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Safe Passage
While doing renovation on the old New Orleans home inherited from her great aunt, Jules discovers an old safe filled with letters written in French—and code. Enlisting the aid of a local French teacher, the beautiful Gen, Jules slowly begins to learn the truth of her great grandfather's death …
28,000 words
28,000 words
116 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 4, 2014
About the author
Kate Owen
10 books7 followersKate Owen, writer and chai tea addict, was born and raised in the Lone Star state (but has only ridden a horse once with disastrous results). She’s lived all over the US and even spent some time studying in Italy, but she came back to settle down in Dallas a few years ago. Kate has been writing since she was a kid, and has always enjoyed telling stories to entertain anyone she can coerce into listening.
By day, she works as a teacher for kids with special needs and writes. By night she is at the beck and call of two awesome dogs, eats out at gastropubs, enjoys craft cocktails, catches live music at various Dallas venues, and writes more. She loves playing guitar, hanging out on the lake, and watching movies that make her laugh.
She’s out to everyone but her grandmother, so don’t tell her.
By day, she works as a teacher for kids with special needs and writes. By night she is at the beck and call of two awesome dogs, eats out at gastropubs, enjoys craft cocktails, catches live music at various Dallas venues, and writes more. She loves playing guitar, hanging out on the lake, and watching movies that make her laugh.
She’s out to everyone but her grandmother, so don’t tell her.
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
April 19, 2017
I loved the sweet and very every day build-up of the love story. The accompanying mystery about the letters kept me reading. A very enjoyable read for a rainy afternoon.
January 29, 2015
Safe Passage is a delightful lesbian romance novella set in contemporary New Orleans, and follows Jules, former rowing Olympiad who is currently teaching high school math. This school setting is a perfect set-up since she discovers an old safe in the house she inherited from her aunt, and inside there some old letters in French. From that surprise mystery, it gives her a splendid opportunity to talk with Gen, the hot toddy of a French teacher at her school, and Gen is just as interested in finding out the meaning of these hidden letters, and the long ago secrets they reveal (as well as have the chance to spend some quality time with Jules.)
Kate Owen’s first work, published in 2014, was one of my picks for the Boys in our Books New Author week, and I was happy to find it such a fun read. I haven’t read much f/f romance yet, and I found this definitely a great choice to launch off from. Jules is a funny and charming MC, and she might have that hot athletic body that comes from all that rowing, but she’s also humbly sweet, and admittedly has “little game,” so it’s not surprising that Gen pretty much has to intentionally spell out her interest. I loved their flirty dialogue as they learned more about each other, and overall I found the dialogue and writing nicely naturalistic and real. (I won’t lie, I felt a little swoony every time Jules called Gen the Cajun endearment of “cher”. (Maybe it’s all that Gambit I loved from the 90’s X-Men…)
I’m not normally a straight-up contemporary romance fan, but this was a sweet read, and I found the mystery of the letters added a nice impetus for these two stars to start orbiting around each other, and things like miscommunication conflicts didn’t have room to surface to make things unnecessarily complicated. Both Jules and Gen were refreshingly adult, even as they texted and emailed each other little notes, or as Jules worried about revealing some of her hidden self.
If I had a down point, it would be that the mystery itself is pretty light. I think part of that is due to the length of the work, since it’s around 28,000 words, so not a huge amount of space to balance complex mystery with strong character development, but did I enjoy that the relationship was given time to grow and feel real and not rushed.
Overall, this is definitely the type of contemporary romance that I like—sweet, a little sexy, refreshingly adult in how people treat each other, great dialogue, zesty chemistry, and a fun, light story that’s very readable.
If you’re looking for a lesbian romance to try, I would definitely recommend this one. I would look forward to either further adventures of Jules and Gen, or whatever Owen decides to work on next.
Kate Owen’s first work, published in 2014, was one of my picks for the Boys in our Books New Author week, and I was happy to find it such a fun read. I haven’t read much f/f romance yet, and I found this definitely a great choice to launch off from. Jules is a funny and charming MC, and she might have that hot athletic body that comes from all that rowing, but she’s also humbly sweet, and admittedly has “little game,” so it’s not surprising that Gen pretty much has to intentionally spell out her interest. I loved their flirty dialogue as they learned more about each other, and overall I found the dialogue and writing nicely naturalistic and real. (I won’t lie, I felt a little swoony every time Jules called Gen the Cajun endearment of “cher”. (Maybe it’s all that Gambit I loved from the 90’s X-Men…)
I’m not normally a straight-up contemporary romance fan, but this was a sweet read, and I found the mystery of the letters added a nice impetus for these two stars to start orbiting around each other, and things like miscommunication conflicts didn’t have room to surface to make things unnecessarily complicated. Both Jules and Gen were refreshingly adult, even as they texted and emailed each other little notes, or as Jules worried about revealing some of her hidden self.
If I had a down point, it would be that the mystery itself is pretty light. I think part of that is due to the length of the work, since it’s around 28,000 words, so not a huge amount of space to balance complex mystery with strong character development, but did I enjoy that the relationship was given time to grow and feel real and not rushed.
Overall, this is definitely the type of contemporary romance that I like—sweet, a little sexy, refreshingly adult in how people treat each other, great dialogue, zesty chemistry, and a fun, light story that’s very readable.
If you’re looking for a lesbian romance to try, I would definitely recommend this one. I would look forward to either further adventures of Jules and Gen, or whatever Owen decides to work on next.
February 16, 2017
I really liked this book. I loved the narration. The chemistry between the two mains was a nice slow burn. I hope the author takes this story further.
February 5, 2014
A very cute and touching tale, though I think the editing needed to be a bit tighter. There was a lot of dialogue and the writing was very 'loose' -- perhaps that doesn't make sense, but that's what it brought me to mind.
I did love the relationship between Gen and Jules, though, and I was appropriately intrigued about the mystery surrounding her relative. I felt at times it did fall to the wayside in favour of needless details and scenes.
But as I said, I really did enjoy the relationship between Jules and Gen, and it was a satisfying short story to spend an afternoon on.
A copy of this novel was provided for review through NetGalley.
I did love the relationship between Gen and Jules, though, and I was appropriately intrigued about the mystery surrounding her relative. I felt at times it did fall to the wayside in favour of needless details and scenes.
But as I said, I really did enjoy the relationship between Jules and Gen, and it was a satisfying short story to spend an afternoon on.
A copy of this novel was provided for review through NetGalley.
April 22, 2016
I loved this book. I listened to the audio version. Owen has a deft touch with dialogue and banter that made this story so delightful that I listened to it again within two weeks. E. V. Grove was excellent as the narrator; her accent added to the story instead of detracting or distracting, and I can't even imagine this story without her voice in my head now. The mystery that brings our two Louisiana belles together is interesting and keeps you wanting to know what happened to Jules' aunt. And at every turn, these two engaging characters keep you wondering what will happen between them next. An excellent book, and one that will have me looking for this author, and this narrator, in the future.
May 19, 2017
This was a very quick, very enjoyable read. Do I wish it was longer...Definitely. But, what can you do, it's not. Regardless, this was a really nice read. The pace was well set and the characters, though not done in great depth due to the shortness of it, were likable and well done. Many of the issues one might have with this story is due to the length. Honestly, I would have loved this to be flushed out more into a full length story with a better, maybe longer burn between the two main characters and more of a climax in the overall solving of the mystery. Overall, if you have the time, a few extra dollars, and want something nice and easy...this is right up your alley.
May 8, 2017
A sweet romance built into an entertaining short story. Loved the soft butch Jules in all her clumsy nerdiness and defective gaydar. Genevieve is sweet and endearing and oh so tolerant of Jules as she attempts to woo the lady. Witty banter and enough secondary characters (and puppies) to flesh out the storyline. The mystery is downplayed but a good vehicle to bring the couple together. Ending is abrupt but satisfying.
March 29, 2026
A simple quick book about more New Orleans lesbians (New Orleans be popular). This is the second book I've read by this author, other book I gave 5 stars to, this one I give 3.75(something).
A woman wants to make a larger closet for her clothing so, despite being somewhat clumsy and notoriously bad with tools, Jules starts (very carefully) slamming a sledgehammer into her closet wall. She does this despite the fact that her house has like, three or four entire spare guest rooms that she could convert into a closet. Mind, a larger closet in your actual bedroom might be 'nicer' but no one else lives in the house and she's 'notoriously bad with tools', so the smarter option would have just been to do what my mother did when her kids moved out - converted their bedrooms into closets.
While hammering away Jules stuns herself when the tool slams into metal. Confused she looks closer. And closer. She's found a safe. That she can't open. Locksmith contacted, locksmith opens safe, items examined (okay, here - she looked at what the items were, but . . . seemed to be like someone who eats food one item at a time (must not let peas touch steak! must eat peas now! NO PEAS ONLY!) - I say because she examines each item, slowly, before ever looking at the rest. As in, she looks at a drawing of an attractive black woman. Then looks at a letter. Then . . continues to look at letter. Decodes letter. Spends days (weeks?) working on that letter, trying to figure it out . . . while completely ignoring everything else in the safe (which, by this point, is just a journal but still, maybe there's something in the journal of use, perhaps?).
Right, jumped ahead of myself. Jules, despite being a many generation French descendant, doesn't know French. And the letter appears to be in French. And there's this really gorgeous (straight, assumed) French teacher Jules can call upon. Or have the excuse to get close to the other woman. So, Jules and Gen work on the letter together. Gen, by the way, isn't the only teacher in this story - Jules is a math teacher (and a rowing coach).
Interesting enough story. Nothing earth shattering. There were some 'funny moments', or at least moments that could have had a tinge of humor, but they weren't really conveyed in a humorous manner. Not sure if that was just me, or what exactly happened there with the humor angle.
Right, so, another author I've now read everything they've written.
Rating: 3.75
Mary 9 2017
A woman wants to make a larger closet for her clothing so, despite being somewhat clumsy and notoriously bad with tools, Jules starts (very carefully) slamming a sledgehammer into her closet wall. She does this despite the fact that her house has like, three or four entire spare guest rooms that she could convert into a closet. Mind, a larger closet in your actual bedroom might be 'nicer' but no one else lives in the house and she's 'notoriously bad with tools', so the smarter option would have just been to do what my mother did when her kids moved out - converted their bedrooms into closets.
While hammering away Jules stuns herself when the tool slams into metal. Confused she looks closer. And closer. She's found a safe. That she can't open. Locksmith contacted, locksmith opens safe, items examined (okay, here - she looked at what the items were, but . . . seemed to be like someone who eats food one item at a time (must not let peas touch steak! must eat peas now! NO PEAS ONLY!) - I say because she examines each item, slowly, before ever looking at the rest. As in, she looks at a drawing of an attractive black woman. Then looks at a letter. Then . . continues to look at letter. Decodes letter. Spends days (weeks?) working on that letter, trying to figure it out . . . while completely ignoring everything else in the safe (which, by this point, is just a journal but still, maybe there's something in the journal of use, perhaps?).
Right, jumped ahead of myself. Jules, despite being a many generation French descendant, doesn't know French. And the letter appears to be in French. And there's this really gorgeous (straight, assumed) French teacher Jules can call upon. Or have the excuse to get close to the other woman. So, Jules and Gen work on the letter together. Gen, by the way, isn't the only teacher in this story - Jules is a math teacher (and a rowing coach).
Interesting enough story. Nothing earth shattering. There were some 'funny moments', or at least moments that could have had a tinge of humor, but they weren't really conveyed in a humorous manner. Not sure if that was just me, or what exactly happened there with the humor angle.
Right, so, another author I've now read everything they've written.
Rating: 3.75
Mary 9 2017
March 2, 2015
A sweet story with a mystery to solve, two hilarious "hot for teacher" minor characters, and some very nice sex.
February 3, 2014
What a delightful book. Kate Owen knows well how to weave a story that captivates the reader's attention from the very start.
A narrative which we live through the main character, Julianna Delacroix, by being witness to a endearing story straddling two different time periods with a common denominator. An ancestor's murder that paves the way to a family secret and an untold love tragically cut short.
The account is ably sprinkled with enrapturing details sure to elate your curiosity, luscious romance with a beat and a lesbian sex scene piquant to the right point (at least for me).
Well done!
A narrative which we live through the main character, Julianna Delacroix, by being witness to a endearing story straddling two different time periods with a common denominator. An ancestor's murder that paves the way to a family secret and an untold love tragically cut short.
The account is ably sprinkled with enrapturing details sure to elate your curiosity, luscious romance with a beat and a lesbian sex scene piquant to the right point (at least for me).
Well done!
February 8, 2014
Very sweet and charming--romance with a little mystery. I would be happy to read more with these characters.
February 12, 2014
A beautiful romantic story. The story grabs you from the start and takes you on a emotional journey. There is a little mystery mixed with romance. I hope to read more from this author.
March 19, 2014
Enjoyed the characters and their story but thought the book could have used more editing. I also felt the "heat" between the characters died a little after they slept together.
May 17, 2015
Love and Intrigue
I read this book looking for a cute little love story and I got just what I expected. I just wish it was longer.
I read this book looking for a cute little love story and I got just what I expected. I just wish it was longer.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews