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mischievous_monkey's review against another edition
4.0
I felt like it was about time I read this classic and now that I have, I can see why it has endured so well.
The book is a product of its time and makes me feel very grateful for the women and men who stepped out of secrecy in ways both small and large to make this world more inclusive.
In the book I appreciated that we saw the characters feel fear, doubt and disbelief as well as love and attraction. Such a life changing encounter is emotionally turbulent and I feel that was well represented by the book. The emotions and reactions all rang true. It was also damn sexy.
The book is a product of its time and makes me feel very grateful for the women and men who stepped out of secrecy in ways both small and large to make this world more inclusive.
In the book I appreciated that we saw the characters feel fear, doubt and disbelief as well as love and attraction. Such a life changing encounter is emotionally turbulent and I feel that was well represented by the book. The emotions and reactions all rang true. It was also damn sexy.
theraveler's review against another edition
3.0
You want lesbian romance? You've got it. A relationship between two adult women who are discovering themselves, that's what this is. Lovely literary references. Interesting chemistry with other characters. And a quick read.
chelzkaye's review against another edition
5.0
This was a beautiful book and it was my first lesbian love story. I’ll definitely be revisiting this one!
boner4books's review against another edition
4.0
So, I'm not one hundred percent sure how I feel about this book. I feel like it was good, but not great. I think the fact that it was written in the eighties is one of the main reasons this book didn't live up to my expectations, there are a lot of sentiments that are kind of 'ew' by today's standards. Also, was semi-annoying that both the women in the relationship were previously straight - at least one of them had thought about being with a woman before though. Does that make it much better? Not sure. Some questions: How could they literally have sex for twelve hours one of the nights, like, are they ok? Why did Vivian talk about herself in third person? Why was there a literal rape scene that happened, and only ever mentioned once as being 'ravaged by an all-american Atilla the Hun'? WTF. How could Diana hear the women talking downstairs but the women could never hear Lane and Diana upstairs? How did no one guess?
Even with all these questionable choices, I still think this was a 3.5-4 star book. The women fell into infatuation quickly but weren't too quick to jump into love, they took a break to think about their feelings, one of the characters comes out to her dad and its not too big of a deal, the characters don't make any stupid unrealistic decisions and although there is a lot of sex (some tender/sensual, some not), the relationship itself is very tender.
There were a few lines of dialogue that I really loved and actually ended up tracking down a highlighter to annotate:
"It's hard for me to drive when you're looking at me."
"I'm only looking."
"Your looking is like touching."
There's just something about this line that I love. And another...
"You made me sleep today and I needed to. We both needed to. You take good care of me."
"I like taking care of you..."
*swoon*
Ok, this one is long, but it's worth it-
"A month is forever," Diana said insistently. "It's such a long time!"
"After that first night with you, when I knew I would come to you again, all that day I thought of an Emily Dickinson line: 'I had been hungry all the years.'" Lane looked at her for a long moment. "All those years for me, Diana. I only want you to take a month. One month. To consider whether this is right for you."
"I've been hungry all the years too, Lane. Waiting for Lane Christianson the person, whether that would be a man or a woman."
"I accept the fact," Lane said quietly, "that I prefer Diana Holland to be a woman."
I don't know - this is just so perfect. I stand behind both sentiments and I love that they're
actually talking about it.
There's also a section that would be too long to type up here where Diana and Lane have an argument about Lane trying to be 'the man' in the relationship which on the surface seems annoying but I think is actually a really nice moment between them where they honestly discuss their feelings and work through something together!
And in the end - THEY END UP TOGETHER, IT'S HAPPY!! We don't get that enough and I'm here for it.
Even with all these questionable choices, I still think this was a 3.5-4 star book. The women fell into infatuation quickly but weren't too quick to jump into love, they took a break to think about their feelings, one of the characters comes out to her dad and its not too big of a deal, the characters don't make any stupid unrealistic decisions and although there is a lot of sex (some tender/sensual, some not), the relationship itself is very tender.
There were a few lines of dialogue that I really loved and actually ended up tracking down a highlighter to annotate:
"It's hard for me to drive when you're looking at me."
"I'm only looking."
"Your looking is like touching."
There's just something about this line that I love. And another...
"You made me sleep today and I needed to. We both needed to. You take good care of me."
"I like taking care of you..."
*swoon*
Ok, this one is long, but it's worth it-
"A month is forever," Diana said insistently. "It's such a long time!"
"After that first night with you, when I knew I would come to you again, all that day I thought of an Emily Dickinson line: 'I had been hungry all the years.'" Lane looked at her for a long moment. "All those years for me, Diana. I only want you to take a month. One month. To consider whether this is right for you."
"I've been hungry all the years too, Lane. Waiting for Lane Christianson the person, whether that would be a man or a woman."
"I accept the fact," Lane said quietly, "that I prefer Diana Holland to be a woman."
I don't know - this is just so perfect. I stand behind both sentiments and I love that they're
actually talking about it.
There's also a section that would be too long to type up here where Diana and Lane have an argument about Lane trying to be 'the man' in the relationship which on the surface seems annoying but I think is actually a really nice moment between them where they honestly discuss their feelings and work through something together!
And in the end - THEY END UP TOGETHER, IT'S HAPPY!! We don't get that enough and I'm here for it.
chasegartzke's review against another edition
5.0
I’m not sure what’s not to love about this book. The characters are well developed, in my opinion, and they drive the plot along beautifully. This was the first time I dipped my toes into the lesbian fiction subgenre and I’m relieved it was so well done. I love this little book.
harleybasswood's review against another edition
3.0
Argh. So many mixed feelings about this book. Need to mull it over before I can review it. ...
youreadtoomuch's review against another edition
3.0
A book reflective of its time. But I don't think I have ever read characters interacting with such tenderness. The buildup for these two characters was otherworldly. It wasn't anticipation but more a calm inevitability. However, such tenderness comes at the shadow of sexual assault, self-blaming, and no real work to heal this character from this incredibly traumatic experience and then pushed into this new relationship. Sexual assault should be part of literature and media but not for the sake of creating a contrast between being with men versus women. And I'm kind of unhappy that this is what others are considering lesbian classic. I easily wanted to read more by the author until I reached that scene.
j24cnymj's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
sere_rev's review against another edition
2.0
I love a good female choral story and for such a short novel this does a good job of defining each character. The love story is very sweet but the conflicts going on around it are enough to prevent the book from being unbearably fluffy. Still, some things annoyed me: especially at the beginning the two protagonists are so similar they might as well be the same person - their early interactions are a constant "No way! Me too!", and they keep quoting Emily Dickinson at each other and smirking which... come on now, be serious. Also, there's plenty of sex. I'm sure this is a pro for some readers, but I got bored of it pretty quickly. I haven't read any of those recent romance novels with the pastel-colored covers that all look the same, but I imagine Curious Wine is about that style of book. Except it's sapphic, which automatically makes it better.
readingbinge's review against another edition
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0