Training Days

by Jane Frances

For many, traversing the Australian continent on a long-distance train would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. But for Morgan Silverstone, who travels the globe as anchor presenter for a prime-time Australian travel show, it's just another few days at the office. Or at least that's how it seems until she meets Marie, a French backpacker bound for the outback.

Closeted for the sake of her job, Morgan usually restricts her amorous activities for outside Australia. Marie, however, proves hard to resist, especially in the confined space of Morgan's sleeper compartment.

Will a few hours of unbridled passion be Morgan's professional undoing? Kitty, Morgan's long-suffering producer, certainly thinks so, especially since the encounter was overheard by a fellow passenger, found standing outside Morgan's door...

After Kitty's quickly arranged `damage control' dinner, the passenger--Ally--no longer appears to be a threat. Not professionally. But could the very appealing architect end up undoing Morgan emotionally? After all, she does have two very unfortunate qualities--one, she's Australian, and two...she prefers men.

Genres: Lesbian, Lesbian Fiction, LGBT, Fiction, Australia, Lesbian Romance, Queer

272 pages, Paperback

First published February 26, 2008

About the author

Jane Frances is English-born and Australian raised. The daughter of a teacher, Jane was brought up with books from as early as she can remember, and to this day continues her love affair with the written word and its ability to transport the reader to places unknown. Jane was educated in the traditional fashion, taking the path directly from school to university and gaining a Bachelor of Business degree with major studies in Marketing. Her studies took her to the marketing department of a city-based educational institution where she spent over a decade working in a creative and supportive environment.

Reviews

[Pin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little bit slow at the beginning but it was definitely worth proceeding further. The book is well written with good characterization and nice satisfying ending. A very good read.

[Kurt · Rating 4 out of 5]

The synopsis for this book describes the first quarter to half of the story which contains the more successful storytelling in my mind. The scenes on the train could be quite funny or at the very least interesting as the character dynamics were explored. I kind of 'rounded up' with my rating.

[Kexx · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well, not finished is pushing it a bit - hardly started would be fairer. I know I pick and choose books too quickly but this just didn't gell on any level for me. Sorry. Blame the reader!!

[Dide · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ordinarily, I would have considered this book a 4star material and not the 5star I gave it but this had the privilege of being the first book to read after a 2week travel and an absence of reading.
Secondly, to its credit this author has a knack for good humour (check out the lunch scene on the train with the entire group) and also the characters and dialogues in general were solid.
This was a good book to welcome myself back!

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

A little to much detail at times

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Probably going to have to disagree with the other reviewers who've said the beginning was too slow. For some reason I really quite enjoyed the beginning; I thought it did a fairly good job at fleshing out the characters' motivations and emotions. Towards the middle and the end is where I started skimming, because the characters started losing me. Not sure why, other than the fact that I was mildly annoyed by their justifications for their actions and emotions.

Things I liked in this book: the basic premise of the story, the character archetypes, the fleshing out of the somewhat cliche plot devices to make them less unbelievable

Things I didn't like as much: the characters themselves, the way they interacted with each other, the way the manager's character seemed to have gotten dropped despite getting some pretty decent buildup in the beginning

[SussexCat · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed how this began as a little adventure on a train.
Ally is such an interesting character who has her head turned by Morgan through a peculiar set of circumstances and misadventure.
Morgan is so lovely and sexy and gorgeous...and famous.
Despite some 'tv personality outing' dramatics the story moves along at a good pace.
The story only begins on the train and after their parting and Ally's insistence that she is not into Morgan, Ally finds herself lovesick and the thought of being with her boyfriend...yes.. there's a situation... is almost impossible for her.
The love story unfolds from there.
Ally is a lovely surprise and I'm a little in to her.

[Tracy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Too slow...gave up

[Yasmary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written, great characters. Only reason is 4 stars and not 5 was that the biggest conflict seemed to be external to the characters and not internal. Other than that, adorable.