I went into this book not having read the first one (which after this, I will definitely be looking for) and not really knowing what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised to find a book that doesn't shy away from using the word bisexual and a protagonist dealing with coded depression and a desire to fully understand the life she left behind. I saw myself in Ava and the way she treated herself and her feelings broke my heart. I don't know what it feels like to have the type of relationship she had with her mother, but I can definitely understand feeling like you can't be yourself around family, even when you know they'd still love you.
Also, I'm choosing to believe that Ava and Cara made it work, because they both deserve happiness.

I didn't realize this was a sequel when I requested it. It can be read as a standalone but I wonder if I would have appreciated the characters more if I had read the previous book. The writing was gentle and fit Ava, I think a broader scope would have been beneficial. I felt like Ava was far too interior and it hurt the overall narrative.

Ava is a drummer in a band, and she's in love with her bandmate Tuck. Unfortunately he is in love with someone else. Life throws her a bone when Ava and Cara meet on the plane as Ava is heading home to help her family pack up her Grandmother's home as she moves into assisted living. They feel a connection almost immediately and fate would have it that they run into each other later that night. Ava is dealing with a lot between her family and her unresolved feelings for Tuck, but her life takes a surprising turn as she spends more and more time with Cara. This is the second in a series, but you don't have to read the first one to follow this one.

This book is written in first person, but even as a first person it was very limited in its view. It was definitely more focused on Ava's thoughts and feelings, not about what is going on around her, so I had a hard time picturing what was happening. Ava's thoughts and feelings could have been extremely interesting especially being a drummer and touring with a band, but the way her character was and the way it was written felt very self centred and one dimensional and repetitive. Sadly, since I didn't much care for Ava's character it was very hard to connect with her or the story. I did really like Cara - she was sweet and lovely, and surprisingly the most mature person in the story. The author tells us the two women are 30 year olds but I had a hard time placing them as 30 year olds, their voices and physical descriptions made them sound like they were in their late teens. The way Cara and Ava fell in love didn't feel natural, all their interactions were forced and awkward and one week later they were suddenly in love. If forced and awkward had turned slowly into a natural rhythm between the two and then boom they realized they were in love it would have felt better paced and more realistic. I couldn't connect with their feelings because we were told they were in love, not shown they had fallen in love. I think a lot of this book hinges on if you like Ava or not, sadly I didn't, but if you do then it is fascinating view into her head as she navigates a new chapter of her life.

The most interesting character was the grandma. I just loved that part of the story. I loved the way the author described her and her love for books. I loved the way Ava interacted with her grandma and the way we learned her story. Here the author really shone!

I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Did not finish. I wasn't able to see a connection between the main character and anyone else, whether her supposed love interest, best friend or grandmother. I also felt the meeting between Ava and Cara on the aeroplane was unconvincing (who holds a stranger's hand?!). Cara and Ava had no palpable chemistry, and Ava thinking how hot Cara was didn't make it convincing. Even 30 per cent into the book, nothing really seems to happen.

I liked Ava a lot in the first novel in the series, Escaping Indigo, so I was eager to find out more about her in Skin Hunger. At twenty-eight, Ava’s finally shaped her life into something she truly loves—for the most part. She’s the drummer in a successful band with her best friend and owns a house she’s proud of in a city she enjoys. It would be perfect if only she weren’t in love with said best friend (and completely unavailable bandmate), Tuck.

The beginning of Skin Hunger held a great deal of promise overall, and I stopped to reread one or two specific passages on the spot so I could hold on to them as the story progressed. There were several moments that were simple and pretty, and which suggested a stronger foundation for the narrative as a whole.

“But it was someone’s life, or it had been, even if it was only junk now. Maybe it had been loved. Maybe it had decorated someone’s windowsill or bookcase. Maybe someone had run their fingers over it every day. Maybe it had reminded someone of something, a memory or a person or something good.”

These were, by far, some of my favorite scenes in Skin Hunger, and I’d have liked to have seen more of this kind of awareness from Ava throughout.

There were also several secondary characters in Skin Hunger that I enjoyed a great deal, Ava’s grandmother and cousin Zevi, in particular. Though we don’t see nearly enough of him, Zevi is warm, supportive, and strong, and I couldn’t help but be intrigued by him, even with what little we’re shown. Ava’s grandmother is just as memorable, with her guarded resilience, and it was a pleasure to witness her tentative invitation to Ava to be a part of her world.

One problem I kept having while reading Skin Hunger, however, was that the single-person narration placed high expectations on Ava’s handling of her own internal conflicts. Rather than following a solid trajectory to its conclusion, they seemed centripetal, circling without a definitive attempt on Ava’s part at any sort of resolution until the very end. That’s not to diminish the importance of what Ava is going through—as Cara says, two peoples’ experiences “can’t be measured against each other. They just can’t.” But, I still couldn’t help but feel that Ava’s POV might have benefitted from the inclusion of another perspective.

Another issue I had was that, even though we’re never able to see through Cara’s eyes, I thought she was the more relatable of the two main characters. Without giving the appearance of implausible perfection, Cara stole the narrative for me, and I looked forward to every scene she was in. She bears the scars from unseen battles gracefully, and, with her gentle hope, patience, and steadiness, Cara simply felt like the stronger character.

Despite these factors, Skin Hunger regains some of its strength by the end. While I wouldn’t have been surprised if Cara sent Ava away with nothing, they agree to a “let’s try/we’ll see…” which I thought was a perfectly fine ending, in this case. The author made a separate epilogue available after Escaping Indigo, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for something similar here. Regardless, I’m still hopeful for this series and the band members themselves, and will be looking forward to the completion of their journey in the next book.

One of the problems of casually entering a LGBT book, specifically a book that, on the face of it, features two women, is the assumption (maybe only by me) that you are entering a romance. The book seemed to suggest this with the book description, it seemed to suggest this with the way the book opened with two women, one a drummer of a successful band, the other a dancer, meeting on a plane and having a satisfying introduction to each other. From the general causal 'it's going to be a Romance', to the description, to the way the book opened, it seemed fairly reasonable to assume that the book would then, once the plane landed (unless the book was set entirely on the plane), turn into a romance involving Ava the drummer and Cara the dancer.

The reader would be wrong to assume this . . . or would have assumed wrong . . . or however to word this shift.

If Ava had been a younger character, someone younger than 'almost thirty', this would have been a coming of age story. If Ava had been older, this would have been a mid-life crisis type story. But it's neither - Ava is sufficiently aged to not fall into the 'coming of age' category (with exceptions given for those coming to that type of life experience later in life), nor old enough to face a mid-life crisis. but still, the story that unfolds pulls similar ideas from both 'coming of age' stories and 'mid-life crisis' stories.

Ava is 'learning about herself' and 'coming into herself' through the story, while, at the same time, 'dealing with current position in life/current success and/or failure in various aspects of life (success: career; failure: love life/parents) - and dealing with facing questions on where they should go from here. So this is something of a mix 'coming of age through a mid-life crisis', or, in other words, a slice of life book. It is not, though, a capital R romance. Despite indications that the book might become one or was intended as one.

Ava is very full of herself - the entirety of the novel finds the reader trapped, and I use this word purposefully, inside Ava's head as she navigates life. Dealing with the dreaded trip home to face the parents and the grandmother. Experimenting with the idea of having 'something' with Cara, though she knows she cannot because she will be there for a very short period of time, and because she's still in love with Tuck (a band-mate, someone she's apparently known for a very long time). Ava seems like a fully formed character, while others in the story seem like they are filters - are these creatures that Ava reacts against. She believes her parents are a certain way, and she reacts to them that way - whether they are or not. She does this with most of the characters in the story. Occasionally one or another character does something to break Ava out of her own head, out of her own presumptions, and she suddenly is confronted with the idea that this 'other' actually is a real person (like when she is confronted by the idea that her Grandmother really loves her books, in a similar manner to how Ava loves her drums). Mostly, though, people are 'fixtures' to rail against, rant against, and/or move around. The father, for instance, never seems to come into focus in this book.

From a Romance point of view, from viewing this book as a Romance, this book fails. But I do not think this ever was supposed to be a romance. Or, at least, I hope it wasn't. I need to double check how it is being marketed. But, and this is actually my point, do not enter this book looking for a Romance.

On the other hand, as a slice of life, as a peak into someone's life as they navigate through certain 'issues', the book is quite captivating. Trapped inside one character's mind is not normally somewhere I want to find myself. But there was something there that kept pulling me back into reading the book. Heck, I read the first 43% of the book in one sitting and that's, what, something like 100 pages. That's how captivated I was - I couldn't get myself to stop and when I finally did, I'd read 100 pages.

I rate this book for what I found, not what I expected. And I suspect others, regardless of how they enter this book, will likely come to a different conclusion than I reach(ed). I was entertained, and I found the book satisfying. While I'm interested in what an actual romance between Cara and Ava might have looked like, I'm satisfied by what I found inside on the book's pages.

One caveat, if this turns out to have <i>intended</i> to be seen as a Romance, I'll have to reconsider my rating. Probably downward.

Rating: 4.12

October 30 2017

ARC from Netgalley and the Publisher

This book was written entirely from the POV of Ava and that was the problem with the book for me - Ava wasn’t a very likable character but i really liked Cara. Ava was too whiny for me. The whole book seemed a little too long and drawn out.

I have not read the first book in this series as I generally stick to lesfic and the first book is m/m. Others who have read the first will be able to tell you if you would be better off reading that first. However from my perspective I didn't lose anything from the story except maybe being able to see Ava through someone else's eyes. I am still deciding if I want to get the first book as I think I would enjoy it.

Overall loved this book. The two characters Ava and Cara were likable and ones that I loved to follow their journey together. You could feel the chemistry between the two and I was always wanting more of their interactions.

My biggest issue with this book was it felt too short. I appreciate it is a series but I was left wanting more from these two which ultimately is a good thing in that the author hit the mark regarding the story and characters but I felt we could have been given more of the two around the end.

I will definitely read the third book in the series as I am keen to see what happens next even if they won't be the main characters.