The Key to You and Me

I’ve been a longtime fan of Brown’s work, and I am in love with her latest! THE KEY TO YOU AND ME is a sweet and heartfelt story with excellent f/f rep. Five stars!

Piper was seeking refuge for the summer with her grandmother. Not only would she be far from her ex-girlfriend, she would also have an opportunity to train with an Olympic equestrian. She was laser-focused on her goals until her grandmother arranged driving lessons with a cute local girl. Though Piper and Kat were different in so many ways, a friendship began to grow. Though would it ever grow into more? This was a big summer for both Kat and Piper, and I enjoyed spending it with them. When I first met Kat, I was impressed with her dedication and love for her family. She shared a close bond with her sister and was trying to protect her, while also helping Emma achieve her dreams. I loved that about her. Kat took on the task of teaching Piper to drive so that her sister could attend a better dance studio. Her initial meeting with Piper wasn\’t love-at-first-sight, but Piper\’s openness about her sexuality made an impression on Kat, who was already questioning her own identity. Confronting her sexuality was a bit scary for Kat, because she worried how the news would be received by those in and around her life. I was happy she had Piper to talk to and for support as she explored and discovered things about herself. Piper\’s dedication to her craft was admirable. I actually really enjoyed being around the horses with her, and I wanted her parents to get on board with her dream. But her Olympic aspirations were also a source of pain, as they were one of the reasons for her breakup. Piper was struggling with moving on from her ex, and I sometimes found this frustrating. However, I was happy with Piper\’s progress towards accepting the past and trying to move forward, and WOW! I was really excited about where her life was heading at the end of the book. I often complain about slow-burn romances, because I just can\’t wait for my couples to get together. When I know two people belong to each other, I want that connection to happen ASAP. I had to be more patient here, and I was ok with it. I think because both women had things to work through and their journeys kept my interest, I had no problem waiting for IT to happen. I also reveled in the wonderful friendship that was growing between them and enjoyed seeing them build that solid foundation together. Overall: I enjoyed spending the summer with Kat and Piper. Piper was looking towards her future in dressage and coming to terms with her past romance, while Kat was exploring her sexual identity. Together, they forged a wonderful friendship, which helped bring them both clarity and more.

The Key To You and Me is one of those stories that had me grinning from ear to ear throughout. Both main characters in it were likeable and interesting in their own ways and for vastly different reasons. And the combination of the two of them, the good and the bad, really made this an enjoyable story. I also found it interesting that one of the main characters was completely out and happy about it while the other wasn’t sure and started to realize that the feelings that they had for other women wasn’t what everyone felt. Each character had something to learn from the other and I thought that dichotomy between them was intriguing. Brown did a good job at setting the scenes, the drama was good without being overboard, and I thought that she wrote a story that really made me happy throughout. The things that Piper and Kat were going through are real, teenage issues. And the way that she was able to call them out and really bring them to the forefront stood out to me. Throw in a great dual narration by Katherine Littrell & Jennifer Jill Araya and you have a great story and an even better audiobook. I really enjoyed this one and if you pick it up, I hope that you do too.

I got this book on request from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Alright so lets start out by saying I really wanted to like this book. I love seeing more saphic books coming out but sadly this book has so many issues. For started this books pacing was so off. I felt like just the last 1/4th of the book really said anything. Nothing ever seemed to happen. I kept waiting and waiting for a build up or a major plot break but it never came. I kept saying it will pick up but it never did. I just felt sort of let down by the end. The writing also wasn\’t great. Don\’t get me wrong I am not a grammar major and I know I make plenty of mistakes in my reviews no matter how hard I try not to. But I am also not a professional writer like Brown. This is not her first novel so one might think her writing would be better but sadly this is not the case. I felt like every other sentence was a run on. There were times I had to reread sentences because her wording was just so weird. It made an already slow book even harder to get though. Now I could have seen past those things if it wasn\’t for my major problem with this book. It felt like Brown has some serious internalized homophobia that she seemed to be working out on the page. She wrote many things that were just plain upsetting to see in a saphic book especially one by some who is saphic themselves. If I had read this as a young lesbian I would not have felt better about myself or my identity which is what books like this should do at least in part! This book really had the potential to be great but Brown was unable to follow through. I was beyond disappointed by this book. I tried so hard to look past issues with this book but sadly there was just to much to over look. I don\’t think I will be reading anything else by Brown

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