A Contemporary Sapphic Novel By Samantha L. Valentine
Casey, from London, and Holly, from Australia, meet at the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin, both of them admiring the same painting. They start talking and find out they are both temporarily based in Berlin. They also have a lot in common and they get along easily. What’s wrong with dating for a bit? But their reciprocal feelings grow to the point they start making plans for the future. Sometimes, though, love is not enough, and Casey leaves abruptly.
Flash forward 11 years. Life moved on and Casey is with Eva, her fiancée, shopping for their wedding, while Holly is at home in Australia with Tom, her partner, and Jack, her stepson. Neither Casey nor Holly are happy with their relationships and they both (unexpectedly) end up in front of the same painting that made them meet years before. Older and unhappy, they finally have some time to discuss what happened and where they are in life right now, and while life moves on around them, so do their feelings for each other.
Despite being a rom-com with a predictable ending (girl gets girl eventually), I have to say it’s a quite good read. The prose is neat, clear and well paced, the plot is full of events and twists and the characters are well designed, all of them, including the mean ones. It’s a modern fairytale for adults: who doesn’t dream of a romantic chase around half of the world? It’s one of those easy page-turners that you can read during life’s ‘little downtime moments’ (waiting for the bus, queuing for coffee, killing time before your delivery arrives), because it’s very easy to get back into and it moves so fast that it does hook you up time and time again. Highly recommended!
‘Meet Me In Belin’ is available for purchase at: https://amzn.to/3ZvHqoQ