"Hindsight" by Lois Kay

I say that these two cute cupcakes are meant to be together! On the other hand sometimes fate or perhaps - in hindsight - a bad choice will decide a different future not only for a "couple of cup cakes" but more likely for a cute pair of lovers.

If you want to explore the matter of "bad decisions" a bit closer you might tag along as I tell you about my latest venture into the world of F/F Fanfiction. This time I went out with Lois Kay. Lois has a nice backlog of stories with "Hearts Choice" being my favourite by her pen.

Before we put on our clogs and starts prowling hospital floors looking for Hannah - yes we are looking to find doctors and nurses this time .. yumi (!) - we might just take a minute to explore the topic of bad choices. I guess some us have a vivid recollection of a date gone wrong, time wasted looking for love in the wrong places or how we mistook a smile, a dance or a kiss for more than just a casual interest. Some might even have managed to do the U-haul thing just to find that living together gives the word  INCOMPATIBLE a new meaning!

If you are experienced in the world of LesFic you know that the authors have us - or rather the protagonists - take more than just a slight detour on the route towards LHEA. LesFic gives the matter of making bad choices a new meaning all together! Now I'm not saying that Hannah made a bad choice when she started going out with Rachel back when she waited tables to pay her way through nursing school or that Rachel wasn't serious about their relationship while she went to medschool or did her residency, but four years ago Rachel did make the choice to leave Hannah with no farewell and certainly no reasonable explanation, she just disappeared!

So where does that leave Hannah ...? Well I found her in the home of her Granny, who seems to have picked her up and put her back on her feet these last four years since Rachel left. As you might have guessed by now Lois is not telling us the story of how Hannah got herself back together and took up life looking for love in the arms of a woman more loving and caring that Rachel.

This is the story of Rachel returning to her home town and ... well yes taking up work at the same hospital as Hannah, and running into Hannah ... and ... nah I wont tell, but I'll let you know that if you are looking for a mushy romantic tale of how two women pick up the love that even a bad choice can't kill, then put your feet up and enjoy this read.

"Hindsight" is a tale of love, family looking out for each other and for some family members maybe even looking a little too closely in on each others love interest. Yes I aim to make you wonder ! But I'll let you know that once the mushy love turns solid, you'll be treated to a bit of a thriller - not quite my ball game - but I found the mix enjoyable enough.

I should perhaps point out that Lois is not one to invite her readers into the bedroom of her protagonists, so if you are looking for love with a spicy flavour, I suggest that you look elsewhere. A visit with CK and Branson in Larisa's "The Phantom" might be to your liking. It's not a read big on mushy romance, but a great mix of romance and humour all the same. This is among my absolute favourite Larisa stories and Larisa is high on my list of all time favourite Fanfiction writers - so I say if you haven't been to CK's farm then don't hesitated...  run along and see if you can catch a ride with Branson, she has a pair of fast wheels at least when the destination is LOVE !

The Shaken Series by KG MacGregor

"It looks like you’re crawling in the doggie door naked ?" Well that's what Anna thinks ... do you want to  knows what might have caused her to get that idea ?

I have neither dog nor doggie door, but I might have to get at least the doorthing if it's at all possible that I will have the chance to find a beautiful, naked woman stuck right there in the middle ... neither in nor out!

I take it that you would have to be of a rather slight frame to actually attempt to use a doggie door to enter a house or at least you will have to have a real appealing reason to do so ... perhaps both. If you want to know Lilly's reason to attempt this way of entering her own home you might want to look up KG MacGregors Anna and Lilly series - "Shaken", "Stirred", "Strained", "Anna's Christmas", "I told You So", "Blood of My Blood" or you could move on to Bold Stroke Books and buy the published version of the four books in the Shaken Series.

This is basic LesFic romance with the standard storyline of out girl meets straight girl, friendship turns to love, and we - the readers - wonders who will make the first move to get the "show" on the road. This ever successful storyline is really well executed in the KG MacGregors pen especially in the first part of the series - "Shaken". 

The story setting is interesting with a catching combination of business woman, as in luxury car dealer Anna Kaklis, who is set to take over the family company, and social conscious attorney Lilly Stuart, who tirelessly fights the cause of battered women. The women meet under extraordinary circumstances that prove to be the starting point of a life changing journey of self discovery and one that will get us all we want from our LesFic romance ... the angst, the love and LHEA. If you choose to go "all the way" with Lilly and Anna you will get the chance to follow not only the process of finding and fighting for love, but also the building of family life. 

If you haven't started your reading of KG MacGregor stories yet then "Shaken" is a good place to start.

Gun Shy by Lori L. Lake

I sometimes wonder how we come to choose our profession and the jobs we spend a good part of our lives working. I know that not everyone gets a choice, sometimes work is a matter of taking what's on offer, but during the span of a lifetime, I think that most of us makes choices that affect our professional lives.

Is it a flashy uniform, a specific professional challenge, a family tradition or a quest for something that influence our choice of profession or job ? Is it perhaps sometimes something closer to our hearts - sympathy, adoration, infatuation .... love? Well I guess that it probably takes a mushy lesfic to make love part of the equation, but hey I could be wrong?

Anyway for Jaylynn Savage the impressive blue clad image of police officer Dez Reilley charging in to stop two attackers from hurting her and her friend Sara does make an impression strong enough to pull Jaylynn off her chosen track towards law school and into the Police academy.

So here we go - Jaylynn makes the transition from college student to police cadet and rookie riding with .... Dez as her Field Training Officer - now how lucky can one woman get in just a few months ? Well not that lucky! Dez is not someone to make friends and certainly not of fellow female officers! Even the outgoing, fun, beautiful blond Jaylynn find it hard to compete with the ghosts from Dez's past, but even if Dez is standoffish she does have friends who will work to encourage Jaylynn to keep up her attacks on Dez's amour.

Even though we do get a taste of the everyday routines of patrolling the city streets this is primarily the story of the developing relationship between Jaylynn and Dez .... so I guess that this is mostly a story for the mushy romantics among lesfic readers, but it's well written and with enough of a supporting cast of characters to give the storyline some fill and to develop the characters of Dez and Jaylynn beyond the basics.

The turning point of the romance is a body building competition that Dez takes part in - so if weight routines in the gym, dieting and muscular women is your thing - maybe you want to look up the story even if the mushy romance is not what you like the best!

"Gun Shy" has been published as have the sequels, "Under the Gun" and "Have Gun We'll Travel". Only "Gun Shy" and "Under the Gun" is available online.

None So Blind by LJ Maas

When you have a bit of spare time on your hand put the kettle on and make your favorite drink, pull up a chair and get comfortable. Are you ready to relax with a romantic read ? Oh I  forgot,  if you have a gf around maybe you ought to tell her that you have some reading to do ...  but do you have to tell her that you aim for some recreational reading ?

Lying or omitting bits of information often creates a lot of misunderstandings in a relationship, and I'm not one to suggest that you start down that path, even though it seems that it's a sure way to create a classic romantic lesfic read ! One that LJ Maas masters with great efficiency in "None So Blind".

When your are ready then press the link above and prepare to meet our favorite blond; Torrey Gray a freshman coming to stay in the TAU ALPHA ZETA house on the campus of the University of Main and her new roommate, the brooding raven haired biker babe and college senior; Taylor Kent. You might say that Torrey and Taylor is as different as night and day, but it just takes one look - as green eyes meet blue - and we are all convinced that the ladies can find common ground.

At College Torrey and Taylor becomes inseparable friends, a friendship based on omission of the one truth that Taylor thinks will break them apart. You might be able to guess what truth that might be?

The story of Torrey and Taylor goes back and forth in time between their college years together and the present day living very far apart. Today Torrey is an author struggling with a sort of writers block and a single mother to her teenage daughter Jessie, who is going through a difficult phase in life. At the same time Taylor spends her life out in sunny California having a successful career as an artist, but missing something or rather someone important in her life.

What can possible push the women down the path towards a happy ending ? Jessie ! The one thing that will bridge the differences and misunderstandings between Torrey and Taylor seems to be their shared wish to help Jessie on with her life. And when Torrey reach out to her friend for help, Taylor is happy to take Jessie in for a while.

This is a classic lesfic based on the assumption that two women are able to keep their hearts desire a secret from each other for years! If you can accept that fact, you will most likely enjoy the story of Torrey and Taylor, their daughter Jessie and the long road they have to travel from friends to lovers. It's a great romance that has made it on to my list of favorite reads a long time ago - if you like a mushy and classic romance you really should give this one a try.

Cooking on High by Creme Brulee

The truly great cooks knows how to create that perfect bite - the bite the combine sour, sweet, salty, bitter and that undefined something that you can't really put a name to. 

In the universe of online f/f fiction Creme Brulee is one of those chefs who really know how to mix up a dish to tickle your taste butts, but "Cooking on High" is not just one great dish - it is a full meal, mixing drama, fun, romance and a good storyline all in one. 

French is "French" - not as in "from France" but rather as in a French chef. She has earned her toque - tall paper hats French-trained chefs wear - in the real world by hard work. Ruthless and obsessive in her quest for perfection. Never missing a chance to push herself forward, no-matter the consequences. Now she is on top of Haute Cuisin, running her restaurant Bachanal on an island of the coast of New England to perfection, and harbouring a wish to leave behind the competitiveness and dirty dog fights of her past. But it is one thing to teach yourself new tricks, it's quite another to get those around you to accept the change!

You will find plenty of drama in "Cooking on High" with murder, fierce competitors and wronged lovers, but when you clear the smoke, your eyes will soon catch up with someone small and blond... a small Fry. She is that little something that makes an ordinary sauce turn exceptional, she is what makes changes happen in everyday life - as in changing you view, as in messing with you mind, as in how your heart starts beating faster ... 

This is uber when it's at its best, the instant attraction between "tall and gorgeous" and "vertically challenged", is left to simmer on the stove whiles the ladies get acquainted through a bit of teamwork on an investigation into the murder of a local politician and of cause the daily battle in the kitchen and on the floors of the Bachanal. Do watch out, French knows how to throw her knifes and deliver sharp punches both physically and - of cause - vocally.

What I like the best about Creme Brulee's writing is the dialog - it's sharp and witty. Creme Brulee is an expert in bringing the storyline forward, giving you and insight to the characters and putting a smile on your face through the dialog between the protagonists - this is a great asset to the storyline.

If you get high on cooking fumes you might want to look up Damnation's "Burned Sugar" or Fingersmith's "Critical". Both stories sport a good looking chef ready to mix good food with a bit of romance and drama.

Creme Brulee's stories are posted on "The Celestial Buffet" but I'm sad to say that no new fic's by Creme Brulee have been added recently. Due to the quality of the writing I do wonder if this pen has published under a different pen name - does anyone know??

Game, Set and Match by Ali Vali aka A. Valdivia

For some the World Cup (football / soccer) is the focus of attention right now, others might spend time watching the Wimbledon tennis tournament and some - like I - am waiting for the cyclist of The Tour de France to get on their bikes and pedal out of Rotterdam in The Netherlands on July 3rd.

If you get tired of watching the sports on TV, you might want to take a little time with a (fan) fic touching on a sport theme. So I invite you to pick your favourite game on the list below and to relax while you “watch” the ladies work out!

How about starting off with a game of field hockey ? If you like this game or if you are just curious as to what it’s all about, you might look up “The Player” and join Gil and Emma while they play the game and get to know each other – review.

Should field hockey not be to you liking, you could look in on "America's Sweetheart" by Catherine Burke a sweet romance written on the backdrop of women’s soccer in the US (review).

If golf is your sport – you can stop by “The Deal” by M. Ryan (review) in this story you’ll be treated to an almost play by play run through of the game, while you follow Kaz’s in the world of News.

“The road from Kilimanjaro” (review) might be somewhat off a strict sports theme, but if you are not too keen on chasing after a ball you might like to go hiking up the mountain slops of Mt. Kilimanjaro or journey along on a safari with KG MacGregor, while Mary Kate and Kristine get acquainted or perhaps you would rather join Ryan and Jamie on a bike ride in the “Beginning” of their rather long relationship in SX Meagher’s ”I Found My Heart in San Francisco” series – by the way - you’ll find plenty of sports played out in this series as Ryan is a real sports jock (review).

“Blue Calm” by Larisa will give you a touch of the atmosphere on the beaches of Hawaii while Tucker learns to navigate the waves on a surfboard and Dunk takes her last win in the Pipe Master Competition (review).

Finally I’ll leave you on Centre Court with Parker King and her racket as she whacks the ball and let it fly past the player on the other side of the net to win the women’s singles final in Wimbledon. Parker is the “bad girl” of the tennis world – dating and discarding women as “just another notch in my lipstick case” (That’s a new one … I think?) and it’ll take a transatlantic flight and a disastrous - but funny - meeting with a blond pilot to changes Parkers lifestyle.

Emily - the blond pilot in question - on the other hand takes her love life serious. Returning from a three weeks stretch of transatlantic flights she meets Gail - her partner of three years – for a short vacation at a rented beach house to reconnect, but this is just another disaster waiting to happen as Gail’s long time habit of drinking becomes unbearable.

Luckily enough it turns out that Parker resides next door to the beach house that Emily rents and I guess that that is all the invitation needed to start Parker and Emily off on the road toward friendship and perhaps, who knows something more. Hey don’t get too excited – you’ll have to watch the ladies work through some misunderstandings before they can walk the path laid out, but that’s just the way it is in romantic fiction !

Ali Vali has penned a number of stories among these “A place to dance” which is the one I like best, but “Game, Set and Match” is a nice romance with a sprinkle of drama and a bit of funny dialogue that’ll keep you well entertained. Just bear in mind that Ali Vali has a tendency to be a little lax with the editing, which might be slightly confusing at times.

In case you are wondering - I do know that you can find a ton of (fan) fic’s on the theme of women’s basketball. I might get around to do a list of basketball fics later – perhaps when the indoor season knocks on the door again.

The Deal by M. Ryan

LGBT, DINK, IGLHRC, ILGA, AGLBIC ….no I didn’t make any of these abbreviations up they are all quit legit ! So is ABC, CNN, NBC, PBS, CBS and if you work in the world of TV you got to know your acronyms and abbreviations by heart - at least if you work State sides.

Laura Kasdan does know her way around the world of TV as she is currently the News Director of KDAL in Dallas, an upmarket TV station. Laura, or Kaz as she is called, is the young “hot star” of the news world able to deliver the ratings that management requires. Then something happens - the primadonna of the newsroom go and grab her ass which in return lands him with a bloodied nose and guess what - the tree gets shaken and Laura ends up with the job as News Director at the middle market WBFC in Burkett Falls – talk about injustice!

WBFC is a station in trouble, with ratings going down and revenue dwindling, but with the good looking six feet of blue eyed help riding in on the plane from Dallas, things are looking up for the station and for the accident prone reporter and news anchor Chris Hanson, who in return will turn Laura’s world up side down.

Chris is – if you are wondering – the green eyed blond that we need to move the story from newsroom drama to classic alt romance. Chris is good on the screen, which is something that Laura realize almost immediately, but Chris is so much more than just talent, she is outgoing, friendly and she has an eye for a good looking woman, but that’s not something that you advertise in an industry with moral clauses in the contracts. Even though Chris is already good, Laura can make her better, and she might just be what Chris needs to make it to the networks ….. and in other aspects of life.

But there is more to Laura than The News, she has a real passion in life – golf – and as a former U.S. Amateur golf champion for two consecutive years she is working hard to get enough tee time to see her through the qualifications to the tournament once again.

“The Deal” is an excellent story with great dialogue, an imaginative and broad storyline, well developed characters and a slow moving love story – with that natural flow that I like! What more could you possibly want – this is Uber when it’s at its best! So let your hair down, grab a hot drink and settle down – this is a story well worth your reading time.

Sadly enough “The Deal” is the only novel length story that M(aggie) Ryan seems to have posted or published (Justice House Publishing 2001). A sequel was started years ago but never finished – if you are prepared to be left hanging look up “Shell Game” and if you really really, really need just a little bit of extra time with Laura and Chris you can look up the vignette “Seventeen Minutes”.

Blue Calm by Larisa

I know that you probably don’t want to hear about it no more, but I’m a biiig Larisa fan, and well I’m the blogger, your the reader, so at least in this aspect of life I’ll lead and you follow … well I guess that’s just until you hit the keyboard and quell my ramblings while you turn you attention onto other more interesting topics on the net.

According to the calendar it’s summer – it’s supposed to be warm, sunny and dry, but it’s not! It’s lukewarm at best; the rain keeps falling and the sun …. well I haven’t seen it for days.

So I for one needs a bit of sunny weather to keep my spirit up and I know just where to find it! I’ll pack my bags and take the surfboard on a spin in the waves of the coast of Hawaii – ups I think that I got to get myself a new bikini or something – the granny black thing in the back of the bottom drawer in my dresser certainly wont do at a surfer paradise … OK so while I go pick up a chick bikini why don’t you entertain yourself with a couple of Larisa goofballs and a pair of women making go-go eyes at each other?

Let me introduce you to Tucker Danes, her fiancé Steve, the bartender and surfer Dunk and her friends Ripples and Furball (the Larisa goofballs) and their sunny retreat in Hawaii.

Tucker Danes is not having quite the kind of vacation in Hawaii that you would usually dream of – at least not in the beginning – but after having dished her fiancé and making the acquaintance of Mama - who rents out guest houses on the beach - things turn for the better when her green eyes meet Dunk’s baby blue.

And yes – they are “baby” blue – Dunk might have been around the block a few times – but deep down she is just a searching soul looking for someone to love and to love her back – and it seems that Tucker might just be that someone Dunk needs to fill her soul, body and mind.

If you want to feel the sun warming your skin and a romance your heart, join Tucker as she hangs out with Dunk at the beach learning to surf the waves, while they skinny dip at secluded waterfalls or hang out with Dunk’s best friends the goofballs Ripples and Furball. I guess that they could just be new friends taking pleasure in each others company, but if you believe that a leopard can changes its spots or a tiger its strips you might just believe that the hereto straight Tucker can fall head over heels for her butch new friend Dunk in two weeks.

This is classic Larisa fun with laughable scenes and funny dialogue, a bit of drama and of cause true love! ***Spoiler alert! This time Larisa even throws in a home birth and baby stuff,yes believe it or not Dunk – almost – got Tucker pregnant all by herself.

Angels Heart by Mavis Applewater

The other day I came across a new fic posted at The Academy of Bards based on a “women in prison” theme – so I thought why no put together a list of fic’s on this topic. I guess that I should let you know though that I missed out on the English TV-series “Bad girls” which explains why I haven’t included any Nikki/Helen fan fic - I never caught that particular “bug”.

If you want an “education” in prison life look up "Redemption" by Sword’n’Quill (Susanne Beck) and take a walk with Angel and let her tell you the tale of her years in “The Bog”, of the righteous women of The Amazon gang who makes sure every one follow the rules and of her attraction to Ice - the leader of the pack of Amazons. You might know this story already as Incognito reviewed it back in October 2009, but I do think that it belongs on this list as I do agree with Incognito on the merit of the fic.

In “The Bog” you either wise up fast or go for an equally swift downward spin. Luckily enough Angel happens to make a narrow escape from a couple of beastly woman into the prison library very early in her “prison career”. This earns her the support of Corinne - the old and wise prison librarian - and the protection of The Amazons. It does take some time though before Angel sets her eyes on Ice but when she does, you get hit with the entire soul mate theme – of souls calling out and visions of past lives led and sacrifices made spinning around – this is a Xena Uber of the “original” kind!

“Redemption” is a drama with lots of fighting and with a very slow moving romance at its core, it’s well written, with a bit of funny dialogue at times as well as a broad storyline and a wide cast of “bad” women to entertain you. If you have amble time on your hands go look it up.

“Redemption” is the first in a series of three – the two sequels are titled “Retribution” and “Restitution”. I read the stories ages ago and I haven’t taken the time to do a complete rereading – so you are on you own with the sequels.

The very productive Mavis Applewater penned one of the first fan fic’s on the “women in prison” theme that I read. As a number of the fic’s by this author “Angels Heart” and the sequel “Angel Unchained” is more or less a PWP, but I think that the stories has a bit of an alt romance at heart even if the setting is a tad harsh and the “hot stuff” a bit rough and repetitive for my taste.

In the Angels series your get to meet Angel and her small “family” of inmates at the Seaside Correctional Institution for Women. Angel - a three-timer doing an extended stretch of time at the facility - decides to “spread her wings” over Luann a desolated looking newbie who is unwilling to defend herself against the “brutes” in the prison. To keep Luann safe Angel has to “claim” Luann as her own and as you can imagine, this is done by public displays of sex – not once, but a number of times – those inmates has to be reminded ! But don’t worry, our Angel is pure at heart and even tough she harbours not only sexual but also romantic feelings for Luann, she doesn’t take advantage of her – it’s al just a bit of “acting” – at least for awhile.

I have no idea what a women’s correctional facility is like, but somehow I find it hard to imagine that women are as brutal or as sexually charged as portrayed in this fic, but who cares – it’s fiction right!

In “Prison Grove” by Geon Cannon the setting is almost the same, a harsh correction facility, a newbie and a seasoned inmate, two women falling in love and living out the romance and their sexual relationship under the restrictions of the prison rules. The plot in this storyline is even simpler than in Mavis’ “Angels series” as this story focuses solely on the 19 years old newbie Amy’s sexual maturing through her relationship with an older inmate. This fic is also a PWP, but with a slightly unexpected twist in the end.

A somewhat different approach is to be found in “Hard as Stone” by JL Nicky. This story is set in the 1930s and revolves around Sara (Stone) and Tammy (Twig’s) both doing time for murder. Stone is a quiet six feet tall, dark haired woman who keeps to herself, that’s until she sets eyes on the new green eyed girl Tammy, who is being pursued by “Snow and her sister White” ;-). Stone is the guarding angel that Tammy needs to survive in the The Bickett Correctional Facility, the one that will teach her how to breaking quarry rock, see to her aching back and open her eyes to the possibilities of romance. This is not a PWP – so don’t go to Bickett for hot sex. The story is a bit uneven in the storyline and with a changing focus, but it does fit nicely with the theme of “women in prison”.

If you like the theme you can take a look at three shorter fics that I’ve mentioned above, but don’t expect too much – they are entertaining enough, but not high quality neither in editing nor storyline.

Beneath The Surface by Barbara Davies

Uhhh I’ve got it, it’s right there at the tip of my tongue! If you are an avid reader you must have experienced thinking of a storyline, but not quite being able to put a name to the book or online fiction that you are thinking of. Well I’ve found the answer to this problem, at least when we are talking of online fiction - be it original or uber. Don’t worry this wont require that you download new software and use strange it-like tools. If you can work you browser, you are very close to the help that you need!

All you have to do is go and ask for a bit of assistance at The Athenaeum’s Fiction Discussion Forum. This forum has a number of friendly members who are quite capable when it comes to identifying a fic from just a few bits of information. It’s really quit amazing!

The “Please help me find a story” theme got me thinking that maybe I should give you a review in which I didn’t name the title or the writer ? This just to let you work a bit before you sit down and enjoy a good read, but then again this seems to be a rather strange concept for a review, so I decided to let you have this fic with no extra work involved.

As you can get this story just by following the link, you might be one of those “very few” (irony!) people who like to sit comfortably, your feet up, enjoying a nice cup of tea, while you watch other people work their butt off. Should you be “one of those” you might like “Beneath The Surface” as this story gives you the opportunity to watch a bunch of people do pretty hard and dirty work and all you have to do is scroll a bit now an then.

“Beneath The Surface” presents us with the story of Cordie who captains a swordfishing boat of the cost Massachusetts. The swordfishing business takes Cordie out to sea 30 days at a time with just a few days of shore time between each trip. This is a lifestyle that makes a real solid base for a romantic relationship! So as you might imagine Cordie is unattached and dreaming of turning her life around to allow for a steady girlfriend.

If you choose to take a closer look into Cordies life, you will get your hands dirty and your feet wet with the crew on the “Dawn Piper” while they set the fishing lines, haul them back in and kill the catch of swordfish and sharks. You will also get a chance to see how things work out for Cordie when she gets to entertain the boss’s daughter Piper on a fishing trip.

The story is relatively short on romance and pretty high on the fishing business stuff and drama at high sea, but I found it surprisingly entertaining none the less, and well written too. The story would have benefited with an extra 20 – 30 pages dedicated to building up the romance before the “happily ever after” kiss, but I guess that the writer is more into the fishing and drama parts of the story than creating a touching romance. So don’t go fishing with Cordie if all you want is a bit of getting to know each other and a lot of cuddling, kissing and “hot stuff”.

The Starry Sky by Bibbit

Sometimes I feel that my English skills are too inadequate to convey the difference between what I find to be real quality on line fic’s, and the entertaining fic’s that only reach a second place but are still worth reading. So I’ve been thinking that I need some sort of grading system for my reviews.

The Athenaeum has a grading system based on a 10-scale in two different categories, but I don’t think that I need anything that fine tuned. Actually I don’t think that I need more than two or perhaps three categories. One for the top notch fic’s, that’s the fic’s that I’ll save and read again, those are what I think of as “keepers”, another one for the fic’s that I find entertaining enough to hold my interest right to the end, I like to think of those as “the no fast scrolling” kind, and then you have the rest. Among the rest you find the fast scrolling kind, the bad ones that I won’t even scroll through to read the end, or the ones that have a theme, style of writing or something else that just don’t agree with me. Well I properly don’t even need a category for this last kind of fic’s, as I won’t bother writing a review on those!

Well I guess that I have already set up my own private and quite subjective grading system! Give me a shout, if this doesn’t work from your point of view. Ok - let’s see how this is working – I have one of those “no fast scrolling” kind of fic’s for you - it’s penned by Bibbit. This is the only uber fic that I’ve found by Bibbit, but I found a couple of Xena fic’s at The Pink Rabbit Consortiums Xena Fanfic Archive that you might want to look at, I haven’t read those as I’m not in to the classic Xena work.

“The Starry Sky” is what Kim (Kimba) has painted in her bedroom to look at at night to bring back memories of happy times spend with her childhood friend Julie out by the local lake. A time of close friendship that was brought to an end when Julie decided to cast away shared dreams of a future, to marry John.

The story takes up twelve years later when Julie decides to leave John, who has proven himself to be an abusive husband. Julie ends up at Kim’s door asking for a shoulder to cry on, and a chance to renew the friendship that she has allowed to fade away. As this is an über romance, I guess that it’s quite natural, that Kim has been unable to forget about her childhood friend or to let anyone else into her heart, so Kim is quite willing to rebuild the friendship and to help Julie pick up her life. “The Starry Sky” is the story of the rebuilding of the friendship and of Julies slowly emerging acknowledgement of her romantic feelings for Kim.

The flow of the story is nice and slow with none of the sometimes way to fast “falling into each others arms and having hot sex” kind of thing – come to think of it, there are no sex at all, unless you count kissing, cuddling and the likes. The story is mixed with a bit of drama as Julie’s ex husband don’t take her leaving kindly, and with a slight bit of bigotry, but nothing that will really get you worked up. All in all an average über story that kept me well entertained except for the fact that I found Julie’s 12 year old son Jesse to be all too wise and understanding for his age.

As for the writing I guess that I get a tad irritated with the “green eyes look into blue” kind of thing. I know that I can’t really blame the writer, as this is a declared über, but I for one wouldn’t mind if it was kept to a minimum. I do think that a good quality über can convey the characteristics of the protagonists without referring to the physical features again and again.

Snowbound by Queenfor4 aka Regina

As soon as “green eyes meets blue” you know the protagonists of the storyline even if you never actually watched “The Show”. If I had any doubt as to the origin of the characters it was put to rest when I stumbled across a pair of dogs – one small and golden, the other large and black - going by the name of the favourite ladies!

In “Snowbound” Queenfor4 tells the story of the homophobic mystery writer Megan Galagher who takes a wrong turn while driving back home, and her meeting with Dr. Randi Oakes, a lesbian who hides out in her hilltop home in the woods, while trying to come to terms with her inability to heal a dying friend. By way of a car accident, a rescue mission and a lot of snow Megan gets to spend long weeks in Randi’s hilltop home while healing broken bones, fighting feelings of homophobia and a growing attraction of Randi.

I found “Snowbound” entertaining - if just a tad too predictable, and I would have liked the writer to expand the story with a more active role for the supporting characters of family and friends. As for the quality of writing – it’s ok, but don’t expect much. I did laugh on a few occasions though – this was one of them “…..her libido was beating on the bars of its cage with an aluminium bat” hmmm never read that line before.

For all uber X/G fans let me add, that the story seems to have all the necessary bits and pieces that makes a good uber, like the “soul mate thing”, the instant attraction between the ladies and heroism on the part of our dark lady, who gets the chance to evoke pictures in our minds of an Amazon fiercely fighting to protect her soul mate.

Noemi by Katia N. Ruiz

Have you ever been hit by an earth shattering heartbreak, that you thought you would never recover from? Hopefully not - if it happened to you, how do you think you would react? I guess none of us really know until we really hit the “roadblock” that turns us away from the path we have been travelling in life.

To Noemi the experience of loosing her pregnant partner in a traffic accident was a devastating experience, which has left her with demons to fight at night, a habit of drinking a little too much and a routine of working or exercising herself into exhaustion …. but who can blame the lady if she feels a bit down!

This is when Terri comes to see Noemi in her office to tell her that Anthony, Noemi’s younger brother and the black sheep of the Leone family, has got her pregnant and seems to have no intention of helping her out with the baby. In the world of f/f romance a lady on a white horse will pass by when you need it the most, and this story is no exception. Noemi volunteers to have Terri move in with her while they wait out the term of Terri’s pregnancy, and it soon becomes apparent that this living arrangement has the potential of being a catalyst for turning Noemi’s and perhaps also Terri’s life around.

The beginning of the story is a bit unpleasant and not that smoothly written, but if you can get through this part you got your self a nice and classic romantic storyline of presumably straight girl meets out lesbian, they fight their growing attraction as they are both totally unaware of the romantic feelings of the other. When they have fought through a number of obstacles, they finally confess their true feelings, and from there on it’s a romantic bliss.

If you like a classic romance in a setting of “opposites attract”, you could give “Noemi” a try.

Ruiz has posted a Noemi Vignette – “It's Our Anniversary”, it’s really just a PWP, but if you think the ladies are hot - you could look it up. As for the other stories posted by Ruiz, I can tell you, that I didn’t find “A Sweet Surrender” worth the time that I spend reading it, so you shouldn’t bother with it - if you ask me.

Enjoy!

Caution: Under Construction by Vertigo

I’ve been telling myself that I should under no circumstances do a review of Vertigo’s “Under Construction”. What will the readers think of me if I admit that I actually did enjoy the story, even if something like half of it consists of long and graphical description of sex of the f/f nature?

So what happened – well I did one of many rereads of the story and I decided that the romance is so well crafted that you should not miss out on it, just because the author goes a bit overboard in the sex drive of the ladies involved.

Sheridan is the ultimate butch woman with her strong muscular body, her daytime job as a construction worker, and a reputation as a slick player to protect. But inside the tough exterior you will find a woman with a soft heart, and maybe you will even find it – her heart I mean - before Sheridan realises that she has one. With all her fast and furious sexual encounters at the dance club, she doesn’t really see herself as someone with a girlfriend, or as someone who could fall in love, but at the age of 31, I guess it’s just a matter of time, even for Sheridan.

Keefer is a tall gorgeous brunette who is in need of rescuing, not only from her cheating girlfriend, Danni, but also from her shy self. Sheridan doesn't have a white horse or shining armour but she does have a little black Corvette, and with her newfound “white knight” tendencies she takes it upon herself to punch Danni in the nose for cheating on Keefer – or something like that.

And that’s how the story of Keefer and Sheridan begins. It’s a long story so you will have ample time to get acquainted with the ladies and to follow their gradual move from friends to lovers, and to see how Sheridan coops with her own growing. If you are a lover of dogs you might even have a bit of fun with Fifi, Pharaoh and Zeus – they are a bit of a wild bunch.

For me it all sums up to a nice romance with agreeable characters, a good “supporting cast” that gets to play along in the “side wings” of the plot, and a lot of sex. Fortunately the author has an ability to pen a number of variations on the theme of sex. Otherwise it would have become a bit dull to read page upon page on this rather one-tracked topic. If you are not keen on the sex parts, you should just skip the story – it’s going to take you too much time to scroll through them.

Enjoy !