No one travels this life alone. Maggie Rae-McInnis is happy in her twelve-year relationship with Addison and renting out the rooms in their large home in the Hollywood Hills. Her one nagging fear is that her partner is not as happy as she is—and she is right. Addison is a hot mess. Though she loves Maggie, she feels something is missing. When she meets Victoria Fontaine, a confident, sexy, and manipulative younger woman, she is swept into something new, exciting, and a little dangerous. Tess Rossini and Dusty Gardner, the couple’s closest friends and long-term tenants, face their own fears as they navigate the uncharted waters of love, and Eve Jacobs, newest arrival, finds herself on a path of self-discovery. The love and friendship these women share make up the threads that weave together to form the unbreakable bonds that last a lifetime.
Genres: General Fiction / Romance Tags: Friends & Community, Coming Out, Friends to Lovers Romance, California, Age Gap; Infidelity
Jeannie Levig is an award-winning author of lesbian fiction and a proud and happy member of the Bold Strokes Books family. Her debut novel,Threads of the Heart, won the 2016 Golden Crown Literary Society(Goldie) Award in the Debut Author category and was a finalist in the 2015 Rainbow Awards. Her second novel, Embracing the Dawn, won a 2016 Rainbow Award in the Traditional Contemporary Romance category, and her third, a romantic intrigue entitled Into Thin Air, was released in January of 2017.
She is currently working on her forth novel, a contemporary romance entitled A Heart to Call Home.
Jeannie loves writing, reading, movies, her dog Dexter and lives in Central California.
'ARC provided by both NetGalley and The Publisher in exchange for my unbiased review'
Okay debut! First thing i do not support infidelity and this was a big issue that us/readers had to embrace and understand about this storyline..love(Dusty & Tess)this was a much better couple..but otherwise the book was okay written
2 1/2 Stars. Oh boy, this book is so frustrating to me. It had the potential to be at LEAST 4 stars, but then the book turned and I'm left feeling, well to be honest a bit angry. Let me back up a little. There are five main characters, and the POV jumps from each. It was a tad confusing at first, but pretty soon as a reader, you get to know the characters. 3 are quite likeable, 1 is OK and the last, well lets just say that I wish I could hit fictions people, like her, with my frying pan. As I've mentioned in other reviews, I'm not a big fan of infidelity. But, if it's handled right, I'm fine with it and it can add to a story. Does She Love You? by Spangler, is a fantastic example of that, the book is unbelievably great! Threads of the Heart, to me, goes in the opposite direction. Maggie, the warm heart-ted, lovely woman, and glue of the house is away taking care of hospice HIV patients while her long time partner Addison, is off with Victoria, a sexy and manipulative POS of a woman. I can't truly express why I'm so frustrated without spoilers so... One of the relationships that helped save the book, is Tess and Dusty. While you wish you could knock some sense into them, their romance is sweet and you hope they will one day realize what they have. Like I said, this book could have been wonderful, but instead I'm left extremely disappointed and a bit angry.
I read this book a few days ago and am still fuming about the fact that the author could have been so nonchalant as to ruin a well-written book in such a way. What a shame! I have zero problems with infidelity issues in romance novels. Essentially it can be a great driver for some great drama and angst. Some of my favorites are shelved as infidelity/cheaters -- Survived by Her Longtime Companion by Chris Paynter, Before It Stains by R.E. Bradshaw, Does She Love You? by Rachel Spangler, Olive Oil and White Bread by Georgia Beers... but the characterization of Addison and Maggie frustrated the hell of me. They are being turned into very unlikable characters by the author -- Adisson into some reckless bitch in heat, and Maggie into such a passive doormat with no self-esteem. I even put up a brand new shelf "frustrating" because of this book. Long story short, these reviews say it all and I fully agree with them: Lex Kent's review, Nikki's review and Diana's review.
Threads of the Heart by Jeannie Levig is a multilayered novel that follows the lives of five women who happen to share the same residence. This is a story that involves a lot of moving pieces that are well crafted to give you not only an entertaining read, but a thought provoking one as well.
Maggie and Addison are partners who have been together over a decade. They live in a three story, beautiful home in the Hollywood Hills. Over the years they have taken in a handful of women and given them a place to live. Maggie is a fiery, Irish mother figure to her inhabitants. She cares for everyone, and spends much of her time nurturing her younger friends. Her lover Addison is going through a period of strife. Maggie sees this, but cannot for the life of her bring it to the forefront. Addison feels restless and dissatisfied with her life. She cannot pinpoint when it all began to unravel, but she is no longer happy with the status quo of her relationship with Maggie.
Tess is a widowed college professor. She has spent the last three years living with Maggie and Addison. Her life was shattered when a car accident took the life of her partner. She has only now begun to recover and put her life back on track.
Dusty is the player of the group. She has a revolving door of women, and is well known around town if you get what I mean. Dusty has only begun to wish for more in relationship, the one stand has begun to lose its luster.
Eve is married with two young sons. Her marriage to her husband is basically over. She moves in with Maggie and the others to try to understand where her life is headed and how to begin her life over while accepting to her own self that she likes women.
The house serves as a touchstone to these women. They are all at different places in their lives, but they always know they are wanted and safe in this home. Leving does a good job of making you invest in each character. There are times I wanted to give one of the five a hug, and other times a swift and painful kick to the shin. This book deals with some very strong issues including coming out, the death of a partner and infidelity. For me the infidelity was specifically hard to read for a variety of reasons. I continue to vacillate if the betrayal is a personal issue for me or if how it was handled by the characters is what I have a problem with. I felt more rage at the cheater than the woman who she cheated with. The cheater and her total disregard for anything other than her sexual desire, especially her partner's feeling was deplorable. Her blatant lies were hard to digest. My personal opinion is that the relationship's reconciliation was glossed over a little too much for me. I do not think I personally could bounce back easily if my loved one decided to use our home for a tryst. This is just my opinion though. With that being said, bravo to Leving for bringing this issue to the forefront and giving me characters that I actually cared how they reacted.
Overall, Threads of the Heart is an enjoyable, entertaining novel. I have to say I was surprised to realize that this is the author’s debut novel. I will definitely be looking forward to reading more by her.
My rating: 2.5
Note: I was given this book by the author, Jeannie Leving, in exchange for an honest review.
Set in 1995, this story follows a group of women as they find love and consequences in unexpected places. Trust is tested, relationships are built, sexuality is discovered, all within a tight-knit group of friends.
There were some big issues with this one. Some things were fixed so easily that it was preposterous. Although I did really like some of these characters (Maggie, Dusty, Tess etc), they were lacking sufficient background to really tell me why they made the decisions that they did. I didn’t understand why Addison suddenly felt like straying, there wasn’t enough justification. Also, Eve experienced quite a personality shift, without enough transition to make it believable.
Ultimately, and this is a pet peeve for me, so many problems are caused and fixed by sex. People fall in love without knowing much about each other at all, just that they have good sex together. Others express forgiveness with sex alone and no conversation regarding their monumental issues. This created an imbalance and didn’t let things grow organically, as I hoped they would. Overall a fairly mediocre read, even though there was a lot of potential with the family built through friendship.
I wanted to read this even though the reviews are all over the map because Jeannie Levig is one of my favorite authors, and I am interested in reading about long-term relationships. While I did almost stop reading this book at one point, I am glad I hung in there to the finish. The discussion of the cheating where the 'things happen to you because karma/you did something to deserve/cause it' infuriated me. Lots of *really bad* stuff has happened to people I love for completely random reasons. In real life there aren't always *good* reasons for why things happen. But then the story moved on, and I forgave the author for that choice. I enjoyed the variety of relationship situations, both the beginning and struggling through some hard-times. The cast of characters were all engaging and likable with the exception of one manipulative player. Jeannie Levig is a gifted writer, who isn't afraid to take on more edgy characters and plot lines. This book isn't perfect, but I did enjoy it.
I wanted to read this book after reading this author's other book " Embracing The Dawn". I hesitated a lot because of the portion of the book that dealt with the infidelity of one of the main characters . I found that this portion of the book was pushing some buttons for me. Having said that, the terrific quality of this storyline demonstrates how you as the reader can get caught up in the characters' stories so much so that it feels as if you are right in the middle of the story!
I agree that Dusty was very endearing. Tess was very good friend with complex feelings about Dusty. Their relationship was not resolved till they were able to talk to each other about how they really felt.
Eve was a lovely character. Starting out very shy and embracing her sexuality as the story progressed.
Maggie was the anchor of the house with her calming effect with everyone.
Addison is the character I'm not sure I care for. She is a very flawed character and her infidelity created a deep wound within the characters is the book particularly her spouse Maggie. Her feelings of being stagnant and stifled in her relationship with Maggie to me, is just code for having an excuse to stray from the committed relationship. She enjoys having a seductive woman chasing her till she "caved" and proceeded to have sex with Victoria everywhere including disrespecting their home (personally I think she wanted to be caught). This way she had a way of ending the relationship with Maggie so she could enjoy the wild ride with Victoria. After a few weeks, surprise! Addison misses her old life and wants to be forgiven and back home. This part I'd the book was somewhat glossed over. What about trust issues. What will Maggie do next time Addison feels "stifled with their relationship ". What a tangled web the writer has created in this book! I know some of this review may be "judgegy". Like I said, a very well written debut novel!
Threads of the Heart by Jeannie Levig was one of the two books of hers which I binge read within days, the other being Embracing The Dawn. It brings us many, many characters very quickly, something I usually find it difficult to deal with but Jeannie writes individual characters so well it actually pulled me into the novel.
Maggie and Addison Rae-McInnis rent out rooms in their house. Their story is woven into the other other women’s to create a very satisfying read. Maggie is like a mother hen to all who live under her roof.
The motorcycle riding Dusty wants to give the impression of being aloof but she might not be. Tess is still hurting after the death of her partner. Hesitant Eve is confused and running from her marriage and her husband, not sure what direction her life is going to go in but wanting to give it a go.
Victoria doesn’t live in the house, but her presence is very much felt through out the book. I quickly got the feeling she was going to be trouble right at the beginning.
Each one has their story, all well written.
But I think I loved, and identified with, Addison and her restlessness and confusion and passion and guilt the most. She is attracted to Victoria while still most definitely in love with her wife. She is one of the most angst ridden characters I have ever read in Lesfic. And I wanted to take her to a teepee somewhere and make her sit and hug me until she sorted everything out in her own mind, without hurting anyone. Maggie and Addison are in the middle of something you don’t see being described sympathetically - they are having issues after being together 13 years. Who doesn’t struggle to keep a long term relationship alive?
Jeannie certainly is a master of sex scenes and I think this is one of the most honest books about relationships. She is brave to touch a topic most other authors would shy away from.
I’m writing this review a few months after reading it and am feeling the need for a re-read very soon. Also, I think I need to elevate it to being my favourite Jeannie Levig out of the three I have read now.
This was a solid 4.5 for me! A lot of the reviews on here about the infidelity worried me, but I felt like the author really took her time with the characters interiority and how we got to the timing being right for them to come back together. I just really loved a lot of the ways some really deep things about the human experience and especially relationships were conveyed with such casual, accessible wisdom in this book. All of the main characters were such vivid, 3-dimensional women, they kept making me think of people and dynamics from my women’s college dorm days, the ways they interacted living together. I had a really good time w this read!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Threads of the Heart is about a group of housemates with various problems and the support they provide to each other. Typically I'm not a fan of books like this where there is a bunch of characters with a lot going on. I always feel like I'm being pulled in several directions at once and we get several small stories instead of one complete story. In this book, this was not the case. Each character's story kind of weaves in and out with the other characters stories, making it feel like one continuous plot. It helps also that you can really feel the love and friendship between all the ladies. If only everyone had a support group like that.
If you've read any romance before you'll probably find all of the themes familiar in this book; coming out late in life, infidelity, a player wanting more, moving past a loss, are some of the topics you can expect to read about. For a debut book (I think it is?) it is very well written, I didn't notice any mistakes, the plot was coherent, it was appropriately paced, the characters major and minor were all interesting, and the ending felt just right. Overall a good read.
Sorry justifying cheating in any way is such a big no for me.pretty much ruined the remaining book for me. I wanted to give a single star just for how Maggie's characters had been written but i had a good time with the other couples.
I loved the author's other books and thought I would love this but now I regret reading this one as i always remember this book whenever I read her new books.
I read few reviews of people who didn't like this book so much...and I still can't figure why...it was really great! I honestly could not put it down! I think the most it stuck was the friendship between all characters. and of course loved the ending 😀
Maggie and Addison Rae-McInnis have a large house where they rent out rooms. They have the perfect love and they are the mother hens... Well Maggie is, Addison might not be so sure... Dusty rents one of the rooms and is more family than tenant but can she help Addison without losing her anchors? Tess is happy in her room with her work and occasional sex but needs nothing more as she heals from a bad break up. But surely there's more to her story? Then Eve moves in after breaking up with her husband and leaving her young sons. Eve is sure she is a lesbian although she has no experience of what that means. Dusty wants to help her but Maggie thinks Eve doesn't need Dusty's kind of help...
This starts off seeming to be a standard lesfic romance with some nicely drawn characters but becomes more complex and more interesting as Ms Levig throws some unexpected curve balls... Who is Dusty really? What is happening with Addison? Will Eve find her way without getting hurt too badly? Life is about learning lessons and listening for echoes.
I really enjoyed the story and the characters and look forward to more from this author. I would particularly like more about Rebecca and her brilliant bon mots. A whole book about how she came to be so wise would be welcome if written to this standard. Recommended if you like well written, well plotted lesfic with a host of complex characters.
I was given a free copy of this book by netgalley in return for an honest review.
I read this author's other book Embracing the Dawn and loved it so I had to pick up this one as well. I was so not disappointed. It follows the lives of five women, each struggling with their own issues. You will absolutely grow to love each character and wish only the best for each one. There is a ton of romance, tenderness, sex and angst to go around in this book it will keep you reading well into the night. Read this book and then buy the authors other one. Two of the best books I've read all year.
You know the old saying; "The Grass is always Greener on the Other Side?" Well, it's not always true. Be careful what you wish for. The author does a good job of exploring infidelity and taking you along on the seductive ride.
I had glanced at some of the reviews and saw several people express dislike for this book, usually using the term frustrated. Having read the synopsis, that made sense to me. It was clear this book was going to deal with infidelity, a plot point that has to be handled with a great deal of care in order to not alienate the reader. I decided to give it a try anyway.
As I was reading, I found myself really enjoying the book. Yes, the infidelity storyline is hard to handle, but it was being written in such a truthful, honest way. And the other characters were wonderful. I really didn't like Rebecca (you really want to tell people that everything bad that happens to them is because they invite it in to their lives with their karma? Really?!), but she was an exception. The main characters were great.
Then. Then we get to the "resolution" of the infidelity plot line. I can't believe how poorly it was handled. The entire book had been about characters and how they communicate with each other, right up until THIS point. Suddenly no communication is needed whatsoever! I was shocked. And it did change my feelings about an otherwise very well written book.