Chantal reed, successful lesbian romance author, has a 'rags to riches' story. Growing up in Oklahoma, she knows what the true meaning of 'dirt poor' means; red dirt poor. She meets Claire Stevens; the epitome of riches to rags strikes her when the price she pays for her relationship takes its toll on her family life. This novel portrays the invocation of acceptance of their alternative lifestyle. Flavored with excellent direction and breath-taking love scenes, Gabrielle steers the reader through a series of sub-plots that leave the haunting revelation, the true price of a kiss.
About the Author: Gabrielle St. Charles is often referred to as a single, professional, Christian, lesbian mother of a black adopted child living in Kansas, that just about sums up her life. She is the CEO of Pride Industries and had been, until recently, a single mother. The rewards that come from being a single mother of a black adopted child living in Kansas are aplenty. Her educational background is diverse, resulting in a dual degree in management and theology. She now lives with her partner in Kansas and their five children. Her writing career began in 2000 with the advent of a new stress reliever. Stricken with an acute disorder in her early twenties, she had to find a way to alleviate stress and deal with many issues she faced in succumbing to the disability. She began writing short stories and from there she moved on to full-length romance novels in the lesbian genre. She now has added two non-fiction works. In September of 2000 she began writing the Dear Gabby column, lesbian romance advice, nationally for thirteen magazines and newspapers. The column ran for two years and then Gabby moved to a new vocation and career. In doing so, she felt that Dear Gabby would be best to lie dormant and for her to pursue the avenues in writing that she most loved, romance. She has one other published work, Surrender and spent the summer of 2001 doing Triangle Radio's program OutFront with Melinda Tremliano as a regular guest. Called the "Queen of Romance" more often than not, Gabrielle has a way of writing for the reader. She leads the reader to a place that she gently delivers them and their imagination takes charge and drops them at a final destination. Her books are intriguing, forging issues that are dealt with and sometimes left in the dark in the secular world. Her spirituality is evident in each work and she guides her promotion of love and acceptance forth in each piece. She employs a style of writing that is different than most and has said, "I might not be the best writer, probably won't win any awards, but when someone tells me they are angry and disappointed that they ran out of pages ... my work is done." Gabrielle also takes pieces and characters from one work and creates new works based off of them. Her works, although not required, are best read in succession.