Customer Reviews

Turning Point

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is my first review of any kind on Amazon but I just felt I had to comment on "Turning Point".

I really enjoy how the author takes her time in developing this relationship. A lot of lesbian novels rush the characters and have them in bed before the end of the 1st chapter! There are some story lines that this is necessary but most are not. I should know because at last count I have 963 lesbian novels which I have been collectiog over 20 years.

There is pain, hurt, joy, happiness, etc. as the two characters who are both straight come to realize that what the feel for each other is more than they expected. How they come to that realization and cope with it is where this author shines. She does a fantastic job writing this in a way that a person feels that they can actually see it unfolding in front of their eyes.

Another thing I enjoy in the book is the interaction with the other characters beside the two major ones. Each minor character has their role and makes this book role smoothly along. I could mention more but I'll let the readers buy it so they can enjoy it themselves! I couldn't put it down and I'm betting neither will anyone else.

This is a story of two "straight" women who fall in love. One has never even thought about being involved with a woman, the other has only had a drunken one night stand with a college friend. The change from Brenna's 'you're trespassing in my professional space, you blonde bimbo' to her willingness to try friendship is very believable. Since Cassidy always wanted to be friends the progression is natural.
The writing is far superior to many of the lesbian novels I have read.
The only fault I find with the story is the final resolution. (I know she couldn't include the things I want to know given space constraints.) It seems that Brenna's sons are too quickly moved from shock and in one case hostility to near acceptance. Teen-agers can buck their parent's attachment to a new significant other long enough and hard enough to throw a major monkey wrench in the works. Other than that this is by far one of the best-constructed and interesting books I've read. She draws excellent supporting characters from co-workers to neighbors to broken-hearted and/or jealous and spiteful discarded significant others.
One reviewer expresses surprise that the author is a straight woman. I on the other hand, make no assumptions about the author's psychosexual orientation. I have a dear friend a lesbian, who is happily married and dedicates her work ot her husband.

Imagine my surprise to find this wonderful, sensitive, exciting lesbian novel was written by a straight woman!!! I read the acknowledgements and the "to John, the love of my life" my lesbian mind had trouble wrapping around John being a man. But according to the publisher, Lara lives in Florida and spends her days as a wife and mother.

This story of two women, Cassidy and Brenna, is so well told that I knew every feeling they were going through, since my first official relationship was with a married woman while I was also married to a man. But I knew deep in my soul that I wanted to be with women. I believe that Cassidy knew deep in herself that being with Brenna was the only way her life could be happy.

The story develops in almost real time. Even though it does cover a few months (September to December), some chapters are a day at a time. This book really spoke to me and of course, I love a happy ending.

I've read a few "straight woman falls for straight woman" novels and have found most of them to be contrived and utterly unbelievable. But in this book, the attraction develops at a slower pace and seems genuine. I read it in one sitting at a beach in Provincetown. It made for a very pleasant day.

Jennifer Parello, author of Dateland

One of the best written lesbian novels I've read in many years... the women develop a relationship, not just jump in. You understand each of them and get to know the supporting casts without meaningless meanderings.
I had to read it a second time within 1 week just so I didn't miss anything.
More like this, please. Don't sell out like so many others.

One little error picked up.... Cassidy took her little son to an Oakland A's baseball game against Baltimore in L.A. That would have been impossible. Oakland A's ARE in OAKLAND it would most likely have been the Anaheim Angels vs Baltimore... but who cares about a baseball game with these two women?

I picked this book up after receiving an recommendation from a friend who loved it, and I can certainly see why. "Turning Point" is a sneak peek behind the scenes of the cut-throat entertainment industry in Hollywood where starlets are literally clawing their way to stay on top. "Turning Point" explores the insecurities and lonliness two such women endure while shooting a top-notch television series. It seems that everyone is flocking to them to benefit from their fame in same way, shape or form. They soon discover that they can turn to each other for greater comfort than anyone else could ever hope to offer.

"Turning Point" is a sweetly written and thoroughly enjoyable story about a wonderful, unexpected love between two powerful, intelligent women. I call it the beach read of the summer. And probably the fall. And what the heck, the winter, too, if you're so inclined to be on a beach in your sweater....

This debut novel by Lara Zielinsky shows much promise. I enjoy books that achieve more than the standard required elements of the genre, in this case, lesbian romance. Turning Point gets stars on all counts.
First, the setting is in Hollywood series television. The two main characters are actresses on a popular Sci Fi show. Next, a central concern in this novel is with their children. On those two scores alone, this novel is different and deserving of a read. The writing is crisp and clear. Scenes are well drawn. Plot moves along.

It is refeshing to find something different and unique. These are working mothers whose major motivation is the raising of their kids, and what they do, the relationships they have, affect their children. It takes time for adults to form serious relationships when they consider how they impact the family dynamic.

The kids are believable and endearing. So are the main characters Cassidy and Brenna. They are not super stars, super moms, or super anything. I like that they just happen to be actresses.

You'll like this first novel by Lara Zielinsky very much. Fall in love with the kids; I know I did. You'll feel the anguish and the struggle to put the children first at the same time Brenna and Cassidy try to understand and explore the growing attraction between themselves. Real life is sometimes messy, and sometimes things take longer than the length of a TV episode to resolve.

I'll give this one a solid 3 stars, but it still falls towards the upper levels of that rating. Part of me felt that the book was a touch too dry or unemotional in its prose, but a part of me was fascinated by the detail in which the psyches of each of the main characters was delved into, unflinchingly. Circumstances would simultaneously seem somewhat contrived, and provide enormous illumination into the motivations of the characters involved.

I enjoyed the careful, thoughtful way the relationships were developed in this book, not just between the two main characters, but their families and friends as well. I like characters who spend time in their heads, but these characters sometimes approached the realm of being too "head heavy" to me. Again, though, as the thought crossed my mind to be annoyed, the story would rescue itself. I do have a personal hang-up about unfaithful spouses that made the reading a bit uncomfortable for me. I fall in to the trap where I want my characters to be the best they can be, and thus get distressed when they let themselves and those around them down, but ultimately it worked for me given the setting, the build up, and the motivations.

I was wary about the setting. It seems like a lot of authors throw settings into the Hollywood realm in order to have an easily manipulated back-drop, stressors and ready-made drama, and are either too enamored with the setting, or make it too generic, but this book avoided those pitfalls for me. It was interesting to have the cast interactions, and how the plots of various episodes would resonate with different aspects of their lives. It was a clear plot device, and yet never made a nuisance of itself in my opinion.

This is a very solid book with moments of brilliance, and an enjoyable read for me. I think some of the development could have been foregone in order to spend more time on the emotion and details of the wrap-up, but these are minor quibbles. The editing was fairly solid, and the writing was splendid in its character study.

This is beautifully written, realistic story about discovering relatively late in life the shocking truth about one's sexuality. The agony of discovery, the slow peeling away of the layers of denial, the ultimate choices these two women make -it all feels absolutely right. Certainly right for these two women. Wonderful characters, sizzling almost-sex scenes, not to mention the real thing. A real page turner. Loved it!

I couldn't put this book down once I started reading it and I think it was because of who the author was basing her characters upon. I know that fan fiction has been around for a long time out in cyberspace but this was the first time I had come across a full length novel incorporating it into a complete storyline. Having the "real life" actors of a popular SciFi/Fantasy TV show fall in love is wonderful. Thanks Lara for taking fan fiction one step further.