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mjsam's review
3.0
The next In Galli's series about her VA characters and this one focuses on a character that intrigued me from Wasted Heart, so I was happy that Jessie was getting her own book. This one switches between first person for Jessie's scenes and third person for Lauren's story, so Lauren's a bit more fleshed out than Elise from the previous book. However the book suffers from the leads spending most of their time dating other people, and then pushing and pulling with each other for the last third of the book. Also Lauren's known Jessie for 11 years, but doesn't seem to know her at all and finds out most of her new info about Jessie from other people and not from talking to Jessie, so it was hard to see why Jessie liked Lauren so much. It's not the best in the series but it's ok.
theamandashelby's review
3.0
I have very mixed feelings about this book. I wanted the story the book provided, but ten chapters in I was unsure if I wanted to work so hard for it. The first 2/3 of the book I struggled to remain interested. This is a new author for me, (I tend to binge read books by one author) and as the second book I was a bit worried. I pushed through and was very pleased with the end result. I think if you plan to continue reading the other books you should read this one. From the reviews the next in the series will be excellent, much like the first. A little bitter sweet... glad I did it but kind of glad it is over too.
corrie's review
4.0
Part two of the Virginian Clan focuses on best friends Jessie and Lauren.
Jessamin Ximena, the stunningly beautiful southern belle and the most lusted after lesbian in Charlotsville has changed her philandering ways. The player lifestyle does no longer hold any appeal. Running her own business has her working long days and the worry and care for her cancer stricken mother is keeping her up at night. So that’s where her focus lies these days; her work, her family and her friends. Not that she lets her friends know she has taken herself out of the casual dating game.
Lauren Aleric is a tall, red-headed lawyer who is looking for love but is not really the dating kind. She wishes she could be more like her best friend Jessie in that way. Or better yet, find something like what Austy and Elise have together.
Imagining Reality was a good story, but for some reason this couple didn’t grab me as much as Austy and Elise did. The chemistry was different and their failure to communicate was maddening. I know it’s a well used trope in romance novels but it was really milked to the max here. The story about Jesse’s mom was sad and had me tearing up. The friends really go above and beyond here. The moustache twirling bad guys here were Jesse’s three brothers from a different father. What a bunch of haters. I also thought that stone butch rival of Jessie, Jordan, was so over the top bad she almost became a charicature.
Maybe I should stop reading the epilogues as they are spoilerish. They reveal stuff about couples I would rather find out on my own.
f/f explicit
Themes: again we have a failure to communicate, seems to be the favorite trope in this series, I could have lived without that epilogue, diabetics please don’t read it, you might keel over in sugar shock.
4.0 stars
Jessamin Ximena, the stunningly beautiful southern belle and the most lusted after lesbian in Charlotsville has changed her philandering ways. The player lifestyle does no longer hold any appeal. Running her own business has her working long days and the worry and care for her cancer stricken mother is keeping her up at night. So that’s where her focus lies these days; her work, her family and her friends. Not that she lets her friends know she has taken herself out of the casual dating game.
Lauren Aleric is a tall, red-headed lawyer who is looking for love but is not really the dating kind. She wishes she could be more like her best friend Jessie in that way. Or better yet, find something like what Austy and Elise have together.
Imagining Reality was a good story, but for some reason this couple didn’t grab me as much as Austy and Elise did. The chemistry was different and their failure to communicate was maddening. I know it’s a well used trope in romance novels but it was really milked to the max here. The story about Jesse’s mom was sad and had me tearing up. The friends really go above and beyond here. The moustache twirling bad guys here were Jesse’s three brothers from a different father. What a bunch of haters. I also thought that stone butch rival of Jessie, Jordan, was so over the top bad she almost became a charicature.
Maybe I should stop reading the epilogues as they are spoilerish. They reveal stuff about couples I would rather find out on my own.
f/f explicit
Themes: again we have a failure to communicate, seems to be the favorite trope in this series, I could have lived without that epilogue, diabetics please don’t read it, you might keel over in sugar shock.
4.0 stars
frankvanmeer's review
2.0
While Jessie is one of the best characters in the Virginia Clan, her story fell very short. Thing is, nothing interesting happens for the first 25 chapters. Excluding the part with her mother, it was mostly filled with bullshit stories with boring things happening in Charlottesville. (where, it seems, thousands of lesbians are living).
The thing about Wasted Heart was that while there is a large group of friends, the story focussed on Austy and Elise. And while we were given a glimpse of metric tons of peer pressure from that group, it didn't really play a significant role. Imagine Reality drops those tons firmly on the reader, and frankly, I found it incredibly annoying. And we get 25 chapters of that. There's nothing there that shows any interest between Jessie and Lauren besides some furtive glances, some stares and confusing monologue. Yet, in chapter 26 (or thereabouts, I lost track) a spark as large as a massive coronal mass ejection, from which 21st century earth would need 2 centuries to revive from were we to be hit directly, hits both of them, and finally, finally, we get to the romance part.
And that's sad, because Jessie (and to a lesser point Lauren) is such an interesting character. She is the anchor of the clan, and no one sees that. It was really too bad I had to suffer through endless pages of crap before we got there. To be fair, Lynn Galli knows how to write interactions and dialogue between characters.
Just the bullshit between that. It killed me.
The thing about Wasted Heart was that while there is a large group of friends, the story focussed on Austy and Elise. And while we were given a glimpse of metric tons of peer pressure from that group, it didn't really play a significant role. Imagine Reality drops those tons firmly on the reader, and frankly, I found it incredibly annoying. And we get 25 chapters of that. There's nothing there that shows any interest between Jessie and Lauren besides some furtive glances, some stares and confusing monologue. Yet, in chapter 26 (or thereabouts, I lost track) a spark as large as a massive coronal mass ejection, from which 21st century earth would need 2 centuries to revive from were we to be hit directly, hits both of them, and finally, finally, we get to the romance part.
And that's sad, because Jessie (and to a lesser point Lauren) is such an interesting character. She is the anchor of the clan, and no one sees that. It was really too bad I had to suffer through endless pages of crap before we got there. To be fair, Lynn Galli knows how to write interactions and dialogue between characters.
Just the bullshit between that. It killed me.
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