Genre: Contemporary Fiction/Romantic Suspense
Approximate word count: 65-70,000 words
Availability
Kindle US: YES UK: YES Nook: YES Smashwords: YES Paper: YES
Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store
Author:
Although originally from upstate New York, Alessa Adamo has lived in Northern California for forty years. She has spent time in the US Air Force, worked as a real estate broker, and now works for a small non-profit that teaches disaster preparedness. Alessa and her partner currently live in the San Francisco Bay area. For more, visit Adamo’s website.
Description:
Melissa Adams and her same-sex partner are flying to Bangkok where they plan to vacation with Amy, Melissa’s estranged daughter. When things start to go wrong, they go very wrong. Soon everything in Melissa’s life seems out of control.
Appraisal:
It seems the aspects of a book that stick most with me are often not the plot, but the characters. That is the case with Night Flight. The plot is suspenseful and full of drama, in every sense of that word. But it is the characters and how they reacted to the events depicted that floated through my thoughts between reading sessions and after closing the virtual covers for the last time.
In the beginning, I wasn’t sure how I would react or relate to a story where the two primary characters were two women in a romantic relationship. Would it be voyeuristic, in the same way female-on-female porn appeals to some straight men? Would I find it revolting or difficult to relate, because it is so different from my own experiences? The answer to both of these, for me, was a resounding no. While there are a few mild sex scenes, it didn’t feel voyeuristic, at least no more so than a comparable scene with a straight couple. It wasn’t revolting. And relating to the characters was easy, with enough parallels to my own experiences to understand, yet enough differences to be intriguing and feel like I received new insights into human nature. It turns out we’re more the same than different.
FYI:
Adult language and situations.
Format/Typo Issues:
A small number of typo and proofing errors. Most of these were homonym errors: using isle (a small island) instead of aisle (an area for walking) along with the classic your/you’re problem were two that were repetitive.
Rating: **** Four stars
4 comments:
Interesting review. I've always wondered the same thing about homosexual relationship in books. Since I read mostly genre fiction, if I ever did come across it, it was usually an aside rather that being part of the main plot, so I never thought about it. Glad to know that it may work for me as a main story issue too.
I'm sorry, but this is the kind of review that makes me abandon a website forever.
The casual assumption that lesbian sex will be revolting. The surprise at finding out that lesbians are just like real human beings.
There is nothing about the actual book except OMG! Lesbian sex isn't depicted as revoltingly as I expected it to be! I'm really disappointed - I suppose I expect a review to concentrate on the book, not the reviewer's prejudices.
@Autistwriter: I'm sorry this offended you. While I disagree that I said nothing about the book (I think the first paragraph is all about the book and how I reacted to it).
My reason for talking about this subject is because it was a first for me and outside of my past experience (both reading and, obviously, in real life). I thought some of my readers would also wonder. The comment prior to yours seems to indicate that there are those who do wonder. Your comment that "Lesbian sex isn't depicted as revoltingly as I expected it to be" is reading way more into what was said than I intended and, I believe, what was said.
That you're talking about my "prejudices" implies I thought I knew how I would react and is possibly making assumptions about my opinions beyond this book.
Thank you for the favorable review of my book, Night Flight. I see in the comments that there is at least one person reacting negatively to the reviewer’s discussion about lesbian relationships. I understand the commenter’s point, and am often dismayed myself. But I also accept reality. Many people aren’t familiar with lesbian couples. And frankly, for people without significant direct experience, their opinions about lesbian relationships are often informed by what they are exposed to. And there is more voyeurism in the media, in films and writing about same-sex relationships than there are more traditional, realistic portrayals. Consider the negative reactions around the country to the same-sex marriage debate--the debate is full of misinformation and ignorance.
That is one reason I wrote the book the way I did. I wanted to portray realistic characters facing circumstances that challenge them. One of the issues that challenge them is their lesbian relationship, and it doesn’t affect either partner the same way. Yet I took care to make sure that the characters are portrayed normally (just as most of us really are) and without pornographic/voyeuristic imagery.
For lesbians who read the book, I trust they will find the story and the characters engaging; ultimately, this is a suspense drama. My hope for those few straight people who pick up the book is that they will come away with exactly the sentiment expressed by the reviewer: “It turns out we’re more the same then different.” I couldn’t hope for more from readers.
Finally, I’d like to say that Night Flight is currently in revision for formatting and typos. I’ve been so impressed with the reviews and discussions about the issue in this forum that I took the trouble to hire a professional copy editor to go over my manuscript. Obviously, this is something I should have done before publishing. But I finally learned that despite the expense, it is important to give the reader the best possible experience. So I am making the necessary edits (although there are not so many as to make it a poor read as it is), and the third edition of Night Flight will be available by mid-March in eBook format and by late April in print.
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