How far would you go to hide who you really are inside?  And what do you do when you find the one person from whom hiding your true self isn’t an option?

Glamorous movie star Dara Thomas has it all – an Oscar nomination, dozens of magazines proclaiming her the sexiest woman alive, and people of both sexes clamoring for her attention.  She also has a carefully guarded secret life.  As Constance Darrow, Dara writes Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction, an outlet that allows her to be so much more than just a pretty face. 

Rebecca Minton is a professor of American Literature in love with the work of the mysterious, reclusive author Constance Darrow, with whom she strikes up a correspondence.  A chance phrase in a letter leads her to a startling conclusion about the author.

What happens next will change the course of both of their lives forever. 

REVIEW
Back in the late 90s, when you met someone from the internet You’ve Got Mail-style (IE, you have no idea what the hell they look like and you’re standing awkwardly in front of a Starbucks with a rose in your hand) they never ended up looking like the person you envisioned in your head.  In real life, we’re not always as fortunate as the main characters in this novel, who both took a gamble and hit the jackpot.  Their story begins with exchanges of hand-written letters and gradually blossoms into an incredible romance.  I really love the author’s imagination and how she brings the two lovers together in this book.

All That Lies Within isn’t a cookie-cutter lesbian romance novel.  Reading the book jacket, you won’t expect a metaphysical element to the story, but there is one and it’s good!  I’m sure it’s not easy for authors to incorporate metaphysics into their work without it sounding silly to some of the readers, but Lynn Ames does an awesome job.

As perfect of a package that is Dara, Rebecca is the one that shines the brightest in this novel.  She was the vehicle that drove Dara’s dreams to life  Homegirl is the ISH.  Aerosmith should recreate their “Hole in My Soul” music video and have the cloning machine build Rebecca Minton.  The characterization was stronger than the story, and I’m a real sucker for wonderfully fleshed-out characters.

Your inner medium is channeling that you should read this book.  Reaaaad thissss booook.

SOUNDTRACK
1.  Natalie Imbruglia – Identify
2.  Radiohead – (Nice Dream)
3.  TLC – Unpretty
4.  Norah Jones – Don’t Know Why
5.  Sara Bareilles – The Light
6.  Sarah McLachlan – I Love You
7.  Elliott Smith – Between the Bars
8.  The Civil Wars – C’est La Mort
9.  Bruno Mars – Just the Way You Are
10.  Sara Bareilles – I Choose You

CHEERS!
This book is best read with a delicious cup of Lavazza coffee.  Rebecca and Dara aren’t boozers like the rest of us.