaching a summer graduate class, and Galli takes it from there.

As Briony's friendship develops with M, the VA friends set her up on a series of disastrous blind dates. More and more, Briony realizes that she wants and desires M.

M is not sure she can reciprocate. She's toting her own personal baggage, traumas from the past which have colored the present and jeopardize her future with Briony.

I have to hand it to Galli. She's come up with another solid novel of longing and love.

Kudos, gal! You sure deserve it.

There's a lot I like about Blessed Twice. The story is mostly told in first-person from Briony and I find her a thoroughly enjoyable character. I particularly love her sarcastic streak and her wry sense of humor. And I think her interactions with others, from her coworkers to her son, are generally quite believable; one thing I like about all the Lynn Galli books I've read is that the characters have realistic lives beyond their romances.

One of the things I like most about this book is that it very deliberately shows a nontraditional path for relationships, consciously valuing emotional intimacy over sex (not that there isn't a sex scene or two by the end). As is discovered early in the book, M has serious issues with physical contact of any kind, which makes her quite reluctant to start a relationship even when she knows that Briony likes her as much as she likes Briony. So when their relationship does start, there is very little physical contact. They'll spend a day together doing something they enjoy, talk and enjoy each other's company, and maybe hold hands once or twice. Yet Galli uses this limited physical contact to give added weight to the contact that does occur, so that a hand lightly brushing across someone's arm or cheek becomes both important and sensuous. I think this book shows a delightfully different path that couples can take (and as I said, there are sex scenes by the end).

Spoiler warning for anyone who cares: M's social awkwardness and issues with physical contact are attributed to her being regularly molested as a prepubescent foster child. Having more close experience than I would wish on anyone with both sexual abuse and autism, I feel that some aspects of her character are perhaps more indicative of high-functioning autism or asperger's syndrome than sexual abuse, which makes M's character a bit distracting for me at times. For example, autism of all sorts is characterized by social awkwardness/ inability to relate to peers, which M definitely exhibits, and a number of people with high-functioning autism or asperger's are exceedingly brilliant, which M certainly is. Some autistic people even have issues with physical stimuli (like being touched). And while most sexually abused people I know have issues with intimacy and sex, they don't have nearly as much generalized social awkwardness or overall phobias about touch as M shows. The social awkwardness may be supposed to be from her years being largely neglected in foster care and juvie, but I'm not sure. In any case, the explanations for M's oddities come off as not quite convincing. I think the oddities themselves are quite intriguing; it's just their explanations that I find a bit unconvincing.

This book is lovely, the characters M and Bri are very heart moving, the tragedy of their lives and how it affects their love is what makes this book so special, I loved it and i'm sure you will.

I had read Galli's Uncommon Emotions, and thoroughly enjoyed the humor, and relatively light hearted story line. I appreciate what she was trying for with Blessed, but have to wonder if she missed the mark.

Briony is a college professor who lost her partner three years prior to the beginning of the book. She is raising their son, and working as a professor in the Washington D.C. area. Enter M... not a typo. M is sullen, shy and introverted... all the things that attract a single mother still mourning the loss of her partner. So that's not terribly believable, but what Galli does well is examine Briony's desire to move past her loss for her sake and her son's.

As the story progresses, it becomes obvious M has a few issues, not the least of which is her physical inability to touch or be touched. It comes as no surprise this issue's root is a past of abuse. What does come as a bit of a surprise is the author's assertion that the love of a good woman (Briony) can turn it all around for M. Anyone who has ever known an abuse victim knows that is rarely, if ever, the case.

Furthermore, I couldn't help wondering as I read the book, what's going to happen when M isn't so fragile? When it is clear that Briony is attracted, in part, to M's vulnerability and tragicness, how will the relationship survive M reconciling her pass?

Lynn Galli has always been a wonderful writer but I feel this is her best effort.She deals with a very difficult subject and does an excellent job of it.

I was somewhat disappointed in Imagining Reality, though Uncommon Emotions got high marks from me; therefore, I was initially hesitant when I found that this book was returning once again to Virginia and the sometimes suffocating group of friends who bogged Imagining Reality down. I was pleasantly surprised, and pleased that the author focused this book on two characters only peripherally involved in "the group." It's not that I don't like the group. In fact, Galli has created an interesting and ultimately lovable group of women. But sometimes juggling all of those forceful personalities dilutes the thrust of her narrative line.

That was not a problem here. Briony only moved to Virginia fairly recently. She's friends with the group, but also feels comfortable telling them to butt out. Except even she is unsuccessful in enforcing her wishes when they seem determined to set her up on blind dates with hilarious results. Briony has recently felt she can move past her long-time partner's untimely death in a rock-climbing accident, and her son Caleb is encouraging as well, tired of seeing his mother unhappy. This realization on her part coincides with her being volunteered at a department meeting to teach a summer course with M Desiderius, an aloof and somewhat mysterious woman whose quiet competence, and warmth with her students and children endears her to Briony.

The careful and patient way Galli moves their tentative relationship along is a breath of fresh air. The supporting cast of friends lend some color, but never becoming overwhelming, or overtake the focus. Briony's gentle nudging, and M's cautious acceptance are endearing and tender, as M courageously moves past a difficult childhood, all the while helping heal Briony's own hurt. There were some somewhat awkward dominant/submissive scenes with M in a sex club that at first I wondered about, M's discomfort in the proceedings putting me off initially. But as the characters gained more context, they made more sense, and my fears were assuaged.

Galli continues to show great promise. This was a strong novel, with clearly told story, and I look forward to further growth from this author.

One of my favourites from the Virginia Crew. I fell in love with both Briony and M. I only managed to wait a week before having to go back and read it all again.

Galli is a master at combining humour and romance, and in creating rich complex characters that we can connect with.

This is the 3rd in the series revolving around a group of Virginia friends. I found that although you don't need to read them in order there is some characters development that happens from one story to the next.

In this particular instance I will say that I was really drawn into how the relationship developes between Briony and M. M is (for me) an especially interesting character one I would love to read more about.