It’s not something I’d want in all my books but once in a while I love it when almost every character is gay. It feels safe and relaxing. Insult to Injury takes place in East Quay, in the same universe as Coffee Sonata and it was great to spend time with such wonderful characters as Vivian, Mike, Manon and Eryn again. The new ones, MCs Romi and Gail, and the secondary cast are really good too.
The structure of the book is different, it’s told in the first person alternating between Gail and Romi’s POVs.
After a car accident ends her career as a violinist, Gail moves to an old farmhouse in East Quay, far from her world. She meets Romi, a younger woman, whom she soon finds is one of the few who can reach beyond the walls she has erected around herself. But Romi’s secrets stand between them. Romi is back in East Quay after having run away when she was sixteen. She spent the following years on the streets of New York and only came back to flee the police. She moves into a secret room in the basement of the house she grew up in only to realize that the house is now occupied by the fascinating Gail.
This novel tugged at my heart all the way, much the same way as Coffee Sonata. It’s a story of new beginnings, of rediscovering oneself, of trusting again (both others and oneself). I haven’t read many of Gun Brooke’s books but this one makes me think I should.
Jude in the Stars 