This is my second book by this author. Though it's the first I put on my list as possibilities. I kept ducking the book, and the author, because of the description for this book. I paraphrase: A woman, Ash, who seeks nothing but one-night stands, and is very very good at drawing women in, meets a woman, a professor, who trips her up. Makes her wonder. Confuses her. Meanwhile this other woman, Carrie, has this teenager, Tess, hooked to her somehow or another. Part of the baggage. And Ash doesn't really like teenagers. Kids are okay, but teenagers, meh.

So. That kept looking off-putting. A female casanova. A college professor who probably wants nothing to do with that. And some random troubled teenager. So I kept skipping this book. Then I read a different book by Spangler. Somewhat without realizing it was by the same author. That would be Heart of the Game. I didn't love that one, but I did really like it. And it was different. Didn't play out as expected (or as some of the reviews lead me to believe). So . . . . I immediately tried Learning Curve right then and there, right? No, read 7 books by other authors before trying Learning Curve.

And it actually was better than I expected. I rather liked the characters involved. Well, except for . . what was the friend's name? May? I didn't particularly like her for some reason. Story was good. Believable. (which lead me to my currently reading book by Spangler, wherein I hate basically every character except maybe one, Beth; but that's a different book.)

I'm not sure where I am in terms of numbers. Have I read more lesbian romance than, say, lesbian mystery? There have been mysteries, fantasies, historical fictions involving lesbians wherein I could happily just recommend the book and note, somewhere along the line something about the sexual orientation of the characters. Or not. But lesbian romances are harder to just recommend. Like, this one is a well written book with a good story. As was the baseball book I read by Spangler. The baseball one has baseball as a hook to dangle before others, but even there I might not. And so, I'm left with: if you like lesbian romances, I'd strongly recommend Heart of the Game and this book, Learning Curve. ( )

Ashton Clarke is definitely the "love 'em and leave 'em" type, and she's not ashamed of it. She's never come across a woman who made her want to settle down for more than few nights. But that changes when she meets Carrie Fletcher, a college professor who turns Ash's head in a way she's never experienced before.

The book was good, but not great. It's a lot of romance cliches (the misunderstandings, the drama, the angst, etc), but it suits the purpose of reading a non-complicated romance. I like the character of Ash, and Carrie is likeable, too. But there are a few loose ends that the author doesn't tie up, particularly one that was made to be insurmountable to a relationship (and then just isn't mentioned towards the end, even though nothing in that regard has changed). Hmm. I'll definitely read more by this author, though. ( )