Taken by Surprise

by Kenna White

Snow is falling around the Aspen cabin that Leigh Insley never has time to visit. As winter gathers closer she wonders if it might finally be time to sell her getaway retreat. It’s only a few hours from Denver, true, but her career as a corporate lawyer has left her little time to enjoy it, and the years have ticked by, almost unnoticed.

Snow and ice are part of Margo Tosch. She’s been on skis since she could strap them to her boots, and her love of the sport has taken her around the world. Now, as snowplow driver, ski instructor and shopkeeper, this Jill-of-all-trades has carved a life for herself and her daughter in the mountains she loves, where the isolation lets her keep her secrets to herself.

When their paths cross in the high-mountain air, city-dweller Leigh is certain she has nothing in common with this rustic mountain woman named Margo. But even the frostiest of hearts can be taken by surprise.

Bestselling author Kenna White warms the rugged mountains of Colorado with a smoldering love story.

Genres: Lesbian, Lesbian Fiction, Lesbian Romance, Romance, Audiobook, LGBT, Childrens

288 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2011

About the author

Award winner, Kenna White, has been a best-selling romance author with Bella Books since 2004. She was born in a small town in Southwest Missouri, but has lived from the Colorado Rocky Mountains to New England. Splitting time between Puget Sound and the Ozarks where bare feet, faded jeans and lazy streams fill her life, she enjoys her writing, traveling, substitute teaching, making dollhouse miniatures and life's simpler pleasures.

Reviews

[Guerunche · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 stars

I was enjoying this book a lot until the last 45 minutes or so when one of the mains went off the rails. While there was certainly a reason for worry, her behavior seemed out of character when she seemed to really have it together through the rest of the story.

Abby Craden did a great job, as always. She voiced a child here as well to great effect.

This book won a Lambda Literary Award in 2011 for Romance. I love seeing more of these “older” books being released on audio and hope that trend continues!

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would have been a great book if not for the way she ends it, like all the books I've read by Ms. White.

[Cidney · Rating 2 out of 5]

Upper class 48 year old curmudgeon femme lawyer meets middle aged flannel-clad mountain woman butch with a trucker's stench while in Aspen selling her cabin out there. This manly woman isn't good enough to lick Leigh's $300 dollar boots, yet over the course of the story she stops behaving like a crotchety old bat.

Not very likeable characters. Sex is mild (and one-sided)... sexiness, nonexistent. Nice setting, but this story isn't my cup of tea, folks. Sorry. This writer can actually write... but her storytelling abilities and sense of romance and sexiness need work.

[Kennedy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Leigh and Margo, very difference people yet in my opinion, they have one thing in common, passion. Leigh, work and Margo, Lindsey. My main focus was on Margo and her care and love of Lindsey. My secondary focus, the blooming relationship between Leigh and Margo. The one-sided love making was disappointing because both women had physical needs.

[Tamara · Rating 1 out of 5]

I know she didn't have many pages to create a believable romance...can these lesbian romance books get any thinnner?...but this book illustrates the U-Haul relationship perfectly. One date, one rousing bout of sex and they're in love. Amazing. At least it was a quick read.

[Rey Hawke · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25

[Xiaoqing · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the fourth book I ever read from Keena White, and I like her smooth writing style and masterful story telling. This is friends to lovers romance that sets in the lovely ski town Aspen, both MCs are middle aged women looking for love. I really like this couple, a real estate lawyer and a clothes store owner/ski instructor, and the friendly little town with kind locals. But the last quarter of the book feels rushed and crammed with too much plot changes and brief history and all of a sudden, the confident and charming shop owner becomes this stubborn, unreasonable, ignorant woman unrecognizable, and it is very frustrating to read and I feel like hitting this woman in the head to make her wake up from this frenzy mental haze. But overall the story is witty and funny and a delight to read.

[Nolly Frances Sepulveda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed the book, and the characters only wish it was longer.

[Lady Avalon · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Kaye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This is an okay romance from Kenna White for 2011. When it was written it was runner up for an award. Leigh Insley is 48 and a lawyer in Denver. She goes to Aspen to her underused cabin with intentions of spending a couple weeks before selling it. The cabin has been broken into and trashed which causes her to stay longer. Meet shop owner, single parent Margot Tosch. Their paths keep crossing but nothing particularly romantic. It is only in the last couple of chapters where there is sparks and then a predictable legal need. (Which seemed oddly handled, why did Leigh need to meet Elizabeth?) Most of the side characters were annoying or one dimensional. I liked the kid and the setting but White has told better stories.

[Li Dai · Rating 1 out of 5]

There’s not much tension between them and suddenly they were in love with each other. Neither of them is very likable, but that was okay, too. And then Margot talked her ex into a pregnancy that her ex didn’t want and believed that she can change her mind? What kind of bullsh!t is that? Also Margot has a uterus, too. What’s wrong with carrying the baby that she wants so much? A butch is not a man, but Margot certainly has a lot of their toxicity. Leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

[Joyce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good read. The characters are well developed and likable. Very sweet romance.

[Nicole Geub · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute

[Stephanie Elliott · Rating 2 out of 5]

Neither of the MCs start out very likable and once they do, one doesn’t stay that way for long. The ending seemed rushed.

[Elia Johnson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book :) It was a sweet story! Parts of the very end was a smidge abrupt, but most everything else was just fine to me.

4.6 stars

[L · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. One of the best "butch parent of a young child" portrayals I've come across. The emotional beats and tiny glimpses into early parenting all felt really spot on.

[Sandra · Rating 2 out of 5]

I chose this book since it is a finalist for an award and I liked the setting. The story sounded promising so I expected to read a good romance set in Aspen. However, I had major problems with the characters. I just did not like them'at all. Margo is introduced as a woman that smells and feels comfortable in garbage (old food on the floor) and Leigh, the lawyer, is just plain rude and seemed completely fake. She is supposed to be this tough business woman but before you know it, she behaves like an insecure girl in her teens, i.e. is her ex seeing someone new and does she have a new girlfriend and she forgets about several business meetings and isn't sure wether she wants to sell the cabbin but in the end she's not so sure anymore but forgets to tell the realtor. And this is supposed to be a tough corporate lawyer in her late fourties? For me, there just wasn't any sexual tension either and the little girl did only show up as a plot device and conveniently stayed at Wendy's house when her mum was giving a party or had other plans.

I don't want to make it sound like I hated the story, I didn't. It was an okay read in a nice setting. The reason why I didn't give it three stars is, that when the plot finally began to develop - close to the end - it was skipped over as well and the reader was told how it ended on the last three pages without knowing why it ended the way it did.

[Lira · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it. I'm glad I didn't let other reviews disuade me. One thing I can say is I thought some of the characters were pointless filler and I could have done without. I enjoyed the main characters and I could see this happening any time. Sometimes love just hits you when you least expect it with the most unlikely person. Sweet ending.

[Melissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Definitely not the best book I have ever read. The story line had potential, but I felt that it never quite got there. The two leads were at times unlikeable and seemed unreachable emotionally. That was hard to connect too. An okay read for sure.

[Alida · Rating 2 out of 5]

What prevented me from giving it more stars was the fact that Margo's character development was quite weak. We discover that Margo has feelings for Leigh somewhere in the middle of the book in just one sentence?! That's just weak sauce.

[Alena · Rating 3 out of 5]

As all Kenna White books I've read so far it comes with an abrupt, unsatisfying ending, but otherwise a lovely story.

[Rashika · Rating 3 out of 5]

slow moving with slam in love. nice read. did not understand some character s. but a really good read

[Bonnie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars: nice enough story but didn't really feel a strong connection between the main characters...