Something About Love

by Tess Mackenzie

The first night she meets Jo, Sophie realizes there are complications in Jo’s life. Jo doesn’t drink, and doesn’t kiss Sophie after Sophie has been drinking, and both seem like things which are terribly serious.

Sophie decides she likes Jo enough she is happy to work around whatever Jo’s problem is. Over time, as they get to know one another, Sophie learns about Jo’s past, and her drinking, and how she is managing to overcome it. Sophie does her best to support Jo when she can, and find what she needs herself as well.

This story concentrates on a few particular nights in the first six months of Sophie and Jo’s relationship, those that are pivotal to their lives. This is a story about how people meet, and the problems they have staying together, and how they manage to overcome these problems.

52 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 12, 2013

About the author

Hey goodreads! Um, hi. Wave.

So first, thank you to everyone for being interested enough to read this. And the stories. Really, just thank you all heaps for reading what I've written until now, and wanting to read other things, and just for everything, really. I'm really, really grateful to everyone who's interested.

And thank you also to whoever is putting books up here. That's cool, and I really appreciate it!

So what’s going on with my books is a bit weird and kind of confusing, and I just wanted to explain properly so it’s clear.

Basically, everything I write is free to read on my website, or on Wattpad, and usually on Smashwords too, including all the stories in the anthology collection books that are for sale some places.

What happens is I mostly write short stories, and as I write them I put them up those places. Then, after a while, the anthologies collect the existing stories, and bundle them into tidier ebooks and print books.

So the stories in the anthologies are the same ones as are in the individual, single ebooks, and the ebooks can be read free, all over the place, if you’d rather to that.

So this is just to say all that, so no-one doesn’t realize and feels cheated or something. And also, I hope I used enough bold!

The anthologies at the moment are...

Getting Into a Girl's Shorts: Short Sometimes-Erotic Fiction about Women With Women

It Doesn't Always Rain: A Collection of Literary Erotica

Squishy Group Hugs: Collected Smut

...and the book pages at Amazon or wherever say which stories are in where.

So basically, there's no need to pay for anything unless you want to, and there’s nothing unique in the paid books, so don’t go thinking otherwise.

Which all sounds a bit weird right? Everything's free except it isn't?

Basically, while it would be nice to sell billions of books one day, I really also just want people to read what I write, and I also don't want anyone to feel pressured to hand over money, and this is how it ended up. So all a bit Wattpad, and that way of doing things, rather than the more normal print-book kind of model. And also yes, it is basically a devious plan to, um, I don't know, win you over, I guess, and guilt you into one day eventually buying things. But really, really mild guilt, I completely promise. So don't worry if you never end up buying anything. Read all the same!

So anyway. We're all clear on how this works now? Yay!

Um, what else. So just to say this too, really clearly, so I don't accidentally offend someone or something, I WRITE EROTICA so anything near me is potentially rude. Please don't get offended and then upset and then angry. Anger is bad for you and whatnot.

Um, yeah. Sorry to shout.

And I'm not here especially often either, so just to say that in case I haven't found the inbox or something! I'll work it out.

So that's all.

Except, just, thank you for reading what I’ve written until now. It makes a big difference that people are, and I’m starting to get the hang of all this, I think! So thank you.

Reviews

[Thom Swennes · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love Story anno 2013. Sophie and Jo are friends. A mutual feeling for each other leads them into an intimate relationship. Like the blind leading the blind, life has left its mark on both of them and their fragile emotional state can instantly send them into dire straits. Sophie has a large inferiority complex and feels unworthy of the love and attention given to her by Jo. Jo is an alcoholic and is hanging on sobriety by her fingernails. This is a story of tragedy, compassion and love and the reader is pulled into an emotional rollercoaster ride. The author to pains to make perfectly clear that this wasn’t a work of erotica. When I first saw this book on Amazon it instantly caught my interest. Subjects that were taboo ten, twenty or thirty years ago can now be brought out in the open and into the light. Homosexuality, alcoholism and social malfunctions can be explored without embarrassment. This is a relatively short tale that has roots that go deep into various problems in today’s society. This is a solemn book dealing with serious problems and presented in a masterful way. I really enjoyed this book and feel sure it will appeal to a large reading audience.

[Robert Cohen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tess has done it again. If only people in real life could communicate as effectively as Tess's characters do, the world would be a far better place.

I have never been an alcoholic, nor do I know any, nor do I know any recovering alcoholics. But surely Jo's revelations about her struggle with alcohol, in the past, and ongoing, is a tour de force of novelistic dialogue. Tess took me right inside of Jo's head, a very scary place full of uncertainty, regret, shame, and fear, but also full of tentative hope that life with Sophie could help Jo overcome her insecurities.

In a few thousand words, Tess has a way of making the reader feel a dozen different emotions, some pleasant, some not, but all in the service of bringing the reader closer to the rawness of the human condition. Only the best writing can do this.

[Rachel]

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