Series: Standalone

Genre: LGBT (f/f), Romance

Rating: 3/5 stars

Cover: I love it

Buy: Ylva shop, Amazon

Trigger warnings: cancer

Description: „Growing older is not for Sissies…“

Set against the backdrop of OWL Haven, Australia’s first exclusively lesbian retirement community, an irreverent cast of residents share their lives, hopes and dreams together.

At 65, Meg Sullivan is very clear about what and who she wants in life. Despite a string of lovers Meg’s first loyalty has always been to her best friend, Allie Richards. After reading about OWL Haven in a magazine, she knows the lesbian retirement village would be perfect for them both.

Allie Richards has shared the best part of her life with Meg. For over forty years they’ve traveled the world, and love and trust each other completely. Moving to OWL is perfect, as a new group of friends join their comfortable circle of two.

After her last relationship ended, Sparrow Hopkins was left with a broken heart. Quietly resigned to being alone for the rest of her life Sparrow discovers a feisty, vibrant group of women who are not afraid to take chances. Despite her promise to never fall in love again, life, as she is to find out, has other plans.

Pat and Bella have been together for nearly fifty years. To them OWL represents the secure and loving community they rarely experienced in the homophobic Sydney of the 60’s. But life is never simple, and safety is sometimes elusive as they face their own personal challenges.

Daphne Williams has always been a loner. Despite her preconceptions of retirement villages she discovers peace and happiness at OWL Haven. However, when her tightly controlled world goes into freefall, Daphne has to make a major decision. Does she keep control or open up a new world of joy and hope.

Through laughter, tears, and joy these woman prove that no matter what your age, you’re never too old to fall in love.

Review: This is the first novel I’ve read about ‘older’ lesbians. And I really liked how this part was handled. Every women has experienced different things due to her queerness and the reader gets to read a little about those experiences. Sadly only a little.

The main problem I had with Times of our Lives were too many characters. I couldn’t really say which characters were the main ones. Every character has her own story and every story is more or less equal to the others. So I had no chance to really invest myself in one relationship.

At first I had the feeling that Daphne and her partner were the ‘sex-couple’, because I read a lot about their sex life – although without a lot of details. Then suddenly the other couples started having sex, too. I’m not sure if that maybe was just too much for this story?

Anyway. I would have liked this book as a series more. You know, each book focusses on one pairing and the other relaionships are on the side? The characters were great, so I wouldn’t have minded reading more about them.

But it’s still a very funny book. I especially enjoyed the tupperware scene and I’m not sure if I can ever use tupperware products without thinking of it.

Disclaimer: I was provided with a free copy by Yvla-Verlag in exchange for an honest review. Thank you.