Edge of Awareness

by C.A. Popovich

Maria Spencer is in the middle of her third divorce. She doesn’t know what it is she wants, but she knows there’s something she’s missing. When Maria brings her Dachshund into a grooming school and meets Dana, an out lesbian, something shifts for her. Torn between her church teachings and her emerging truth, she embarks on a journey to find herself as a single woman of God.
Dana struggles to trust that Maria isn’t going to decide to go back to men, and Maria strives to understand her budding feelings for Dana. When a disturbed woman becomes obsessed with Dana, they find themselves having to deal with her following their every move.
Can their mutual attraction and growing connection become too strong to deny and draw them into each other’s arms?

Genres: Lesbian, LGBT

264 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2014

About the author

C.A. Popovich, a Michigan native, has worked in the automotive industry for most of her life. During the many layoffs in the unpredictable field, she earned a certificate in dog grooming, an associate’s degree in veterinary technology, and worked in maintenance at a condominium complex. She’s been working as an AutoCAD operator since 2009 and looks forward to retiring to be able to write full-time. She believes her passion for writing began at birth and has maintained a journal since high school.
Since discovering Bold Strokes Books, and her love of lesbian romance, she’s written numerous short stories with happily-ever-after endings. In 2012, she had an article titled “The Choice” published in Sinister Wisdom. It describes her experience on a flight aboard the tiny plane into Provincetown, MA.
She hates spiders, loves to read, write, spend time with her family, and travel to as many BSB events as finances allow.

Reviews

[Les Rêveur · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edge of Awareness is C.A Popovich debut novel.

Authors Synopsis

Maria Spencer is in the middle of her third divorce. She doesn’t know what it is she wants, but she knows there’s something she’s missing. When Maria brings her Dachshund into a grooming school and meets Dana, an out lesbian, something shifts for her. Torn between her church teachings and her emerging truth, she embarks on a journey to find herself as a single woman of God.
Dana struggles to trust that Maria isn’t going to decide to go back to men, and Maria strives to understand her budding feelings for Dana. When a disturbed woman becomes obsessed with Dana, they find themselves having to deal with her following their every move.
Can their mutual attraction and growing connection become too strong to deny and draw them into each other’s arms?

My Synopsis

Maria is on her third divorce and all to men. She has a deep faith in god, goes to church regularly and sings the church choir. When she meets Dana a out and proud Lesbian there is a instant connection. When her faith comes into question due to her Lesbian attraction she has to figure out what really matters! Dana struggles with falling for someone who has always been in relationships with men! is Dana enough for Maria? will she get bored and go back to men?

My Review

i was left feeling unsure with this novel. I enjoyed this story. Some parts tended to be slow and then others too rushed. The slow parts of the book (and there was quite a few actually) tended to be boring and if i wasn't wanting to review this book i would have skipped ahead. The part that was rushed was the ending. An Epilogue would have all the things left hanging together.

The character of Leanne frustrated me throughout the story. She becomes obsessed by Dana and i felt our heroines seemed foolish to let her get away with as much as she did. That for me made it a little unrealistic.

I enjoyed the parts of the story the concentrated solely on Dana and Maria. Their story alone was what keep my head in the book... The acceptance Maria found in her faith and her family warmed my heart as i know lots of the LGBTQ community loose their faith once the come out due to the lack of support from most religions.

3 Stars.

https://lesreveur.com/2016/08/29/edge...

[Pin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Edge of Awareness has some of typical shortcomings of the first novel (problems with dialogue, with too slow pacing...), but it was not a bad read. I liked the characters and the setting, and I will read the next book by this author.

[Maxine (Booklover Catlady) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I found this book very hard going, and frankly quite boring, the writing felt quite stilted and I could not get into the flow. It seemed like words, sentences, everything was repeated over and over again. It did not improve as the book went on unfortunately.

Marija Spencer is in the middle of her third divorce. She doesn’t know what it is she wants, but she knows there’s something she’s missing. When Marija brings her Dachshund into a grooming school and meets Dana, an out lesbian, something shifts for her. Torn between her church teachings and her emerging truth, she embarks on a journey to find herself as a single woman of God.

Dana struggles to trust that Marija isn’t going to decide to go back to men, and Marija strives to understand her budding feelings for Dana. When a disturbed woman becomes obsessed with Dana, they find themselves having to deal with her following their every move.

Can their mutual attraction and growing connection become too strong to deny and draw them into each other’s arms?

This should have been quite a character driven book with characters shining out and being the stars of the show, their personalities, feelings, desires, words. I didn't feel the love, I didn't feel anything at all. The characters came off as wooden and stiff. I didn't sense any realism about them at all, very distant.

I don't think the plot had much going for it either, I was wondering where it was all going, did not care for the sideline story of discussions with Dana's mother about selling the grooming salon. None of this was tangible to me. A very average read.

I received a copy of this book thanks to the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Kat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very calm and mellow story with a little hiccup in the end.

[0848020333 0333 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maria takes her dog to get its nails trimmed and meets Dana the dog groomer, who is lesbian. and this starts a journey for the choir singing third time divorcee. the friendship that the two have starts Maria questioning a lot about herself and her faith. As Maria goes on the journey she questions her faith and the 'guidence'of the church she is in as well as her understanding of her faith. Loved that she spoke to her parents to get clarity. As Dana tries to be friends with Maria who is straight and religiousm her past comes and causes trouble for both Dana and Maria. Was interesting how all the pieces came together.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little too much faith for my personal preferences, but give it a go and make your own mind up!

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have had the privilege to review this book before it has been released to the public. I very much enjoyed reading Edge of Awareness written by C.A. Popovich. It is a laid back book that you would enjoy to curl up and relax with. The characters are very well developed as is the book. The story takes place in Michigan with the two main characters being Danna and Maria. Danna runs a grooming school for animals that her mother owns. Danna is a lesbian who has been out as far back as she can remember. Running the school takes up a lot of her time but she has not been in a actual relationship since high school and would really like to settle down with someone not just saturday night flings she meets at the bar. Maria is going through her third divorce. She grew up in a religious family and religion is a large part of her life including singing in a church choir. Maria also owns a hair salon. I like the coincidence that maria does human hair and Danna does animals. Danna and Maria meet when Maria brings her dog Frankie into the grooming school to get his nails clipped. I do not want to give away too much. Sparks do fly between them but Maria has never even thought about women before and is not sure what she is feeling or how it fits into her religious life. Is Danna even willing to risk getting hurt by a straight woman if she gets the opportunity? Will there just be a friendship between them? This is very much a self discovery book for most of the characters in it. I hope you take the time to read it.
(I received this book through NetGalley for an honest review)