Inhospitable Chair

 

Lila sits at the bedside of her stricken partner, Ruth, praying for her to wake up. Aneurysm. Surgery. Prognosis unclear until she opens her eyes. 

They had just bought a home together, begun building a life. Now Ruth fights to live, while Lila fights to stay strong. In those brief moments of pseudo-clarity, Ruth is aware of her own fear. Dark tentacles embracing her, pulling her away from lucidity, survival. Yet inside that fear lives another, just as overwhelming--that Lila might leave her. Might not be up to the challenges that lie ahead. Will she be faced with the care of a disabled partner? Will she be able to pay the mortgage? Or even keep her own job? Will they ever make love again?

She is unaware that Lila has been sleeping at the hospital in an inhospitable chair, and wishing for things she cannot control. That she has been sending text messages to Ruth's phone everyday, telling her how much she loves her. She is unaware that Lila has been wearing an article of Ruth's clothing everyday, to feel close to her. And that she doesn't care if Ruth isn't the same, if she will only wake up.

Friends absorb the ramifications of such a plight and struggle with their own responses. Should they fling themselves into life? Live out loud? Do everything with passion and wild abandon, lest they too, find themselves dangling from the precipice? Or do they slow down, become careful, obsess about their health, create safety nets, avoid taking any chances with anything, ever?

With disturbing regularity, we are reminded of how tenuous life is. The closer we get to our own mortality, the more we fear it. The more we feel its hot breath on our necks, its unforgiving fingers on our pulse. And the more we wonder what lies ahead, and whether or not there will be someone to send us loving messages, wrap themselves in our clothes because they carry our scent, and keep a vigil at our bedside with a singular desire that we only open our eyes and become present with them again.

For in the summation, our lives are not about the material possessions we have, the money we make, or the status we enjoy. Our lives are about people. The ones we love, who love us in return. And that is all there is, and all that really matters.

 

Inhospitable Chair

"Belongs on Bestseller List" (Baggage Review)

Another review emailed to me:

"I have read 2 of Baeli's other books--Armchair Detective and Also Known as DNA, both of them in the lesbian fiction genre, so I decided i should also check out her mainstream novels--Achilles Forjan and Baggage. I started with Baggage. I have to say, Baeli is every bit as good in the mainstream genre; she's just a solid, quality writer who never disappoints, no matter what genre she chooses to write in. In this case, the book Baggage was an engaging, heartfelt and enjoyable story--it's a little bit family-saga, a little bit romance, a little bit suspense. But it grabbed me and wouldn't let go. Her characters, as usual, are real enough to imagine living next door to you, or as members of your social circle, or even as your family. I like the way Baeli gives them challenges and allows us to watch as they struggle to handle them. I really cared about these people and she was masterful at making them come alive in my mind. And she always provides a satisfying ending. I came away wishing for a sequel to this one too. Baggage belongs right up there on the bestseller list, as far as I'm concerned. It's that good."
~Connie R. Ramsey
Hobbs, TX

"Belongs on Bestseller List" (Baggage Review)

"Damned if she didn't" ( Also Known as DNA review)

From an email sent by a reader:

"After reading Armchair Detective,  the first in the AKA Investigations series, I didn't think Baeli could top herself. But damned if she didn't write another outstanding book!  She is definitely no one-hit-wonder.  Kelli Jae Baeli is able to engage a reader in a way that most writers can only dream of. Compelling, sometimes hysterically funny, snappy dialogue, 3 dimensional characters you fall in love with, and a plot that pulls you along as if you are tethered to an unforgiving rope. You are cheating yourself if you don't read Also Known as DNA!"

~Connie R. Ramsey
Hobbs, TX

"Damned if she didn't" ( Also Known as DNA review)

"Baeli is at the top of her game" (Also Known as DNA review)

5.0 out of 5 stars Exciting and Satisfying - A great Read!, August 1, 2011

By 

Kate Genet "Kate Genet" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Also Known As DNA (Book 2 in the AKA Investigations Series) (Kindle Edition)

I thoroughly enjoyed the first book in this series so when I sat down to read this one I was sure I was in for a treat.
And I was right.

This book features the two main characters from the first book, this time ensconced in a different city and getting on with the job of being happy and working as Private Investigators. This time however, two more, very interesting and appealing characters are added to the mix and the narrative swaps easily between each viewpoint, adding depth and
interest.

Then, in true AKA Investigations style, events conspire to spiral out of control, testing the fortitude, depth of feeling and sheer courage of each of the characters. Nail-biting action and heart-stopping tension take the reader on a roller-coaster ride through the pages, piling one catastrophe on top of another and testing the characters to the limit. I wasn't sure they'd all make it out alive in this one, but it sure had me turning the pages to find out. Baeli is at the top of her game here, delivering a book at once touching and full of odd, often humorous bits of wisdom and a storyline of exciting misadventure and action.

There's something about the main character's voice that delights me every time - self-depreciating humour and phrasing that reminds me of all the best pulp PI fiction but is at the same time refreshing and entertaining in this unashamedly lesbian adventure story.
You really should read it!

"Baeli is at the top of her game" (Also Known as DNA review)