Another top favourite from Melissa.

At First Glance by Melissa Tereze

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I wasn't sure about this one, but then I finally got past the cover and yes, I had to admit to myself to have been prejudiced, even though some of my best friends in Hamburg were or had been call-girls. And no, I have never been in a relationship with one of them, for exact the reasons Talia quotes. It was the cover, more than anything that confused me, as even though I am a truly femme trans-woman, the pole dancing and the platform heels triggered a sort of feminist response.

I have counselled quite a number of dancers of the Opera at Hamburg in the late 1980s and I seriously admired their love and dedication for the job, that nevertheless led to most of them having starved and worked themselves into being sterile. Only the young and still healthy prima ballerina took my advice and went to Amsterdam to start a contemporary dance company of her own, successfully I might add. She kept coming back into my mind any time the question of giving up her “life” or her relationship came up for Talia and Faye.

Yet, Talia won my heart, as well as Faye, but in actual fact, it is Melissa's writing, that really is the magic here. I sincerely hope for a sequel, in which Talia goes a similar path as that prima ballerina but in Liverpool!



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