Dear John, I Love Jane

Editors Walsh (features editor, Mothering magazine) and book seller André suggest in their introduction that the 27 accounts they've printed here (after their online call for submissions netted 130 pieces) are untold stories in part of a greater gay narrative. Each is written by a lesbian who experiences a sexual awakening during or after involvement with a male partner, and this makes for some complicated and occasionally involving tales. With Margarethe Cammermeyer and Cynthia Nixon as well-known media examples, the theme will be familiar to most. Unfortunately, only a handful of these personal accounts are extraordinary or noteworthy. Kami Day's "The Right Fit" is heartbreakingly well told. There's as much eroticism as there is poignancy in Vanessa Fernando's "Waiting." Most of the essays are as glib as the collection's title. The book is tailored for readers experiencing something similar, but what could have been a useful guidebook feels more like a squandered opportunity.