Leather, Lace, and Locs

I really enjoyed this book. Hate how short it felt but I could barely put it down. Very interesting sets of circumstances that these friends ended up in but also felt very relatable. Love, loss, trauma bonding and healing... and let's not forget a little luxury and drama. No notes. I'd give 10 stars if I could.

An entertaining (and spicy) read about the importance of friendship and going after what you want! Melissa, Golden and Zoe are best friends. All are looking for changes in their professional lives and aren’t sure where romance fits into the picture. Melissa goes from closeted and hiding from her religious parents to a professional Domme. Zoe expands her hair care business and finds professional success while raising her daughter as a single mom. Golden’s passion for dance is reignited and she reconnects with her family history through burlesque. This was a classic romance novel, but with three romances in one (including 3 third-act breakups). The characters felt fully fleshed out and unique to me. The emphasis was more on Melissa, Golden, and Zoe’s backstories, rather than that of their love interests. I loved that the book focused on the importance of friendship. I also enjoyed the international travel aspects (Paris and St. Kitts). It was also great to see poly rep and non-binary rep! I’ve read some other reviews that mentioned the time jumps in the narrative were sometimes confusing. I agree that it would have been to have headings indicating that time has changed (“2 weeks later,” “6 months later,” etc.) I found all three main characters compelling and wish I got to spend more time with each of them. I would have read a full-length book about each character if this were a trilogy. I think a trilogy would have allowed each character to have more depth. For example,…

Such a pleasure to read a well put together story. It was well written with great character development, one story from different perspectives that come together to tell the story of their beautiful friendship. This author has gained a fan!

Anne Shade's bio says that she "loves writing romances about women who love women featuring strong, beautiful Characters of Color." Boy if this isn't a true statement! This book was the perfect example of love, friendship, and knowing and accepting yourself. The author took her time with this book in the development and growth of the characters. Gold, Melissa, and Zoe were each strong and powerful women, who value the friendship they share. They are all on a journey of change that embodies courage, love, and self-discovery. They are all bosses in their own rights. I was invested in this story from the beginning. The writing makes me feel like these are my friends, and I'm doing life right along with them. Seeing these three women of color thrive made me so happy and proud. It was great to watch them all navigate their love lives. The open-mindedness of these characters was heartwarming. The diversity in this book was PHENOMENAL! The spice was also *chef's kiss*. This book was EVERYTHING!!

This was an awesome read! I really enjoyed our three main characters find their happily ever afters. The different relationship dynamics were fun and added good variety throughout the book. For this being one book about three relationships I could have used more overlap of the story lines to make it a bit more cohesive. Honestly, I would have loved for this to be a trilogy where each book focused on one of the three friends. I think that would have given the author the space to expand the friendship dynamics and the relationship dynamics.