Rating: 
Summary: Not all hearts and flowers, but so what?
Review: Hint to readers with blinders on: Romance isn't always perfect. I picked this book up last week and couldn't put it down. It succeeds as a romance, a comedy, a drama. Who says romance is perfect and that every recovering alcoholic has to go to A.A. meetings (I didn't)? Just because this book may be out of your comfort zone doesn't mean it isn't worthy of a Lammy Award and more. I give it an A+.
Rating: 
Summary: Works as sex romp, but not as romance
Review: I felt very unhip when I finished this book two months ago. The reviews said it was funny and romantic and I'd laugh my head off. Yes, it was sexy, yes it was humorous -- but where was the romance? A series of mishaps, peccadilloes and professions of love do not a lesbian romance novel make.I found Macy so intent on being New York cool that she was thoroughly unlikeable. I wouldn't want her for a friend -- but then I don't want any of the women on Sex in the City for friends either. I'd want to know of them, about them, but I don't want to date them, and not one of them is someone I could ever envision settling down with! Macy is like that too. The whole point of reading a romance novel is falling in love with the main character. Macy made me laugh and made me hot, but it wasn't love. Expectations are everything, and I guess if you read this book expecting a sex romp like Sex in the City (as another reviewer suggested) you'll like it. I can see it being nominated for humor, or as general fiction. This book succeeds really well as a funny novel, a farce and even as a gentle satire of the romance genre. But if held up to the standard of a romance novel (which is what I thought I was buying) it fails. I read a romance novel to vicariously enjoy the courtship of a couple. Up to a point, this book has that. But Macy's changes are not convincing enough for me to think she'll stay sober. For Faith and Macy to survive as a couple, Macy has to deal with her alcoholism *realistically.* Many fine romance novels have taken this theme. But Sawyer fails to make Macy's so-called cure include dealing with the real reasons she self-medicates with alcohol (and it's not just lack of AA meetings!). It's insulting to everyone who has ever struggled with an addiction to suggest that conquering it can be done through merely making up one's mind and fueled by "the power of real love". What is funny in a tongue-in-cheek sex romp that might provide sequels and more romps and amusements removes all of the hope from a romance novel. In a real world -- which is where all lesbian romance novels finally must dwell for a reader to be satisfied -- Macy will relapse and Faith will end up used and belittled like everyone else Macy's ever slept with and thrown up on. If this is a "romance" genre novel, it's a well-written failure. So why did that label get attached to it in the first place? This is probably not the writer's fault at all. Sawyer may not have felt she was writing a "romance," but that's how this book is being marketed by her publisher. Why? If it's not serious enough to be "real literature" let's label it romance --regardless of the tenets of the genre -- because everyone knows romances aren't "literature"? Do the Lammy people think the romance category is merely "fiction light"? That's like saying any novel with a murder must be a mystery, even if the mystery is never investigated or solved. Lesbian romance novels are a unique genre, and I've read, studied and analyzed hundreds. They vary widely in their stories -- some writers go far outside the accepted boundaries by dealing with heavy subjects like abuse and addiction -- but ultimately they all have one thing in common: the two women end up together, with a realistic hope of forever. And there is no way Macy and Faith have forever if Macy doesn't stay sober. I really don't know what the Lammy people --and her publisher! -- are thinking in misbilling this book. It would have been far more nervey to *not* label it romance, and let readers and critics alike enjoy the book without false expectations. I'm not saying it doesn't deserve to win a Lammy, it should be in the correct category -- fiction. But apparently that category is reserved for "serious" books and Sawyer wrote a book far too funny to be considered there. Sawyer has written what I know most people will find funny and entertaining. I did enjoy it. I just didn't find the novel any more "romantic" than I do Sex in the City. Those of us who love the show don't want any of the ladies to change, and, be honest, would you believe it if any of them said they'd found sobriety and happy forever after? No -- you want the show to go on. I think that's what Sawyer intended as the feeling for this book. So it's a shame her publisher pigeonholed it with a label that made me expect a very different, more convincing conclusion.
Rating:
Summary: great first attempt
Review: I gave this book a 4 because once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I got involved with the characters in the book, especially Macy. I guess some people could lump this book together with any other romance novel commonly found on shelves at any store, but really it isn't. This book has true heart. While reading it, I would stop and think,"Is this really fiction?" because it seemed so real. Maybe this is because I can more readily identify with the characters and their lives. I hope Ms. Sawyer's first novel is not her last.
Rating:
Summary: great first attempt
Review: I gave this book a 4 because once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. I got involved with the characters in the book, especially Macy. I guess some people could lump this book together with any other romance novel commonly found on shelves at any store, but really it isn't. This book has true heart. While reading it, I would stop and think,"Is this really fiction?" because it seemed so real. Maybe this is because I can more readily identify with the characters and their lives. I hope Ms. Sawyer's first novel is not her last.
Rating:
Summary: Hits the spot
Review: I loved this book. [...] but from the moment I snuck blushing into the gay and lesbian literature section of the bookstore and read the first few pages, I knew I had to buy this book. I read it the first time through in three days, and the second time in two. I've read it in it's entirety at least six times and I constantly refer back to it for specific excerpts. It's wonderfully written and easy to identify with many of the characters. A great read for anyone, but in my opinion, especially for shy lesbians. ;)
Rating: 
Summary: Wondering about the literary sensibility of other reviewers!
Review: I never have placed a review of a book online. I did, however, trust the opinions of other's before buying this book. I feel compelled to write something about this one. What I found stomach turning about the plot of this book is to say that the main character, Macy, is dysfunctional is an understatement. I enjoy "romance" like anyone but to read over and over again how many times she gets drunk, barfs, coughs up her lungs and promptly jumps into bed without so much as rinsing first with mouth wash is a new definition of romance to me! Maybe I missed the part about her lovers having no sense of smell! That, and how can a reader have any empathy for a character who has a roll in the hay with one person, comes home and again, without even a shower goes at it all over again with someone else. YUK! I would have thought that this book was written in the 1970's, not in 2003 when care should be taken by at least the secondary character to have some sense about sexually transmitted diseases. That and the knocks against AA. In this book, Macy is some type of superhuman in her ability to overcome her addiction with no help what-so-ever. And regarding Faith, not even in my wildest imagination can think of any human being as stupid as her! Bottom line, this is the worst book I have ever read. Read Thinfire if you want a good book with characters not caricatures.
Rating:
Summary: Funny, Sad, and sometimes Sexy
Review: I rarely laugh outloud, when reading a book. With this one I did.
The main character Macy was a very believable character. At times I liked her, and at times I thought "Why would she do that!"
A very quick read. I couldn't put it down. I would recommend, highly.
Rating:
Summary: I laughed out loud
Review: I want to be Macy or do I want to be Faith? Either way it would be great to be so witty. I loved the book, read it cover to cover in one sitting. Getting lost in a good book is better than Zoloft. This did the trick.
Rating:
Summary: Don't be put off by the title
Review: I was sad to see this book was labeled a lesbian romance because in reality it reaches much deeper. There are pieces that are actually heartbreaking. Beneath the profanity and harsh wit beats the heart of something much deeper---I hope this isn't her last book.
Rating:
Summary: Go Lambda!
Review: If you read the book two months ago, why wait 'til now to complain about how this book was marketed? Breaking the rules of genre is important. I applaud Lambda for having the nerve to make this book a romance finalist.
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