The story is ok, a bit of a slow burn. Which suited the setting; farm life in Iowa. I felt the Abby was too dramatic at times for someone who is so laid back. The book focusses a lot on Sydney coming to terms with her family past and learning about who her grandmother was. The twist at the ending is an obvious but satisfying one.

This is a sweet story, about a woman who receives a farm in Iowa as an inheritance after the death of her grandmother. A grandmother with whom she has never had a relationship due to the rejection of her maternal grandparents to her mother's relationship with a black man. Although there is no racism in the history, only this event, but it was important enough to change the lives of all the protagonists: her grandparents, her parents and even Sydney herself.

Once she gets to take over the inheritance, she meets her neighbors and friends of her deceased grandmother, Bernice and her granddaughter Abigail.

And of course, it can not be otherwise, Sydney and Abigail feel an instant and irrepressible attraction towards each other.

Syd being a city woman and living in Chicago all her life, she has a lot of reluctance to everything that rural life entails. So Abby, who has lived most of her life on the farm, in the few days when Syd intends to solve the issue of inheritance, shows Syd the wonders of country life, makes her rethink her future, manages to conquer her and they fall madly in love with one another.

It also has other interesting parts, such as the line of work of the two protagonists, which in the end, is what brings them together. And it also has some acceptable sex scenes.

Yes, it seems cheesy. It is somehow. But what can I say, I liked it.

<i>An ARC was sent to me from Bold Strokes Books through NetGalley for an honest review </i>

An ok read and nothing more. Albeit rather weak character development the story was fine for a couple of hours of light reading.

There is romance, a. farm, a city, youth in need, a grandmother not to be left alone, and unresolved family issues. Sydney and Abigail are two likeable characters. It was difficult not to like any of the characters except Sydney 's grandfather. I enjoy a good romance. This read could have been so much more than a good romance because there were several social issues and family dynamics that were nudged but not explored. Oh yeah, the sex scenes are hot.

DNF!

I'm sorry but I just couldn't get through this. It's instant 'I wanna jump your bones" sexual attraction and if there was supposed to be anything deeper, I didn't get it - at all. Got to about 30% and that was it for me …

The book is a fairly light read with the potential of going deeper but sadly it didn't. There were many potential problems there like racism, inner-city kids, family problems, etc. but all of it stayed quite shallow and untouched. It was a good story but a lot of things seemed bit repetitive, which made it a little drawn out and slow.

Sydney Carter receives a call from a lawyer in Iowa informing her that her maternal grandmother has died and has left Sydney her farm. Sydney’s mother was disowned by her parents when she married a black man. Confused as to why her bigoted grandmother would leave her anything she makes her way to Iowa from Chicago to decide what to do with the property. The neighbour’s granddaughter, Abby, is looking after the farm animals while waiting for decisions to be made. When Sydney and Abby meet they both feel an attraction for each other but know that it can’t go anywhere because they live in different cities.

‘City woman inherits a farm’ is a fairly common theme in lesbian fiction and but with the added themes like racism, biracialism, parental disownment, inner-city kids and the unravelling of the past this novel had the potential to be quite powerful but unfortunately it falls short. The story is sweet, easy-reading and light. None of the heavier themes are explored and the characters end up being fairly flat. There are a number of steamy sex scenes but it felt like the rest of the story was a flimsy excuse surrounding them.

I found there was a lot of repetition where Sydney would remember something in a flashback then later she would say the same thing to Abby and then later she’d say the same thing to another character. Cutting out the repetition and some of the blandness would make ‘A Call Away’ a good erotic novella. Expanding on some other deeper themes, removing repetition and developing the characters would make it a good novel. Right now it feels undecided.

Book received from Netgalley and Bold Strokes Books for an honest review.