2016 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: It's Only Love by Diane Marina (89-04-20-2016)

[reviews_and_ramblings]

1) I like all five stories in this collection. Some were more engaging than others I found some characters more intriguing than others… My favourite story was Sweet Girl.

2) It’s Only Love is a delightful collection of short stories by a writer who knows exactly what to include to pull at your heart strings. Each story resonates with a fresh perspective on age-old themes of love, loss and triumph. The writing style is easy, engaging and perfect for the stories and the settings.

It's Only Love: A Short Story Collection by Diane Marina
Lesbian Anthology / Collection / Contemporary Romance
Paperback: 242 pages
Publisher: Aspen Palms Press (February 11, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1523364351
ISBN-13: 978-1523364350
Amazon: It's Only Love: A Short Story Collection
Amazon Kindle: It's Only Love: A Short Story Collection

Schoolteacher Jessica Thomas flees heartache and her home in Baltimore to spend a summer in Rome, Italy. During her stay, she befriends a local tour guide who shares her knowledge of the city, as well as the surrounding tourist sites. What begins as a summer to forget the past turns into one full of memories in Italian Summer. In Savannah, Georgia, Mandy, a young heir to the city’s largest candy manufacturer falls hard for Skylar, the new employee at the Olde River Sweet Shoppe, but her family is in danger of losing their business when a rival company moves in, set on stealing her family’s recipes. All signs point to Skylar being a corporate spy. Can Mandy trust Skylar, or will she lose her heart and her family’s business in Sweet Girl? On a rainy evening in Washington, D.C., Cameron Dowd struggles with her inner demons and visits “The Castle,” a lesbian-only club where women can live out their fantasies with like-minded women. Cameron’s inner turmoil comes from her insistence that she’s not gay, despite her deep-rooted attraction for her best friend, Corbin. What Cameron discovers at “The Castle” leads her toward acceptance in her evening full of surprises in It’s Only Love. In California, Miranda and Chelsea pack up and move from their beachfront condo in Pismo Beach to a stylish home in Pasadena at the request of Miranda’s father, who owns the house. The house has been the source of some unsettling occurrences, and Miranda and Chelsea vow to get to the bottom of what is happening in Blue Lamp. In a posh hotel in New York City in 1948, two young socialites are introduced by their mothers. As their friendship grows, so does love. Will Lily and Joan's love prevail? Are they brave enough to stand up against the social standards of the time, or will their love simply become part of the history of the Imperial Hotel?

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