When I began reading this book, I thought it was going to go in a certain way, only to be completely surprised when it went in a direction I never thought it would! I won't say more so there are no surprised ruined. Kesa is the big sister and pseudo mom to Josie. So when Josie announces that she is getting married, Kesa is none too happy. She wants to meet the boy she has fallen head over heels in love with, Paz. The meeting between Paz's mother, Shannon, comes as a shock to Kesa and to Shannon.
I would recommend this.
I received an ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Somehow this was the first book a read by the legendary Karin Kallmaker. I have a huge backlist to go through!

Designer Kesa has worked hard all her adult life after her parents left their family in financial ruin, creating a business from the ground up while raising her little sister. Her sister, Josie, has fallen in love with a young man, Paz, from her college and has announced their decision to get married after only a few short weeks of dating. Kesa hasn't worked this hard for her little sister to throw it all away, so she sets out to meet with Paz's guardian, Shannon, to settle the matter as adults. But their meeting, and fate, has other plans in store for both families.

I really enjoyed this book - I thought it was really unique! It's amazing to read such a fresh story, interesting jobs that don't pop up much in lesfic, a double love story (Paz and Josie are super cute), and a wild trajectory for Kesa and Shannon's love story. Perhaps it was a little unrealistic, but I loved it. True love will always find a way! I loved all the little glimpses of secondary characters, they brought such flair and warmth to the story. I'm guessing they're cameo's from other books, so I'm exciting to go explore their stories. Stellar writing and amazing dialogue made this little world come to life. I enjoyed every minute of it.


I received an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Solid romance with personable characters and serious chemistry. This author does a great job of creating characters that the reader legitimately roots for. In this case there is not only the romance of the main characters meeting and navigating should they/shouldn’t they, but also the added twist of the teenagers they are responsible for going through their own first love. The characters have interesting and unique careers which add a fun story element as well. The secondary characters also helped expand the story. I really like romances that have lots of steam without detailed sex scenes. Kallmaker does that better than almost anyone.

Josie Sapiro has no real memories of her parents because they died when she was only 7 yrs old but she has many memories of her older sister Kasa who took on the responsibility of caring for her younger sister when she herself was only 19 yrs old. Kasa Sapiro had finally started to live her own life, going to college and hopefully having her own home. She wanted nothing more than to study and learn all she would need to know about designing clothes. But with her parents death her dreams were stored away. She did the only thing she knew how to do, sewing and designing clothing wherever she could find it, her only goal then was keeping a roof over their heads and food on the table for her younger sister.
Shannon Dealan was raised by her aunt who’s idea of preparing Shannon for life in the real world was telling her nothing ever really good was possible. But Shammon did break away from her aunt but her life lessons have stayed with her making her scared to even try having a normal relationship. When foster kid Paz came into her life she started to, for the first time, to care for someone else. When Paz had to leave LA Shannon followed, not wanting him to be alone. Luckly Paz was smart and when he was accepted to attend college they moved back to LA.
Now Josie and Paz are planning on being married, which Shannon and Kasa think is a huge mistake. They are too young and both still going to school. Shannon and Kasa don’t feel they are able to make it on their own.
Ms Kallmaker knows how to tell a story. This is a fast paced book with great dialogue and a few twists making this simply another great read. Very, very enjoyable read.
ARC via NetGalley/ Bella Books

Reading the reviews it's safe to say that Because I Said So is not Karin Kallmaker’s best novel. Consensus is that the two mains Kesa Sapiro and Shannon Dealan spend too much time apart for it to be a gripping romance. And I have to agree.

This ‘second chance’ type romance shows us fragments of their 3 days sex binge, 4 years in the past. We also understand pretty quickly that Shannon was the asshole who ghosted Kesa right after the blessed event and without a single explanation. Kallmaker gives us reasons to make Shannon's actions look more sympathetic, but fact is that a simple apology in the beginning of their second encounter would have made a hell of a difference. But I get it, it needs to be dragged out for tension’s sake.

I think the reason this novel didn’t work so well was the very thin and convoluted plot. The pigheaded youngsters (Kesa’s younger sister Josie and Shannon’s ‘foster son’ Paz - both still in school) wanting to marry right now because ‘the world was going to shit’ struck me as weird. No matter what offer was thrown at them (even cohabitation) they were steadfast on that theme.

What redeemed the novel (partly) was Karen Kallmaker’s solid experience as a writer. She adds rich detail to her scenes, both women had interesting professions albeit Kesa’s side was more colorful, there was sooo much food (don’t read this on an empty stomach!), there was a tad of Filipino culture on Kesa’s side (in the form of her Mahjong family). I felt there was more shine to Kesa than to Shannon.

So, Because I Say So may not be her best romance, we are still dealing with the Empress of Lesfic here.

f/f explicit, but not of the ‘in your face’ kind.

Themes: sisters, work work work, mahjong night, food, so much food, witness protection, sorry seems to be the hardest word, the cover art was not really inspired.

3.6 Stars

* A free copy was provided by Netgalley and Bella Books for an honest review.

I usually like the books by Karin Kallmaker, but for some reason this book just didn't do it for me, I found the whole book bland and very rushed to conclude

Kallmaker is one of those authors who I will always pick up, no matter what. In fact, she's one of the reasons why I'm so into lesfic now. Her books, along with Radclyffe and Gerri Hill are the first ones I ever found in the genre and I DEVOURED them before finding other authors out there. So, as you can see, I have a massive respect and have also carved a huge spot in my heart for Kallmaker and what she's done for lesfic!

With that said, this wasn't even close to my favorite book that she's ever written. To be perfectly blunt, this book almost felt as if Kallmaker was just trying to publish another formulaic romance and get it out to the masses as fast as possible. I know she spent gobs of time working on it, but I can't help the way that the actual story made me feel.

Kallmaker's known for her romances, but this book overall felt more like a family drama. There's really four MCs - two kids (a M/F relationship) who want to get married, and their two separate moms who are very against it. I like the idea of the book, with the two moms having met and had an affair in the past and are now meeting again four years later in a very different setting, but the execution felt off to me. I found myself enjoying the book as a whole, but I also didn't feel as if it was a romance overall. It wasn't boring, and I certainly didn't want to put it down, but it also just didn't have that special Kallmaker spark that I'm used to. 3.5 stars.

Many thanks to Bella for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.**

When I saw that Karin Kallmaker has a new book, I was immediately extremely interested to get a copy of it. The synopsis itself seemed amazing, like a topic I would definitely love. I have to say, although of course perfectly written like any other Kallmaker's novels, this one won't be going into TOP 5 of her books. I'm quite a fan of her work, but somehow this book, as it progressed, I liked it less and less. It probably is just a personal feelings, and this being said, I have to underline that this book is quite good nevertheless, but for me, there are much better Kallmaker's novels.

ARC received via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I haven’t read Kallmaker for awhile, but I’ve always liked her books. This one didn’t grab me though.

So, we actually have four MCs, Kesa, her sister Josie, Josie’s boyfriend Paz, and his ‘guardian’ Shannon. Josie and Paz have known each other less than a month, are 19 and 20, and want to get married. Kesa and Shannon, rightfully, think this is crazy. The two kids decide that everyone should get together to discuss this, and the rest has to be hidden under a spoiler tag.

So, I will just say this about the book in general and those who want to know can hit the spoiler for the rest. First, this is an ARC, so I don’t know if that’s why the flashbacks weren’t in a different format, but I found them very jarring. I also couldn’t really get a feel for either relationship, more background was given on Kesa/Josie and Shannon/Paz than either of the central couples, and as a result I didn’t connect with either of them.

There’s also a cameo by another character from a Kallmaker novel (I haven’t read it but it seemed obvious so I looked it up) and I was annoyed by Kesa constantly referring to Jennifer by either her full name or as ‘Lamont’, it was just weird.

The best bits of the book were the mahjong scenes. I also give props for three MCs and several secondary characters of colour. Rare that in lesfic the white character is the minority. That said, this never really got off the ground for me, I’d put it around 2.5 stars, rounded up.

<spoiler>

I was actually intrigued when I realised that Shannon was Kesa’s previous girl friend, but when the explanations about their relationship came out I was left scratching my head. Paz and Josie had them beat by weeks and though both older MCs were right about them being way too young and not having thought it through, their own insta love was ridiculous. They literally knew nothing about each other, slept together, and it was love? Then they meet again, still know next to nothing about each other and it’s still love? Ok. Nothing hypocritical there. I couldn’t just couldn’t buy into it.

<\spoiler>

Based on the synopsis, I was really happy to be given permission to review. While I felt the plot held potential, once I started reading, I just did not like the book. I found Kera to be extremely cold and aloof. Her sister acted like a child despite her protestations that she was an adult and was ready for marriage. I made myself keep plugging away but I eventually put it down at around 38%. While I respect Ms. Kallmaker’s genius as a writer, this one just wasn’t for me.

Loved this book by an author that I consider one of the true originals. I loved that the author created characters that were outside of the typical ones one normally reads about in lesbian fiction. The back stories on the main characters blended well into the romance portion, and I loved reading about the relationship between the two sisters, Kesa and Josie.

This is an interesting mix of second chance love combined with love at first sight. Kesa has worked her fingers to the bone to ensure that her sister stayed with her after her parents both died. When Josie informs her that she is getting married to a young man she’s only known for three weeks, Kesa is unimpressed. Paz’s sort-of guardian, Shannon, is concerned too given that they are both still at college and so young. When Josie and Paz set up a meeting of their respective guardians, neither Kesa nor Shannon expect the surprise they get.

I liked that it was different from my expectations but I found that Kesa and Shannon were missing that fantastic connection that I rely on in Kallmaker’s books. The mains spent most of the book apart from each other while thinking about their own lives and the interaction they did have with each other was fraught with animosity.

It wasn’t until the last five percent that their light-hearted and humorous traits came out and it was jarring and I wished that I had seen that earlier. I also found that I was interested in Kesa’s job and her struggle to make something of herself but Shannon’s job seemed to introduce superfluous characters to the story with no link back to anything. It is still a good read but not one of my favourites by the author.

Book received from Netgalley and Bella Books for an honest review.

Karin Kallmaker is a fantastic author who knows how to write a great book. Her characters are interesting and well developed.

Karin Kallmaker is one of the very well rounded lesbian authors out there. She’s had an amazing career with a lot of incredible books. Unfortunately this one was the least of my favorites.
The story revolves around 2 MCs and their “kids” (not biological). However at a certain point I didn’t understand who are the MCs, is it the 2 women or the 2 kids. My issue is that I couldn’t get more from either stories, so the romance was lost on both accounts.
The problem with authors like Kallmaker is that you go in expecting an earth shattering romance and when you end up with a solid book, you get frustrated. So on this specific book, I rate it as a solid 3 even though sometimes I felt it was a 2.5.
Having said that, I will still be waiting for more novels from the author :)

I received an ARC for an honest review.

I'd give this 3 1/2 stars if I could. It was a nice read, but for some reason it seemed slow to me. It could have been because there was a lot of extra info/scenes that I didn't feel like we really needed.

The whole Shannon at her work storyline did nothing for the overall story. Kesa and her job was really only interesting because Jennifer Lamont (from Captain of Industry) was back. I wish there were more scenes between the two main characters together. Even a few more from flashbacks would have been more interesting than the tiny amount of time they actually spent together.

I also felt like the two side characters, Josie and Paz, had their story left hanging. They talked so much about them getting married but we didn't get much of a resolution. Did Josie give up that easily??

Overall it was ok.

I love stories based on the improbable chances of coincidence that fate throws at unsuspecting characters and Because I Said So plays on that theme brilliantly. Even though the plot twist is intriguing, I found Josie an insufferable brat and Shannon an incredible coward. The story builds towards reconciliation but the final curtain was too neat and tidy that left me scratching my head on the believability curve. I liked Kesa so much as a human being and a positive parental role model that I felt she deserved a hell of a lot more. I received a copy from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Love hurts.

Kesa is clothing designer who lives with her 19 year-old sister, Josie, that she has taken care of ever since their parents died. Shannon is a US Marshal Analyst that is guardian-like to a 20 year old, Paz. Josie and Paz just met and are already determined to get married. Kesa and Paz try to convince them that love at first sight does not exist and they need to be practical and wait before making such a big decision.

Something I liked about this story were the relationships. Whether it was between sisters, friends, guardians, or customers, every interaction felt rich with connection. I thought the concept of denouncing love at first sight while fighting the fact that it probably has happened was entertaining.

I don't usually care for stories where the main characters are apart for any great length of time. And this story sort of felt like that. The author goes into a lot of detail about their professions. I felt it was too much unnecessary information. I would have edited quite a bit out to help the story not drag as much as it did in places. The book was very repetitive. Go to work. Internal Debate. Go home. Fight with sister. Go to Majhong. Repeat about 5 times. Even every outing was to repeat places. There was some health drama with Kesa's chosen family and I don't understand how that enhanced the story or moved it forward.

Overall, it was just an OK read for me. It was entertaining with bouts of skim reading.

<i>I received an ARC from the publisher for an honest review. </i>

Because I Said So by Karin Kallmaker is a beautiful, though angst filled love story. As a veteran author with some thirty books to her name, she is obviously skilled in writing great stories, and this book is a great example of her work.

The tale actually has two couples. Josie Sapiro, a nineteen year old college student who has fallen in love with Paz, a twenty year old college student, and even though they have known each other less than a month, they want to get married. When Josie announces this fact to her sister Kesa, who has raised her since a young child, she flatly refuses. Paz gets pretty much the same from his guardian, Shannon Dealan. Josie and Paz come up with a plan to get Kesa and Shannon to meet. Since both are lesbians, they hope that they might become distracted with each other and let Josie and Paz do what they want. However, things don’t go exactly as they hoped.

This is a character/relationship driven novel, you will not find a lot of action or adventure here. For this kind of story, you really need well-defined characters, and Ms. Kallmaker has provided exactly that. These characters have depth. There is also a great deal of chemistry, especially between Kesa and Shannon. Their attraction crackles with electricity from their first meeting to the last page. Josie and Paz present as first loves with all the youthful enthusiasm you expect from this age, including the flashes of immaturity young adults sometime display. The characters make this story, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading their tale. If you enjoy a good romance with great characters and a fair bit of angst in the story, then this book is for you.

I received an ARC from NetGalley and Bella Books for an honest review.

I had to sit on this one for a couple of days before I could give my review. The plot of this one was good. Before I go further, this title really annoys me since I finished it. I think a better suited title would have been At First Sight. Anyway, I found that I really liked Kesa and her sister's boyfriend (Paz). I found Shannon and Kesa's sister (Josie) sort of annoying. There were aspects of Shannon that I did like - for example she was very supportive of Paz without outright denying his thoughts to get married. I thought that Kesa and Shannon did have some chemistry but honestly Josie and Paz had more. Also, I wish that Shannon and Kesa could have spent more time getting to know each other. Okay, back to the plot. I really liked this story line. I was even thrown a few curve balls that I didn't anticipate. Overall I just wish that Kesa and Shannon had the chemistry that Josie and Paz had. I can't say that I was ever bored reading this one, but wanted the romance between Shannon and Kesa to be stronger.

I will rate this one 3.25 stars.

This was my first book by this author that i have read. I do have several of her earlier books but haven't got around to reading them yet.

Kesa is looking after her younger sister Josie after her parents died in an accident. She is a clothes designer and of mixed race. Shannon works within the US Marshall's office and is the guardian (unofficially) of Paz. The two main characters meet when Josie and Paz decide that they want to get married. Kesa and Shannon are totally against the idea.

Both Kesa and Shannon meet four years previous and had a three day fling. Both of them have been through a lot. This is well written and fast-paced. I enjoyed learning about Mahjong. Good story line and I liked the secondary characters.

If you like second chance romances then I would say this one is for you.

I received the book from the Publisher via Netgalley and voluntarily leaving my review.