The Story Behind This Book
A portion and/or version of this book has been handed around for years to various proofreaders and friends, and I have about 127 copies of it on floppy disk, which I have recently transferred to CD. When I first started writing this book, floppies were relatively new and exciting. Now I mostly use them for coasters or mixed-media art.
This was the first novel I ever wrote, begun in 1988 after I came home from Basic Training and Quartermaster school. I have revisited this story sporadically over the years, while teething on other books. I decided to rewrite it and make it available. Since it has been sitting around for some 16 years-I laughingly refer to it as my first Historical Romance.
The inspiration for writing this book began after my tryst with a beautiful soldier in Quartermaster school, who is the Brittany character, (not her real name), but who has since fallen off the face of the earth. (Hey "Brit," if you see this, get in touch. You know who you are.)
The other impetus stemmed from my continual frustration in finding a "lesbian" book I wanted to read. It seemed that all the characters in lesbian fiction were dark, troubled, addicted, or gender-confused. I wanted to write something that was more representative of what I knew of being a lesbian. So I took some personal experiences and a healthy dose of creative license, and this was the result.
I hope you enjoy it.
Praise and Reviews
ChaoticVulnerabilities reviewed As You Were
2 of 2 people found the following helpful
Excellent Read...left me wanting more December 30, 2010
WOW. I purchased this book simply caught up in the avaliability of lesbian romance novels at the touch of a button. My wifey gave me a Kindle for Christmas, spurring a desperate search for novels to use with my newfound "friend". I don't live near any specialty bookstores and lesbian novels are often very expensive for print copies. I went a little wild looking for romance stories I can relate to.
This novel surpassed that!
Others I've read were okay in content, horrible in spelling and grammar, and difficult to read. Not so, this novel. I downloaded another book by Baeli simply because this one caught and held my attention. I stayed up way past bedtime reading this, absorbing it in one night because I could NOT put it down. It had romance, crazy twists, and many other positive characteristics. However, the best part of this book was Baeli's sensitivity to the thoughts, feelings, and realities of life as a woman who loves a woman. She captured the essence of female romance without so much as a glitch. I read this book snuggled in next to my wife and fell asleep with a sappy, mushy, and very glowing appreciation for the beauty who lay next to me. Like all great romance novels, this book wrapped me up in the moment.
Singer/songwriter Tru Morgan is totally in love with her live in girl friend Brittany (Brit) Jabot. Together they share a wonderful home on Red Mountain, Colorado. Their lives are idyllic, filled with their dreams, romantic nights and riding their beloved horses in a fairy tale, snowy setting. Life just couldn’t get much better for them....... Until one day, a malicious chain of events ends up being the indirect cause cause of a tragic accident.
Tru finds herself fighting to find the life she once had with Brit. This in itself is an uphill struggle, but add to it disruptive outside influences and it is going to be almost an impossibility. Some people just do not want to see Tru and Brit back together.
The question that has to be asked is.... Will Tru and Brit ever find their way back to the love so callously torn from them?
A well written and highly enjoyable romance, mystery and intrigue, with a light touch of humor. Although this story is basically a romance, there is so much more packed into it. So many twists and turns and ups and downs, it’s a real rollercoaster ride of highs and lows. I simply couldn’t put this book down and couldn’t turn the pages fast enough. I had to force myself to slow down. I wouldn’t advise starting this late at night, unless you don’t need to sleep.
The two main characters, Tru and Brit are poles apart throughout most of the book. I don’t want to put in any spoilers, but the emotional ride they are on, is hard going for them. The only thing I will say is, I wasn’t disappointed with the outcome of the story.
All the characters in the book were well formed and they each played their parts in progressing the story forward. The scenic descriptions made it easy to visualize being amongst the characters while the story evolves.
One thing I particularly liked about this book is the way we saw how Tru and Brit got together in the first instance in flashbacks. I do like to know the background of the characters.
This is the first book I’ve read by this author, now that I’ve found her, I’ll definitely be buying more.
Review by: Kate Genet on April 06, 2012 :
It is obvious right from the beginning of this book that Kelli Jae Baeli knows how to craft a great story. Her main character is the sort of woman you’d love to meet in real life, and I warmed to her immediately. She’s that well-rounded type of character that makes reading a real pleasure. This is a story about a relationship, but it’s set against a backdrop of events and places that serve to introduce and develop that relationship in a way that seems entirely natural and interesting. I don’t want to give any of the details away, but the storyline is great – suspenseful and nothing left dangling; it’s all pulled together extraordinarily well. By the time I reached the end of the book I was well-satisfied and smiling.
(reviewed long after purchase)
Review by: Noni Nelson on Mar. 09, 2011
Four years ago, as a newly-out, mature lesbian and an avid reader I was staggered by the dearth of quality gay fiction for women. So disappointed in fact that I resorted to writing my own. If I had discovered Kelli Jae Baeli back then I may not have bothered! I was hooked from the first few pages of As You Were. Her characters are natural, their lives are believable and I devoured this book eagerly late into the night. And put it down with a genuine reluctance to part company with it's two main protagonists, Tru & Brittany.
What an amazing seduction!
Reading this book made me cry, laugh, and feel as though I had been blissfully seduced...and I'm not a lesbian! LOL! But as I have found with other books written by Kelli Jae Baeli,(she writes both lesbian and mainstream novels)it doesn't matter what your sexual preference is in the end. I fall in love with all of her characters, as I did once again with those in this novel, and feel as though I am personally involved in the story. It is a greatly suspenseful, beautifully romantic tale of renewed/ re-claimed love that seduced me into staying up til 5:46 a.m. on a work day because I COULD NOT PUT IT DOWN until I finished it. In the Author's Note, Ms Baeli writes. "I hope you enjoy it." Ms. Baeli, that is an understatement! I absolutely adored this story. Thanks for yet another wonderful novel to read! (I've read 5 of them now and am starting the sixth tomorrow)
~Tanya Gotcher
Little Rock, AR
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"I didn't want to put this book down. I became emotionally involved with the characters and the challenges they faced. They reminded me of people I know. The ending was great--and unpredictable. Jae, I am looking forward to reading the rest of your novels. Thank you so much for putting your work out there for us avid readers, I have thoroughly enjoyed As You Were. Thank you again, and good work!
--Shell Smith,
Avid Reader in Truman, AR
