The Second Draft

Oh, my Goddess! I wish Carrie Byrd (the author) was here so I could give her a big hug and thank her for writing one of the best stories I’ve read this year (or last). How good is it? Let me count the ways. Perhaps its because of my age and/or past experiences, but either way it is so relatable to anyone at any age. The sense of being “not enough”; of seeing how your parent or parents treat you and others and how they feel about themselves; or the truth about who you are what you want, being so close that you can’t see it… until you finally do. And most of all, the depth of love we can give and receive when we are willing to “be brave” and accept the possibility (or inevibility) of loss and pain and love anyway. To top it off is the exquisite writing and dialogue mixed with the personalities and insights. So very good. As a novel and screenwriter, I could never surpass lines like, “Anne kissed Sadie until distance became a lie.” The entire book, by Ms. Byrd, is filled with honest and telling words, sentences, paragraphs and chapters… one after another. So, I’ll say it once again. Oh, my Goddess! My emotions and thoughts reading The Second Draft were like a pendulum swinging from a sense of loneliness and heartbreak, to pleasure, joy and buckets of happy tears.

This is a beautifully worded story. It's a story like nothing else I've read In the saphic community. I would recommend this book to anyone but especially the ladies In their 50s plus. I am a 63 year-old lesbian and this story is so age appropriate and beautiful and GREAT, HOT sex scenes!!!!

What a well-written romance about late-in-life sapphic discovery. I love seeing the author cover not only the intricacies of such a life-altering discovery but also the passion that often gets overlooked when writing this type of romance. I really enjoyed the main and supporting characters, and the story was both believable and engaging. I recommend this to anyone who enjoys a well-written romance.

It feels like a roller-coaster ride sometimes, but is so starkly true at others. This is the book I have been searching for.

"The Second Draft" is hands down one of my FAVEs in lesfic/sapphic and defo on my Top 3 list of faves in 2026! I can't even begin to tell ya what a MUST-READ this is!! Whoever says women of a certain age can no longer be at the top of their sexual and sensual state, physically, emotionally and mentally, clearly doesn't understand what it means by finding that raw, unadulterated, undeniable, deep-seated, carnal, all-consuming true emotion/feeling that we call love. A love for another. A love that's so powerful, so nakedly pure can never be constrained by the likes of age or sexuality. It transcends time and space. When you strike gold, there's nothing more arousing, passionate, more sensual, more insatiable, more consuming, than desiring another and vice versa, in body, in mind, in soul. All-encompassing. In other words, let's not let age, social constraints, gender or heteronormative conformity be the death of our innate right to express our sexuality unequivocally and unconditionally. As Madonna once said, "Express yourself, don't repress yourself." And En Vogue reminding you to "Free your mind and the rest will follow." CELEBRATE SAPPHIC LOVE. AGE BE DAMNED!! This will be my in my re-read pile, end of! Ugh, such brilliant work! I simply love the prose!! Byrd has this knack for crafting a narrative that resonates with humour and pathos that evoke profound emotional depth to reflect life's complexities. A character-driven comedy narrative style that is becoming Byrd's…