With a teaching position at UCLA, she’s doing a sabbatical fellowship in Madrid studying pieces belong to a particularly art interested nun. Not only are both characters experiencing all the problems of embarking on a long distance relationship, but they’re also two queer BIPOC women in academia with all the nastiness and stress you’d expect from that. Adriana is in her forties and much further along in her career than Charlotte, though only four years separated them in grad school. What are we doing? How can we have spent all this time trying to advance in a field dominated by people who think we are less? That what we do doesn’t matter or isn’t real. But can they overcome the geographic differences and the disparate stages in their careers to finally be together? But now, three nights together in Madrid fuel a connection that neither woman wants to do without. They met over a decade ago when Charlotte was still an undergrad and Adriana was a TA. An unexpected layover in Madrid leads to her reconnecting with Adriana, who was a few years ahead of her at Yale, but who she always had a crush on. While some of it worked for me, there were other parts that weren’t my jam.Ĭharlotte is a courier for an art museum, which means lots of travel on very short turnarounds. The cover caught my eye, and I couldn’t resist picking up a book about two sapphic women navigating their careers and relationships in their thirties and forties. But when Adrianna plots her next career move just as Charlotte finally opens a door in academia, distance may not be the only thing that keeps them apart. One night becomes three and three nights become a hot and adventurous long-distance relationship when Charlotte returns to the States. Hospitable, too, as she absolutely insists Charlotte spend the night on her pullout sofa as the storm rages on. Impressive as hell and strikingly beautiful. When a blizzard strands Charlotte in Spain for a few extra days and she’s left with glorious free time on her hands, the only question is: Dare she invite her grad school crush for an after-dinner drink on a snowy night?Īccomplished, take-no-prisoners art historian Adrianna Coates has built an enviable career since Charlotte saw her last. Yet once in a while, maybe every third trip or so, the job goes delightfully sideways… On the other, her plan to become a professor is veering dangerously off track. On the one hand, it takes her around the world. In this sexy, sophisticated romantic comedy, two women juggle romance and career across continents.Ĭharlotte Hilaire has a love-hate relationship with her work as a museum courier. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.My rating: I received an advance review copy of this book from NetGalley.

Verity lowell