ARC Review: ROLLER GIRL by Vanessa North
Title: Roller Girl
Series: Lake Lovelace #3
Author: Vanessa North
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Release date: July 25th, 2016
Recently divorced Tina Durham is trying to be self-sufficient, but her personal-training career is floundering, her closest friends are swept up in new relationships, and her washing machine has just flooded her kitchen. It’s enough to make a girl cry.
Instead, she calls a plumbing service, and Joanne “Joe Mama” Delario comes to the rescue. Joe is sweet, funny, and good at fixing things. She also sees something special in Tina and invites her to try out for the roller derby team she coaches.
Derby offers Tina an outlet for her frustrations, a chance to excel, and the female friendships she’s never had before. And as Tina starts to thrive at derby, the tension between her and Joe cranks up. Despite their player/coach relationship, they give in to their mutual attraction. Sex in secret is hot, but Tina can’t help but want more.
With work still on the rocks and her relationship in the closet, Tina is forced to reevaluate her life. Can she be content with a secret lover? Or with being dependent on someone else again? It’s time for Tina to tackle her fears, both on and off the track.
Thank you Netgalley and Riptide Publishing for the review copy.
Even though it's a short book, Roller Girl has so much to tell on its pages. It starts quickly and funny. It's clear, as soon as you start the book, that you will have a great time while reading it.
Tina is fun and fabulous and so very strong. She is a trans woman that has recently divorced, so she looks around inside her house and sees all the big details; like how her wife did everything and kept the house in order. She think she needs people, but what she doesn't know yet is that people need her even more. She is a cinnamon roll, too good, too pure for this world.
And if you aren't into sports BUT if you're into forbidden romance, DING DING. The romance between Tina/Joe is kinda forbidden because it's between player/coach in the team. There are little escapades and stolen touches. Plus lots more *wink*
If you're still unsure and want ONE MORE reason, then there is the #GirlPower. The roller derby team is fabulous to the max. The girls are so.... you know how you remember something like super happy and you smile even though they aren't there? Yup, those girls make me feel like that. They're just so great and I'm inspired by them. And you will be too.
I think this book is important.
1) Women supporting women is very important to me. To see that so well-written in a book makes me the happiest. In the team, but not only in the team, but with other teams as well, other women.
2) LGBT+. There's this part in the book where Tina isn't sure to do an interview on TV about wakeboarding but Dave asks her how would she have felt if she had seen a trans adult, happy with their career and life, when she was a kid.
"Kids don't need superstar role models. They need to see people they can relate to."And that just hits you in the heart STRONG. Because it is true. And if you have that kind of exposure in the media world, it's important to let kids know they aren't alone.
Author of over a dozen novels, novellas, and short stories, Vanessa North delights in giving happy-ever-afters to characters who don’t think they deserve them. Relentless curiosity led her to take up knitting and run a few marathons “just to see if she could.” She started writing for the same reason. Her very patient husband pretends not to notice when her hobbies take over the house. Living and writing in Northwest Georgia, she finds her attempts to keep a quiet home are frequently thwarted by twin boy-children and a very, very large dog.
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