RaveSan Francisco Chronicle... this is less a romance than a study of complex, modern love. Readers will have to be patient: After meeting for the first time, it takes a while before the two women connect again ... Understated and evocative, Yerba Buena takes two fractured people from two fractured families and explores the ways they fit together — and the ways they don’t. While Nina LaCour’s novel is not plot-driven, it has the most momentum when the characters are engaged in their goals or are pursuing their passions; Emilie’s move into house-flipping later in the story delivers satisfying results for both character and reader ... LaCour’s writing invites a willingness to notice small details and be comfortable in gray areas ... observed with a cool, generous eye in spare, quiet prose that expertly illuminates the trauma that Sara and Emilie are both wrestling with, as well as their hope and healing. Ultimately, this is quiet but beautiful character-driven fiction that lingers like a perfectly mixed cocktail.
Elizabeth Gonzalez James
PositiveSan Francisco ChronicleClean prose and dark wit keep things from becoming too grim ... James’ frustration with the way the world has neglected her generation is clear ... Thankfully, even somewhat surprisingly, the narrative ultimately tips toward the optimistic ... Mona at Sea is sharply written Millennial malaise that dares to be hopeful.
emily m. danforth
PositiveThe San Francisco ChronicleThe present-day story is the most effective, benefiting from the twin motors of sexual tension and a secret revolving around the making of the increasingly metafictional film. The Hollywood satire feels legit, and Audrey balances the more fictive-feeling Harper and Merritt. Libby and Alex are beautifully written, but their action sometimes lacks the narrative drive found in our trio of Hollywood hotties. A character unto themself is the chatty, dramatic narrator, who is also responsible for the many comic or explanatory footnotes. Sara Lautman’s black-and-white illustrations add a further gothic flair ... freewheeling, ambitious ... Recommended for fans of queer kissing, Victorian romance, ghost stories and Hollywood high jinks.
