Customer Reviews

Christabel: A Novel

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Christabel, from the prolific Karin Kallmaker's Laura Adams persona, is a gothic romance, a tale of the supernatural and how an evil entity torments one woman's soul through generations. There are two stories told: first, how the evil found and took a young woman, Christabel, for his own in colonial New York. The second story is of the modern la Christabel, supermodel, spinning out yet another life to provide the suffering that the evil thrives on.

In Coleridge's version of this tale, even nature itself is evil (so green, so female), as is the witch Geraldine, who bewitches young Christabel with veiled references to lesbianism. Christabel is just a victim and the rescuer is Sir Leoline, who must fight both the witch and nature for Christabel's soul.

Laura Adams turns this story upside down. Geraldine represents the peaceful, natural world of the native Manhattans, and when the young Christabel meets the native woman, passion soon follows. Their joyous happiness is discovered and fouled by a demon Puritan preacher, who contrives Geraldine's downfall. Easy to do when Halley's Comet has appeared overhead -- blame it on the nearest nonconformist female and call her a witch. As the preacher takes possession of Christabel in the past, the modern day Christa has adopted desperate measures to try to break the cycle. An investment banker, Dina has renounced the part of her heritage that has passed down over time, but one touch of Christa's hand brings the power -- and the passion -- surging back. Defeated in the past, she arms herself for another battle in this lifetime.

The story weaves back and forth in time with perfect clarity. Minor characters from the past have their roles to play in the present. Even an ancient tree contributes -- significantly -- to the link between the two stories.

The plot makes for a good read, and the writing is pure Kallmaker/Adams -- prose matching time period and, of course, unbelievably erotic tension between her characters. The reality of life on the island of Manhattan in the late 1600s is well researched. The resolution is electric and quite, quite satisfactory. Once you start, you won't put it down until the last page.

Love can conquer anything, even time and always evil. That's the message of this book, which I could not put down. Two timelines are intertwined to tell a story of two women who must defeat a powerful evil that has captured and tormented one of them through centuries. I was completely captured by the concept and fervently pulling for these women, right to the very last page.

I enjoyed Night Vision so much that I ordered this book as soon as it was available. It is so different from Night Vision in subject, but the belief in lesbian magic that reaches beyond space and time is as pervasive here, as healing and as vastly enjoyable! I recommend this book to anyone who believes that love can trescend any pain and any evil.

Kudos to Ms. Kallmaker for writing an intelligent and moving lesbian romance. She tells the story of two women deeply in love who must defeat an age-old evil to secure freedom and happiness. Their story is reflective of a larger struggle - the fight for women to have the rights and opportunities needed to set their own paths and live their own lives.

I was caught by this novel right off the bat, a gothic fantasy novel that features lesbians. I'm so there. It was as good as I'd hoped. The characters are well developed, as all Kallmaker characters are, and by chapter 2 I was already in love with both Christabel and Geraldine/Dina (mostly Dina). Their joy and their suffering are palpable (I admit, I cried a little at one point). But what struck me most was what a great job Kallmaker did of smoothly moving between the past and the present, then merging them without it becoming redundant, which it easily could have. Just a fun, entertaining read with great characters, an enthralling storyline, and tight writing.

I am so glad that Bella Books is re-releasing Kallmaker's Laura Adams titles (especially for people like me who didn't even know about them). I've already ordered and pre-ordered all of them. So excited!

I'd have to say I'm a big Karin Kallmaker fan, and took this book on vacation with great anticipation. I ended up somewhat disappointed in it. It's definitely not your typical fantasy-based romance where there is some type of immersion in the tale. The characters never seem to fully understand or believe what is happening to them, and for me there just wasn't enough "belief" to carry me through the book with a willing suspension of my own disbelief. It was still an interesting ride, but the author made clear choices about how quickly to reveal key information, holding back a lot of the truth of what was happening, but not providing enough context for the reader to begin to piece it together or anticipate the path to conclusion, and the disconnect I felt while reading it kept me worried until the end that everything would wrap up to my satisfaction. Fortunately all was well in the end, as I should have trusted with this author, even if there were some uncharacteristically corny moments to contend with.

That's not to say that this book is without merit. I like Karin's way with words and phrasing. I like how she is able to with deft pacing of her characterizations and descriptions to create characters who strike sparks off of one another. I like her spin on Coleridge's version of the tale. Also as a gothic romance, such as this is styled to be, there were some genuinely creepy moments. The details she provides of past life on Manhattan Island are interesting, and in fact those scenes in the past are some of the most vibrant in the novel.

But overall it was hard for me to stay in it. I was too annoyed with the actions and thoughts of the protagonists much of the time: their skepticism and defeatism and passiveness. Karin does an excellent job at weaving the past and present together and creating characters you want to care about, but somehow made that connection difficult to maintain by intentionally muddying their motivations until the very end. Though I have to say that all was explained satisfactorily in the end, it was a slightly uncomfortable journey. For me.