I’ve never been a HUGE fan of romance novels, but seeing how this is the biggest genre in lesbian fiction I thought I’d try exposing myself to more of the mushy-gooshy this year. I picked a Kiki Archer as my first for this year because I just listened to an interview with her on the Lesbian Talk Show podcast and thought that she was pretty funny. I picked Too late… I love you because it was recommended by the Lesbian Review and, knowing that the lead characters have children, I was hoping that reading this book would stir some maternal feelings into existence, but no cigar! That’s not exactly a bad thing though. I bought and read this book on my kindle.
Here’s the premise-
Connie Parker meets a new, posh woman at a play group she attends weekly with her four year old son, Noah, and gay best friend, Ryan. There’s instant chemistry between new mom, Maria, and Connie as well as between their kids, who conveniently become instant friends. Maria is an out lesbian single mom and Connie has the limited help of workaholic, unengaged boyfriend, Karl. The story mainly focuses on Connie but Karl’s character exhibits some growth as well which was a nice change. Personally , I’m tired of the “awful boyfriend/husband” trope which you usually see in lesbian fiction when a lesbian/bisexual woman is still in a relationship with a man and needs to kick him to the side in order to get with the girl. I get making the guys seem undesirable so your main character doesn’t look like the bad guy, but life isn’t black and white. I liked that Karl wasn’t painted too villainous here; although he’s still a pain in the ass, he had good moments too. So, Connie pretty much figures out that she’s attracted to Maria and spends the novel coming to terms with who she is and what she wants as she’s never been romantically attracted to a woman before. I found Connie relatable in that she gained more social confidence as she became truer to herself (flashback to my closeted awkward gay ass in high school too scared to even make small talk to my now outgoing lesbian self who often overshares with strangers). Even though Connie’s character does exhibit growth I found her immature at times and those incidents were never addressed in a meaningful way. For example, Connie gets jealous over Maria talking to some other woman and storms off because of this, even though Maria wasn’t doing anything wrong. Maria doesn’t seem to be bothered by Connie’s behavior, and while this raised a red flag for me of someone who is emotionally unstable, I’ve also been told that jealousy is something I don’t understand, so you may have to take this comment with a grain of salt.
Archer did not disappoint with the humor aspect. There were plenty of quirky side characters and funny dialogue that made me smile. The banter between Connie and Maria built their relationship nicely I really liked the friendship they formed before it got serious. One thing that I thought was really effective is the way Archer would leave off a chapter and then mislead you when she starts back up again so that there’s some surprise in what’s happening. I did feel like there was a little too much “telling” instead of “showing” during parts which is easy when a story is being told via third person narrator. This took away from the story for me as I appreciate learning things about the plot/characters more naturally through action and dialogue, but it wasn’t too distracting.
In the end everything wrapped up in one chapter after a bomb shell which came from out of the blue and though it did strengthen Karl’s character, it seemed the only other reason for it was to make Connie’s new life more convenient. I thought it was a little unbelievable and unnecessary but I’ll try not to be too much of a kill joy. Overall, the book was very cute and a quick read. If you’re looking for something more or less PG rated, featuring a playful female friendship equipped with a lesbian happy ending then you might enjoy Too late… I love you. https://www.amazon.com/Too-Late-Love-You
Follow Kiki Archer: @Kikiarcherbooks