What's the Name of That Book??? discussion

This was in the adult science fiction section at our Library, sometime in the mid 80s. I think it had a white cover.

The lizards and humans were spacefaring and in competition with each other, possibly to the point of war but I'm not sure. The main character rebelled against her society in some way.

(view spoiler)[The lizards had a matriarchal society where the males were basically for breeding and not much else. The female lizards became ill if they didn't have sex regularly (!?!) but would only reproduce if they had sex in fresh water, not salt. I'm fairly certain that they reproduced by laying eggs in the water.

The main character was one of the female lizards, she had a genuine if difficult romantic relationship with one male human and a sexual relationship with another human male who I think was her captor and who made her wear a wig to make her look more human.

She rebelled in some way against her government and/or society and tried to set up a new colony. To do this she tricked another female into having sex in fresh water so that she would reproduce, having already done so herself to be sure of some genetic diversity.

She killed the human male she was in a relationship with because he found out about her race's need for fresh water to breed in and she was sure he would tell other humans and that it would be used against her race.

At the end of the book, when she is very elderly, she talks about her son and how "In some lights his eyes are blue" like those of her dead human lover (they'd had sex in the same fresh water she'd bred in, so though it should have been impossible for them to breed, she liked the idea).

The only other thing I remember was her surprise when her human lover's beard started to grow and he explained that she hadn't seen any bearded human males because beards weren't fashionable at the time and he could have had it permanently removed but chose to take tablets to suppress it instead. (hide spoiler)]

It had some pretty cheesy elements, but as a teen I liked it and would really like to know what it was called. I have googled and googled and can't find it.

Thanks in advance.

A search came up with the In Her Name series by Michael R. Hicks and the Eden seriesWest of Eden. The In Her Name series I think is too modern to be the book, but what written about it seemed to match your description closely.

Hi David, thanks for that, I know it isn't West of Eden as it's come up in searches I've done, I'll work my way through the Michael R Hicks ones now and see if anything rings a bell.

Thanks again

Wyrdmother, are you still looking for this or did you find it?

The lizard part threw me off a bit, but if you substitute fish-like for lizard, then all the plot elements you describe has to be this book: Leviathan's Deep by Jayge Carr. The fish-like people are the Delyene, they do need to mate in fresh water to reproduce, and the protagonist you described would be the Kimassu Lady. She doesn't get ill from lack of sex but she, and almost all Delyene, like having it frequently. The two human (or Terrene) men are Neill and Admiral Gorky (whom the Kimassu Lady calls "the Gorky Admiral").

Lobstergirl wrote: "Wyrdmother, are you still looking for this or did you find it?"

No response in 2 years. Moving to Abandoned.