Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Caught and Kept
SERIES: The Siren’s Song #2
AUTHOR: Penelope Grey
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 258 pages
BLURB:
What happens when the bounds of a deep friendship are tested and tempted by love and lust?
Kai Larsen has spent the majority of her adult life avoiding intense and long lasting interpersonal connections. Her job at the exclusive lesbian members-only “Siren’s Song” club in Seattle has been her life’s work and her home. Now she finds herself looking for a change. When she hears of a work opportunity that will allow her to spend the summer out on Whidbey Island, it sounds like the perfect escape from life in the city.
Dani McClure is struggling to figure out what’s next in her life. Recently divorced from her wife of many years, the family and life she always dreamed of having are distant memories. She’s now discovered the Whidbey Island vacation retreat she spent years building is too much for her to handle alone.
The two are brought together by a mutual friend in a reciprocally supportive arrangement: Dani gets the help she needs; Kai is provided with a quiet interlude from the city and club life. Recognizing a kindred soul and wicked sense of humor in each other, a strong and powerful friendship is formed. But when the friendship boundaries become blurred by romantic feelings, each woman fights in her own way to protect the connection they share.
Caught and Kept is the second book in The Siren’s Song Series
REVIEW:
I am going to try my hardest to be objective about this book, and provide an unbiased review. It’s hard though, I know the author personally, I live on the island the book is set on, and she set a scene in my business. But all of those things need to not affect my opinion of the book. I have only read a couple of lesbian fiction books, one of which was Infinity’s Song, Penelope’s first book. It was very good, so I’ve been looking forward to this one!
In Infinity’s Song, we were introduced to The Siren’s Song, a members only club for lesbians located in Seattle. This book features Kai Larsen, who has spent 20 years working at The Siren, from tending bar to managing the Food Services department. She seems happy with her life, but is ready for a change. Her friend Gigi hooks her up with a woman on Whidbey Island who is looking for some summer help on her property. Kai is able to cut back her work days a bit to spend six months living on the island, helping Dani manage her property and guests, while commuting to Seattle a few days a week to work. Seems like a perfect situation! Kai seems like a loner and happy to be so, but there is some drama and pain in her past that has been affecting her life for years.
Dani McClure is an interesting character. She is strong and independent, recently out of a long term relationship and left with a dream she is struggling to maintain. She owns a vacation rental property on Whidbey Island that is now too much for her to manage on her own. Her short term solution is to find someone to help for the summer, then reevaluate and see if it’s time to let the dream go. She is the perfect person to be doing what she is doing, she seems to love caring for her property and guests, providing home made granola and fruit butter in each cabin. She makes cookies all the time, and makes Kai home made hot chocolate that had my mouth watering. I want to stay at Dani’s place! She hears about Kai through Gigi, agrees to meet with her and see how it goes. It’s pretty clear this will work and she offers Kai the job.
A friendship builds between to two women immediately, both finding a lonely soul in the other. As readers we see what is happening, both are having more than friend thoughts, but they both have soooo much baggage. Dani is convinced she’s had her shot at love and it didn’t work out, so why bother again. Kai is so tied up in the drama from her teenage years that she is unwilling to open her heart to anyone. She sleeps around a bit, but is not at all looking for a relationship. They flirt, then back away, talk and start to open up, then close down again. They get frustrated with each other, and almost, but not quite fight. It is a slow and gentle build up, with a satisfying outcome.
The two of them were good characters, but they weren’t alone in this story. We have Jenny and her daughter Sophie, Melly and Gigi from the Siren, Cass and Helen (the stars from Infinity’s Song) and Kai’s brother David. It is a nice assortment of friends and family for the two women, coming and going, offering advice and interfering occasionally. Sophie in particular was a nice addition, the relationship that grows between her and Kai was fun to watch.
So this was a very gentle and sweet story. I did enjoy it, but I feel it was missing a bit of drama. Yes, there is certainly drama in Kai’s past, and it does come up, but not in a way that we directly experience. There is passion between Kai and Dani, but it is a slow building and gently burning passion, not as red hot as it could have been. Sometimes drama in a story, chaos, angst, either internal or external helps pull a couple closer together, I think Dani and Kai could have used that. There was a beautiful love scene between them, I know this wasn’t meant to be erotica, but a little more, even off screen sex would have bonded them more.
The writing was good, this is Penelope’s second book, but she’s got it down. I don’t have the words myself to describe her writing style, but it worked for me. Her dialog flowed well, the flirting and banter between them was fun, her characters were well described, the setting was perfect. There are lots of details, but not too much. Partly because I live here, but mostly due to her lovely descriptions, I saw my home very clearly and accurately. I loved Dani and Kai, and liked the bonding over food, chatting, slowly revealing stories about each other, meeting friends and family, it was nice and sweet, but…. I personally need a little more action and excitement.
If you are looking for a gentle, slow building love story, featuring two stubborn women living on a beautiful island, give this one a try! It was enjoyable and I look forward to more from Penelope!
RATING: 
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