Reading Her
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4.5 • 4 Ratings
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Awkward teenager Hugo Whittaker doesn’t know a cross-trainer from an elliptical, but getting strong is the only way to fight off the bullies who won’t leave him alone. Lauren Evans loves her job as a fitness instructor, and she wants to guide him. Unfortunately, Hugo paid for his gym membership by stealing his mother’s credit card, and it doesn’t take his mother long to track down her wayward son.
In a courtroom, shrewd barrister Allegra Whittaker is unstoppable, but when it comes to her son Hugo, she’s afraid she’s losing her touch. She reluctantly allows him to continue using the gym as long as she can keep an eye on him—and his undeniably intriguing instructor.
As each encounter leaves them wanting more, Lauren and Allegra learn love and happiness are right where they least expect it. There’s just one little problem: Lauren has a huge secret she absolutely cannot tell anyone, and Allegra knows she’s hiding something.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Lambda Award winner Radley (Humbug) delivers a low-conflict lesbian romance structured around familiar tropes. When 30-something assistant gym manager Lauren Evans takes pity on a teenager confused by leg curls, it leads to a confrontation with his hypercompetent barrister mom, 50-something Allegra Whittaker, whose credit card he stole to pay his gym fees. The women's not-quite-meet-cute in the parking lot spurs apologies, dinner, and frolicking on the kitchen counter. Lauren's motivated by a desire to "take the hoity-toity woman down a peg or two," while Allegra wants to get back in the dating game. Neither expects their affair to grow serious, but as weeks of deepening intimacy pass, they face the question: can such a mismatch last? Radley's sure touch with secondary characters lends heart to the cookie-cutter plot development, and the spotlighting of adult illiteracy (Lauren never learned to read) is a fresh touch. Unfortunately, Lauren's predatory motivations linger for too long into the romance to allow a fully convincing play for sweeter feels in the second half. The poorly edited feel caused by the book's many repetitions likewise impedes its emotional kick. It'll do—but barely.
