Dinosaur Triplets, how’s that for a great name? Stevie is an improv actress in a troupe bearing this name and she’s one phone call away from making it to her goal, a spot on Saturday Night Live in New York. One evening, her best friend convinces her to accompany her and other colleagues to consult a psychic. Against her better judgment, Stevie agrees to go but not to have the cards read for her. She doesn’t want to know what the future holds, she’s had enough pain in her life and she’s extremely wary of anything unplanned, unexpected (which is kinda of ironic when you work in improv). Once her friends have all been called in, she finds herself alone in the psychic’s waiting room and ends up with a reading anyway. The psychic, Constance, is deaf and an interpreter, Bernadette, is there to translate the reading for her.

Bernadette’s relationship with Connie is so fucked up. She’s been in love with her half her life but besides the whole unrequited love thing, she also sort of depends on her financially. Connie’s both her boss and her best friend, which makes it close to impossible for Bernadette to tell her to back off when she interferes with her private life. Which is what happens when Bernadette can’t get Stevie out of her head.

This book made my heart ache from the start. When Stevie sees Bernadette for the first time, her breath catches. Mine did too. The way Erin Zak describes reactions, both physical and mental, pulled me in absolutely. It’s both wonderful and painful. It’s what I’m looking for in romances. It’s the best feeling.

On the flip side, it means that I was also right there with Bernadette when her anxiety flared up. I love how mental health issues are becoming more and more common in lesfic. They’re everywhere IRL so they should appear in books too. The only thing is, when it’s done well, it sometimes triggers my own anxiety and I’m not a fan of that happening. So I’ll take a break, breathe for a while and come back.

One last thing: the secondary characters are fantastic, whether it’s Stevie’s friends or both MCs’ families. I’m not going to list them all, they are wonderful, each and every one of them.

Apart from repeating how awesome this book is, I’ll just add this: do you remember the time, not so long ago, when dildos were unheard of in lesfic? Then characters began to talk about them, even bought them but you didn’t get to see them use them. And now they just exist, in so many books (such as this one), and it makes me sooo happy. They’re not a dirty little secret anymore.

Beautiful Accidents @Bold Strokes Books