Leather and Lace

by Lydia Westing

The Ruby City Roller Girls are a small Midwestern roller derby team previously ranked 250 in the Women's Flat Track Derby Association, but a new coach and a fresh batch of players gives the team the opportunity to go all the way to playoffs. Will the small team achieve big things this season? Or will they get too distracted by all of the fun, flings, and real romances they experience along the way? This series of diverse, mildly spicy, romantic shorts contains tales of rekindled romance, a secret billionaire, a passionate first love, and more!

Genres: Audiobook, Romance, LGBT, Queer, Fiction, Contemporary, Lesbian

83 pages, Unknown Binding

First published May 30, 2020

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cute, if forgettable, set of short stories centered around a roller derby team and their coach. I liked the sexond chance story the most, but all of them had a similar feel. Being short stories none of them really had a chance to develop the characters well before swiftly moving onto the next one. Lots of potential though.

[Howard · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars for Leather and Lace (audiobook) by Lydia Westing read by Elaine Stone produced by Bryant Street Shorts.
This was a fun set of stories about different characters on the Ruby City Rollers, a small Midwestern roller derby team. I really liked the different characters and how they connected with other people in there community. This reminded me of the date my wife took me on a few years ago to see some roller derby. That was a lot of fun.

[Sunny Lu · Rating 3 out of 5]

really cute collection of romance short stories!

[Fini (Hozier’s Version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

07/05/2021

★★★☆☆

"The secret is that roller-skating builds amazing thigh strength that could crush any mortal man in battle."

This is a cute collection of short stories, which are all linked in a way.
I have to say that I have a thing for sports in books. I wish there would have been more content of them playing roller derby, there sadly wasn't much of it.

There is a good amount of queer and diverse characters, which is amazing especially given the length of this.

I wish this was longer tbh! Some stories felt rushed. This set of characters deserves a full-length novel.

I recommend picking this up.

[Keeloween · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars but an enjoyable 3stars. All the short stories were fun to listen to and I feel like they would have been better if they were just a tad bit longer.

[AMadalenaDivaga · Rating 3 out of 5]

That was fun, but I was hoping for more LGBT stories about the girls.

Attention: If you don’t like Harry Potter or if you’re no longer (or never was) okay with HP references in your books, this book has several

[Lauren Marie♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

5 short romances centred around the world of Roller Derby- short but sweet! The audiobook was easy listening and the representation was great! Will I remember the stories in a couple of weeks though? Probably not!

[Jane · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really fun read! I wish it was longer.

[Aiyana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little short stories that I wish had their own actual books. Also loved that all 5 short stories, kind of followed an overall plot about the roller derby team working towards making regionals.

[Hillary · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay. Some of the stories were better than the others. Completely lost me at the end, though. I am sick of seeing Harry Potter reference in almost every contemporary book I come across. Liking Harry Potter isn't a personality trait. It is annoying and unoriginal.

[Paula - · Rating 3 out of 5]

Five quick and cute stories about ladies on a roller derby team.
I have to say I wanted more.

[julia · Rating 2 out of 5]

*2,5

[Valisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75; it was okay and kind of cute

[Trigger Warning Database]

Trigger & Content Warnings

Alcohol consumption
Physical injuries

[Johanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lovely short novella of romantic short stories with good LGBTQ+ rep.

[Hadewych · Rating 3 out of 5]

*3,5⭐️
A cute and quick collection of different romance stories! Enjoyed it while making flashcards for school!

[Lynn Anne · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and flirty collection of short stories. Maybe the reason I am still single is because people don't play roller derby in my country. Lol. Anyway, this was fun!

[chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5
this is was fun 😋
could definitely see myself loving a longer version of one of these stories or something with a similar setting

[Camila Quezada · Rating 2 out of 5]

Muchas de estas historias me aburrieron un montoooon

[effa · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5 - Now I really want to read a full length novel about queer roller derby girls.

[ellie · Rating 3 out of 5]

some really fun little romance short stories - i maybe would have liked it even more if they were a little longer and there was more of a connection between the stories.

[Jess · Rating 2 out of 5]

First three stories were strong but the last dragged the collection down. Too twee.

[Elliott · Rating 3 out of 5]

A cute series of vignettes. Great for a short, light read (or listen if you're me).

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a sweet interconnected selection of short stories about members of a roller derby team. The couples were very cute but I wish some of the sections were longer.

[Erin]

A collection of short stories centered on a roller derby team. Each story is single POV from a different member of the team. Good for a dose of happy in bite-sized chunks, not if you're looking for narrative depth.

Story 1: M/F new adult, kicked out of ultra-conservative family FMC + tattooed Latino barber ref MMC

Story 2: F/F coach + coach rival derby teams

Story 3: M/F wild FMC recovering from cancer + cautious, protective MMC who needs his hair ruffled second chance marriage in trouble

Story 4: F/F grumpy, thicc, bi, Asian FMC + whimsical, thicc, widowed, Black, billionaire FMC

Story 5: M/F dowdy office assistant with tough roller derby alter-ego FMC + clueless co-worker MMC fake identity deception plot

[Nas · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5⭐️ Short romantic stories following members of a roller derby team. Overall the stories were cute! Initially, I just wanted to fill the space with a book after finishing one earlier today, not knowing what I was in the mood to read next, I decided on a quick audio story and went into this one blind. I only chose the book because I’m teaching myself to roller skate and the cover had skates on it. With great surprise, the stories were pretty cute and kept my attention fairly easy. They had sapphic romance in there too, which I’m always game for🥰 I was most impressed with being satisfied with the one chapter of the team members and wasn’t left on a cliffhanger or yearning to dive much deeper.

[Vivi · Rating 2 out of 5]

It's not bad, not my taste exactly but not bad. It's cute we got to see some cute beginnings of relationships but I like the build ups, the tension. I like to grow with the characters relationships, I like to get to know the people as they fall in love, not just get the ending right before the first kiss, it just doesn't really feel as real to me. I know it's not real but when I read I want to dream myself into a world where it is real, where a meet cute with a cute/hot person is possible. Getting that illusion isn't possible if we don't get time to get to know the characters so I wouldn't say that this book is for me but yeah, if you like this type I'd definitely recommend it to you, but I don't think I'd re-read it

[Pallette Purple · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75 ✨

Estás mini historias fueron muy tiernas y me hubiera encantado que leer novelas completas de algunas de ellas (sobre todo las sáficas). Sin embargo, siento que no lo leí en un momento donde buscaba leer mini historias, me tardé en terminarlo a pesar de ser un libro muy corto, y como dije me hubiera encantado leer algunas de ellas como novelas auto conclusivas, lástima que no pudo ser así porque tenían mucho potencial y eso me desanimo la lectura.

Aún así, me parece una gran recopilación si lo que se busca leer son mini historias de romance con temática universitaria.

[Gemini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Low Spice

This was a cute collection of budding romance stories. Each chapter focused on a different woman from the roller derby team. I thought that was a creative connection to weave throughout the book. I appreciated the closed door romance trope. There wasn’t much more than kissing on the page. Sometimes I prefer that. Each story had a sweet ending. The final story in this installment was silly to me, but it ended well. This is was a nice way to close out my month of reading.

[Estelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5/5⭐

This collection of short stories, all related to a local roller Derby team was exactly the dose of energy and fun I needed. Some stories I loved more than others, but overall it was a very great read, filled with lots of good feelings and experiences. The characters are diverse and well written, which is very appreciated - even more in a short format !

The audiobook was very nice to listen to, loved the narrator's voice 🌻