Juliana (Juliana, #1)

by Vanda

[chymerra]

This book fooled me. I honestly thought, by reading the blurb, that it was going to just be a book on what it was like to be gay/lesbian during the early to mid 1940’s. Which it does in a stunning way. But, this book also about a young girl finding herself and falling in love in a time that was turbulent. And I loved it.

I absolutely loved Alice (Al). Her transformation from this naive little country girl to, what one character called her, a New York girl was amazing. Her acceptance of the gay/lesbian scene and later on, of her own sexuality was brutally honest for that time period. Also brutally honest was how people perceived gays/lesbians during that time. Several scenes (Al finding out that Danny was having an affair with Max, Al being told about Shirl’s beating and rape, meeting Andy and the heartbreaking end to Al and Aggie’s friendship) outlined that.

Her relationship with Juliana was bittersweet. Al was in love with Juliana and Juliana, well, she considered Al one of her conquests. Al was warned about Juliana from several people (Max, Victoria, Shirl) but still sought her out. Even Juliana warned Al about falling for her. Of course, Al doesn’t listen to anyone and ends up losing her heart.

The sex scenes were very tastefully done and the author always ended the chapter before it got too graphic.

The end of the book was great and I loved the twist at the very end. I also loved that with the way the book ended, you knew that there would be a Volume 2. That is something that I cannot wait to read!!!

The afterwords from the author was great. She explained why she wrote the book, why she chose the 1940’s, went into the gay scene in the late 1920s-1930s in Greenwich Village, what it was like in the 1940’s for gays/lesbians, and gave a detailed account from a woman who had homosexual friends in the 1940’s. She also included a glossary of sorts of terms for gay/lesbian in the 1940’s….which answered a few questions I had while reading. Take for instance the term “beard”. In that time period, it was used to describe a woman who posed as a girlfriend or wife for a gay man so his homosexuality was not revealed. She also included a complete list of references that she used while writing the book and a guide if a book club would discuss it.

**I received a free copy of this book and volunteered to review it**