Watermark

Rating:
Summary: So much more than romance
Review: A friend who helped out with some of the judging tasks for thepast year's Lambda Rising Awards told me this book missed being afinalist by the narrowest of margins. I was frankly skeptical -- Ithought it was some sort of Lifetime Achievement bias. After all, Ms. Kallmaker is prolific and her work is beloved.

I shot my mouth off too much and my friend insisted I read the book. It knocked me for a loop. It had been a very long time since a book made me cry, not once, but over and over. From the first page of Rayann's inner dialogue I couldn't help but wonder what if it was me having to watch my beloved partner die by inches? What if it was me?

The emotional power of this book is raw and unvarnished and yet not mawkish or melodramatic. To balance the moving yet depressing passages in Rayann's life we are introduced to Teresa, who encounters Rayann in the midst of her grieving process -- the angry stage.

Teresa is young and untouched by the deeper conflicts of life. Life just hasn't started happening to her yet. She encounters this complete witch of a woman and for the first time realizes that life is unfair and can be unkind. Her life veers in a new direction because of the encounter.

The two meet again and two very different experiences are woven into a single story. Teresa falls in love with the suffering Rayann, but doesn't know why Rayann is suffering. Rayann is still grieving and yet has to acknowledge a sexual attraction that seems like infidelity.

Even at the end, we're not sure these two women will live happily ever after. They've both been through too much and too recently. Rayann is in the final stage of grief - acceptance. She hears her lover's voice less and less and she loves Teresa more and more. Even then she still isn't sure she will ever love anyone the way she loved her dead partner. Teresa falls in love again with the newly healing Rayann, a different person than she has known. She struggles to deal with feeling like second best.

I simply did not expect this kind of writing and moving prose in a romance novel. Watermark transcends the genre and would have deserved a Lammy nomination...

I can't recommend this book enough to women who want not just a good read with passion and humor, but also want to read with their minds and experience what Ms Kallmaker so beautifully portrays.

I still wonder, having finished the book several months ago, what if it were me?

Rating:
Summary: Heartbreaking, Disappointing
Review: After being enthralled by Touchwood, I was hoping that there would be a sequel in which the Louisa's and Rayann's life together would be further explored. What did they laugh about, cry about, fight about? How did they dance the dance of their existence together? So many avenues to explore.

Without knowing what happens in Watermark, I bought it and was deeply disappointed. I was asked to believe in the depth of Louisa's and Rayann's love for one another through the mechanism of grief preventing Rayann from exploring love with a more suitable, "younger" partner. I didn't "buy" it. I don't think there will be any more Rayann sans Louisa sequels for me.

Rating:
Summary: A surprising disappointment from the Queen of Romance
Review: Despite being well written, full of the witty, fun stuff that makes us love Kallmaker's books, this one is disappointing due to missed opportunities. If there had to be a sequel to Touchwood, it could have been a testament to long lasting relationships (like Karin's own), with the tension and love interest coming from some other source. If Rayann had to live through life-changing grief, then the time for her to come out of it could have been given so that she reached the point where the human spirit triumphs, and she is stronger and better for the experience. "Sizzling"? Even the romance scenes were devoid of Kallmaker's usual intense, heart pounding emotion. All we got was Rayann bearly emerging from her grief, arriving at the place where she could almost screw someone without guilt. . . then it ended. We can only hope that, like that horrible year on the night time soap 'Dallas', she will wake up in the next sequel to find that this was a nightmare and it didn't happen.

Rating:
Summary: Dissapointing and inconsistant.
Review: Firstly, I have to say I thought the first book Touchwood' was the better book...in terms of the believability of the character development and the general story development. I believed in Louisa and Rayann and wanted to see how their relationship 'worked out'.

I found Watermark' a disappointing sequel...and there were in consistencies in the actual story that should have been sighted in the editing process. The most glaring was the age of Louisa's grandson...10 in the first book he had only aged 5 years in the second...yet Lou and Ray had been together for nine years. The others were minor, and I'll let readers discover them for themselves...if they haven't already.

Far from affirming and further developing an interesting relationship, that could, in this case have ended with a death that was not violent - or not, which would have been more interesting; this book places the 'younger' woman in a far more 'satisfactory' relationship and thus disappoints. That said however, I felt that the character of Theresa has potential, maybe in a further story arc with Rayann, or perhaps on her own.

I'm almost sorry I bought 'Watermark', I was so looking forward to finding out how Ray and Lou fared, but I have to say the one redeeming factor was the sheer ability of Kallmaker/Adams to weave a 'good yarn', in that she doesn't disappoint.

Rating:
Summary: It's a heartbreaker but worth reading.
Review: For long time fans of Touchwood, Watermark is a heartbreaker. It is a fine example of Kallmaker's skill at characterization that we want to read the story of Lousia's death and RayAnne's grief and survival.

Kallmaker's writing continues to improve and Watermark is no exception in that trend. The apparent inconsistancy in Tucker's age orginates in Touchwood which was Kallmaker's second novel. His age changes inappropriately to the six months of that story with a reference toward the end of his being ten. So his age in the Watermark is correct to his first age stated in Touchwood.

In fairness to the readers who don't quite like Louisa in Touchwood, note that we don't hear Louisa's thoughts or know her feelings except from what she finally tells Ray. --I've often wondered if Kallmaker didn't give inner voice to Lou because she didn't feel comfortable speaking for a woman 20 yrs her senior.-- I think all of Kallmaker's books since Touchwood include more of the internal view of both lead characters --like Watermark did with Teresa and Rayanne-- If Louisa seems less rich a character for some readers, it might be more for this reason.

Each of Kallmaker's romances manages to address different elements of life in the lesbian nation. I've not found a Kallmaker book that isn't worth buying and reading. The idea of a sequel to a book about falling in love is always problematic because there must be some conflict or problem to make a story. I grant you that part of me wishes that Louisa had lived at least another 12 years, well and happy and enjoying her relationship with Ray. It is interesting and even amusing to see how RayAnne has grown in the last ten years (a testament to her healthy relationship with Lou) and heart-warming to see Ray's old friends -- Judy and Dee-- are still together. The image of Louisa's Watermark on Ray is a very poignant one. L for Louisa, L for Lesbian ...

Keep writing Ms. Kallmaker

Rating:
Summary: Excellent novel about lesbian life
Review: Forget thinking about this book as a romance -- it isn't. It's a story of a young woman being blindsided by an older woman's grief, and an older woman grieving for her dying partner.

It's an outstanding story with only a chance at happiness by the end. The older woman is still fighting guilt every time she enjoys anything -- especially sex. The younger woman is only beginning to understand what she has never experienced. They both are too frightened to believe they have a future.

This novel floored me. And it helped me. I've been that older woman and that younger woman.

Rating:
Summary: Quality
Review: I always hear lots of complaints about the lack of quality of lesbian romances, but it seems that given a book of high quality writing, like this one, people still want a big happy ending without any mess from real life. Well I was pleased even though the ending was ambiguous for Teresa and Rayann. Mostly because the writing was so beautiful and this book is as close to life as a 'romance' can get. I really did not want things to turn out the way they did for Louisa but life is like that. It was unexpected from Kallmaker, who I think defaults to making readers laugh and sigh. She made me cry instead. Which is good for me once in a while.

Rating:
Summary: Our relationships matter!
Review: I go through life day to daythinking that no one believes that we really love each other. This book is my truth that we do andI gave it to some family members who didn't want to believe. It helped change their minds. Our relationship are just as powerful and when we lose a loved one we suffer just like anyone else. Maybe even more because of what we go through to be together.

Rating:
Summary: I didn't want to like it
Review: I love Touchwood. I read it over and over. I was hoping there would be a sequel and when I found out what happens in Watermark I didn't want to like it. I thought it would be a depressing book, that I would really miss Louisa, but as I read I found Louisa in every painful moment. The measure of Rayann's grief is a tribute to the depth of the love they shared. Having just read Touchwood before Watermark, I found them consistent, by the way. I couldn't find Tucker's age in Touchwood given, but he first appears as a little boy peering between his father's legs. I took him for 4 or 5--especially when he plays Go Fish with Rayann later in the book. I missed Louisa, but I laughed with Teresa. It was an personality study. It was not what I expected from Kallmaker romance. It was more like a novel I guess and I was surprised at how much it made me cry. It was a cathartic read. I want to know what happens with Rayann and Teresa.

Rating:
Summary: EXCELLENT! I AM WAITING FOR THE SEQUEL.
Review: I READ "TOUCHWOOD" AND LIKED IT BUT THE CHARACTER OF RAYANN HAD MORE FIRE IN "WATERMARK" PLUS TERESA WAS A GREAT NEW CHARACTER, THEY HAD A LOT MORE CHEMISTRY THAN LOU AND RAY. I ESPECIALLY LIKED THE CONVERSATIONS TERESA HAD WITH HERSELF. I HOPE WE GET TO READ MORE OF TERESA AND RAYANN VERY SOON. THEY ARE THE BEST COUPLE KARIN HAS WRITTEN SINCE "MAKING UP FOR LOST TIME"