Monday, February 14, 2011

Descent by Julie Cannon

Book:  Descent
Author:  Julie Cannon
Publisher:  Bold Strokes Books

Julie Cannon's novellas deftly rub every plane of love at first sight with the nectar milked from the lush fruit of the horizontal happy tree.


All righty, then . . .

Descent is the tale of two world-class downhill mountain bikers who were high school lovers, until daddy and the dean disrupted a study session gone wild during finals week of their senior year. Miscommunication and parental interference ensues, causing our gearheads to become estranged for the next decade. Still, they find themselves competing for the world title, and unable to convince anybody but themselves that it's over for good. A few pushes and pulls, a sweaty night in bed, a handlebar into the solar plexus, and 24 hours in the saddle later, the gals finally figure it all out.

My butt still aches after readying this story . . . seriously, imagine 24 hours on a hard piece of plastic the size of a Dorito!

Here's the good, bad, and the ugly of Descent: I'm a sports nut, so I tend to like any book that shows women as God intended . . . dirty, sweating, and in tight shorts with no bra.

Can I get an 'amen'!

Shannon and Caroline are likable characters, with a few intriguing elements.

Shannon waffled between dumb, dumber, and amazingly insightful. I caught myself scratching my head a few times, but still rooting for her. And I'm fairly certain I would have bitch-slapped Caroline at least twice in the course of this book - girlfriend really needed a few anger management sessions. Of course, since everything comes easy to Shannon - money, fame, women, road rash, etc. - why not blame her for walking out of your dorm room and not trying hard enough to get back to you?

Really, Caroline, a decade later you're still holding on to anger directed at a confused, lonely, hurt 17-year old lesbian who was caught, quiet literally, with her hand in your cookie jar?!?

Confused. Lonely. Hurt. That still describes Shannon, who uses her natural talents, her dashing good looks, and her womanly bravado throughout the book to fool everyone, most of all, herself. It wasn't a coincidence that Caroline had her family and a best friend with her everywhere she went, while Shannon had an entourage of groupies and race fans. I'm not entirely sure that Caroline, even in the end, really acknowledged that aspect of Shannon's life. Of course, with Caroline as Shannon's happy ever after, that wasn't so relevant anymore.

Never mind . . .

Survey says: obsessive anger and daring leaps to the distant shores of conclusion aside, I was rooting for our intrepid (but not butchy) girls to get back together - the author expertly wove the backstory into the present day to show the reader what the girls hadn't quite figured out - it wasn't just adolescent lust all those years ago, it was love.

And I love me a good forever after.

On the Rainbow Scale, I'd give it a 4.9 out of 6.

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