Welcome to my fourth book review! I will be reviewing The Fling by Rebekah Weatherspoon. I came across this book when I was doing research on interracial romance novels, and this book was listed in an article. The blurb got me because I’m a sucker for lesbian romance, and it was interracial. I usually don’t go for lesbian romances when one of the female main characters is cheating on a partner, but the reviewer in the article said that it didn’t shy away from the consequences. I decided to take a chance and read it, so here’s my review.
The Fling by Rebekah Weatherspoon
Blurb:
Three months before her wedding to her post-college sweetheart, reality show producer Annie Collins finally acknowledges her dormant desires. Wrapped in the arms of another woman—her trainer, Oksana Gorinkov—Annie experiences a physical heat she never knew existed. Soon the one-night stand meant to be her final farewell to the single life stretches into a consuming month-long affair, the genuine intensity of which neither woman can ignore. Annie sees where her heart belongs, and though the objections from her family and friends and the scars from Oksana’s ex threaten to drive them back to their respective sides of Los Angeles, Annie knows she must fight for this relationship, a real love worth much more than any fantasy she’s ever dreamed up.
Summary:
The book starts off with a sex scene, and I approve of this method. Annie is slowly exploring Oksana’s body, and she’s surprised by a few colorings along her body since Oksana is biracial (African and Russian). Oksana has unusually sensitive nipples (a tad unbelievable, but possible if you consider outliers). Annie is the one in charge since she’s always wanted to fuck a woman, and she and Oksana have a lot of fun. Oksana is gone when she wakes up.
Then we get some backstory on Annie. Oksana is her trainer, and Annie had a hall pass for a month while her fiancé, Jeff, was on a bachelor vacation in Europe. Annie has always been curious about women, and this is what she wanted instead of a bachelorette party. When Annie propositioned Oksana, Oksana agreed to it. Afterwards, they had some awkward flirty moments over text messages.
We switch over to Oksana’s life next and learn that she lives with her Russian grandmothers and her younger teen sister. The stirrings of insta-love begin as Oksana and Annie text each other, but Oksana is conflicted since Annie is engaged and her client. When they meet for the next training session, they end up making out afterwards. The event has Oksana in such a fog that her grandmother and sister pick up in it right away and question her. Oksana decides to put a stop to things with Annie, and Annie is heartbroken.
But the two lovebirds can’t stay away from each other, and they start hanging out more. Annie meets Oksana’s friends and family, and Oksana meets one of Annie’s friends. It gets to the point where Annie decides to call off her wedding because she’s never been in love like this before. She tells her fiancé first, and he tells everyone else. Her mother drops by and makes some racist comments with Oksana present, but Annie is firm on her breakup with Jeff.
Her parents disown her, and she’s forced to move out of her apartment which belonged to her parents. Oksana asks her to move in, but Annie wants time to figure things out on her own. It makes Oksana angry because she had been the one to initially suggest that they take things slow, but now Annie wanted to do it after they fell in love. Annie lives with Megan for a few weeks until Megan tells her straight up that she screwed things up with Oksana.
Annie gets her life together and reunites with Oksana, and happily ever after.
Review: 4/5 stars
This book was good, but it didn’t really grab me. The sort of insta-love between Annie and Oksana didn’t convince me much. It mentioned their background together and their friendship, but since the book started off with them having sex, I didn’t get much of a sense of their relationship beforehand. While I liked the opening sex scene, it didn’t show me how well they got along as trainer and client. That part was summarized, and I feel like it should have been shown not told.
I’m glad the cheating aspect was handled well, and Annie was forced to face the consequences of her actions. I rarely see that in fiction, but I’m glad it was in the book. The sex scenes were amazing and hot, and I could feel Annie’s inexperience and desire for Oksana during their first coupling. It was cute and sexy, and Rebekah did a good job.
I was going to rate it 3 or 3.5 stars, but that’s just my personal bias on the book since it has some themes I don’t agree with that. However, it’s a good book, so I’ll give it 4 stars.
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Much love, Dana Kenzi 🙂