Customer Reviews

Give My Secrets Back

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

 

 

I enjoyed this novel not so much for the mystery as for the detailed depiction of the
vibrant lesbian community in Denver that it described, including both its warmth and its
occasional unkindness. Great characters, fun parties. I wish she'd kept writing and getting published.

I liked this story a lot, but some grammar almost kept me from reading the novel. The first paragraph seemed like a run on sentence. During the fire play scene, the tense switched from third person to second person, which distracted me. If you get past these flaws the editor should have caught, the story is a fast read and worth the struggle.

So many lesbian books are about individuals or couples or small groups of lesbians. Kate Allen brings the community into her books and gives almost everyone a small role in what is happening in the book. Naturally, this gives you more choices of whodunit, but it is the thrill of figuring it out. Alison Kane is a great character...she is not this fearless woman (Xena type). She has her strong and weak points and this makes her vulnerable. Alison Kane could be any one of us. I love Kate's Allen's books and her writing. It is easy to read and flows well. I share her books with all my friends. :o)

The fire scene is worth the read all by itself.
It takes you totally to fantasy land and then brings you back to the comedy of every day life.

All of Kate Allen's books are like this and I applaud her ability to weave fantasy, comedy, the lesbian and leather lifestyles and mystery into the everyday people that make her stories.

You can't go wrong buying Kate Allen books.

I bought this book on a whim-- it was in the bargain bin at B&N and marked with a shiny red sale sticker. I like lesbians, I like mysteries, what could go wrong, right?

Um, a lot. This book cycled through a dull mystery to stop in "it was hard to be a lesbian when WE were young" and totally died toward the end during the *spoilers* attempted suicide *spoilers* routine.

It's a mystery to me that this book got published at all.

serendipity - i discovered kate allen by accident while searching for books set in denver. i've just ordered her other three alison kaine mysteries, and i'm holding my breath waiting for the postal service. the characters are engaging, the plot is gripping, but kate allen's strongest point is her snappy, wry commentary about life in a close-knit community where mutual respect and equality seem to be paramount but the reality is a clear hierarchy of sexual proclivities. People pretend acceptance and support while silently condemning the choices of others, characters struggle with self-acceptance versus self-transformation, and the inevitable ex'es that hover on the periphery of the group are never excluded. We're supposed to beleive it's because the gay community is so mature and tightly-knit, but it's obvious that they're merely another whip to engage in self-flagellation, one of the group's binding ingredients. kate allen uses the groups' chemistry to alternately withhold and reveal secrets, and it works like a charm. Read it!