A review by analenegrace
Read Between the Lines by Rachel Lacey

emotional funny hopeful tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

 
I received this book in a book swap, and I hadn’t heard of the author before, but I’ll definitely be reading Rachel Lacey’s others! This book was fun and easy to pace through, making it a great vacation read. I love that it's about a bookstore owner, although I was pretty wary going in knowing it was about a landlord, but I loved and related to Jane’s character a lot. It was well-written, and the characters felt really realistic, making their relationship nice to read about! 
 
Jane’s character was especially intriguing as her work is complicated; while landlords are not inherently evil, the actions of her father's business are bad, and I did wish that we had maybe reached that conclusion a little bit more rather than
just the “alls well that ends well” conclusion to the bookstore location plot. Jane’s choice to leave her job and comfort zone to pursue her goal as an author was great, although it felt like the characters were moving in together way too fast, same with saying I love you.
I tend to prefer characters whose romance feels a bit more realistic in their speed. 
 
Usually, my least favorite trope is any of sort of hidden identity because it leads to the miscommunication trope, which is just awful, but Rosie and Jane were such good communicators for the most part that it was fantastic.
Jane choosing to tell Rosie who she was rather than keep it from her was not what I expected but was highly appreciated.
The characters felt their feelings strongly, and I enjoyed that they were lesbians and comfortable in saying lesbian because too many WLW romances choose to skirt around the word lesbian like it is dirty rather than many people’s identities. 
 
I also really enjoyed the way the side characters were written, and I’m very interested in the possibility of a Gracie/Lia book which it felt like the author was hinting at! All in all, a good read by an author who writes well and isn’t afraid of lesbian!! 
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