Running With the Wind [Paperback]

Nell Stark (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2007

Love, like the wind, charts its own course.

Once upon a time, Corrie Marsten fell hard and got dumped. Now, her only loves are sailing, and power. By day, she works as the head instructor for the University of Rhode Island's Sailing Center. Once night falls, she indulges in casual sex with her friends, all of whom know that like the wind, she can't be tethered. When Corrie meets vet student Quinn Davies, an enrollee in the summer sailing course, she senses Quinn's attraction and comes on strong. Quinn, though drawn to the charismatic Corrie, doesn't reciprocate for important reasons of her own, leaving Corrie frustrated, tantalized, and intrigued. As the summer progresses, Corrie and Quinn gradually develop a friendship that hints at so much more. Will Quinn admit her growing attraction? Will Corrie be able to forgive, forget, and love again? When fate conspires to make them teammates in a high-stakes sailing regatta, will they run with the wind, or resist it?

Product Details

• Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Bold Strokes Books (April 7, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933110708
• ISBN-13: 978-1933110707
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,205,802 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Little Disappointing, May 30, 2007

By 

Cassie Coleman - See all my reviews

This review is from: Running With the Wind (Paperback)

This new author writes well. Unfortunately, she made some poor choices of subject matter and characterization. One of the protagonists engages in frequent casual sex with both women and men. Her reason? A "relationship" that ended unhappily after two months (that's not a typo---two months!).

While not one myself, I do fully accept bisexuals, I hope without reservation. However, I think a book that's represented as a lesbian book should be about lesbians. This book contains explicit male/female sex (for example on page 90 Corrie, one of the protagonists, says, "C-coming...oh, do you f-feel me?" Her male partner's response is, "Yeah, tight, so good, f***---"). For material like this, my local library offers hundreds of selections that I can read for free, but I choose to purchase "our books" instead. Quinn, the other protagonist, is a woman in her twenties who has not come out and who is accepting and even forgiving of Corrie's promiscuity. That's a tough one for me.

I'm all for expanding my horizons, but not particularly in the direction depicted in this story. I think potential readers should know that they might find the contents of this book distasteful. Nevertheless, since the author does know how to tell a story, I'd like to see her take a shot at writing a lesbian book.

29 of 39 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Lesbian fiction?, April 6, 2007

By 

Elisa "elisa" (northeastern USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Running With the Wind (Paperback)

When I picked up this book, I did not realize that the rear-cover blurb about the main character, Corrie, engaging in "frequent casual sex with her friends," meant the book was about a self-centered, promiscuous bisexual who has apparently never heard of safe sex practices during her romps with both men and women. The love interest, Quinn, is a naive lesbian who becomes inexplicably and improbably aroused at finding herself in tight quarters with a couple engaging in heterosexual intercourse. I suspect that some lesbian readers will be put off by the content; I was very surprised at the amount of straight sex in the book.

There are some technical problems with the book as well. The author shifts POV abruptly and without warning, which some readers may find annoying. The author also focuses on the more technical aspects of sailing at the expense of the developing relationship between Corrie and Quinn. I would much rather have learned how it feels to sail and why Corrie loves it, which might have made the character more real and sympathetic, rather than reading expository dialogue about the actions she was performing.

15 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not typical, but not bad either, April 7, 2007

By 

Rita Lee (PA,USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Running With the Wind (Paperback)

I enjoyed this book. It wasn't a typical lesbian romance, but that doesn't make it a bad book. There was a lot of sailing in it, which reminded me of all of that technical jargon on tv shows like ER. I didn't quite get it all but I could tell what was happening.

The central characters of Quinn and Corrie were a little hard to relate to. Quinn was a little too sweet and forgiving of Corrie's behavior. Corrie is a psychological mess who plays games with the people around her instead of dealing with her real feelings. They both have a lot to overcome if they want to be together.

If you're looking for standard characters of this genre you won't find them here. You will find a different kind of story that challenges the reader a bit. If you're ok with that this is a good choice.