The Lonely Hearts Club Paperback – February 1, 2008

This was a fun and beautiful read. It’s a story set in a wonderful universe where the world is gay. Lonely Heart’s Club covers the love-lives of multiple friends...all in different stages of life and love...and different stages of deciphering what constitutes knowing when they have met “the one.” I fancy that the characters are all different...in their lifestyles, personalities and careers. In addition, this story offers depth, as you get to experience character transformation and personal growth...via multiple characters and couples-formed throughout this story. I also appreciate that Radclyffe shows love and intimacy as it’s experienced from different POVs: intimacy, top/bottom, D/s, etc. In that, the many ways people express and accept love, sex and intimacy is depicted in one story. I found this aspect to be pure genius and a refreshing change of pace (vs the traditional story of two MC’s who fall in love). The characters are delightful and the interactions amongst them are fun, supportive and relatable. I both read and listened to this book. Abby Craden does a marvelous job representing the personalities and voices of each character, so if you are on the fence on the audible, I found it worth the splurge.

Radclyffe does her best work when she writes her stand alone novels. Unlike her series, which sell books, but have gotten rather mundane, this book has a fresh concept. It's not often that a lesbian novel features a central figure who is pregnant and alone. While Liz and Reilly are the major focus of the book, the most interesting character might be Bren, who has a couple of secrets she's kept from her best friends. Any of these characters could have carried the book and that makes them stronger than is usually seen in this genre. This is what Radclyffe excels at when she writes her stand alone novels. She should stick with it. The Lonely Hearts Club is a good read.

““If she doesn’t turn you upside down and inside out and pretty much fog your windshield, what’s the point?””+ • + • + • +When getting older doesn't mean you've gotten it right, is it worth trying to figure it out?

The Lonely Hearts Club is a great example of a novel where you can really get into the characters. Radclyffe has done a wonderful job, maybe her best yet. I was glad the story mostly centered on Liz and Reilly, and rightly so. Some complex issues with the characters that were handled deftly and realistically (as well as romatically, of course!). I was pleased there was not as much hopping around between points of views this time... some of Rad's earlier work contains too much back and forth inside the characters' heads, sometimes from paragraph to paragraph, which is awkward and not as deep or layered to do it that way. Hard to get into a character's head when you feel like you're watching a tennis match, but Rad did a much better job of keeping the POVs separate this time. Kudos!

Five stars all the way for this one. I love most of Radclyffe's writing and this one is no different. Though it is her pretty standard formula - the characters are lovable, the world is all gay and gay friendly and everyone realizes that love is the answer - it was still an enjoyable read. My only complaint would be that it could have been longer. Neither of the two main characters really faced much adversity and it was a little less than believable that a woman just out of a disappointing, long term relationship with a new pregnancy would fall into bed that fast I'm still going to read it again.Not as deep or as full of medical drama as usual.

I really enjoyed the friendship interaction in this book between Liz, Candace, and Brenda - it made me laugh and eager to see what adventures awaited them next. I also enjoyed Liz and Reilly's story, but I was really hoping for more development on Candace and (especially!) Brenda's parts. I felt like the story was cut too short when it came to these two characters, because I really wanted to see if Candace and Brenda could finally do what their character arcs suggested they were going to achieve.

I've read nearly every book the author has written and truly enjoyed this one the most. It's interesting in that, instead of being about just 2 individuals, you get the whole friend group as well. Definitely would recommend for a change of pace.

Ok, so I do enjoy Radclyffe's books. However, I'm kind of starting to feel like I'm reading the same book over and over, just slightly different characters, different professions, but still basically the same. I will continue to read her books, but would definitely like to see her change things up a bit.

This has to be one of Radclyffe's best works, if not the best. It is a hot, steamy, sizzling page-turner, combined with humour, empathy and passion. I could not put this book down and didn't want it to end. The characters are numerous but all well developed, intricately constructed, woven in to a fabulous tale of friendship and love.I recommend it, and hope you enjoy it as much as I have.

Another great book by Radclyffe. The three main characters blend in really well, as you learn about how there lives criss cross. A really great read.

The only reason I'm giving this four stars instead if five is because it's ends quite abruptly and there's no sequel!Apart from that this is a really lovely read with some great characters! Go read it for yourself you won't be disappointed :)

Love this author!

☺☺☺☺😅