Picture Perfect

This is a touching love story between Kate and Casey. Unbeknowst to them, Casey's aging mother and Kate's friend, Nora is playing matchmaker. Will the career oriented Kate give up her relationship with Casey to move from North Carolina to Connecticut? Read this great romance and see what happens.

Kate Bingham, driven and determined, is rising quickly through the ranks in the accounting firm where she works. Casey Marsden is the daughter of Nora Marsden, an old friend and former co-worker of Kate's. All three women are thrown together again when a new tragedy strikes Nora's family. Nora's husband is slowly being robbed of his mind. Although not sure what she can do, Kate strives to help. Help that isn't easy for Kate to give considering she is still recovering from a not so long ago tragedy of her own. For that matter, what brought Casey home to begin with? Was it the tragedy her family is now facing? Or something else entirely? What could have affected Casey so severely that she gave up the life she had for the life she is now living? Even amidst impending loss, both Kate and Casey can't help but think Nora is playing `matchmaker', something neither of them are sure they want. However, it's not long before both Casey and Kate start to feel Nora's efforts may have been worth it. Feelings each thought they'd never have again are beginning to resurface. Feelings that bring one big question as well as others for both women: How will the present, combined with the past, affect their chance at a future? Will they even allow themselves this chance? Only time and this newest tragedy will tell. Picture Perfect is a terrific story that is both heartwarming and heartrending. A story of how diseases of the mind can rob more than just the afflicted person of their life. Of what happens when parents become the children and children become the parents. With her first book, Jane has given readers a dynamic story filled with messages of tragedy, hope and acceptance. Her upcoming book, Heart Trouble, due out in August 2006, can only be another well-written, intriguing offer from a writer who has joined the ranks of talented storytellers.

In her first published novel, Jane Vollbrecht shows that with love and the will, there is a way to overcome adversity and even find romance when life events block the path. What should be a distressing look at how Alzheimer's type dementia wreaks havoc on a family is, in fact, a life-affirming account of how two brave women deal with a dreadful disease that afflicts their fathers. "Picture Perfect," a worthy finalist for a 2005 GCLS Literary Award, has earned its place among books of substance. Vollbrecht is an author to watch, as she is getting off to an impressive start. With hopes of making junior partner, Katherine Lorraine Bingham (Kate) prides herself on her accomplishments as she climbs the corporate ladder of an Atlanta-based accounting firmAlthough Kate grew up on a farm, she becomes a bona fide city girl who manages to fall in love with a country girl. Kate is reacquainted with Kayrun Clarice (Casey) when she goes to the hills of North Carolina to visit Nora Marsden, an old friend, former co-worker, and Casey's mother. Kate never counted on having feelings for the younger woman, who is actually closer to her age than Nora is, but sparks fly, and the attraction is mutual. Kate has suffered a devastating break-up, which leaves her clueless as to what went wrong. Casey is not looking for love when she sees Kate again, but they form a bond, at first based on friendship and commonalities, but resulting in so much more. Casey's father suffers from Alzheimer's, and her mother is in denial about the severity of his condition. Kate understands all too well the rocky road ahead for the Marsdens. "Although [Kate's] own father had been dead for more than six years, she was never more than a fleeting reminder away from reliving the horror of watching him die, synapse by synapse, as his brain rotted from the inside out. By the time it was done, he had forgotten how to do every single thing that constituted living" (p. 26). "Picture Perfect" is touching, sweet, believable, vivid, and has plenty of humor to keep it from being completely depressing. After all, Alzheimer's disease isn't a picnic. Vollbrecht does a fine job of tapping into the human condition and the emotions that accompany it in a well-written novel equipped with romance between memorable characters and well-plotted action. Dealing with ill parents is never easy for the children who end up switching roles with their elders, but Casey does an admirable job of taking on the arduous task with amazing strength and valor. Having Kate's help is the one thing Casey comes to count on, but can their love survive Kate's professional ambitions? While "Picture Perfect" is a truly satisfying romance, it is not simply a glorified lesbian love story. By showing how love helps conquer all, or at least how it makes life's adversities more tolerable, Vollbrecht provides the reader with just the right mix of pathos, information, and narrative to bring the reader into the story. With love scenes tha

This was a compelling story that I read in one sitting. The writing was quite enjoyable and the novel a real page turner. Kate is 46 years old when she gets together with 39 year old Casey. They have met periodically over the last 22 years through Kate being friends with Casey's mother at work. Kate was partnered for 18 years when it ended four years earlier when her partner Nikki left abruptly saying she was bored - Kate still is at a loss and hadn't seen the breakup coming. Casey lost her partner of 12 years to cancer four years earlier. Casey considers it a once in a life time romance. They meet again and are intensely attracted to each other. There is wonderful humor throughout the book and the writing kept me interest to the last page Kate is immensely supportive of Casey while she goes through tremendous hardships as her parents mental and emotional health take a crash dive. It a rough road ahead as Kate is a very successful accountant in a firm 2 hours away from Casey's rural home. It comes to a point were Casey lays it on the line that all compromise must come from Kate as she has no interest in living anywhere but the country. Casey says some pretty ugly things. It was very interesting the direction the story took.

I love to see new names writing in the lesbian fiction genre, especially when they're as promising as this one. This first-time book by author Jane Vollbrecht is pure formula, but she really makes the formula work. The basic story: Kate Bingham -- twenty-something, working her way up through the ranks in a "boys' club" company -- visits her retired friend Nora. Nora has a husband with Alzheimer's and a gorgeous, gardener daughter named Casey. Nora won't put her husband in a home. Casey enlists Kate's help to care for her parents and in the process the two fall in love. The only problem is Kate's job is threatening to permanently separate them by a few thousand miles. Vollbrecht does a masterful job in dealing with both the elderly issue and the relationship issue. But, focusing on what's really important here (i.e., the romance), the author delivers surprisingly mature, well-developed characters with depth and dimensionality. For example, Kate's past includes a deceased lover, guilt over being closeted, issues related to being discovered at work, and much more. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and hope the author delivers an encore soon.