Review: well-written and sweet
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 17, 2014
* short story - 29 pages *I can usually tell by the opening paragraph if I'll be drawn into the imagination of an intelligent and skilled storyteller... and I was very excited to find this lovely little historical piece did exactly that.  Set in New York City in 1948, we find Lily and Joan, two young and attractive socialites, who meet for the first time as 17 year olds at the swanky Imperial Hotel.  Joan is completely taken by the more confident and seemingly more worldly Lily.  Little does she know that Lily feels the same way... despite being very much engaged to a man she is expected to marry.  An inseparable friendship soon follows.Eventually, their relationship evolves into something deeply emotional and sexual, yet the intensity is shattered when Lily moves forward with her plans to marry.  Will she or won't she?  What then? The story is one part young love and all the emotional excitement and discovery this inevitably brings...  but it is also one part angst at being torn apart by the societal expectations of the late 1940s (story spans a couple yrs, maybe 3).  For some reason, it's not shelved as a romance here on Amazon.  Just as lez fiction/drama.  But there is one.Very well-written.  You get a realistic sense for the time period, New York City, and the honesty of having met two vivid characters very much in love.  The tone is far more emotional than sexual or erotic.  Young, angsty love.  There is one sex scene but it's not graphic at all and is over in an instant.  It seems to suit the characters and time period... where kisses and the gentle touch of a hand can signify so much all by itself.  And only a good writer can get away with leaving it at that, lol.Now this is personal preference, really, because the story, overall, is quite good... but I didn't rate it higher because I didn't care too much for the ending... drowned us in angst and then BAM, it was over.  That, and I felt that Lily's actions in the end were unrealistic.  I think I just needed more.  And not 65 years later more.  There is a happily-ever-after, but I wanted the happy part in the end to be much more lengthy.  I was still reeling from the angst!