Turning the Page [Paperback]

Georgia Beers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 2001

A businesswoman finds new life and love after she resigns from her job and relocates to upstate New York to help her cousin run a small bookstore.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Readers enjoying intelligent, nuanced drama/romance will flock to this well-written story of two women on the cusp of big changes." -- Midwest Book Review, October 2002

Product Details

• Paperback: 268 pages
• Publisher: Renaissance Alliance Publishin (April 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930928513
• ISBN-13: 978-1930928510
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (27 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,872,946 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

57 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clean Writing, Captivating Romance, February 15, 2002

By 

Lori L. Lake "Author of Like Lovers Do, Buyer... (Portland, Oregon, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Turning the Page (Paperback)

Great book by newcomer Georgia Beers. The characters of Melanie and Taylor are fully realized and compelling enough to cause me to read this in one sitting. I liked that the story took place over a period of time--and after some angst and indecision, especially on the part of Taylor.

MJ Lowe has written a thorough review below, and I don't want to repeat her already insightful comments. I'll just add two points: 1) the writing style is excellent in a very well edited book; and 2) it's great to see sexy but realistic love scenes.

I highly recommend this one. It rates right up there with TROPICAL STORM by Melissa Good, NONE SO BLIND by LJ Maas, and MIRRORS by Marianne K Martin.

67 of 71 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Xenite finds love, readers find pleasure, November 23, 2001

By 

M. J. Lowe "www.mjlowe.info" (Denver, Colorado United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Turning the Page (Paperback)

Melanie Larson, a 33 year old Marketing executive has decided it's time to make changes in her life. Little does she know what the next four weeks will bring! After several very successful years with "corporate America," Melanie's company has been purchased by a larger company and the executive offices are moving from Chicago to Seattle. Rather than move West, Melanie has decided to accept a severance package and to take some time off. Melanie Larson needs to decide who she is and what she wants from life. At the behest of her uncle, she finds herself checking in on her rather footloose cousin, Samantha.

Recently divorced, Sammi has all but abandoned the small bookstore that her father purchased a couple of years prior to help "stabilize" her marriage. Melanie finds Sammi residing in a charming little carriage house behind an old farm house, outside of Rochester, New York.

Minutes after arriving in Rochester, Mel meets Taylor Rhodes, an attractive lesbian (outed in introduction by Sam) in her late 20s who lives in the main house next to Sam's cottage. Taylor moved back into her parents' home several months ago, after the sudden death of her mother, in order to look after her father, Benjamin Rhodes. In the last few months, Ben has begun to live his life again and he finds Melanie to be a very attractive woman. The trouble is, so does Taylor.

(...)

Beers captures pictures of a lesbian community in a city of approximately 200,000 people in the urban northeastern US circa the turn of the 21st century in realistic, humorous and insightful ways. She details the problem such cities have with maintaining a women's bar, the "gay gentrification" that is common in many historic neighborhoods, and the role of softball in the lives of many a lesbian. Further she pays tribute to the TV show, Xena Warrior Princess and the lesbian community's role in the show's fandom and success. Beers does this via "Xenite" Taylor and eventual convert (puns intended) Melanie who names her bookstore, "The Quill is Mightier" after an episode in the show. To have a story that records a bit of the whole Xena phenomena without actually being a fanfiction or "uber" story is really quite interesting. As part of Melanie's "Lesbianism 101" process, Beers also provides a little tribute to Katherine Forrest's "Curious Wine" perhaps THE classic lesbian romance novel (certainly in my top five).

Turning the Page is a charming contemporary romance written with wit, compassion, and eros. The characters are interesting. Melanie's coming out is well handled (...). The politics are relatively mild and the angst is limited to a required level. (...) -- Reading Turning the Page is a delightful way to spend a quiet weekend. Hopefully Ms. Beers will gift us with other such pleasures.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A highly entertaining little gem, August 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Turning the Page (Paperback)

Well, what can I say? This is a delightful lesbian romance featuring likeable and believable characters, easily recognisable life situations with which the reader can empathise (unlike the melodrama of so much genre fiction) and a sense of real and honest emotional experiences that allow the reader to become fully involved in the action right from the start.

Georgia Beers has a real gift for producing vivid but not overwritten descriptive prose, and a wicked sense of humour that permeates the entire novel. Her light and deft touch made me really care about what happened to her protagonists, and I finished the book within the course of a day. My only disappointment was that it didn't go on for longer than 250 pages. :-)

This is a lovely piece of work and I sincerely hope that we'll be seeing more books from this very talented author.