A Cathartic Joy

This author is expressive and articulate. In "To Have Loved & Lost", she draws you into a deep relationship-oriented plot line. Her beautiful, flawed, tough and sensitive characters are raw, deep, and happen to be lesbian. It is wonderful and realistic how the characters being lesbian isn't the main focus of the book and being lesbian isn't their identity, but just a piece of who they are. I find it refreshing to discover an author, who can portray real women in real friendships as real people. Thank you, Eliza Andrews! I HIGHLY recommend this author and her first book categorized as LGBT fiction. Hopefully, it will encourage, warm, thrill, and entertain other readers as much as it did me!

9 people found this helpful

Loved it!

This isn't your normal cheesy romance. It's a true novel based on lesbian characters. I will be getting every book Eliza does from now on. Finally someone that sees how unrepresented some us are. Solid work Eliza you have a new fan!

7 people found this helpful

Sleeper Hit!

Bought this title because none of my favorite authors had anything new out. I was pleasantly surprised. Good writing, lovely story, well fleshed out characters--a lovely journey.
Narrator was talented and well suited for the story. I was very pleased. I hope to hear much, much more from this author and narrator.

5 people found this helpful

Great Book!

This is a great love story. I know the LGBT community would love it but I also think straight people would enjoy it. You forget the story is about two women and it becomes a story about how two people finding each other and growing together. It's a simple message that we all have baggage but when you find the right person, it doesn't matter. Loved it!

4 people found this helpful

The title is perfect!!

This was a great book filled with all the feels and the excitement of basketball as well. I love sports but don’t get to watch it much, so this was very enjoyable to follow Alex in her venture. The love and loss for all the characters was a big challenge for them but they soon find peace within each other. I’m so glad that Eliza write this book and I hope she will write more lgbt+ books :)

1 person found this helpful

Wounded Warrior Goddess Meets Princess

Darkness in her soul is leading Alexis Woods to drink too much and putting her college basketball career in jeopardy. Forced into therapy she meets Graham Griffin who also has darkness surrounding her eyes. Two women search for relief and healing. Great performance and story. Strongly recommend.

1 person found this helpful

Perfect

loved this very much! I'm definitely going to listen to the other books of this author.

Amazing

I laughed, I cried, and smiled from ear to ear. Thank you ... just what I needed.

WOW

I rarely write reviews on anything but this is one I had to. I love the way Alex show's emotions. this is very similar to the way I do. I do have to say that one of my favorite parts was the author's rant at the end. Thank you so much for that.

Overall, very well done

Well, what to say... I find that the hardest part of a review is how to just choose a starting point. So... I will just start with what I liked and what I found surprising. Hmm... the story deals with depression, survivors guilt, substance reliance, and then healing between two women who've subdued their emotions in order to just "survive' with everyday life. What I found very pleasing about this novel was the dialogue. It was written in a style that reflected well on how college women would speak, it felt free, unrestricted, crass and I loved it. I really liked the friends of the two MCs, they created many unique scenarios and whilst they could be fun, they were fierce and loyal to the MCs, it was very sweet in those situations. I also found the beginning of the relationship between Graham and Alex to be very funny and endearing, one was pushy while the other was subdued. I loved how the two were able to come together at the end and that time skip at the end! I was swooning. While the story as a whole was well done, there were a couple of things that I felt were never touched upon. 1. The tattoo on Alex's face This tattoo is explained to the reader of it's significance, however, there is a scene where Graham asks Alex what it means and Alex kind of changes the subject. I'm pretty sure the subject isn't ever really touched upon again and Graham doesn't ever really find out what it is. (At least younger Graham) 2. The past traumas that the two endured. Alex is never really able to voice out what happened that night of the motorcycle accident and while Graham does voice out her own hurt, they never touch upon it in a private space. The only mention of this during their relationship is when Alex says that she has many more scars on the inside versus the outer scars (it's not only pertaining to the accident but other stuff). 3. The damage to Alex's Knee It kinda just happens and it's touched upon lightly. These things weren't really breaking it was just somethings that were in the back of my mind when the situations came up and I just thought "huh I guess it's not gonna get flushed out." Narration Hmm... overall I liked Angela Rysk, she's not amazing but she's definitely not horrible, she's very solid. HOWEVER!!! I don't know if this is due to the editing of the audio or Angela Rysk likes to narrate like this or whatever BUT, sometimes there would just be this long awkward pause and a lot of the times I checked my phone to see if the audiobook was still playing, it was, it seems like it was intentionally incorporated so I guess? I personally didn't like those long pauses but if it was due to some malfunction or error, I apologize. And finally the thing I was not expecting most of all lol. The ending to the book where Eliza Andrews just threw a rant out there. It made me chuckle because I wasn't expecting it. I thought it was great for this author to speak her mind in such a raw way and I absolutely will back her up with her writing. Overall: I believe this book was very good and very down to earth with people who face survivor's guilt and depression, I liked the way that she portrayed many characters and I liked the chemistry between the two leads. I wholeheartedly recommend this book, it deals with some pretty heavy topics but the outcome is the light at the end of the tunnel and we could always use hope like that.