Thirty-year old Annie Prideaux is what some would call a wallflower–and that’s how she sees herself as well. Working as an accountant for a small firm, she prefers to share as little as possible with her colleagues about her private life and more times than not she spends her free-time with her cat Amadeus and a good book. Her experiences with men so far have been rather boring and when she is out on a date she tries to get it over with as fast and as painless as possible–a fact that gives her brother Jake ample opportunity to tease her. As long as Annie can think, Jake has been playing tricks on her so it comes as no surprise when he sets her up on a blind date with his lesbian college friend Drew without telling his sister that his friend is in fact a woman. But this time he has taken it a bit too far and Annie and Drew decide to get back at Jake and pretend they started dating. But their little revenge plan takes on a life of its own–while Drew struggles with her attraction to Annie, Annie is forced to face her demons for the first time in her life.

One of my main interests when I start reading a book is that I want to care about the characters and what happens to them. For me, there is nothing that kills the mood faster than shallow two-dimensional characters and a plot that doesn’t draw me in. “Something in the Wine” didn’t disappoint at all. Jae managed to draw me right in.

At first, when I started reading this book, I thought there wasn’t all that much to like about Annie, a rather self-doubting woman who doesn’t seem to have enough willpower to stand up to her dominant brother. But getting into the book I realised that there was a lot more to Annie and her thoughts and intentions. Then there is Drew. Jake’s college friend is introduced as a young woman who thought she knew where life was taking her when all of a sudden both her parents died and left her with the sole responsibility for the family’s vineyard. The author developed both women into three-dimensional characters by showing them in their daily lives and without giving away too much. As a reader I got to know them through their actions.

I thought it was very interesting how these quite different characters started as partners in crime, trying to get back at Jake and became friends by seeing life through the other’s perspective. In the end, I cared very much for both women as well as Jake and even though the book has nearly four hundred pages, I was sad when it was finished. I would have loved to read more about those characters. And this is my only complaint. Despite its length, I felt it ended too soon without giving the reader the opportunity to learn how Annie and Drew would deal with their developing relationship, now that all the outward conflicts had been addressed. I would have loved to share in their success after having been along on the way to get there.

I can really recommend this book. And if there’s a chance to visit Annie and Drew in another book from this author I’ll be sure to get that as well.

I chose this book since it is a finalist for an award and I liked the setting. The story sounded promising so I expected to read a good romance set in Aspen. However, I had major problems with the characters. I just did not like them'at all. Margo is introduced as a woman that smells and feels comfortable in garbage (old food on the floor) and Leigh, the lawyer, is just plain rude and seemed completely fake. She is supposed to be this tough business woman but before you know it, she behaves like an insecure girl in her teens, i.e. is her ex seeing someone new and does she have a new girlfriend and she forgets about several business meetings and isn't sure wether she wants to sell the cabbin but in the end she's not so sure anymore but forgets to tell the realtor. And this is supposed to be a tough corporate lawyer in her late fourties? For me, there just wasn't any sexual tension either and the little girl did only show up as a plot device and conveniently stayed at Wendy's house when her mum was giving a party or had other plans.

I don't want to make it sound like I hated the story, I didn't. It was an okay read in a nice setting. The reason why I didn't give it three stars is, that when the plot finally began to develop - close to the end - it was skipped over as well and the reader was told how it ended on the last three pages without knowing why it ended the way it did.

Die Karte funktioniert so wie sie soll. Ich habe meine externe Festplatte daran angeschlossen und die Geschwindigkeit beim Datentransfer war die Investition wert. Ich kann die Karte weiterempfehlen.

After having read "Starting from Scratch" by Georgia Beers, which I loved, I decided on "Too Close to Touch". The book sounded interesting and I loved the way Georgia Beers had brought her characters to life in her other book, I was expecting an entertaining read. And it certainly was entertaining and an interesting story. However, I was really disappointed in the characters. I just could not get interested in them'at all. If you want to read the book, stop reading now since I want to give a few examples why I couldn't get into the book.

On the one hand there is Gretchen, tough sales manager in a new job and awarded for her successes of the past, and on the other hand there is Kylie, long-time employee of Gretchen's new company and her personal assistant. Kylie is supposed to be warm and friendly and kind and as one of the supporting characters put it, too good for any of them. Yet Kylie's best friend of twenty years who is basically at her beck and call day and night, who does repairs in the house, helps her bury her dog and takes care of her when she is feeling down, is used by Kylie as a substitute for Gretchen one night. They have a fight about that night that completely got out of hand (in another review I read that Mick, the friend, tried to rape her but I don't agree since it was Kylie who basically attacked her and wouldn't let go until Mick wanted to go through with it and confessed her love, then Kylie wanted to stop which Mick did) and soft-hearted Kylie forgets all about her heart-broken friend for weeks and doesn't even call her! She forgot since she was too busy talking about her underwear with Gretchen! Personally, I found Kylie quite self-centered. Gretchen, tough as nails sales manager who doesn't care what others think about her and doesn't mind telling so, feels not good enough for Kylie. She'd rather sleep with one of Kylie's friends and says she's not made for commitment. Yet she was married for several years to her now best friend. I guess she developed those commitment issues right before Kylie? And her reasoning with the job didn't work for me either. In one scene she states that this would not be her first office affair. And after all, she didn't have any trouble to get a new job within the span of a week when she set her mind to it.

I gave the books three stars since I like Georgia Beer's writing style. The story was plotted well and the supporting characters were interesting enough. I will certainly try other books by her and I'm looking forward to them. This story however was not what I had expected.

Ich bin sehr zufrieden mit der Platte und kann sie uneingeschränkt weiterempfehlen. Das Gerät funktioniert so wie es soll, keine Aussetzer, keine lauten Geräusche. Der vorhandene Kippschalter zum vollständigen Ausschalten ist ebenfalls sehr nützlich, um die Platte nicht immer im Stand-By zu haben. So kann ich auf meine Daten zugreifen, wenn ich sie benötige. Ich empfehle die Nutzung über die USB 3.0 Schnittstelle, da dies die Wartezeit bei größeren Datentransfers doch erheblich verkürzt.

Georgia Beers writes wonderful, down to earth characters that could be everyone's neighbour. And so it came as no surprise for me that I cared for Avery and Elena right from the beginning.

Avery is a graphic-designer who loves to bake, has good friends she visits regularly and is very close to her grandmother who raised her. She has a crush on Elena who's a manager at a local bank. Elena has a little boy, Max, with her former girlfriend and moves into a house down the street.

I really liked that Georgia Beer's portrayed all characters realistically. None of them is a model or the president of a huge company or super rich. They are just like everyone else, they have strengths and weaknesses and not even the secondary characters are divided into good guys and bad guys.

I didn't care for the ending all too much since it seemed a bit detached. Things that seemed a constant factor in Avery's life are all of a sudden not important anymore and friends that had been there for years, have disappeared completely. Apart from this, I can recommend this book to everyone who is looking for a nice read with realistic protagonists and a believable story.

Ich habe mit Samsunggeräten bisher immer gute Erfahrungen gemacht. Das ist auch bei diesem Gerät so.

Die Bildqualität ist sehr gut, man kann zwischen verschiedenen Varianten wechseln, um beispielsweise Strom zu sparen oder in einem abgedunkelten Raum ein optimales Bild zu haben. Einstellungen kann man auch für den Audio-Modus vornehmen, um einen optimalen Klang zu erhalten.

Schön ist auch der DVB-C Tuner, da ich meinen bisherigen Kabeldecoder nicht mehr als zusätzliches Gerät benötige. Sehr praktisch für alle, die nicht gerne zig Fernbedienungen und Geräte herumstehen haben möchten.

Die Fernbedienung ist sehr übersichtlich und gut zu bedienen. Etwas umständlich ist die Sendereinstellung. Nachdem der Sendersuchlauf beendet ist, hat man eine lange Liste von Sendern, die alphabetisch sortiert sind und die nun mühsam per Hand umgestellt werden müssen. Dafür ist für jeden Änderungsvorgang drei Mal klicken und bestätigen notwendig und man fängt wieder ganz oben in der Liste an. Hat man aber erst einmal alles eingestellt, kann man auch noch Favoriten anlegen und mit der Fernbedienung nur diese ansteuern oder aber alle ausgewählten Sender. Eine schöne Funktion.

Leider kann man das Gerät nur in den Standby Modus schalten, was sich aber sehr einfach mit einer abschaltbaren Steckdose lösen lässt.

Der Fernseher verfügt über einen W-Lan Anschluss, der allerdings bei mir nicht mit meinem W-Lan Adapter funktionierte. Offenbar ist hierfür der von Samsung hergestellte Adapter zu verwenden. Da ich aber keinen weiteren alternativen Adapter ausprobiert habe, kann ich nicht sagen, ob es nicht auch evtl. Samsung-fremde Sticks gibt, die auch funktionieren würden.

Meine externen Festplatten hat das Gerät sofort akzeptiert und sowohl Musik als auch Filme verschiedenster Formate abgespielt.

Hier kommt jedoch der - für mich - größte Nachteil: der Media-Player für Filme, die man von externen Medien abspielen will, ist leider sehr eingeschränkt. So kann man leider das Bildformat nicht einstellen! Meine 16:9 Filme wurden alle in 4:3 dargestellt. Was man für den normalen TV-Betrieb einstellen kann, geht leider im Media-Player nicht. Wer also viele Filmdateien hat, bspw. mit dem Camcorder aufgenommen oder mit dem Festplattenrecorder aufgezeichnet und auf externer Festplatte gespeichert, die im 16:9 Format wiedergegeben werden sollen, sollte ein anderes Gerät wählen. Der Samsung-Support kann hier leider auch nicht weiterhelfen. Der Media-Player verfüge nicht über diese Funktion. Dazu kann man in diversen Foren auch mehr nachlesen.

Dies ist aber meines Erachtens nach der einzige wirkliche Nachteil, daher auch vier Sterne von mir. Wenn es zu obigem Problem ein Firmware Update geben würde, wären es fünf Sterne geworden.

Ich hatte mir eigentlich nach der Beschreibung sehr viel versprochen, doch leider wurde ich enttäuscht. Der Beginn wirkt überstürzt und unrealistisch. Bevor man auch nur die Möglichkeit hat, die Charaktere kennenzulernen, sind sie auch schon zusammen - plötzlich noch stehen sie herum und dann geht's auch schon ab nach Hause zur Professorin. Während des eigentlichen Hauptteils des Films wartete ich, was denn nun der Fokus der Handlung sein würde, wo der Konflikt läge, einfach, worum es eigentlich geht in diesem Film. Ich wartete vergebens. Möglichkeiten hätte es genug gegeben, denn jede der beiden Protagonistinnen hatte viele "offene Baustellen", die alle im Übrigen interessant gewesen wären, hätte man sie nicht einfach ignoriert, nachdem sie angesprochen worden waren. Stattdessen plätscherte der Film einfach vor sich hin und als sich die erste Möglichkeit für die College Studentin bietet, das College zu verlassen und damit auch die Professorin, ergreift sie diese dankbar und ist weg - im Widerspruch zu allem, was vorher den Charakter ausgemacht hat. Und das war's! Noch ein sensuchtsvoller Blick von beiden und der Film ist zu Ende. Ach nein, nicht ganz! Beide müssen vorher noch einmal schnell Affären mit männlichen Kommolitionen/Kollegen anfangen, warum auch immer, denn zumindest die Professorin wurde zu Beginn des Films als eine Frau vorgestellt, die nur an anderen Frauen interessiert ist. Die Studenen witzelten sogar darüber, dass sie ja an Männern nicht interessiert sei. Damit wäre dann dieses Klischee auch noch bedient. Also für mich war dieser Film ein voller Flop.

I rather enjoyed this book. It is well written in typical Radclyffe style and holds enough suspense to have you not put the book down until you finished reading it. I found the characters realistic-in a romance novel kind of way of course-and their troubles and worries believable. If you are looking for the perfect read on a rainy Sunday afternoon, this is the book for you.

I loved this book. After reading it online I bought it so I could reread it whenever I wanted. One of the best lesbian novels out there in my opinion.