Sunny and Cory Review Olive Oil & White Bread by Georgia Beers

Corey: Most lesfic novels are about keeping the couple apart, even though we, the readers, know they will (they must, this is lesfic!) get together in love and passion. In Georgia Beer’s novel Olive Oil and White Bread, we see something a little truer to life. Sometimes the meeting and getting-together lacks drama, and the relationship is the juicier tale.

Sunny: This was a very enjoyable departure from the standard ‘formula’ of the typical lesfic novel. As I’ve become accustomed to with Georgia Beers’ characters, I felt like these people were my friends and I was watching their relationship grow and change through the years. As with real relationships, some of those changes were good and some were not so good, but they all felt very true to life.

Corey: Some of that reality was a little rough to read, which I consider a compliment to the author’s writing skills. Usually when I read a romance novel, I fall in love with both women. I’ll be honest here and say that I built up a lot of hostility towards one character over the years and I lost some sympathy for her. When the couple hit the roughest time in their relationship, I could feel the grey areas of life playing out and I couldn’t take a black-or-white viewpoint. Well done, Georgia.

Sunny: I agree, some of it was tough to go through with them, and I’ll admit I shed a tear or two in certain parts. But, again, these characters seemed like real people, faults and all. I also found it interesting to see both sides of the relationship through the years. That made it both easier and harder to pick sides on certain issues, and, like you said, I found myself seeing many shades of gray.

Corey: Beers also uses both national events and gay cultural touchstones to mark the relationship’s passing years. I found some of this to be pure nostalgia for (ahem) experienced readers and perhaps a primer for the youngsters reading the story before playing that lesbian edition of Trivial Pursuit. Whoever the reader, I promise you’ll be invested in Angie and Jillian for the long haul.

Sunny & Corey [talking over each other]: Go read this book! Another well-crafted Beers novel!

Corey: Long haul. U-Haul. Hee. Okay, I’ll stop now.

You can download a sample or purchase Olive Oil and White Bread by clicking here.

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