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There is life after tragedy

Customer Rating:
Blessed Twice is a novel about experiencing life-shattering tragedy and discovering that you can survive it. Briony Gatewood lost her partner Megan in a rock climbing accident three years ago. She and her son Caleb have struggled through their grief and Briony is finally ready to move on with living. To try and make a new start, Briony has moved them from Vermont and all of their familiar surroundings and family to Charlottesville, Virginia, where she is a professor at the university. It's there that she meets M Desiderius who is as successful and interactive with her students as she is aloof and nonengaged with the staff. When both women are "volunteered" to work on a project in summer school, Briony discovers that M is withdrawn because she is shy. As they get to know each other better, it's revealed that M had a terrible early life that makes her unable to interact with people naturally. Briony realizes slowly that she is falling in love with the brilliant and tortured woman, but she also knows that any relationship they can hope to have is going to take a great deal of work and patience on her part. She sees a second chance at love if she can help M break out of the protective shell she's built around herself.

Galli has set another book in familiar surroundings with a supporting cast of characters she's introduced before. The book is skillfully developed as Galli deals with Briony's emotions as she tries to get over losing Meg and raise their young son properly. There is a lot of humor injected when Briony's friends decide to set her up with various women they know and she has to endure a series of "dates from hell." It's appallingly obvious to Briony and the reader why these women are still single and inappropriate matches, so the wonder is that her friends don't see it. M is the truly interesting character as a person who is so traumatized by her childhood that the simple touch of another person causes her excruciating pain. The "therapy" she dabbles with to overcome these feelings gives a view into the world of dominance and submission that is both informative and disturbing. The strength of the book is that Galli doesn't rush the development of the characters and the situations. These aren't two women who are destined to fall into bed the first time they're alone and they don't. They have to work to build the trust that will make any relationship possible and that takes time.

Blessed Twice is an interesting story about a couple that doesn't fit the normal pattern. That makes it refreshing and worth reading.

can't wait for the next one!

Customer Rating:
OK, first I'll nitpick: University of Chicago is NOT a state school!! Now that I've gotten that out of my system, I have to say that I greatly enjoy this author. As far as lesbian romance goes, Lynn Galli's books are very satisfying and re-readable. While I like Uncommon Emotions and Wasted Heart the best, all of her books are great and well worth reading.

Galli at her best

Customer Rating:
Lynn Galli has always been a wonderful writer but I feel this is her best effort.She deals with a very difficult subject and does an excellent job of it.

An excellent and moving return to form for this author

Customer Rating:
I was somewhat disappointed in Imagining Reality, though Uncommon Emotions got high marks from me; therefore, I was initially hesitant when I found that this book was returning once again to Virginia and the sometimes suffocating group of friends who bogged Imagining Reality down. I was pleasantly surprised, and pleased that the author focused this book on two characters only peripherally involved in "the group." It's not that I don't like the group. In fact, Galli has created an interesting and ultimately lovable group of women. But sometimes juggling all of those forceful personalities dilutes the thrust of her narrative line.

That was not a problem here. Briony only moved to Virginia fairly recently. She's friends with the group, but also feels comfortable telling them to butt out. Except even she is unsuccessful in enforcing her wishes when they seem determined to set her up on blind dates with hilarious results. Briony has recently felt she can move past her long-time partner's untimely death in a rock-climbing accident, and her son Caleb is encouraging as well, tired of seeing his mother unhappy. This realization on her part coincides with her being volunteered at a department meeting to teach a summer course with M Desiderius, an aloof and somewhat mysterious woman whose quiet competence, and warmth with her students and children endears her to Briony.

The careful and patient way Galli moves their tentative relationship along is a breath of fresh air. The supporting cast of friends lend some color, but never becoming overwhelming, or overtake the focus. Briony's gentle nudging, and M's cautious acceptance are endearing and tender, as M courageously moves past a difficult childhood, all the while helping heal Briony's own hurt. There were some somewhat awkward dominant/submissive scenes with M in a sex club that at first I wondered about, M's discomfort in the proceedings putting me off initially. But as the characters gained more context, they made more sense, and my fears were assuaged.

Galli continues to show great promise. This was a strong novel, with clearly told story, and I look forward to further growth from this author.

Another excellent Galli novel

Customer Rating:
Lynn Galli has graced us with another winner. "Blessed Twice" tells the story of Briony Gatewood, a character from one of Lynn's earlier novels, "Imagining Reality." Briony is a widow; her partner died in a rock climbing accident several years ago, so she and her son move to Virginia for a new start in life. At the university, Briony meets the enigmatic M. That's right, M. And not the M from James Bond, either!

M is a most interesting character. Seemingly cool and aloof with her colleagues, she shines in the classroom with her students. Briony and M are roped into team-teaching a summer graduate class, and Galli takes it from there.

As Briony's friendship develops with M, the VA friends set her up on a series of disastrous blind dates. More and more, Briony realizes that she wants and desires M.

M is not sure she can reciprocate. She's toting her own personal baggage, traumas from the past which have colored the present and jeopardize her future with Briony.

I have to hand it to Galli. She's come up with another solid novel of longing and love.

Kudos, gal! You sure deserve it.