This one was a miss for me. I found it hard to engage with the characters and root for them or their relationship. The political storyline is topical and important but I just wasn't able to really enjoy the book as a whole.

I was unable to review this book because of a conflict in my schedule. Sorry for any inconvenience this has caused the publisher or the author of the work. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review for you and I look forward to reviewing for you in the future.

I could not finish this book. To be honest, I did not get very far. I disliked the writing and the characters, which was a shame because I'll usually read any book with a librarian as a main character.

This book had a lot of elements that made it interesting like politics, coming out, struggles with religion and so on but there was something about the writing style or the whole book that just couldn't keep my interested. It was an interesting book with a current topic.

This is a fictional political novel that was interesting, but also made me frustrated. I had a hard time dealing with the interaction between the main characters. The story is set in Indiana in current time. The author takes on the very challenging political issue of LBGTQ rights in state politics.

The book had two storylines. One dealt with the relationship between Trevor and Gail. The other storyline pertains to the fight for equal rights for LBGTQ people. Trevor is employed by a political action group and is assigned to Indiana to help with their fight for equal rights. She is extremely good at doing her job and enjoys the constant challenges in waging the battle against the ultraconservatives in our country. Gail, on the other hand, is a very conservative, deeply religious, closeted librarian. She has never been an activist. I really liked Trevor. She seems to be very comfortable with whom she is. The more Gail gets involved with the equal rights group, the more she realizes she is not happy. I found Gail’s character to be a pain in the neck. She feels that Trevor is not good relationship material and jumps back and forth with her feelings. Gail is also dealing with a mother who is extremely anti-gay and conservative in her religious beliefs.

The political portion of this book was interesting. Unless you have been involved with a political action group, most likely you would not realize all the work and planning it takes to launch a fight against an injustice. Ms. Knowles does a nice job of presenting this information.

I am rating this book 3-1/2 stars out of 5 stars.

I was given this ARC in return for a fair and honest review.

Give me some politics and Knowles gives us campaign organizer Trevor Connelly and meek Librarian, Gail.

On the surface, Trevor is the brains, the braun and the leader in this piece but Gail seems to be the one pulling all the shots and has the power.

Taking Sides blends in some historical GLBT political issues with a fun and well paced romp through the campaign trail. What you also see if the difficulty people of any age have in coming out and staying out to the family and seeking acceptance.

Please be aware that this book was given to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

A workaholic, lonely, seemingly self assured, townie must go to small town America to help organise a campaign. On doing so, they meet a shy, unsure woman. Things go the way that they always go in such books. On the surface, this seems like a standard, well written romance. Until you realise that all the main characters are women and LGBT issues are at the heart of this book.

The campaign is ran by a LGBT campaigning organisation and the book gives interesting insight into running of such campaigns.

This book would be useful for those wishing for a light summer read that still inhabits a diversity reading space.

OK first of all isn't Mike Pence the current Vice President of the United States? OMG! You are so screwed......


Seriously though I really liked Trevor I thought she was very realistic and really appreciated what she tried to do. However, Gail drove me f**king nuts. Talk about whining. Yeah I know we all have coming out stories but hell she was 34? and living with her mother. She needs to grow some. I know I'm being hard but she just went on and on and on and on......


I know how hard it was too accept who I was and can sympathise but hell Gail would try the patience of a saint. I just feel her role in the book was too dominant. And Trevor was such a sweetheart. I guess it's true we don't decide who we fall in love with. Gail wanted all the perks without the work.


The pray away the gay idea did make me laugh. We have similar issues in the UK but I think we are a little more accepting. I was actually a bit shocked at how people can be so naive. Sad really. I guess it is the same the world over. Are the United States so divided on basic human rights regarding LGBT issues. The book definitely enlightened me regarding this.


To be honest I'm not sure if I would recommend this book. Gail annoyed me too much. She did have a good relationship with her mother but that was about it for me. If you like politics give it a go. I just did not see the chemistry between the two main characters. Enjoy!


*ARC provided by publisher via NetGalley*


https://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R1GHU4X29UOJ4J/ref=pe_1572281_66412651_cm_rv_eml_rv0_rv

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2020877189

Trevor is an experienced advocate for LGBTQ rights. She is sent to Indiana to help block a religious freedom law that will allow businesses to discriminate against people based on their sexual orientation. There she meets Wendy, a local advocate, and her closeted cousin Gail. The story is a bit less formulaic than what one expects from this genre (girl meets girl, relationship, seemingly insurmountable obstacle leading to separation, and resolution) but it is still quite satisfying.

This book deals with the issue of being a lesbian in a conservative Catholic environment, with the addition of the protagonists being Catholic. And conservative in some way as well. But it also deals with overcome bad experiences when circumstances force you somehow. The underlying theme of the book is the struggle against the attempts of the most ultraconservative and ultracatholic part of society, trying to force their beliefs over existing laws. Sometimes to follow the development of the relationship between Trevor and Gail has been a little difficult for me, interwoven with so many events in history. What I perceived throughout the book is that the two protagonists believed their relationship was possible and put as many of them as possible, with a lot of honesty and communication. I liked the book and I found it pretty interesting.

This is the second book I have read by Knowles. Unfortunately, both books were just okay to me. I am not sure if it's the books I picked, or I if I might not enjoy her writing style. I am a very character driven reader. I like to either love or hate the characters, and feel like I make a connection to them. That was not the case with this book, if anything I just felt indifferent to them. That really was my biggest issue with this book.

I thought the main political storyline was well done. This book was not so fiction when it came to those aspects. Having a Vice President who believes in conversion therapy to "fix" us gay people, is so disheartening. And considering who our President is, there is an actual possibility Pence could take his place before the 4 years are over. The whole situation is as sad as it is scary. I don't want to use this review as a platform to be political, so I will just say I thought that part of the book was interesting.

The other part of the book I liked was the relationship between Gail and her mother. They always had a don't ask don't tell police about Gail being gay. Watching her mother deal with what she believed was right and loving her daughter, was well written. Their relationship grew slowly and was actually pretty believable.

As I said above, where the story fell apart was the characters and romance. It is the kind of story where the characters know they need to talk, but always put it off. I hate miscommunication and no communication, with characters. This happened again and again and drove me a bit nuts. I actually thought a few times, why are they even together? Do they really like each other? I just didn't find the characters and their motivation to work for me. And considering this book is not that long, I found that it did get bogged down and dragged a bit. The few times they did talk, they talked about the same things over and over with almost no progress.

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It was okay, just not anything more for me. I can't really recommend this, but I would not say stay away either. I think this book will be up to personal preferences, how much you will enjoy it or not. If you are very character driven reader, it might not be the book for you. I'm still hopeful I will find a book by Knowles that I will really enjoy, this one was just not it.

An ARC was given to me by BSB, for a honest review.

A politically and socially enlightening book which looked closely at the impact of those with highly conservative inclinations on LGBT rights, however, the romantic aspects of the plot proved to be a secondary focus. The protagonists lacked any true commonality (outside of sexual preference) and had little chemistry. Honestly, the author should consider producing a non-fiction study of the current state of queer American life in the era of Trump-the absurdity, drama and associated tragedies would likely fill several volumes. Ms. Knowles would likely have a deft hand at capturing those details with an objective bent.

This is Trevor and Gail's story.

Trevor is a sort of pinch hitter when it comes to lgbt issues. When there are lgbtq+ laws and such up for votes she comes in and helps the local organizations get themselves together to fight either for a good bill or against a bad one.

In this case Trevor is dispatched to Indiana to try and stop a "religious freedom" law that lets homophobes discriminate against lgbtq+ people that they don't want to serve.

Gail is an IT person at a library whose cousin Wendy is in charge of the organization trying to stop the law. And Gail gets dragged in to help, and finds herself awed with Trevor.

They slowly get to know each other, going back and forth between a fling or maybe more. They both have issues too that they need to deal with. Gail, her mother and her own internalized homophobia, and Trevor and her past, which we slowly learn about, and it is quite a doozy of a past.

In places it was a bit too much wordy in a sort of run on way. And at times the relationship between the two women seemed a bit forced. But I overall really liked the characters and I really liked how the fight against the law dovetailed at some points but not at others with the relationship part of the story. It was pretty cool

I got this ARC through Netgalley on behalf of Bold Strokes Books.

Trevor Connolly is a campaigner for the LGBTIQ community. She arrives in Indianapolis to help the local advocates fight a religious freedom law which is designed to override discrimination laws. With a male name and wearing a tie, Trevor stands out amongst the locals with her confidence and strategic understanding of politics and influence.

Gail Moore is quietly a lesbian, trying to fit into an overtly religious society, and to pacify her mother who attends the fire and brimstone variety of churches. Gail has the support of her out and proud lesbian cousin Wendy, and Wendy’s girlfriend Pam. Persuaded to help fight the new bill, Gail is completely taken by the sexy and confident Trevor, just as much as Trevor is by Gail.

New to town, and only passing through, dealing with politics, campaigns, and a less than supportive family, can Gail and Trevor make their attraction more than a passing fancy?

The idea of setting a romance amongst a local political campaign is an interesting one. However, it is fraught with difficulties such as the tedium of actual campaigning at that level, and all that entails. Knowles does quite a good job of introducing us to this type of campaigning, but it never lifts into the compelling.

Trevor is an interesting creation, and feels like an old-fashioned butch in some ways. I liked that it was okay for her to be a bit different, and to feel confident in expressing herself in whatever way that worked for her. Knowles explains why this is the case later on in the book, but for a long time it felt like I was reading a book from 30 years ago in terms of this character.

Gail is a peacemaker, and while that works in real life, I think it makes things less dramatic. I found that I had little patience for her by the time I was half way through the book. The peaceful idea of bending over backwards while the homophobes have to be coddled may work quite effectively, but I’m over it as a concept.

Maybe I just lacked the patience with the book to go with it, because I was page flicking by the half way mark. It does feel like some states in America are stuck a good 50 years behind the rest, and presumably this is one of them.

I think if you live in one of the religious states in the USA, then this book may sing to you.

Advanced reading copy provided by NetGalley for an honest review.

An honest review thanks to NetGalley. I started out liking this book, the political angle and the fight in Indiana got me interested right away. As the book progressed, I found myself constantly annoyed. The political angle and work were fine it was the relationship between Trevor and Gail that brought the whole book down. They felt so incompatible and the constant unwillingness to talk through their problems and instead ignore what was wrong. I ended up disliking both Trevor and Gail, and it made the book not enjoyable at all. For me, the plot is a major part of a story but having likable characters and connecting with them is the main part of any story, which is what caused my low rating of this book.

This one has way too many descriptions and too much information about the campaign. Political intrigue and law is interesting but I don't think campaigning is for me. Having said that, here's what I did like about the book.

The two leads are well written even though I felt at times that one was dragging her heals in the relationship​. On the other hand, the author makes a compelling argument about why all of it was necessary. If you find the book slow, it is, but there is so much more to it if you take the time to read it properly and savour it.

I enjoyed that they didn't dwell on past relationships needlessly, but rather how to deal with the present and prepare for the future.

This book deals with the issue of being a lesbian in a conservative Catholic environment, with the addition of the protagonists being Catholic. And conservative in some way as well. But it also deals with overcome bad experiences when circumstances force you somehow. The underlying theme of the book is the struggle against the attempts of the most ultraconservative and ultracatholic part of society, trying to force their beliefs over existing laws. Sometimes to follow the development of the relationship between Trevor and Gail has been a little difficult for me, interwoven with so many events in history. What I perceived throughout the book is that the two protagonists believed their relationship was possible and put as many of them as possible, with a lot of honesty and communication. I liked the book and I found it pretty interesting.

<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32072961-taking-sides" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img border="0" alt="Taking Sides" src="https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1485549668m/32072961.jpg" /></a><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32072961-taking-sides">Taking Sides</a> by <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4836937.Kathleen_Knowles">Kathleen Knowles</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2030216186">4 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I rec'd an ARC from NetGalley/Bold Strokes Books in exchange for an honest review. A quick read, this political/romance with Trevor (LGBT campaign organizer) and Gail (librarian) revolves around religious freedom laws and how lack of knowledge regarding nuances of these laws can lead to discrimination should they be passed. Ms. Knowles does an admirable job writing a politically charged romance without making it boring and it resounds emphatically in the current U.S. political climate. Living North of the border, we follow such events with interest and empathy. Kudos Ms. Knowles. 4 stars.
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<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/31134832-gail">View all my reviews</a>

For someone who lives out of USA, this book was politically enlightening, regarding LGBT rights and discrimination in some of the states. I really like the plot, besides the romance thing. Now, that being said, the romance part was fun and sweet. I would've liked more intensity and chemistry, because occasionally it seemed like the author suddenly remembered somewhere around the half of the book that there should be romance in it, besides the political issues. The big plus for the book is that it practically reads itself, so I'd surely recommend it for a nice evening read.