THE BUTCH AND THE BEAUTIFUL

Jaq and Hannah are related through a tenuous constellation of exes. When they meet as members of a wedding party, the connection is quick and strong.

Jaq is happy in her routine. She teaches during the day, works out with her best friend, occasionally hits up ye olde queer bar on the weekends. Hannah is in the process of selling a house with the woman she's divorcing and moving to La Vista for work. This is the most recent book in the Queers of La Vista series in which each title is a play on that of a soap opera and set in the fictional town of La Vista, California. It's unsurprising, then, that much of Jaq and Hannah's drama is manufactured. Jaq is afraid of being hurt, doesn't want to disrupt her routine, and is very aware of Hannah's rumored instability, but she keeps getting pulled back in by the superhot sex and way she enjoys her company. Hannah is dealing with a bunch of changes, is unsure of what to make of Jaq, but knows that she's a fun distraction. If the plot sounds vaguely familiar, that's because it's the same basic formula that writers have been substituting for actual plot since the beginning of time. There's the hint of a story involving a couple of Jaq's students, but unfortunately, the author resolves it too quickly to be very interesting.

Choppy dialogue, undeveloped characters, and cliches dressed up as plot make this novel kind of a snooze.