Howl by Lucy Bexley is a charming and funny opposites attract, contemporary romance about finding chosen family and learning to trust the ones you love.
Howl is the last remaining Sapphic bar in Boston, but it’s in danger of closing its doors. Owner Lou has tried to secure the money she needs but she’s out of options. Being the loner she is, she’s unwilling to ask for help. Lou doesn’t rely on anyone, she’s happy with a string of one-night stands and brief encounters. That is until one of her brief encounters ends up working behind her bar.
Clementine has just arrived in Boston and finds herself working at Howl. She unwittingly sabotages an opportunity to save the bar and now she knows that Lou needs help she’s willing to try anything to lend a hand. The alluring but aloof Lou stirs things in Clem if only she’d open up and let her in. after the brief but passionate time she spent with Lou, Clem can’t help but think that they could be more.
Writing
As expected now from Bexley, the writing is fun, witty, and effortless. The dialogue had me laughing and the way she mixes hard subjects with humour makes her reads both informative and fun.
Narration
Abby Craden does a fabulous job at the narration. She gets the tones of frustration from Lou spot on and conveys Clem’s feistiness perfectly. There are a lot of characters in this book and sometimes there are several in a conversation, Craden manages this well and I wasn’t left wondering who was talking to whom. The comic lines in the book are delivered well and I found myself chuckling more than a few times. The speed of the narration is great I had no need to adjust it. I really enjoyed it and this is an audiobook I will definitely be listening to again.
Pros And My Favourite Parts
Did you ever watch a film and think ‘I wish this was sapphic?’ I adore the film Coyote Ugly and this is the sapphic version. I loved the storyline and the characters even though it was familiar to me, it had an exciting air of newness and also a lot of delicious sapphic-ness that made my queer heart very happy.
Lou is exactly the kind of character I love. She is aloof and grumpy with protective walls surrounding her, but she also has this sweet, soft squishy side that makes you melt whenever she shows it. She’s used to relying on only herself and although she has friends around her, she is unwilling to lean on them. She lives in fear of being cast aside, she doesn’t trust in people, so when the feisty and bubbly Clem somehow manages to worm her way into Lou’s heart it takes her a while to understand what is happening.
Clementine seems sweet and innocent, but she is full of fire. She has left her hometown for the first time and is looking forward to an exciting life in the big city. However, things don’t go to plan from the beginning, but Clem is unwilling to admit defeat. I loved her sheer determination to make things happen, she’s one of those characters that is endearing, and you can’t help but love her.
I also really enjoyed the supporting cast in this book. From Lou’s sweet gran and her icy friend and bartender Rachel to Clem’s best friend Sam and her quirky roommate Alyssa, they all bring amusement and dynamics to the story.
Heads Up
Nothing from me.
The Conclusion
This audiobook is one of those reads that leaves you feeling like you could listen to it again and again. It’s Fun, witty, and full of heartwarming friendships. It has a great romance arc that made me sigh with happiness. Once I started listening, I didn’t want to stop. Lou and Clem are characters that I enjoyed spending time with and getting to know. It’s a slow-burn and has a lovely flow to the romance woven through a storyline that is as equally well-paced and entertaining.
If you’re in the mood for a lighthearted romance with characters that you’ll fall in love with and a storyline that will keep you entertained then this one is for you. It’s warm and loving at the same time as being fun and light. It tackles some deeper subjects but stays on the humourous side. This is the book to cheer you up and give you a warm hug on a blue day.
Excerpt from Howl by Lucy Bexley
Clementine sat in the backseat of a black suburban, dipping fries into her vanilla milkshake because Sam had made one or two good points.
Outside the tinted window, she watched the city lurch by in fits and starts. Little slices of life passed by at every red light: a man who was not an athlete dressed head-to-toe in professional Red Sox gear, glove on hand as though he expected a foul ball to fall from the sky, a woman drinking an iced coffee the size of her head, way too many Goldendoodles.
Maybe if she’d gotten an iced coffee instead of her candy, she’d be driving herself through the city right now and not wondering where her next clean pair of underwear would come from. Oh god, where would they come from?
The driver came to a screeching halt as a flock of extremely large, prehistoric-looking birds approached their SUV.
“Ugh, these wise guys don’t have anything better to do?”
“You mean the turkeys?” The birds were unbelievably big, the size of garbage cans, with cold, dead eyes and seemingly no fucks to give. They were giving her new life goals. It occurred to Clementine that she’d never properly seen a turkey before. They looked… not at all like an outline of a child’s hand. And she certainly hadn’t been expecting them in the city. “Does this happen a lot?”
“Yeah, forget the mob. The little gang out there runs this town.”
They sat in silence for a few moments while the offending birds pecked at the road like it was covered in grain. Assuming that’s what turkeys ate. Did she actually not know anything about them? “Can’t you just honk?”
“Nah, it only emboldens them.” He unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the door. As he shooed the birds across the road, she thought for a moment that she might be about to witness a murder. A murder most fowl. Clementine laughed to herself. It was the kind of dumb joke her father would love, and as soon as he started taking her calls again, she’d tell it to him. Probably.
“Sorry about that,” the driver said as he slid back into his seat and put the car into drive. “Not much longer now. Is this your first time here?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You seemed surprised by the turkeys.”
“Oh, right. No, I’m just moving here. Or trying to, except that my car got stolen from the parking lot, which is why I called you, and now I feel a little defeated.”
“Oh yeah, that’ll happen. What kind of car was it?”
The response struck her as odd, but she was grateful for the conversation. Anything that kept her too busy to check on what was happening at home. “It was, um, a Corolla, older than me. It was my grandma’s, actually.”
“That’s messed up. I didn’t realize people stole old cars.”
Clem’s mind went to the laundry basket in the trunk full of her favorite clothes. The perfectly worn-in jeans she’d never see again and, oh god, her boots. “I know. It had sentimental value, but also all my stuff was in it—”
Before she could finish, the SUV came to a halt along the curb and the door locks popped open.
“You all set with your bags?”
Clem looked down at her purse and the crumpled fast food paper bag. “It’ll be a struggle, but I think I can handle it.”
As the car pulled away, she gazed up at the building. There must have been a hundred steps to get to the front door, and all of them seemed to be crumbling. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise that she wasn’t trying to carry her belongings up.
She huffed her way to the front door as she texted her new roommate. She’d met Alyssa once, over Skype, and she got the feeling she might have sublet the room to anyone.
Alyssa: The front door lock doesn’t work, just come up to the fifth floor.
The lock doesn’t work? That didn’t seem like a good sign. She shouldered open the door and peered up the winding staircase. Bits of dust danced in the light streaming through the windows. It was very close to beautiful. The boards gave a little as she climbed the stairs, pausing to catch her breath halfway up when it turned out the fifth floor was actually the sixth.
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Bits and Bobs
ISBN number: 979-8832856780
Publisher: Indie Author
Audiobook Publisher: Tantor
Narrator: Abby Craden
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