I've enjoyed this author's mysteries, which are set on the Sunshine Coast in BC, but I didn't even know she wrote in other genres. This book is primarily a love story but it is also an exploration of recovery from sorrow and disappointment.

Michelle is the focus of the book. She discovers that her husband has had an affair (in fact many affairs) and flees to her best friend, Alexandra. She is middle-aged, has a teenage daughter and no experience in the dating field. Alexandra is also single but has had lots of experience dating. In fact, Alexandra has experience dating both men and women. When Alexandra decides to take a job in New York she and Michelle say goodbye in a very intimate way. Unfortunately, Michelle's daughter (who is supposed to be spending the night with a friend) comes home and disturbs the encounter. Michelle loses her daughter, who goes back to live with her father, and her best friend at the same time.

Meanwhile, Casey has just lost his wife to a stroke and is in shock. He teaches music at UBC but he can't even sing. He recovers his voice and his will to live when a nubile student seduces him. Soon he is known for his affairs with the young students and he is getting perilously close to losing his job.

Michelle and Casey meet at a dog obedience class. Casey is struck by Michelle's smile and asks her out. Of course, they end up making love and Casey starts getting serious. Michelle isn't so sure and there are lots of hurdles in the way.

I must say that some of the sex scenes were pretty graphic. Not that I minded but I'm sort of surprised that a mainstream Canadian book written in the 1980s would be so explicit. And there was one scene that made it pretty obvious that Casey didn't wear a condom. I know that for a number of years after it was first discovered people thought AIDS was a homosexual disease and so maybe condom use between heterosexuals was not as prevalent. But other sexually transmitted diseases have been around for a long time and Casey was obviously having numerous sexual partners thus increasing the risk of contracting one. Besides all that, what about the risk of pregnancy? Michelle was middle-aged but not post-menopausal. She could have gotten pregnant from unprotected sex but there was no mention of her being on the Pill or having her tubes tied. For all the explicit sex in this book I would have expected some discussion of safe sex.

L. R. Wright died on February 25, 2001 of breast cancer at the age of 62. I'm sure she would still be writing if she was alive. It would be interesting to see how her writing progressed. ( )