Customer Reviews

Finders Keepers

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I've become something of a Karin Kallmaker scholar. She is the best this genre has to offer, and has the track record to prove it. Finders Keepers is her nineteenth effort. Yes, folks, I've read them all. And yes, they are all very good. Each novel gives the reader of this genre, lesbian romance, something more than is expected. Kallmaker is a skilled writer, and the bonus is she has a wicked sense of humor and is unafraid of indulging it.

If you're going to write a romance novel, how about the main character being the owner of a dating service who can't get a date? That's good. How about a vacation encounter with a beautiful and mysterious stranger that could never be sustained back in the real world? Throw in a few more twists, humor overlaid throughout, and you will settle in with a very good book.

Some of these things are standard for romance novels: a shipboard dalliance between the shy and unassuming Marissa and the tall, beautiful, but unattainable Linda, a romantic setting, surely. But real life intrudes, as it always does.

Some of the things you'll find are definitely not standard. Some will amuse you, some will cause you to think, but everything in this latest Kallmaker novel will entertain and delight you, I promise.

The something different in Finders Keepers is patent Kallmaker strategy. This author takes the standard elements of the genre and sets them on edge, sometimes pokes fun at them, even occasionally sets them aside altogether. In this one, the author plays with the accepted idea of beauty. In the standard romance, everyone is attractive. Both main characters are slim and beautiful. I won't even delve into the extreme influence television and movies have had on this concept, won't even ask the question that begs: if everyone is so darned attractive and perfect, how come they have so much trouble finding a relationship? Aren't the beautiful people the ones we envy for the ease through life that their perfection of shape, size, looks, grants them? None of them have issues with chocolate, apparently.
Yes, the two women in Finders Keepers have issues, real ones. There is something poignant about being able to laugh along with Marissa as she rethinks her life. I can't say enough about the talent of Karin Kallmaker; it takes real skill to encourage us to be there with Marissa and with Linda, as both do what they have to do to transform themselves.
It is remarkable that while reading this novel, I laughed and sometimes choked back tears. I don't think you can ask more than that of a good book, or from a very good writer.
Don't miss this one. It's a keeper, and so is the author. Make some room on your shelves and squeeze this one in.

*****
What sets this romance apart is NOT that it is a lesbian romance, but that it plays with the standards of beauty in our American cultures. I would encourage anyone to read this book, whatever your sexual orientation, because although the main characters are lesbians, the themes are universal and could be appreciated by anyone who loves.

I have never read a Karin Kallmaker book or a lesbian romance before. Relationships are the theme here, not just the relationship of the romantic interests, but mother-daughter, friends, and business relationships. I truly enjoyed the voice of the main character, Marissa, who is an overweight computer "geek" who runs a dating service. She has a wonderful sense of humor, and throughout the novel grows and matures in a variety of ways that are lovely to watch.

The book is also suspenseful, fun to read, and not formulaic as I'd expected, sort of like a lesbian "Harlequin Romance". This book is so NOT like that, and I found that refreshing. I also found the sex scenes very tasteful, but realistic, provocative, and well done at the same time.

Great read for anyone!
*****

In her latest romance, FINDERS KEEPERS, Kallmaker has once again turned the genre on its ear. She has given readers a hot, romantic story that bookends two complex journeys her lovers take in order to become and find the "keepers" they desire. In the course of the lead characters' struggles Kallmaker prompts readers to seriously consider two questions at the heart of romantic love in general and the romance novel genre in particular. She asks us to consider: what is beautiful? And what makes a perfect match?

Linda Bartok and Marissa Chabot meet in a lifeboat when the cruise ship they are on sinks. The vacation is saved when they find an island. Romance blooms in the languid and lush tropical resort. Both women find in the other someone who sees parts of them that most people never notice. In Marissa's case, Linda sees not only her intelligence and wit but past the excess pounds to the strong, attractive, and desirable woman. In the Linda's case, Marissa sees beyond the highly cultivated gorgeous exterior to the strong, capable, and intelligent woman. In the physical expression of their love, they find new aspects of themselves. The sweetly romantic week is a watershed for both women and a delight for readers. When their vacation ends, Linda and Marissa each begin a struggle to better integrate their exteriors and interiors and to fulfill the potential they glimpsed via the other's eyes. Both woman will deal with their past and discover their own strength and beauty.

Linda, frequently mistaken for a popular, beautiful actress, has been running to various far-flung and out-of-the-way locales to avoid the demons of her childhood and her mother's irrational expectations for an acceptable daughter. Hiding behind what she thinks of as her façade of beauty, Linda has engaged in empty sexual encounters but no one really saw her, none of the women really touched her. At the outset of one of these meaningless encounters Linda thinks, "What piece of me do you want? You have to pick because you don't get the whole me. There is no whole me anymore." (86) Until Linda finds Marissa. Time spent with Marissa allows Linda to see that she has to face and make peace with her past in order to heal and to find a future.

A computer geek with a wry sense of humor, Marissa has hidden herself in her work, oversized clothes and the all-too-easily acquired extra pounds of a sedentary job and a lonely personal life. Falling for Linda has been a wake-up call to for Marissa to stop the spiral and reclaim her body as part of herself. Since adolescence Marissa has been hiding her sexual attractiveness behind the protection of her size. Yet Linda's impression of Marissa is that she "had a passion for living and it had shown in the way she'd attacked the cliff. It showed in the way she made love. Even in the way she enjoyed water, sand and new experiences ..." (81)

FINDERS KEEPERS is not a light read, if you'll pardon the pun. It is a complex story with many layers. Marissa's struggle with weight-loss and fitness illustrates the "get thin quick without work" claims most American weight loss companies tout. (An attractive promise Americans are all too happy to buy.) Kallmaker provides insights into evaluating programs and understanding reasonable goals without being pedantic and Marissa's hard-won success is inspiring. Readers glimpse relatively small portions of Linda's childhood and the frightful and bizarre trauma at the hand of her mother. It reminds us that monetary success is no guarantee of love, health, happiness, or sanity. Yet the roots of her mother's obsessions are a dark reflection of American views toward perfect beauty, particularly epitomized by the beauty pageant circuit.

Further, Marissa is one of the owners of "Finders Keepers" a dating service that uses computer analysis of a complex and detailed questionnaire to match hopeful singles with their perfect partner. Thus the question of what makes a good match and, perhaps most interesting, what threatens to break even the best match, is an engaging thread through the story.

Despite the heavy topics and the "anti-romance" elements, FINDERS KEEPERS is a touching, powerful, sensual romance. In her trademark style, the author has breathed life into interesting, multi-faceted characters; she handles intense issues with care and insight; and perhaps most importantly, she uses humor and wit to keep the story from being too heavy. Marissa's tendency to write "letters" that she will never send to her mother, deceased father, or Linda are charmingly wry observations and the delightful scene wherein Marissa's mother announces her acceptance of her daughter's lesbianism is one that will stay with this reader. Indeed, her success in weaving all these themes into a moving romance makes FINDERS KEEPERS one of Kallmaker's best novels. Readers should make a date with FINDERS KEEPERS. You are likely to find it is a perfect and beautiful match.

I've read almost everything Karin Kallmaker has published. Her stories are either fantastic or they're real bombs, so you're never really sure what you're going to get when you decide to pick one up. `Finders Keepers' most definitely falls into the `fantastic' category and is a book I would highly recommend to all my friends. The best part of this book is it's not a typical, formula romance. Kallmaker keeps it interesting by adding a series of twists and turns for both protagonists before they can even consider getting together.

The book is about Marissa Chabot, an introverted techno-geek who co-owns a computer dating service with her outgoing best friend. The programmer has low self esteem because her back side is bigger than she'd like. Marissa takes a cruise... which ends after the first night on the water because the boat sinks. She loses her new books, her clothes, and almost loses her sanity. That is, until she meets the undeniably beautiful Linda Bartok on a lifeboat.

The seemingly financially-independent Linda befriends Marissa and convinces her to stay a week on a tropical island. Linda is a young beauty queen who has had many tweaks from the plastic surgeon. When anyone calls her beautiful, she gets turned off. The women become friends and, eventually, lovers before the week is out. They return to their real lives with Linda's promise to contact Marissa.

Marissa begins to lose hope and eventually gives up on her beautiful friend. She turns her life around by working out, losing weight, and returning to the dating scene. In the mean time, Linda is trying to reconcile her beauty queen days with the woman she has become. When she finally gets her act together and seeks out Marissa, will the other woman welcome her or turn her away?

There are so many twists and turns in this book, it's like a roller-coaster ride. I was never really sure what was going to happen or how any character was going to react. The emotions were understandable and real. Marissa and Linda both struggle with their outward appearance, but for different reasons and in different ways. It was so easy to fall in love with these wonderful women. I kept my fingers crossed for them until the very end.

I am an avid reader. It is not a shocking event for me to read 2 books a day. Okay, so I don't get out much... Imagine my surprise that after YEARS of reading romance novels - the funnier the better - I stumbled upon the "Women's Interest" section of our biggest bookseller. WOW - I didn't know there were books made just for me! And I don't skip over the sex scenes anymore!
This book did what I want books to do - I laughed out loud, I pondered, I rooted for the heroine, and I didn't want it to end. I loved it. I will have to catch up on this author!

This story opens to a first chapter with huge importance and impact. The rest of the novel reads like a wonderful journey. This author always provides riveting plots and if I were to have guessed the end I would have been wrong.

I completely see how Linda falls head over heels for Marissa. I could not possibly like Marissa more - she is one of my favorite people - spunky, attractive and take charge from the beginning to the end of the novel she becomes the complete woman. The beautifully passionate lovemaking that connects Marissa and Linda seal this story for me.

Terrific, spot on perfectly appropriate, and real humor as always. That is the beauty of this author's writing it is so real and so down to earth yet so perfect that you are swept away. The dialogue is prefect. The author really has a feel and a deft touch for language.

Funny how the author also manages, among the romance and the laughter, to deliver two complete cautionary tales. And it is the side characters, the parents, the friends, the coworkers, the everyman or woman on the street that populate this novel that you get a fully engaging story.

Now I am left awaiting her next novel. This was unlike any of the authors' other novels, the closest I could come to pairing it with would be perhaps `Substitute for Love'.

Wow! I just read Finders Keepers while on vacation, and honestly it's one of Karin's top 3. Not only that, it's one of the best reads you will find in lesbian romance. It has everything and more. Passion, romance, humor and intellectual substance all rolled up in one fine little novel. There is a truly thought provoking story line about body image that resonates with both characters yet each in a very unique way. On top of it, the romance aspect of the story line really grabs your attention and won't let you go! You really have no idea how things turn out until the end and I love the element of surprise. Then on top of it all is Kallmaker's well timed and tasteful interjection of humor throughout the novel that really adds to the pure enjoyment of reading this fine piece of work. It will make you think, laugh, sweat and leave you wanting more. I highly, highly recommend this book. Bravo Karin Kallmaker!

This book got rave reviews here, so I ordered it and was very disappointed. I couldn't get into the story. I didn't like the character Linda, I didn't find her believable in any way, and I just thought the whole story was really over the top with the plastic surgery thing. I gathered that it would be light hearted and a less serious type of romance novel, but still I just couldn't past my dislike for Linda. Not a novel I would recommend.

It's so nice to see a main character who is not abnormally physically fit, runs 20 miles before eating a large breakfast; or runs 20 miles then forgets to eat. Marissa is a real person. She's just like most of us. And yet, in many ways this book is all about appearance and perceptions.

It was pure Kallmaker inspiration to take two people with such opposite perspectives and show how their interactions with people are based on there own self-perceptions. They based everyone else's interactions with them upon how they felt about themselves. This especially stands out in the scene where the lights are turned off for them to make love. Later, we find out that each of them had a different perception as to why they needed to be in the dark.

If I had one criticism, it would be in the way she used the time line. The book starts in the middle, then moves to the beginning of the story. After getting both character's perspective of the events, we return to the middle, where the story picks back up to carry it to the end. This is really more of a personal preference, since I prefer linear stories. The way she set up the timeline is quite complex and shows how capable she is in maintaining all of that without a loss in continuity. I did not find it confusing in the least. As I said, this is probably a personal preference.

In true Kallmaker style, it is a romance built around a real world and real people. She always seems to do an amazing job of providing the reader with more than just a story. She gives the reader a bit of knowledge in a field she may never otherwise have learned. Sometimes it's gourmet cooking, wineries, music, or, as in this case, nutrition. Sure, nutrition is a hot topic at the moment. But in this story, you just sort of pick it up. It's never preachy. I've also, as a result of this story, learned the joys of Feta Cheese.

So much for escapism. Seriously. If you pick up this genre to abandon the dramas of everyday life... welcome to Kallmaker in full-swing Agenda Mode where she seems to have forgotten with this one what many of us come here for.

This book *IS* more of a weight loss treatise (as another honestly put it) and less of a romance. It buries you into the obsessive thought of 34 year old workaholic Marissa Chabot who is described as "chunky" and appears to be about 50 lbs. overweight. Her deep-seated worthlessness is challenged when she is shipwrecked with the 31 year old Xena-esque Linda Bartok who finds her beautiful. And that's a first.

These two spend a brief (albeit modified) vacation together on the island the lifeboat arrives to. They part intending to keep in touch but the mysterious Linda flat out disappears for a year. Yet the book goes on. For a year. In this time, the characters are described in their own lives (i.e., not together) for most of the book!! The romance seems to get a cameo at the beginning and end. This DOES NOT work for me!!! Also in this time, we are taken through Marissa's resolve to lose weight, lots of paragraphs about food, mommy issues, therapy, more mommy issues, more therapy, and the author's commentary on the fads, frustrations, and the complexities of weight loss in our society.

*yawn*

The initial "romance" between these two functions more as a catalyst to explore poor body image and weight loss and their chemistry consequently comes off as flat and implausible. I couldn't buy anyone passing for Wonder Woman would see our bloated protagonist as a curvy sexpot... eh....unless she was crazy. LOL. Let's face it, there is a trade off when someone waaaaay out of your league wants you. Ya gotta ask... what's wrong with her?! lol. And trust me, there's plenty wrong...

I did like Kallmaker's choice to keep the story in a light-hearted tone... and that these two initially bond as "comrades-in-twisted-humor." But their initial togetherness is too brief and they simply stay apart TOO LONG!! I found this unredeemable. I found Linda unredeemable. I didn't really care if they ever got together... I mostly just wanted the story to end so I could read something better.

Admittedly, I will say that I'm somewhat touched Kallmaker is so eager to reach out to the many women who suffer from poor body image. And her point that beautiful women aren't necessarily happy or stable is a good one. I even love her premise that having one person's genuine approval and belief in you can set off some real changes in your spirit and self perception. But if you do it at the expense of a good romance... meh. Wrong forum. If you are a die hard Kallmaker fan I suspect you'll ride with it... but if this is like your first lez romance I can see you abandoning this genre altogether out of annoyance.

Okay. One pet peeve. I'll never understand why our overweight leading lady was assaulted with the scene where she falls in the rain and mud and sprains her foot. Okay. We all love the part where the lover "nurses the hurt one back to health"... but having your fat protagonist fall in the mud and literally eat mud makes her look like a fat little pig rolling about in her pen. lol. I cringed. This is worse than just having read the 200 mile an hour volleyball that hits my pretty femme in the head in Thy Neighbor's Wife. HUH?! How undignified!! lol.

I just don't like my leading ladies abused in shameful ways. I want to admire them, not laugh at them.

I also thought we'd get a lot more behind-the-scenes on the Finders Keepers business which Marissa runs with a pal. This is more about body image, but we get some interesting commentary about artificial matchmaking and its questionable effectiveness. I wanted to see more on this topic, however.

The sex wasn't much, memorable, or particularly sexy. Ultimately, these two overcome fat and crazy and live happily ever after so don't worry.

Not my favorite Kallmaker book, but I'm not going to stop reading her stuff. But please. No more pastel covers!!... they make her books look like the Naiad Press days... sooo old. lol. I can't recommend this book because this isn't what I look for in this genre. If you're looking for a good love story and some good sex and you don't read a whole lot of lezfic and want to choose carefully... read something else.