Alice never imagined that meeting co-worker Leslie would lead to an all-consuming love affair. But even in the anything-goes 1970s, feminist attitudes and the sexual revolution can’t change the fact that Leslie is a traditional married mom of two who won’t chance losing her children to follow her heart and divorce her husband. Their year of risk, passion, and heartache takes its toll on both women. Tired of only receiving crumbs from Leslie, Alice makes the toughest choice of her life and moves on.
Although their affair is short-lived, their desire to be together never dies. Nearly forty years later, Alice returns to Connecticut after learning Leslie has suffered a stroke. She soon realizes that time and distance haven’t doused the fire for Leslie that’s always burned in her heart. But is it too late to pick up where they left off?
Lindsay Chase had everything she’d ever wanted until a gambling addiction ruined her flashy life in Los Angeles. Forced home to Connecticut to start over, she’s broke, on probation, and ordered to do community service.
When she meets social worker Ellie Tuttle, their attraction is immediate, but Lindsay’s self-centered nature tests Ellie’s usually endless patience and empathy. Lindsay struggles to reconcile who she used to be with her new, humble existence, and she’s not exactly making a great first impression. As Ellie and Lindsay get to know each other while working together at the homeless shelter, they fall into an unlikely friendship that slowly leads to love, despite Ellie’s efforts to avoid it.
But when the shelter is set to close due to lack of funding, Lindsay has the chance to prove she isn’t as selfish as everyone thinks. She’ll save the day and show Ellie she’s worthy of her love. That is if she doesn’t go to jail for it first.
Cassie Burke never believed in second chances. If something didn’t work out, then it was never really meant for her. In the years following two heart-wrenching breakups, she kept her life simple. She’d dated when the opportunity arose but focused her energy on her career and best friends of over thirty years, Jenn and Maggie. Tight since their high school days in the 80s, they’ve weathered many storms. The most tempestuous being Deana, who had briefly joined their “pantheon” and stirred things up as only a beautiful lost soul can, testing their friendship and the strength of Cassie’s heart.
Now as Cassie, Jenn, and Maggie plan a celebration for their fiftieth birthdays, none of them are prepared for the whiplash changes their half-century mark year has in store. Least of all Cassie, who discovers a second chance with Deana might be just what her heart needs.
Reader advisory: References to homophobic violence/sexual assault.
Kate Randall is a successful, sophisticated attorney terminally jaded since the demise of her long-term relationship. Now with best friends Didi and Viv by her side, she’s savoring single life and the sweet taste of hard-won independence. As her friends navigate the poignant and amusing pitfalls of finding lasting love in their forties, she’s quite content to watch from behind a cosmo.
But when the girls drag Kate to a Pride event, sexy young singer Jordan Squire rocks the stable foundation Kate had struggled for years to build. Despite Kate’s protests, Jordan’s charms prove too powerful to resist, and they fall into a passionate summer love affair. But even if Kate can conquer her fear of repeating the past, can their relationship withstand the pressures of a significant age difference and the demands of Jordan’s burgeoning music career?
How much courage does it take to be yourself? In a decade when good girls conform to strict family and social expectations, Beatrice Darby is about to find out. After a harmless admiration for her older boss, sophisticated Abby Gill, blossoms into a full-blown crush, Beatrice is startled to discover why she's never felt like other girls.
She soon learns the necessity of "passing," the shame of secret "sin," and the pressure to meet family expectations, all while suffering the angst of unrequited love and the disastrous end to her friendship with college roommate and future sister-in-law, Gwen Ridgeway. When Abby reappears years later, can Beatrice go against all she's ever known to be happy? Will she have to choose between honesty and her family?
When an office attraction threatens her career, Hollis Reed’s carefully laid plans demand revision.
After a painful breakup, Hollis is determined to climb the corporate ladder by charting a meticulous three-year plan. Just as she vows to keep love at arm’s length, her new boss threatens to disrupt everything. Ainsley Jones is a force to be reckoned with—brilliant, sophisticated, and irrefutably attractive.
As Hollis navigates her new role, she can’t deny the magnetic pull between them. But workplace policies against fraternization, Hollis’s doubts about mixing business with pleasure, and Ainsley’s micromanaging style prevent their budding romance from blooming. With the unwavering support of her best friend, Harrison, Hollis must risk everything she thought she wanted to have the love she can’t live without.
Conner Cody is poised to have it all. Whether on the big screen or a concert stage, she commands adoration, lust, and more money than she can count from millions of fans across the world. Behind the scenes, she keeps people at arm’s length, having learned her lessons from her famous parents—better to hurt them first before they can hurt her.
Her love life is as dramatic as the roles she plays, so Conner fills the void with meaningless hookups, and her infamous parties provide a facade of friendship. But when a few people begin to slip past her defenses and her estranged sister returns, happiness finally appears within reach.
But letting people in is risky and her insecurities take center stage, pushing away everyone she cares about. On the verge of destroying everything she holds dear, Conner must choose: will she stay behind her walls, safe yet alone, or will she risk it all to finally learn what it means to love?
So many feels with this one. :) Loved all the 70s flashbacks. The story alternates back and forth in the past and present in a way that made me think of Fried Green Tomatoes. (Another great book.) This book is filled with love, angst, hurt, and hope. It's a fairly quick read with some engaging characters....
Reviewed by Samantha Luce
Her prose is well-crafted, and her characters are beautifully flawed, a winning combination.
By Netgalley.com on Dec 19, 2016 02:12
When Alice finds out that her old friend, Leslie has had a stroke, she dashes to her side, never mind that it’s been over twenty years since they’ve seen each other, and longer still since they had an affair while Leslie was married with children. From coworkers to friends to lovers, Alice rehashes the past while at Leslie’s bedside, and when she wakes up, if they can put the past behind them, they might just rebuild their friendship and more.
Copeland is an English teacher, and it shows. Her prose is well-crafted, and her characters are beautifully flawed, a winning combination. There is a lot of back and forth, not just in time but also in a will-they/won’t-they work out their differences sort of way, but for the characters’ complicated history, it makes sense. The sex scenes aren’t too hot and heavy, and are pretty tasteful, so if you’re in it for the bodice-ripping, you might be a tad disappointed. That said, there is plenty of action.
As with most books I enjoy, my favorite part of the story is the characters. As I mentioned before, Alice and Leslie are both terribly flawed, and though Alice knows she’s different from a lot of women, neither suspected sapphic tendencies before falling for one another. Thus, the emotional fumbling seems realistic as does the melodrama. I mean, not only are they dealing with new feelings for one another in a time when that sort of thing wasn’t talked about, they can’t even research, no Google. Anything they could have possibly read to get a clue would only tell them they were deviants. That combined with Leslie’s marriage and motherhood seems to spell disaster.
They’ll get a second chance, however, if they can work out all of the hurt and anger from the past, and even as they try to find their way back to one another, there’s still plenty of those emotions to go around. Despite all of their shortcomings, these characters had the real deal, and the author had me rooting for them.
A couple of final thoughts. Firstly, women’s history is in the 70s, so there’s plenty of disco, feminism, and weed (right on), and finally, I love that this book is about older lesbians. Sure, half of it takes place when they’re younger, but I loved the chance to see them later, how they matured and changed and what became of them. Plus, if they’re to have a shot, they’re going to need the wisdom of age and time to learn from past mistakes. I’m always on the lookout for a good book about lesbians in middle-age and older, and this one doesn’t disappoint.
Reviewed by Leslie Shaip
A captivating tale of discovery, awakening, love and loss
By Netgalley.com on Oct 20, 2016 04:10
A captivating tale of discovery, awakening, love and loss, told through an intricate weaving of the present and the past. A story that rivals the poignancy of The Notebook, "The Second Wave" is a must read for lovers of romance everywhere. Jean Copeland is clearly a master at the art of drawing the reader in, and keeping you wanting to read just one more page before you set the book down.
Reviewed by Lily Greer
F/F at it's absolute best.
By Netgalley.com on Oct 20, 2016 04:10
This one was great. I literally got approved for it today and read it all on this lazy sunday. F/F at it's absolute best.
Reviewed by Guinevere Zoyana Thomas
A beautiful, heart-wrenching love story
By Netgalley.com on Sep 16, 2016 12:09
Jean Copeland has written a beautiful, heart-wrenching love story that flits between the 1970s and present day. Leslie and Alice became friends at work but over time they became so much more to each other. Alice, a divorcee, introduces housewife and mother Leslie to her feminist crochet club and to a different kind of love. What starts as an education into the new feminist thinking of the 70s becomes for Leslie the most important relationship of her life and one she can’t ever forget, however hard she tries.
When Leslie has a stroke at the age of 69, her daughter contacts her old friend Alice as that is the only word Leslie keeps repeating in her unconscious state. As Alice remembers their affair, we find out exactly how much they loved each other, but also how difficult it was to be in a lesbian relationship back then. Women had to put up with lecherous men refusing to believe that a woman might legitimately not be attracted to them!
The big worry for Leslie though was the fact that she might lose her kids if anyone found out about them. I loved the way the author let us see how all-consuming the relationship had been and then the affect it still had on them in the present day. This is an emotional story with great characters and a poignant insight into the lives of women in the recent past. Highly recommended.
