Not-So-Straight Sue

A melodramatic closeting backstory, an implausible motivation for a character’s huge change of life, and limp pacing mar Blue’s latest feel-good fluffy romance (after Never-Tied Nora), but at least her love for the Australian landscape comes through clearly. Newly promoted London-based lawyer Sue Brent, who has insisted she is straight even to her best queer friends, makes a sudden decision to return home to the outback of Queensland, Australia, to confront the trauma of her youth and restart life as an out lesbian. On hearing the news, Texas-based Mon, Sue’s gay email buddy for the last three years, takes a job in Queensland with the Flying Doctor Service, hoping to get to know Sue better. Of course the two women click. The family scenes are heartwarming, and the sex scenes are sweet, loving, and hot, but Sue’s processing of her history over and over—both in her own head and when interacting with the woman who treated her poorly in high school—is shallow and annoying, making the coming-out portion of the narrative unrelatable. [em](Oct.) [/em]