ARC Review & Giveaway – Far from Home (Belladonna Ink #1) by Lorelie Brown

I am thankful I picked up this story because it was beautiful. It was tender and real, erotic and sweet. ~ Leigh, Guitly Pleasures 

Description:
My name is Rachel. I’m straight . . . I think. I also have a mountain of student loans and a smart mouth. I wasn’t serious when I told Pari Sadashiv I’d marry her. It was only party banter! Except Pari needs a green card, and she’s willing to give me a breather from drowning in debt.

My off-the-cuff idea might not be so terrible. We get along as friends. She’s really romantically cautious, which I find heartbreaking. She deserves someone to laugh with. She’s kind. And calm. And gorgeous. A couple of years with her actually sounds pretty good. If some of Pari’s kindness and calmness rubs off on me, that’d be a bonus, because I’m a mess — anorexia is not a pretty word — and my little ways of keeping control of myself, of the world, aren’t working anymore.

And, if I slip up, Pari will see my cracks. Then I’ll crack. Which means I gotta get out, quick, before I fall in love with my wife.

Review copy provided for an honest review

I have to admit that I started this book a bit reluctantly. I love reading male/male, but a female/female novel was wading out into waters I hadn’t ventured into before. However, I am thankful I picked up this story because it was beautiful. It was tender and real, erotic and sweet. And equally as important, Lorelie Brown managed to do something amazing: come up with a storyline that was actually new.

While the “marrying for a green card and winding up in love” theme is not a unique one, I found that the author put her own spin on this with a same sex couple: a straight woman, offering to marry a gay woman that needed a green card, and ultimately falling in love with her.

Told from Rachel’s point of view, we read about her offer to marry Pari as a way of paying off student loan debts. But as a struggling recovering anorexic without a support system to help her, it is no surprise that she clings to the friendship and family that Pari represents. This California girl with no family to speak of finds herself thrust into not only a fake relationship, but one with an Indian woman with strong family ties, and the lines between what is real and what is for show quickly blur.

While I felt that there could have been more details, or the characters and their pasts could have been fleshed out a bit more, I found this story to be so loving and heartfelt. The attraction and affection as it grew between these two virtual strangers was so sweet to read, and I found myself emotionally invested with Rachel. Between her struggles to overcome her past food obsessions and feelings of unworthiness to her desire to be a better person for this woman she had grown to love, I wanted the relationship to work out despite the odds that it wouldn’t.

Far From Home was just a beautiful read.

And for fans of Katie Porter, Lorelie Brown is one half of the writing duo, so I would definitely recommend checking out this short and sweet story.

4.5 stars

Purchase from
Amazon

About Lorelie Brown
After a seminomadic childhood throughout California, Lorelie Brown spent high school in Orange County before joining the US Army. After traveling the world from South Korea to Italy, she now lives north of Chicago. She writes her Pacific Blue series of hot surfers in order to channel some warmth.

Lorelie has three active sons, two yappy dogs, and a cat who cusses her out on a regular basis for not petting him enough.

In her immense free time (hah!) Lorelie cowrites award-winning contemporary erotic romance under the name Katie Porter. You can find out more about the Vegas Top Guns and Command Force Alpha series at www.KatiePorterBooks.com or at @MsKatiePorter. You can also contact Lorelie on Twitter @LorelieBrown.

Connect with Lorelie:

• Website: loreliebrown.com/
• Twitter: @LorelieBrown
• Facebook: facebook.com/lorelie.brown

Giveaway

To celebrate the release of Far From Home, Lorelie is giving away a ring! That’s right, a size 7 ring, similar to the one Pari buys for Rachel in the book. Leave a comment with your contact info to enter the contest. Entries close at midnight, Eastern time, on August 6, 2016. Contest is NOT restricted to U.S. entries. Thanks for following the tour, and don’t forget to leave your contact info!