Winds of Fortune (Provincetown Tales, 5) Paperback – September 24, 2007

The ending isn’t necessarily the ending. I am sure I will read a bit more about Deo and Nita. I truly enjoyed them. It was the most hilarious and heart aching story of burgeoning love. Deo’s past and present against Nita’s take on love and herself. Deo didn’t make it easy for Nita to get there. But at least we knew it was real. They were the unlikeliest of two people to be joined. Deo is wild and Nita is reserved in more ways than one.I felt badly for them. Their families were cruel. And Nita suffered an unimaginable hurt that lasted a long time and in her most impressionable early years. It was hard for me to understand what the big deal was for some reason. I am not sure why. But it took Deo to help break it down for me. Ha! I just wished that I could see more for this couple. I think some of the time spent catching us up with like the chief could have been spent on Nita and Deo. I felt like part of it was rushed to get them together. Especially after the neighborhood loose chick stepped in to keep Deo company.I’m not sure that I like Allie. Every time she comes up in the series, she is always lusting after one of the MC….Bri, Ashley (not a MC), Deo, K.T., and anyone else. She seems sweet, but I just can’t seem to like her. She doesn’t feel trustworthy. It’s like you can’t trust her finally target one person that would be for her and feel that it is genuine. I am hoping that none of the books in the series tells her story.

I really wanted to like this book (see subject line!) but this story took me twice as long to read as my usual pleasure reading. There were way too many characters and I didn't feel I got to know any of them. They were all having sex that I didn't much care about and I didn't find any of them particularly appealing (despite being a cop, doctor, and lez-filled world).Eventually Radclyffe zoomed in on the journey of Dr. Nita Burgoyne (femme) and construction boss Deo Camara (butch)... two lesbians silently struggling with betrayal and loss but find renewal and peace in each other's arms.But here's where I went wrong... I plopped into book 5 of Radclyffe's Provincetown series (I believe there are currently 6 books total). Sheesh. Have I learned NOTHING from visiting an author's series out of chronological order?!? lol. I am almost always sorry when I do this. If you've read books 1-4 then you'll know the histories of all these other characters and cameos that are close to meaningless to a stranger starting at book 5... Radclyffe did nothing notable to make them shine here other than depend on you having grown attached to them via previous books.Additionally, Radclyffe doesn't make it any easier when she favors her main butches (and only butches in general). Hence, only Deo gets all the descriptive attention among these characters... and Deo is pretty hot, but the rest lack vivid imagery and don't really come to life. Most disappointingly, at least to me, is that Deo even outshines Nita... the reason I picked up this book out of turn. Radclyffe pointed this one out as one of her few books with a focus on a femme (huh?!). I mean, Nita clearly wasn't butch and we get what her issues are, but I think Radclyffe's lack of identification with feminine women causes her to imagine them less... and it has the same effect upon the reader. I cannot recall one scene where her femininity is highlighted... eh, other than she is pursued by Deo and bottoms for Deo, lol... but, hey, that's not a solid femme trait. My brain just doesn't fill in those blanks... I like my author to describe the characters in more detail.What's more, even though Nita's African American... that doesn't much register either. Her skin tone is mentioned once upfront and then like a hundred pages later... somehow that does nothing to make me feel that culturally and physically she IS different. I mean, I really do applaud Radclyffe for trying to change things up and put some diversity into her characters (same 'ol butch and nebulous less-than-butch pairing gets kind of old)... she just didn't do her homework and can't seem to write outside her formulas. Nita's issues stand out far more than Nita herself.hmm... may I just say that giving your character a girl's name (rarity in Rad's novels) does not suddenly make her a femme, lol. But my god, thank you for one less boy's name!!! Even the freakin' baby in the story is named "Reggie" .... Note to all het's stumbling upon this stuff: Really, we are not all trying to be boyish!! lol.I almost tossed this book aside, but Deo and Nita came to life. And I have to hand it to Radclyffe... even when she is not at her best with a story, there is something alluring there that ultimately pulls you in. Nita frees herself from a 10-year affair with a married woman and is feeling real love (as opposed to lust and unattainable love) for the first time.What I found intriguing is Radclyffe's focus on how we drag our previous relationship pattern or dynamics into new relationships and sometimes at the heart of that it could mean we don't think we deserve to be loved. If the ex treated us bad, we just expect the next woman to abandon us or treat us bad and, nonsensically, we do everything possible to recreate that. This is Nita's struggle and why she spends most of the novel playing out her previous relationship drama (oddly, as her ex). But unlike real life, she doesn't fly through girl after girl in the same vicious cycle; instead, she finds her past shift with Deo: "... unlike Sylvia the ache came from something she had found, instead of lost."Truly sweet. :)Last commentary is Radclyffe's strap on sex scenes... my, my. All these butches in her worlds and you rarely find these scenes in her sex-filled stories (or any BSB romances I've read). As far as I know, this may be the only one in Rad's. There were definitely some sexy parts, but of the two scenes with this... the first was meh because it certainly can't outshine the second with the leading lady, I guess. And I wish Rad would take a workshop on sexy talk in the sack! "Then fill me up..." sounds more like a gas station scene than a strap-on scene, lol. And I laughed. Hard. I DON'T wanna LAUGH during these scenes!!! LOL...Don't give up on the toys, Rad!! I would love to see you get better with this... just... just *don't* have your characters talk so much!!!! LOLDon't read this book out of order in the series... I think the quality may improve for those filled in on character histories.

This novel is HOT, HOT, HOT! but more importantly, to me at least, is a VERY strong romantic plot. Nita is a newbee in town (Provincetown) and she is almost immediately drawn toward the handywoman/darpenter in town, Deo. Almost against her will, and isn't that always the case in strong romances? Nita has been hurt in the past and Doe? well Deo sleeps with anyone with boobs...........until Nita. There's just something about her................Then, Nita needs someone to renovate her house........and who better to call than Deo? When you read this book, have a glass of water beside you at all times. This book is only one in a series by Radclyff.........the Provincetown series. Lesbians abound! Cops, doctors, carpenters, oh my!

I'll start off by saying that I rarely read anthologies or short stories because I'm always left wanting more, to know more, to experience more. That's just my quirk, and perhaps my attention deficit disorder, but it colors my reviews. For me this book hit a lot of similar buttons of mine: with so many characters going about their lives I sort of get frustrated and left with the over all impression that the book was somewhat shallow.However, Radclyffe is so skilled at transitioning between the sets of characters and interweaving the story lines, that I can't stay annoyed. Other authors are not able to pull this off nearly so well. I've complained on multiple books about the lack of transitory language, and connection between scenes, and this is something I never have to worry about with Radclyffe. It's such a pleasure to just experience, and that alone is worth the extra half star.I've loved the characters of Tory and Reese since Safe Harbor, and was pleased with the peace they found in this outing. Bri has grown on me; and Allie actually stopped being annoying in this book. I too would like to see a book with more of her, and her journey to getting her life together. Meanwhile, my enjoyment at getting to spend time with this family (I forgot, KT and Pia are also back in supporting roles) lends this book more depth than if it was written in a vacuum. Nita and Deo are intriguing, and their courtship is fraught with past hurt and anger, and it's nice to see them find kindred souls in one another.Well worth the time of fans of this series, but if you haven't read any of the previous books, you'll like it, but you'll probably also wonder what all the fuss is about in what appears to be a fairly standard romance.

In my review of number four, I wondered if Radclyffe could better it. I was wrong, she did and she did it well. I still love book four but I love this one for different reasons. Again Radclyffe deals with controversial issues with confidence, sensitivity and compassion. PTSD comes in all shapes and sizes and Radclyffe shows that in this book in more than one situation. Yeah, sure she wraps it all up neatly into a romantic journey, but also tackles the issues. Does love and friendship really help? I think it does. Radclyffe has highlighted significant issues while telling a story of love, friendship and community. It's very well done, and in her true style she puts you right there. You can feel the tension, the rain pounding down, the heat of the fire, and you can also enjoy the companionship of the characters. They are very realistic with issues just like you and I. I'm off to read number six. I hope you enjoy this one. Look past the words and maybe you'll see what I saw. Enjoy!

Remarkable stories within a great story... women working together at their full strength, where dedication, caring and honor ripples through this story in a sensitive and highly sensual way. Great series Provincetown Tales #5

Like the stories before this, it's a book I could not put down. New character s , hopefully ones who will stay in the stories to come. Get reading. Ange

Another good one really enjoyed. Great read and can't put down ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

bought for someone else, they enjoyed it