I would like to thank Bold strokes books and the Netgalley website for allowing me to read this book.

What brought me alive to read this book is both the pretty cover and the summary of the book.

It features violinist Gail Owen who, following a car accident, can no longer play her favourite instrument. Yet she is world-renowned. She's going to an isolated farm in Rhode Island. As for Romi, she's a homeless woman who can barely make it by singing in the New York subway. Wrongly arrested she retires to Rhode Island and hides in a secret room of the farm where Gail is the new owner who settles for good. Gail's gonna find out that Romi's hiding out at her place, which is gonna draw her in. Romi feels guilty about lying to Gail and about her feelings for her. She's afraid that it's going to end badly between them.

I loved this book, I had a great time with Gail and Romi who were very engaging and I immediately hooked into the story that was so captivating, moving in some parts of the book, full of suspense and twists. I love the author's writing so addictive.

Romi leaves the streets of New York where she’s been singing for money, and returns to her childhood home. She hides out in a hidden room in the house, unbeknownst to beautiful woman moves into the house. Gail is a violinist, but has been unable to play due to an accident. The two begin an odd relationship, and they slowly begin to heal.

This was an odd premise for a book. Somethings worked out just a little too perfectly to be believable. However, it was an inspiring kind of story, a reminder that things can always get better when you least expect it.

As much as the two women were not equals financially or societally, I liked how much Romi really was Gail’s equal emotionally. They were a really well matched couple so I enjoyed their relationship and their chemistry was really good.

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

I haven't read all of Gun Brooke's books, so I didn't know who the other characters were that made a re-appearance, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. I think that's just an added bonus for some of her fans.

Both of the main characters were very fleshed out. I'd have to say Romi's story was a tiny bit more interesting to me, with her background as a homeless teen, but Gail also had quite the broken past. When they came together, it was definetly a story about healing and finding someone who helps you do that, even if you're opposites in a lot of ways.

It was a good enough book that I'd like to go back and read the others I've missed in this, I guess, series.

This is the latest addition in the author's East Quay series but can be read as a standalone book. I was glad to see a disabled lead for a change, and I enjoyed the author's style - the book was written in the first person alternating between the main characters and I felt that gave me more insight into each character and their motivations. There was a bit of insta-love but I enjoyed the fact that this novel wasn't full of angst and complications. It was also nice to see familiar faces from the author's previous books.

Insult to Injury is an age-gap romance that has main characters from very different backgrounds. It is set in the same East Quay / Rhode Island area as other of Gun Brooke's novels, starting with Coffee Sonata. While this can easily be read standalone, I would recommend reading Coffee Sonata to add some background and flavour (it’s another great book too).
Overall the quality of writing and editing is top notch as expected, and this was a very enjoyable read. It was great to catch up on some old acquaintances from the earlier novels. Recommended!

Fantastic. My first book by Gun Brooke and it was amazing. The twists and turns and the chemistry just flew off the page.

4.5 stars. As always, another great book from one of my favorite authors. I read Coffee Sonata a few years ago so I was lucky enough to remember the secondary characters. I liked this book and appreciated the honest yet considerate way she dealt with the homelessness storyline. I think the guilt and fear Romi lives with adds plenty of angst. If I wanted a more in depth discussion about homelessness I would watch a documentary or read non fiction about it. I think it made for a different topic than most lesfic storylines. My only complaint is the present tense writing style. I don't like it at all. It is the quality of the storyline that kept me reading this book in spite of it.
I received an ARC of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Gun Brooke's book are always a great read! She is among the top lesbian fiction romance writers. You can count on a well-edited book with good character development and plot. This book is among them and leans on the age and experience difference between the characters. Loved characters from East Quay in other novels make appearances in support roles to increase the depth of the book. You feel for Gail Owen as she recovers from a career-destroying injury and struggles to discover purpose beyond the bitterness and resentment driving her present situation. And you root for Romi to get the support and love she deserves to move beyond her painful beginnings. It's a pleasure to read/watch as the connection between the two develops.
The switch between first present for both characters add to their voices and characters dynamically.

review left on amazon.com - no link

3.5 stars
A nice read but there wasn't much drama, angst or anything. At most some hiccups for the characters. Even tho Gail had a devastating career-ending accident we don't go deep into her coming to terms with it. Romi is homeless and returns to East Quay after things go bad in New York. Once in East Quay almost like a fairy tail everything starts working out for Romi. It was a bit far fetched even tho this is fiction.

I received an ARC copy of this book from the Publisher via. NetGalley for an exchange of my honest review.

The Result: Enjoyable.

Insult to Injury

Man, this book was great for me a refreshing experience especially from the last train wreck I set my eyes on; coughs* Blood of the Pack *coughs. It took me a while to read this book, due to the fact that I was at work and well I read it twice. To me this book was well leveled and grounded in deep roots of emotion; now mind you I might be a bit bias since it’s been about seven plus years since I’ve read Brooke’s books. Now I have to say, she’s still got it. To me it was a great find as I loved Gail and Romi’s relationship and the guarded personalities they had to work with. After reading other reviews, I know most commented on how the two didn’t have much interaction making it seem too fast; but for me the raw pain of loss with both women, is what saved the plot in a lot of ways.

The story had more realistic characters when it came to their moods and feelings of love, loss, and redemption. Sure, there were some spots that were sketchy like the secret bomb room; as I had to read it repeatedly to get the picture in my head. Now I could’ve dealt without the kids or the useless side characters, but it didn’t bother me as much. As well as I didn’t really care for the community, as they were all rich white lesbian musicians and Gail’s goal was to get away from the music life; but still I could make an exception for it all, as the power and tension between Romi and Gail felt palpable under the pages.

However, I’m not going to blame the author so much for the all-white lesbian super-rich squad that wants to help the whales and the children; because well Brooke showed another side in Romi as she was poor. For me that earned points in the diversity factor as being poor is something along the lines of an inhuman social justice, no matter the race or sexual orientation. It’s not hard to find it when you look, as I see the trending pattern with lesbian writers as they write about their communities and all their friends being rich-white-lesbians; to me I know such a thing exists in some circles, but it doesn’t seem realistic. As a lesbian, author, and person of color I don’t have that many lesbian friends and nor do I intend to for personal reasons; and with some of us women who like women that is the case as well, but I can’t blame Brooke for a writing habit these publishing houses have overused to death.

I loved the age gap as I found it to be sexy amongst the steamy sessions; which supplemented the desire Romi and Gail felt as their sentiments jumped right off the page and for once, it felt like I was reading a REAL lesbian series. This series was a real sweet read for me and it was nicely done. I enjoyed how Gail and Romi found themselves within the same points in life, both alone and wanting to heal but not knowing which way to do so. Which makes me love the day to day struggle with Gail’s disability and Romi’s homelessness. It gives a voice to people that have disabilities and others who are homeless; and since disabilities are a hot topic right now in lesbian fiction, I find it to be refreshing. I just only hope these authors could hold that same passion when it comes to people of color as their main characters in the future.

All in all, this book was a solid four for me. I enjoyed Gail’s icy behavior and Romi's innocence and self-eating guilt; all of it was balanced and it didn’t seem to be overbearing. None of these characters had the Mary-Sue factor which made the experience of reading enjoyable. It was a tight read and good one, it gave me hope that the writing world for lesbians hasn’t gone down the drain.

I’ve only recently discovered Gun Brooke’s contemporary romances. Brooke has knocked a few out of the park, but all them have been solid romances with a good dose of angst (and sometimes a good dose of angst in a romance novel is just what you need).

This is Brooke’s newest and it’s set in the same town as two of her previous books, Coffee Sonata and Wayworn Lovers. As characters from each of those books are strong secondary characters in this one, I would suggest you read the others first so you aren’t trying to keep up with who’s who and some of the backstories. Although its nice to revisit characters you enjoyed and to have them connect with the new characters, I think the town of East Quay is hitting critical mass for lesbian musicians with tragic backstories.

Insult to Injury is told in first person POV, switching off between the two main characters – Romi and Gail. With the dual POV, the reader is able to empathize with both of the rather crappy deals life has handed them and how they perceive themselves and each other.

After running away from her aunt’s home at 16, Romi has been surviving on the streets of New York by signing in the subway stations. Picked up by the police in a case of mistaken identity, she manages to bolt and returns to East Quay to hide out in a secret bomb shelter in the now abandoned house she grew up in. Unbeknownst to Romi, the house has been purchased by Gail, a virtuoso violinist who is now recovering from a catastrophic car accident that has left her with a damaged arm and hand. It’s a bit of an odd (and could be uber-creepy) set up – Romi living in the basement without Gail knowing and the two of them running into one another outside the house and starting to build a hesitant friendship, but it works. The ending is a bit cheesy and overwrought, but overall I enjoyed reading the book and really didn’t care because I was liked the characters and the overall story.

Despite the hardship the last few years have inflicted on her, Romi’s still optimistic and,as she begins to build a new life in East Quay, she comes into her own. Gail, on the other hand, has some anger and resentment to work her way through but through her connection with Romi and the other women in East Quay, her frosty demeanor slowly melts. The characters work well together with a juxtaposition of social/economic status, age, and experience but at times there’s a bit of an imbalance between the two characters and Romi’s guilt and actions from staying in the house in the secret shelter is a bit overboard and slightly immature.

They both have a pretty traumatic backstory and plenty of reason to wallow in angst, but the overall tone of the book is more positive. This isn’t deeply introspective around the issues that the women have faced and is a lighter read than the set up may suggest. Gail is a bit harder to warm up to as she begins as a rather negative and angry character, but is humanized through Romi – both as you perceive her through Romi’s POV and also as Gail shifts her own perceptions and attitude in her own POV. There’s a nice bit of chemistry between the two that helps smooth over some of the story elements that may strain credulity.

Are the bumps and issues with the book – yeah, if you stop and think too hard. Regardless, I enjoyed reading this one – its a light romance that left me with just the right amount of “aw shucks” at the end.

Thank you to BSB and Netgalley for an advance copy that was provided for a fair and honest review.

I know this book wasn’t released as a series book but if you don’t read Ms Brooke’s other books with East Quay as the setting you will feel like you’re missing something. These books follows the lives of these characters, starting off with ‘Coffee Sonata’ with Manon, Eryn, Vivian and Mike/ ‘Wayward Lovers’, with Giselle and Tierney/ ‘Thorns of the Past’, with Flynn and Sabrina.
Now with this new book Ms Brooke introduces us to two more women who make their home in East Quay.
Romi Shepherd lost her mother when she was only 4 yrs old and unfortunately the only one to step up to raise her was her aunt, who did it more as a duty than actually wanting to be a mother figure. So after saving all the money she could, at the age of 16, she decides it's time fend for herself. Life in New York surely can’t be any worse than living with her aunt. Finding herself homeless she does the only thing she can to try making enough money to at least eat once in a while. Singing in the subway system was better than nothing. When she’s arrested for something she didn’t do she does what she does best, she runs. She heads back to East Quay hoping she can find somewhere safe to live.
Gail Owen, a world famous violinist has just moved to East Quay hoping to find a little peace and quiet. A car accident has left her unable to play so now she buys an old house that unknown to her was where Romi spent her childhood. Gail isn’t known to be all that nice with other people, often giving others the feeling that Gail feel she’s better than everyone else, so she doesn’t have a lot of friends. On the day she moves into her new home is the first time she meets Romi.
Ms Brooke knows how to tell a good story and if you are already a fan you will be very happy with this book. Very, very enjoyable.
ARC via NetGalley/Bold Stroke Books

This was a great read by Gun Brooks...I read some of her other books, a few hits and a few missed, but this one was a knock out of the park for me. I loved the slowly developing romance between Romi, young homeless girl returning to her home town and Gail , the once elite violinist but now having to deal with not being able to play after a car accident.
The characters got depth, were like-able and you could understand the connection they shared. If you like a good romance with great main (and supporting) characters that seem to find their way in a reasonably realistic manner do not forget to pick this one up!

3.5 Stars. I don’t think this was one of Brooke’s best, but I still enjoyed it. To be honest it’s one of those stories where I could see some possible eye rolls, but I personally chose not to take things too seriously so it worked for me. Even with a main character that has a major injury and the other main character who is homeless, this is not really a deep book. It’s more of a fluffy, feel good, good things finally happen book. I found when I stopped looking for the deeper meaning behind everything, I started to enjoy the book.

This story does stand on its own. However, it is a part of the Coffee Sonata universe so there are plenty of secondary characters from Brooke’s other books. I think anyone would enjoy this book more if they at least read Coffee Sonata first. In my opinion it’s one of Brooke’s best and has some wonderful characters. One of my favorite parts of reading Insult to Injury was spending more time with Manon, Mike and Vivian.

I was happy with both new mains we were introduced to. We don’t see many homeless characters in lesfic so I have to give Brooke some props for that. This is an age-gap romance. I do have to say I thought Romi at 22 felt a little young compared to Gail in her 30’s. It is something that felt a bit off in the beginning, but as I saw Romi attraction to Gail, through Romi’s eyes, it made me feel a little better about the age-gap.

The romance was a little faster moving than I prefer. It’s not insta-love but they did seem to get a little obsessed with each other pretty fast. Again like I mentioned above, the chemistry was also more potent as seen through Romi’s eyes. This book switches POV’s but Romi to me was definitely the heart of the book. The final resolution was a bit corny, but I still had a big smile on my face when the book ended.

Not my favorite book by Brooke and it had its bumps, but I still had fun reading it. I would recommend it to people who like the setting and characters of East Quay in the Coffee Sonata universe. If you are new to Brooke, I would not start here. Coffee Sonata is a great first book to read because not only is it good, but it will give you a good feel of the kind of author Brooke is.

Gun Brooke’s newest contemporary romance novel, Insult to Injury, is a story I really enjoyed. It is the fourth book in the Coffee Sonata Universe, but it is not necessary to read the other books first. This book works well as a standalone novel.
The story revolves around Gail Owen, a famous violinist until a car accident injures her arm and hand so badly that she is unable to play. Mourning her lost career, she withdraws from her life in New York and buys an old farmhouse just outside of East Quay, Rhode Island. The story also centers around Romi Shepherd, a young woman who has been living as a homeless person in New York until she comes under suspicion for a break and enter crime she did not commit. She flees back to her old home just outside of East Quay, a farmhouse that her Aunt Clara owned until she died, and it was sold to Gail. The meeting of these two women causes an almost instant attraction, but also a lot of problems. They come from such different backgrounds, different lives altogether, and this leads to a great deal of the angst in the tale.
This is a character driven story, and I must say, I really connected with the two main characters, especially Romi. Something about her character just drew me in. I liked Gail too, but something about Romi was just special to me. This is the mark of a good author to create characters that grab the reader this way. The plot of this story is kind of unique. I would never have thought of pairing two such diverse characters together as a couple, but it works here. This is a lovely romance.
Some of the characters from former books in this series do show up as secondary characters in this tale. I mention this so those of you who have read the other books and would like to see how these characters are doing will know to check this book out.
This is a sweet romantic story that I was definitely partial to. If you love a good, slow-burn romantic novel, then grab this book.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.

Rainbow Reflections:
https://rainbowreflections.home.blog/

With authors who have written several books in the same genre one expects that they would be completely in tune with what it takes to tell a good story due to the amount of practice they've had reading and writing. Unfortunately, Insult to Injury fails to do that.

From the other reviews and from the way the secondary characters are introduced in the book, one get the feeling that the book is supposed to be part of a series. But it actually isn't. On the other hand, it can't be considered a standalone either because of the existence of these characters who leave you with a feeling that you're missing out on something. Somewhere it also contributes to the lack of depth in the story.

The author could've taken the narrative to so many places but the resistance to introducing even a little bit of conflict kills the storytelling completely. There is hardly any chemistry between the protagonists, primarily because their interactions are so few and just telling the reader that they have a special connection or they feel more for each other than they ever did for anybody else falls into the common trap of telling and not showing.

This book needed to be longer and more hard work needed to have been done on it.

I think this may be an unpopular opinion alert, but...

There's just something about Gun Brooke's writing style that bothers me. I've now read multiple books of hers and have come away with the same feeling each time - I've always read the blurb, really looked forward to the read, then came away let down for some reason and feeling as if something about the story was just somehow both too simplistic and too overly complicated all at the same time. This book, just like the others I've read in the Coffee Sonata universe, is no exception.

I really, really wanted to like this one more, but found myself wishing for more. Others have recapped well, so I won't go into details, but the MCs in this one felt unevenly matched on way too many different levels. MC Gail is older, rich, and sophisticated, and MC Romi is homeless, naïve, and much younger than Gail. The whole age-gap troupe bothers me in general, but the gaps felt much more than just age to me this time. There's just such an imbalance between the MCs that it felt completely contrived when they hooked up eventually. In fact, I found myself thinking multiple times that Romi would have been much better suited if she had been matched with secondary character Stephanie instead of Gail.

Overall, the entire romance just felt rushed and imbalanced and I couldn't quite get past that enough personally to really let go and enjoy this read. Additionally, the two MCs fall in love with each other so fast that I caught myself rolling my eyes several times, yet they somehow they still managed the 80% uber-dramatic breakup scene and then an immediate (and also overdramatic) resolution. It was just too much for me overall.

Not to mention how everyone in town is somehow a super famous or uber-talented musician who is also somehow gay and most of them are rich...

I guess, overall, this book was alright. Nothing about it was so bad or boring that I wanted to put it down, but nothing about it was memorable either. I felt like this storyline had a lot more potential to be deeper, but Brooke just scratched the surface in areas and never really went to that next level to make it great. 3.25 stars.

**Many thanks to Bold Strokes for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.**

This is the first book that I've read by Gun Brooke and maybe was a bit hesitant at the start. But that feeling quickly disappeared as I got to know Romi and Gail through their character development and I got to experience Ms. Brooke's solid writing. I quickly plowed through this book spurred on by the alternating character point-of-views and the harrowing story of young Romi's six years as a homeless child/woman. I also enjoyed the age gap relationship that slowly developed between the two main characters and how Romi cherished simple moments with Gail. I recommend that others read this book.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review.

I love Gun Brooke's stories, especially those set in fictional East Quay. Like with the author Jae, it amazes me that she can write so well in her non-native language. I don't love the title here - I don't think it suits the story, and the person on the cover resembles neither Romi nor Gail in my mind from the descriptions. That aside, this is a winner if you can suspend disbelief in several areas: The aunt and uncle who owned the farmhouse don't seem the type to me to put in a self-sufficient bomb shelter where years later everything is clean and still works; everyone in the town is a lesbian and a famous-to-some-degree music legend; the retired Gail would just so happen to end up in East Quay and buy a furnished house.

I chose to just read it happily and love the new and old characters. It's an age gap story (22/36 but they both seem older based on their life experiences) and rich/poor story (although we don't see much evidence of Gail's money as she doesn't throw it around), both of which are tropes I enjoy. There are a couple of side characters that I feel like have been set up for their own stories in the future.

I also thought that the alternating first person present tense POV suited this story perfectly, as both Gail and Romi had fascinating stories to tell.

World renowned violinist Gail Owen was involved in a car accident which has left her unable to play her violin. She retreats from the world and buys a farmhouse in Rhode Island. The farmhouse was owned by Romi Shepherd's aunt and is the place where Romi grew up after the death of her parents.  Romi's aunt was cold and heartless and Romi left at sixteen years of age to pursue her music dreams in New York, she ends up on the streets then returns to her aunt's home to find Gail has moved in and an unlikely relationship between the two begins.
I found this storyline a bit hard digest, you had a girl who left home at sixteen and had been on the streets for six years and at twenty two years of age and still homeless begins a relationship with a wealthy, well travelled, driven woman who's in her thirties. I can't even imagine the emotional baggage that Romi must be carrying after leaving home so young and being on the streets for so long and the next thing we know Romi and Gail have apparently some sort of sexual chemistry going on and they're talking about falling in love. It just happened so quick and I couldn't imagine either person was emotionally ready for it.  Clearly there needed to be a lot more relationship development between the two.