As La Vista Turns

January 23, 2017
In this touching contemporary romance, fifth in Ripper’s Queers of La Vista series (after One Life to Lose), Zane Jaffe struggles to build the family she has envisioned, facing heartbreaking setbacks but also unexpected joys. Zane, a 30-something real estate agent in the fictional California town of La Vista, has been trying to conceive for the past year, using donor sperm. She doesn’t really want a partner, but to satisfy her best friend Jaq’s concerns, she and her friend Mildred are pretending to date. Zane’s realization that she wants to be in a real relationship with Mildred puts all her careful plans into disarray. Meanwhile, after the arrest of the murderer who’d been targeting queer and trans people in La Vista, Zane decides to organize a wake in hopes of bringing closure to the community. The story showcases that carefully crafted community, deftly highlighting its diversity and interconnectedness. Loving guidance from her friends corrects Zane’s frustrating tendency to get in her own way and leads up to a gratifying conclusion.