Sally's Reviews > Leather, Lace, and Locs

Leather, Lace, and Locs is a wonderful book that works on so many different levels. It’s a story of gender (female and nonbinary), race (Women of Color), relationships (families, friendships, and lovers), ambition (personal and professional), sexuality (lesbian and bisexual), and more. Anne Shade doesn’t rush her story, but instead allows it to develop over a couple of years, dropping in and out of the characters’ lives to show us how they’ve grown.

The story allows us time to get to know Melissa, Golden, and Zoe as women first, to understand where they’ve come from, and to appreciate what they mean to one another. They’re strong, passionate, empowered women, all of whom are on the cusp of change. By the time romance enters the story, we’re already connected to them all, so we’re immediately invested in the relationships that do develop.

As much as I loved the women, I loved the diversity of this story even more. We see Melissa discover an inner strength she didn’t know she had as a professional dominatrix, with a nonbinary client tempting her to take professional personal. Golden walks away from a steady job to pursue her dreams of dancing, building her own burlesque studio, all while she anxiously navigates the temptation of a polyamorous relationship with two women she’s afraid to admit she loves. And then there’s Zoe, who meets a woman through her hair salon who quickly shifts from client to friend to lover, but with a lot of baggage to be sorted. They’re all wonderful story threads but, for me, Golden was the heart and soul of the story, and seeing her find happiness made me happy.

As with any HEA romance, there’s no real drama or suspense in wondering if the women of Leather, Lace, and Locs will find love, but the joy of discovering how they find love is exquisite. Just an altogether lovely read.


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