Wednesday, July 14, 2010

A Season of Loss by Boudica X

Twenty years and based on just one mistake you throw your relationship out the window? I guess that trust is a personal thing - you either do or you don’t trust your partner, and if you don’t, I suppose that you have to think real hard about the future and decide where you want your relationship to go.

For Mac the answer is easy, when she get the idea that her partner – Jess - has had sex with another woman she tell her to leave their shared house and two adopted children right there on the spot – no room for hearing Jess’ version of the story and no room for arguing. A little harsh for my taste, but I guess that there are no way of knowing how you react if you are ever hit with that kind of news.

“A Season of Loss” is not the story of Mac and Jess breaking up, but rather the story of how they navigate through the aftermath of the ending of their relationship. Looking at the women you might wonder if they really did break up at all, as they do seem to still share a good deal of their lives. They take care of their children together, share meals and – when convenient - have sex! That is until Mac decides that it’s time to move on – for both of them – and starts dating.

“A Season of Loss” is perhaps a bit different from your every day alt romance fic as the storyline is based on an established relationship gone wrong and revolves around the question if it’s possible to get over past hurt and regain the trust necessary to renew a loving relationship.

In “A Season of Loss” I found a story that could hold my attention first and foremost by the quality of the writing. The storyline is solid and well told but holds no real drama, adventure or high-strung romantic feelings but it was strong enough to hold my interest in the characters of Mac and Jess.

“Season of Loss” is the first story in a series of three with “A Season of Change” and “A Season of Renewal” as the sequels. The later two stories are not quite as strong as “A Season of Loss”, but if you want the full story of how things turn out for Mac and Jess you can look up these too.

As I found Boudica X to have a real skilful pen I did look up a couple of her other stories and If you like your stories with a twist of divine intervention like angles and the sorts, you might like to try out “Amor Vincit Omnia”. This fic seems to be characterised by the same quality of writing as The Season series, but I stopped reading as soon as I got in touch with the first angel. I don’t like divine intervention in my alt romance fic’s, but please do let me know if I got “the angle thing” wrong and this is “just” your normal sort of modern alt romance.

And while we are on the subject of Boudica I thought I might let you know that the author (in print) of The Boudica Series Manda Scott also wrote three contemporary crime themed novels that involve the Glasgow based lesbian psychiatrist Kelly Steward. I especially found the debut novel “Hen’s Teeth” and the third novel “Stronger Then Death” captivating.

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