This Time of Year: A Historical Lesbian Romance

Book excerpt: The rest of Marty and Vera’s story remained untold. Until now. “I hear it’s nice there this time of year.” With those fateful words, Marty Bell made a choice that would further alter the course of her life and bring her back into the arms of the one person she had ever loved: Vera Morton. Paris in 1968 is a city unlike any Marty has ever known. There, she and Vera reignite their romance and work together to fade the scars left by family, war, and death. Marty isn’t the only Bell woman to find love and purpose in the city of light. In 1912, her aunt Celia Bell’s parents exile her there to keep up appearances by ensuring her romantic exploits remain far from New York. Twenty-years-old and newly independent of her family, Celia’s one-way ticket sends her headlong into a world of dazzling decadence… just what she always wanted! With plenty of women willing to further her hedonistic explorations, there is only one who catches Celia’s eye: the unattainable Emilie Rossignol. Even as Celia and Emilie are drawn together, a world war threatens to drive them apart. Can Celia hold onto a woman who seems as elusive as peace, or will she set into motion an endless cycle of heartbreak and loss with no chance for lasting happiness? As Marty sets out on the next phase of her life, she unravels her Aunt Celia’s past, a past that not only mirrors hers, but also teaches that love endures beyond all else.