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A review by verumsolum
Dare to Love by A.L. Brooks
4.0
I feel like I have to start this review by tattling on myself. I didn't want to read this book. But a book club I'm part of chose it and I've enjoyed all of their selections over the last couple of years, and I didn't want to miss out on the discussion. But I resented paying for a book whose blurb… didn't really grip me.
Why do I mention all this? Because I let stupid prejudices and stereotypes get in the way of me wanting to read this book. I'm not a tattoo woman: though I don't know how much of that is internalized crap and how much is genuinely me, so reading that one of the couple was a tattooist was one of the factors that led to me not being interested before I picked the book up. One of these days, I'll trust the others in the group more, because they haven't steered me wrong yet!
This was a very good story. Ash and Carmen were nicely different. And… we had characters who came to this point in their lives with some past hurts and worries. I also, as somebody who eventually broke contact with her now-deceased mother after her reaction to my coming-out, appreciated that both characters had to relate with mothers (either their own or another family member's) who initially reacted negatively to one of their children coming out. Those felt real, and not conflicts there simply to be exploited to move the story along, as they might have in another author's hands.
Most of all, I appreciated the book reminding me of the wonderful feelings of the initial stages of romantic love, as well as neither hiding from nor excessively dwelling on the inevitable obstacles that crop up on the way to happily ever after.
Why do I mention all this? Because I let stupid prejudices and stereotypes get in the way of me wanting to read this book. I'm not a tattoo woman: though I don't know how much of that is internalized crap and how much is genuinely me, so reading that one of the couple was a tattooist was one of the factors that led to me not being interested before I picked the book up. One of these days, I'll trust the others in the group more, because they haven't steered me wrong yet!
This was a very good story. Ash and Carmen were nicely different. And… we had characters who came to this point in their lives with some past hurts and worries. I also, as somebody who eventually broke contact with her now-deceased mother after her reaction to my coming-out, appreciated that both characters had to relate with mothers (either their own or another family member's) who initially reacted negatively to one of their children coming out. Those felt real, and not conflicts there simply to be exploited to move the story along, as they might have in another author's hands.
Most of all, I appreciated the book reminding me of the wonderful feelings of the initial stages of romantic love, as well as neither hiding from nor excessively dwelling on the inevitable obstacles that crop up on the way to happily ever after.