There’s a slight chill in the air, and all the pumpkin drinks are back, which means fall is right around the corner. I find myself turning away from the light, frothy beach reads and looking for something a little thicker and cozier. Enter Rebekah Faubion’s debut queer romcom, The Lovers.
The Lovers features Kit Larson, a woman on the precipice of change. As the book opens, Kit has been dumped by her latest boyfriend and left without a place to live. She plans to break the news to her parents during her mother’s birthday brunch, but they have a bombshell of their own: Her mother has left her father…for a woman. For Kit’s whole life, her parents’ marriage has been her ideal — her romcom-obsessed father taught her to accept nothing less than a Nancy Meyers movie romance.
Kit’s world is rocked for another reason: Her mother’s sexuality has forced her to confront her own. Even though she’s always dated men, she has known that she wasn’t straight for a long time. But there was only one woman she ever allowed herself to get close enough to, and that was her high school best friend. They had an intense friendship that abruptly ended when they allowed themselves to cross the line into more than friends. The shock of her latest breakup and her mom’s coming out spur her to accept a job reading tarot cards at the wedding of a majorly popular influencer in Joshua Tree.
Julia Kelley is also on the precipice of change. After spending years working for the same event company, she’s coordinating the wedding of the same influencer that Kit is working for. If everything with the wedding goes well, Julia will be able to finally say farewell to the company and strike out on her own. Everything has to be perfect — so when Julia finds out that her closeted ex-girlfriend Piper is replacing an injured bridesmaid, she is understandably freaking out. But she’s determined not to let it get in her way. She’s a professional damnit, she can handle a vicious ex-girlfriend bridesmaid.
Both Julia and Kit’s worlds are rocked when they see each other at the wedding. Julia was Kit’s high school best friend, the same one whose heart she broke. Can they make it through the weekend in one piece, or will the close proximity and Kit’s fear of her sexuality force them to confront their past? Only the cards will tell.
Tarot is a big part of The Lovers which feels like an incredibly LA thing to make a third main character in your book. Kit is a tarot social media influencer, and she has quite a following. She explains that her obsession with tarot began in college as a way to deal with her anxiety. The cards gave her tangible reasoning for the things she was spiraling over. Kit uses the cards to explain things that don’t make sense; that’s why she always keeps a deck on hand. She’ll pull them out at any time she needs them, even while she’s driving.
Not only is tarot a big part of Kit’s life, but it’s an integral component of her relationship with Julia. When they were in middle school, a tarot deck read by a local mystic revealed the two were twin flames. The girls may not have understood what that meant in the moment, but as she learned more, Kit made an important realization: You can’t outrun your twin flame. Sure, you may put them aside or run from them, but sooner or later, they will come back and burn everything you thought you knew to the ground. That is Kit and Julia’s relationship — a smoldering collection of embers that is waiting for the littlest puff of wind to completely explode. Faubion does a great job of creating the most delicious balance of caution and burn it to the ground chemistry between the two characters. They are a powder keg just waiting for the spark, and when it happens, oh buddy, it’s beautiful.
While they’re all fire, the romance between the two is a slow burn. The bulk of the story spreads over a wedding weekend, but the action is packed. As much as Kit and Julia are constantly drawn to each other, they can only steal steamy moments in tents and behind locked doors. It’s all a build up to the most delicious sex scene. Full of longing, desire and lust, Faubion is a master with her words. She expertly captures Kit’s nerves about having sex with a woman for the first time and the absolutely heady experience that is oral sex. She sets the scene up perfectly, creating a near cinematic descriptions. It’s exactly what you’d expect for someone who loves romcoms.
Faubion has a very cinematic eye, which is clear from the beginning of the story. Many authors give their readers a lot of runway to build the story’s world in their heads. But with The Lovers, she creates a richly detailed version of Los Angeles and Joshua Tree. I’m from LA, so I’m familiar with the areas she describes, but even if you’ve never been there, you will feel like you have been by the end of the book. Her descriptions are full of color, texture, smell. In another story it might come off as heavy-handed, but in this story, it feels as lush as the Joshua Tree desert. It’s easy to get sucked into this world and these characters.
As lush as her world building is, Faubion relies a lot on pop culture references in The Lovers, and if I’m being totally honest, it’s a little overwhelming. Sometimes, it feels like Faubion is trying to prove her knowledge of queer culture. Full disclosure: I don’t really like a lot of current pop culture references in books, even though I’m someone who’s very into pop culture. It dates the book a little, and feels a little too close to the real world, which isn’t always something I want out of a book. And as much as I love Taylor Swift, there were way too many references to her and her music in the book. I absolutely understand the urge, but it doesn’t come off as hip or cute — it’s actually quite cringe. Truly though, this was my only complaint with the book.
If you’re looking for a good book to curl up with by the campfire and toast some s’mores, or to read while you sip your favorite seasonal beverage, The Lovers is absolutely the best choice. The cards say so.
The Lovers by Rebekah Faubion is out now.
