"Love, Zena Beth" is truly one of the best novels I've read in a long time. Part of it's appeal lies in the fact that it is skillfully written, but it also has the authenticity of feeling often lacking in novels (lesbian novels in particular). The book has many humorous moments as well as powerfully sensual scenes. The characters are multidimensional. The dilemma and feelings experienced by the protagonist are as real as I've ever found in print. This author is very talented.

This is one of the best novels I've read in a long time. Salvatore makes the experience very realistic for the reader... almost uncomfortably so. The style of writing is excellent and it is clear that this author is quite skilled. It is easy to get lost in this book.

If you are lucky enough to find a copy of this book, don't let the awful cover turn you off. Inside you'll find a series of short stores that form a complete novel, and in those stories some excellent prose. Vivid with exasperation is the woman who is underwhelmed by her co-worker's stated tolerence for her lesbianism right after she has just been asked to applaud madly for her co-worker's engagement. Torn with anger is the daughter who refuses to comfort her religious father with the words that "Jesus forgave Judas" because she can't bring herself to compare her life and her partner to a traitor. Confused is the ex-husband who doesn't understand why his wife has taken up with another woman. Deeply in love are women at the center of the novel. Each story is a piece of a mosaic and the whole captures the range of lesbian lives with insight and feeling.

Truly one of the best lesbian fiction's I have read to date. Diane Salvatore has the ability to reach many emotions...all at once. Her characters are alive with passion, excitement and a realistic view of the world in which we live. She writes in such a way that it was impossible not to be captivated by their lives and how they were unfolding. It sounds cliche but I could not put it down and was sad when I got to the end. I have lent this to many friends and each of them found it to be extremely enjoyable...I hope you do also!

"Benediction" could be every Catholic girl's nightmare or dream come true. Grace and Meg are two wholesome teenagers whose friendship develops into more...first the kiss and then much more. The coming of terms with Grace's mother finding out and sending them for couseling with the priest. With any young life there's hurt and devastation. But there's also much to learn and other former school mates come to Grace's aid in her seach for truth and happiness.

This is the story of two girls, Grace and Meg, who met at their Catholic school and fell in love with each other. This book allows you to live through their friendship, attraction to one another, their first kiss, the discovery of their love for each other... The story covers all of the phases and feelings of two young girls who are not even capable of calling themselves lesbians because all they know is their love for one another. You feel their frustration for knowing that their love would never be accpected by others, their fear of being discovered and ultimately separated, but most importantly their fear of not being strong enough to allow themselves to be who they truly are. Although the main characters are young, I feel that this book touches many issues that are very much alive in our society today.

This is a book about a group of gay and lesbian friends who decide to retire and buy houses near each other in an exclusive Florida community. You get a chance to see how older members of the "family" adjust to living together and to trying to mix in with the rest of the neighborhood. There is a twist ending to one of the relationships that lingers with you. This just isn't what you expected to happen. It's hard to get into the book though because there isn't a lot to relate to in the characters. A longer book might have done the story more justice.