Painted Moon

Bella Books has re-released Painted Moon, one of this reader's favorite Karin Kallmaker romances. The novel deals with issues of grief and healing, self-discovery and coming out, falling in love and loving again. Leah Beck is an artist who lost her lover and partner in a freak accident two years ago. Jackie Frakes is a young architect who is struggling with her dissatisfaction with life. An unexpected snowstorm throws the two women together in a small cabin in the Sierras Nevadas for Thanksgiving. For Leah, the meeting will shock her into realizing that while her beloved Sharla is dead, she is still alive and still an artist. Kallmaker provides interesting illustrations regarding how an artist might see the world. Leah expresses her emotions and even tastes as colors. She speaks about where she grew up as " beautiful, full of life. The greens in the spring would actually hurt my eyes ..." (p48) and watching Jackie's " face flicker with emotions. She would paint it gray uncertainty, purple determination, chartreuse fear. " (p60)The pleasing addition to this re-release is the new cover art. Bella Books is to be commended for their graphic designs in general. This cover is one of their best to date. The photograph is reflective of a pivotal scene over Thanksgiving when the snowstorm breaks and Jackie, Butch --Leah's husky, named because, "she acts really tough, but when you get her on her back, she's a pussycat."(p19). -- and Leah venture out into the snow under a full moon. In an epiphany for Leah, for the first time since Sharla's death, she finds that she HAS to draw, to paint, to create what she sees. "Leah stood frozen, her fingers itching. The top of her head felt as though it was burning. The moon hung low in the sky, casting a faint blue over the snow, across the ground, on the tips of the dark pines. Jackie was etched in cerulean. Her braid spun in the light, the face reflected the moon's glow. Her cheekbones were dusted in blue celeste, and her chin was a blur as she threw herself into another drift of the silver-blue snow." (p37) The resulting series of paintings is titled "Painted Moon." Creative juices are not the only kind that Jackie inspires for Leah. Jackie's epiphany arrives a few hours later when she admits that she finds herself sexually attracted to the enigmatic Leah just as her aunt and uncle arrive to carry her home. There are complications and misunderstandings in the course of the romance. When the two women come together, the energy is electric. And it shows in Leah's work. The artist finds herself creating a highly senuous series of paintings that feature Jackie. (...) Painted Moon has what this reader considers classic Kallmaker elements with interesting characters, wry wit and steamy love scenes. (Some of the images of Jackie and Leah have lingered in my mind for years.) If you missed this title the first time around, or if you are new to Kallmaker's novels, pick up a copy of Painted Moon and b

Painted Moon is the quintessential lesbian romance novel. It rivals Curious Wine and Desert of the Heart as the benchmark of the genre. Like a favorite old movie, it doesn't matter how many times you visit it, know the plot, memorize the lines, experience the outcome, it never disappoints. It's that good.Artist Leah Beck has hidden herself away in a mountain cabin mourning the untimely death of her long-time lover. Her grief has left her angry, guilt-ridden and creatively bankrupt. Jackie Frakes is an aspiring and talented young architect working towards her license at a large San Francisco firm. She's trapped in a world of cookie-cutter designs and questionable professional ethics, but knows that it is the consequence for the choice she made when she decided to follow her boyfriend from Boston to the West Coast. Upon her mother's urging, Jackie plans to spend Thanksgiving with relatives in the mountains as a brief respite from her work-a-day world and her weekly 3-hour commute to visit her boyfriend in San Jose. On her way up to her aunt and uncle's mountain cabin, Jackie gets caught in a blinding snowstorm. Driving a vintage MG that her boyfriend insisted she buy, Jackie winds up stranded on the side of the road. Enter Leah Beck, who begrudgingly rescues her. With the storm raging, power lines down and no alternatives available, Jackie and Leah are forced to spend Thanksgiving and much of the weekend together. Their brief encounter changes both women's lives irrevocably. This story has it all: chance circumstances, intriguing setting, faithful dog, haunting dialog, disapproving friends, and among the best sex scenes every written. Kallmaker teases the reader, building enough romantic tension to melt an iceberg. As always, her characters are fully formed and real enough to remind us all of people we know. Painted Moon may follow formula, but it does so with wit, humor, angst and enough believability to pull it off wonderfully. For me, this was the book that crowned Kallmaker the Mistress of Romance. If you buy only one book from this genre, this is the one. Hunt it down. It's a keeper.

I think I've now read this book over about 12 times. It is passionate without being smutty. The passion these women feel transforms them, but they learn that while passion is a wonderful thing, only when combined with trust and respect is it a life sustaining force. I can't recommend this book enough to the romantics at heart, or to the nonbelievers who wonder what the rest of us see in this kind of novel.

I found the characters throughly developed and all that transpires believable within the realms of romance. Jackie's coming out takes her months to realize and reconcile based on a reality-shattering moment in Leah's kitchen. The book was erotic and sensitive and I'll read it again soon, I'm certain!

After reading all of Kallmaker's Naiad romances, I find this one the book that I go back to re-read. Maybe it's because the book starts out with the heroines stranded in a snowstorm. Or maybe it's because they really don't click with one another at first. Whatever, each of them has a personal history that intensifies her need to find the right lover, and by the middle of the book they're drawn together like magnets. Karin does a skillful job of managing the tension until the reader wants them to end up together as much as THEY do. There's a wonderful mother and a fine dog involved, too. This book is worth every penny, and then some!