Quinn

by Sally Mandel

College girl Quinn Mallory and her fellow student Will Ingraham are brought together by the strangest competition ever. And their friendship blossoms into a deep and irrevocable love. But as their love grows so do the tensions between them. For Quinn's heart is torn between her love for the strong silent man who is all she holds most dear, and a dream which threatens to separate them forever.

Genres: Romance, Fiction

271 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1979

Reviews

[Valley Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quinn Mallory, a red-haired beauty of Irish descent, is busting her buns to earn a college degree and begin a career in the telecommunications industry. When she’s not studying hard, she’s working two part-time jobs: one as help in the college’s cafeteria, and another as a garage mechanic – she’s a motor head. Her best friends, Vanessa and Stanley, do their utmost to see that she has a life as well. When Van and Stan become officially engaged, Quinn is acutely aware that she has no special someone in her life, and that she is probably one of the few remaining virgins on campus. She sets out to rectify the latter condition by inviting prospective male students to compete for the privilege of taking her virginity. Sex is an experience she wants to have, but her career plans don’t include a restrictive relationship, not for now.

Will Ingraham is a laid-back radical of sorts. He pays little attention to the lovely Quinn until he learns of her competition. It’s unclear exactly what his motive is, but he determines to be the winner. His entrance into Quinn’s little contest throws her for a loop. She hadn’t really considered him either and he’s not the type of guy she could easily wash her hands of.

Self-confident Quinn becomes the queen of denial, her uncertainty masked by overt optimism, candor and humor. Losing her virginity to Will was supposed to be a one-night stand, but Will becomes a major force in her life, threatening to upend her cast-in-concrete plans. Her innocence may be lost, but Quinn is finding herself otherwise. Her voracious sexual appetite for enigmatic and poetic Will is only one discovery in a chain of ominous revelations.

“Quinn” is a microcosm of college life in the mid-1960s, well, at least for colleges in the northeastern part of the U.S. It is a multi-faceted coming-of-age story: young men and women beginning their journey to independent adulthood, and an unsettled nation only beginning to come to grips with deep-rooted social issues. Published in 1982, the book veers into the murky waters of “political correctness”—a term that was only a gleam in social reformer eyes back in the days after the rise of the Civil Rights Movement. Even so, the book contains moments of gritty honesty about attitudes, prejudices, economic and cultural barriers. Quinn and her world lose far more than the quality of innocence.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the storytelling in this book. It was written in the 70's and is a little dated in so far as the dialogues go, but it was a good book. Surprised it has so few ratings.

[Sandra Feck · Rating 3 out of 5]

So poignant

[Eilidh Graham]

I enjoyed it but i thought it would end differently, i like closure and ''happily ever afters'' and this book had quite an abrupt ending.