Running With the Wind

by Nell Stark

By day, Corrie works as the head instructor for the University of Rhode Island's Sailing Center. Once night falls, she indulges in casual sex with her friends. When she meets vet student Quinn Davies, she senses Quinn's attraction and comes on strong.

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

192 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 2007

About the author

Author of the following lesbian romance novels:
1) Running With the Wind (Bold Strokes Books, 2007)
2) Homecoming (Bold Strokes Books, 2008)


Co-author (with Trinity Tam) of the EVERAFTER paranormal romance series:
1) everafter (2009)
2) nevermore (2010)
3) nightrise (2011)

Reviews

[Susana · Rating 1 out of 5]

Corrie, a bisexual spoiled brat involved in power games, seduces everyone around her because she was abandoned by her brother's current fiancé. She is saved of being a slut for ever and ever by Quinn, who is the lesbian equivalent of Mother Theresa. Full of inconsistencies in the characters, bad dialogues, most of the book is either descriptions of sailing or descriptions of Corrie or Quinn's bodies because, of course, both are hot and in heat. A highlight of the plot has to do with a sailing competition. Corrie is SO amazing that she and Quinn, who has learned to sail in less than a month, are capable of winning a competition in a very technical boat, the 470, against Corrie's brother and his fiancé, who are both Olympic sailors.

[Kexx · Rating 4 out of 5]

It felt like a book in two bits, not halves, but eighty / twenty and the crunch gear change just didn't work for me. You could see what she, Nell Stark, was trying to do, but lost a star for me. Odd.

[Cindy Rizzo · Rating 4 out of 5]

An early book by a solidly good lesfic author. I read the book to learn a bit about sailing, but I think I needed to know a lot more to really follow all the technical info. Nonetheless the romance story was very good. Suffering from a broken heart, Corrie Marsten cannot believe that her girlfriend has left her to become engaged to a man (who happens to be Corrie's brother). Angry and craving control, Corrie begins bedding just about every girl and boy in the Rhode Island sailing school where she is the head instructor. Quinn Davies is an introverted, shy veterinary student who is encouraged by her male friend to learn how to sail. Although out as a lesbian, Quinn refuses to have sex until she is in love. Corrie and Quinn must overcome their own limitations in order to come together.

While not as polished as Stark's later work, this story was raw with emotion, the kind that makes you cry as you read through the later chapters. It was also very hard to put down. I read it in two days.

[Jules · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a lot of questionable consent in this book but it was not a bad afternoon read from a free library. I'm not convinced both main characters need therapy more than each other.

[Kaye · Rating 2 out of 5]

Older romance from 2007 that doesn't hold up well with time. Corrie Marsten is damaged from her last relationship and has been only indulging in one night stands (male or female) ever since. Enter Quinn Davies, a veterinarian student. Quinn is two years older and has the patience of Job. I like the back drop setting of learning to sail and entering a regatta but the beauty of the sea couldn't overcome my dislike for Corrie. There is some growth but overall she comes off as too manipulative.

[Dash Stryker · Rating 2 out of 5]

tl;dr: Stark gives us another gem in terms of her skill at genre fiction...but a combination of characters' choices left me unappealingly unfulfilled.

I'm going to start out by saying, anytime an author can make me feel as strongly about a character as I do about Corrie, she's doing something right. So despite what I would give 2.5 stars if half-ratings were a thing, I think it's important to understand everything I say within this context: Stark created characters with strong, distinguishing personality traits that govern their behavior in understandable ways. Similarly, the backdrops of sailing and competition are painted thoroughly and lovingly, and dammit now I want to take lessons curse my landlocked city!

I appreciate Nell Stark's writing, as always - the Princess Affair is among my favorite romances. She's always good for a quick, enjoyable read with just the right blend of simplicity and complexity. So when I say that I found this book just Okay, understand that I do not mean that this is a poorly written book.

But, unfortunately, a couple of key authorial choices (spoiled below) killed my interest in what happens to these women and how their relationship developed.

So, Corrie's damaged goods and she becomes a particular breed of player in response. I appreciated that there was a particular breed, that Stark took pains to explore the hows and whys of Corrie's relationship with sex and with her chosen partners. But then Corrie banged Drew literally right against Quinn's bedroom door. Okay, so that's what we in the performing world call "a strong choice". By that we typically mean that the chooser's taking a big risk, something that could pay off big or fall down flat. The strength of the choice is a sort of objective component to the artwork; the consequences, though, are wholly subjective. But that's what good art does - it takes risks, makes strong choices.

Okay, so the banging was a strong choice. Alone, that would just have been an "Oh-no-you-didn't" moment. But the story wore on and Quinn never raised the issue with Corrie. Okay, fine - I mean, not that I'm fine with it, I sure as hell would not proceed into any kind of intimate relationship, strings or no strings, with someone who'd done that to me, without saying "That was a dick move and it hurt me". But I get having Quinn the character be unwilling to go there. ...What I don't get is dropping that moment entirely out of the sequence of events that leads from their meeting to their HEA. It was too intense, too dramatic a choice, to have everyone involved think some version of "Oh, well."

That moment was clearly meant to contribute to the ramping up of the tension between Quinn and Corrie -the tension between their interest in each other and their conflicting perspectives on sex and relationships. But without any further mention of it, saving some internal monologue, I was left pissed at Corrie. For the rest of the couples' interactions, I thought exactly what Corrie thought. "Don't forgive me. Not for this....How can you still want me? After what I did?" Except I was never satisfied with Quinn's rationalizations responses. I never felt like I wanted them to get together after that, and that happened less than halfway into the book (38%, thanks Kindle).

I flipped ahead, wanting to know if that aspect of their story would resolve. Once I'd flipped through enough to discover that it wouldn't, I was left disinterested. I didn't believe Corrie's development into not-a-horrible-person. In fact, I was sort of disappointed - her sorta-playerness was explored with care in the early chapters. We were meant to understand that she wasn't an ass about it, that her partners always knew the deal, and that above all she was honest about her intentions. I would have loved to read a romance about that character. But then she lies to and manipulates Quinn? And manipulates not just her willingness to have sex, but her affections as well? Basically, a character that damaged either has to grow a lot, and right out there on the page, or has to become the villain of the piece. (Villains can be protagonists too, but that's harder in romance fiction.) Neither happened in Running With the Wind. I was just left feeling like one of the love interests was a nearly-unmitigated ass and the other was inexplicably forgiving of that fact - because the explanation she does give doesn't cut it for me.

Nell Stark crafted, with care and skill, a character whose choices leave me cold. That could be fine, but I never got the interactions with the other characters that would frame those choices in a less harsh light, and/or redeem said choices ultimately. Without that, I don't just feel cold at the resolution of the plot - I feel icky, and continue to feel icky when I consider it.

But hey, they're both delightful people by the time Homecoming takes place.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't approve of Corrie practically using Quinn as a tool to get back at her brother and her ex-girlfriend. I normally would've disliked her for that. And I think Quinn forgave Corrie too easily. And yet, I somehow didn't end up disliking Corrie. I didn't love her, but liked her enough.

Also, it was rather unbelievable to me that it had never occurred to Corrie that her brother might not know about her past relationship with his fiancée, even though she’d known her ex-girlfriend was rather ashamed of being in a relationship with a woman. Well, Corrie’s dislike of her brother which had been accumulated over years had probably somewhat blinded her. But still, she hadn’t even once thought about the possibility? It seemed a bit stupid of her.

That being said, this was an easy, fun read.

[Mirtha Siblesz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good book

I enjoyed the storyline. Aside from Corrie's anger which was wearing me out and Quinn's calm demeanor that finally got through Corrie's issues I enjoyed the way the sailing lessons and then the regatta took place. The author in very detailed fashion with her descriptive fashion made you feel like you were in the sailboat and could feel the spray from the water. Very well done.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best Lesbian Erotica I've ever read!! Seriously, a good book by the world famous author Nell Stark. Pick it up at a bookstore near you!

[Selena · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written

[Selena · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about Corrie and Quinn.

[Monica Burch · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked the characters in this book.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a very sweet book. I would recommend to any one looking for a little romance with just enough spice.

[Dani · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed the book thoroughly and reminded me how much I miss being out on the water.

[Becko · Rating 3 out of 5]

Exactly what I was looking for, an enjoyable light romance to read while taking breaks from cleaning the house.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

I never thought I'd read so much about sailing in a romance novel.