Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: Fumbling Toward Crescendo
AUTHOR: Jamie Sullivan
PUBLISHER: Less Than Three Press
LENGTH: 47 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 2, 2019
BLURB:
Vi has no idea why she’s even at a hipper-than-thou club on a Saturday night; it’s a million miles away from her usual scene. And she’s even more out of her depth when she bumps into the club’s go-go dancers, getting ready to go on for the night. She’s ready to run away and never look back when she spots Cassidy, a ballerina who doesn’t quite feel like she fits in either.
Vi’s buried deep in the closet, but when Cassidy asks her to get a cup of coffee after the club closes, she says yes. Only, events intervene, and she ends up walking out of the club without a word to Cassidy. Vi tells herself it’s for the best, but she can’t get the beautiful dancer off her mind.
REVIEW:
This is the type of short story that packs a lot of goodness into few words. It’s a quick read about taking a chance and falling headlong into something you never knew you needed.
I will admit, our main character Vi didn’t have the best introduction—she came off as a “not like other girls” type of girl, and she has decided to remain closeted even though she is living independently, which I thought is an odd author choice. Vi seems to know for sure she’s a lesbian, yet she worries about what others may think, which is a dated concept in an otherwise modern-feeling story.
But when she goes out to a club with her best friend and meets Cassidy, a ballet dancer making money as a go-go girl, she can’t hide her attraction. Cassidy, in all of her graceful, ethereal beauty, is pretty easy to fall for. This is a short story, so things escalate quickly, but the steam is incredible. The love scenes between Vi and Cassidy feel intimate and natural, like they are following their bodies and desires rather than trying to be picture-perfect. The way Vi is so crazy for Cassidy is so well-written that even the smallest touch and kiss feels intensely erotic. The sexual tension between them in the bathroom stall of the club is fire, and I actually groaned when they were interrupted.
By the end, I didn’t mind Vi’s coming-out arc as much as I thought I would. She took a chance with Cassidy, and that was all she needed to confirm her true self and start coming into her own—no real angst to be had. I think her being closeted was more of a plot device than a realistic character choice. Bumps in the road aside, this is an all-around cozy, sexy, feel-good story about a girl who makes her sexual debut in the very best way possible.
RATING: 
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