Stevie‘s review of Love on Lavender Lane by Karis Walsh
Contemporary Lesbian Romance published by Bold Stroks Books 12 Mar 19
One thing I love about Karis Walsh’s novels is the way the setting is as important an aspect of the story as the characters. Then again, the non-human characters generally make a good effort at upstaging the human ones too. This time the setting is an idyllic valley in rural Oregon, populated by a range of small-scale farmers and crafters. Our story begins, however, in the city of Portland, where one of our heroines lives and works.
Paige Leighton has made a career out of her inability to figure out what she wants to do with her life. Instead of setting up in business doing any of the possibilities open to her, she advises other business people on how to make their endeavours more profitable. On her latest assignment, the CEO has been rubbing her up the wrong way, and this irritation is exacerbated when he denigrates his daughter’s much smaller enterprise: growing lavender out in the aforementioned valley – a venture he is certain will soon fail – and then hires Paige to carry out an assessment of the farm with the agenda of showing up its faults and shutting it down.
Paige takes the job – she quite fancies a holiday, and one of her friends lives in the area – but is prepared to keep an open mind as to the potential profitability of the farm until she’s seen it for herself. Before visiting there, she attends a party with her friend and is horribly embarrassed at inadvertently insulting the farm’s owner, Kassidy Drake.
Things don’t get much better the next day, when Paige’s unruly dog tracks mud into Kassidy’s pristine home. Kassidy doesn’t feel she needs telling how to run her farm – and certainly not by some big-city consultant – but agrees to let Paige look around if only to avoid upsetting her father. And in spite of a rocky start, the pair hit it off. Paige is soon deeply involved in the life of the valley, and Kassidy agrees to go along with some of Paige’s ideas, even though that means stepping out of her comfort zone and interacting with the visiting tourists far more than she’d like.
I really liked the sense of community in this book and the way Paige was able to bring people even closer together by finding ways for the farmers and crafters to work together and market each other’s goods. I was also charmed by Paige’s dog and by Kassidy’s acceptance of his bad behaviour, and loved the way Paige throws herself into community activities, dragging a reluctant Kassidy along with her. I’d have liked to see Paige become more involved in the work of Kassidy’s farm than she ultimately did, but maybe that’s a story for another book.
Grade: B
Summary:
For corporate consultant Paige Leighton, the ends always justify the means. She does whatever it takes to make her clients’ businesses profitable. She has no room for sentimentality in business or in her personal life and loves nothing better than pushing others out of their comfort zones.
Kassidy Drake has spent a lifetime creating her comfort zone, and she has no intention of leaving. Her home is as orderly and as beautiful as the rows of lavender surrounding it, but she needs to make Lavender Lane Farm solvent or she might lose everything. She agrees to listen to Paige’s advice as long as Paige doesn’t expect much more from her than changing the font on her business cards.
Accompanied by the buzz of honeybees and the scent of lavender, Paige and Kassidy must find a way to compromise if they want to save Lavender Lane Farm—and find a way to make room for love along the way.
Read an excerpt.
