REVIEW: Gillian's Place by Rob Graham from Aspen Mountain Press

Title: Gillian's Place
Author: Rob Graham
Publisher: Aspen Mountain Press
Website of Publisher: www.aspenmountainpress.com
Genre: Contemporary Erotic Romance
Publication date: June 2008
Publisher's Rating: Erotic (some dubious consent), BDSM
ISBN: 978-1-60168-114-09
Length: 287 Pages
Format: e-book
Reviewer: WitchGiggles

Come in, sit a spell and listen to some fascinating stories of people who defied fate and made love work. The bartender at Gillian's Place will tell tales to make you laugh, shed tears, and root for the people who thought they'd never find the kind of love they've always dreamed off.

What do an older high school dropout who's good with computers and a young, beautiful college graduate possibly have in common? A surprising amount of interests, actually, as long as Carl keeps his personal distance, that is. Now he must find a way to help Fatima live without the mask she shows the world or they're never going to make it.

What are friends good for? To stand staunchly behind one another when everyone else stays away, to help each other through the times when you feel as if there's no reason to go on. Marian and Frank have that kind of friendship. Having been neighbors as well as good friends for more than a decade, each helps the other to survive major crises while finding unexpected emotional attachments.

Having met on the internet first, then for real on a one-day adventure, Ruby and Bill find they not only have similar personal backgrounds, but very similar dreams of a loving relationship. The way of life is sometimes incredibly hard, though, and it takes a truly strong love to not just "make it through", but be victorious as well. Is their love strong enough to beat incredible odds, but keep the promises both have made to each other? It seems only time will tell.

Rob Graham has written an intensely dramatic book with stories depicting some of the realities of life in separate yet intriguing tales of fear, hope, despair, love, laughter and the incredibly strong commitment of people who find that sometimes when you think life just isn't worth it any more, it can hand you a rose. I found it had the ability to make me not only see the characters as "real", it gave me chills at how truly lifelike they were. This is a book I strongly recommend as it contains not only passion in the lovemaking, but passion for life.