Kickin’ Rocks by Marianne K. Martin

Description

A millennial with a disposition to worry expects the system to work for her—especially when it comes to matters of justice and love. But when it doesn’t, she turns for help to a worn-out feminist who knows first-hand just how tough it can be to kick rocks along the path of resistance, and why it’s so important to never give up hope.

Jada Baker is a millennial, but she was born to worry—about her mom, her job, abused animals, and about the growing discord she sees playing out in the news every day. But she also believes that good will triumph over evil and that she will find true and deep love. And when Amie Luca, a veterinarian whose compassion for helping mistreated animals captures her heart, Jada believes that she has finally found the woman she’s been searching for.

But, when the happiness that Jada and Amie are building is suddenly threatened by a surge of hate and homophobia, they turn to a friend who has learned the hard way that kicking rocks can be painful. Dusty Logan logged long hours fighting for women’s rights, watching friends suffer and die through the AIDS crisis, and battling for the right to openly love a woman, and she’s bone tired. Yet when she sees Jada and Amie—a new generation of women—facing a new but familiar wave of discrimination, her spirit to fight the good fight is rekindled. And Dusty will do everything she can to make sure that Jada and Amie get that shot at real happiness after all.

Kickin’ Rocks is available in .mobi, .ePub, paperback, and audiobook formats.

Audiobook available from Audible, ACX, and Amazon.

“There’s a lot going on in Kickin’ Rocks: romance, animal rescues, feminism, gay rights, and more romance. Marianne K. Martin, the seasoned writer that she is, brings it all to life. She has written a story of two couples, one formed in the early 1970s, the other forty years later. She transitions back and forth between the eras, smoothly carrying the reader along with her characters through gripping scenes of resistance, and to the realization that the fight for animal and human rights is not, has never been, over. The passionate passages in this novel are not all in the bedroom. Her heroines come out of closets present and past at demonstrations, in the courtroom, in lesbian bars, and in confrontations with non-gay families. Martin skillfully exposes the connections between the short, staked leashes and cages of abused and neglected animals with those used on women and LGBT people by the eternal heterosexist and misanthropic patriarchy. Kickin’ Rocks is a family portrait of gay women, men, and our beloved animals as we are: sometimes lost, always funny, brave, and powerful.” —LEE LYNCH, author of The Swashbuckler

“A most unusual catalyst brings together a memorable cast of characters in a lovely story that melds past with present day. Kickin’ Rocks builds in its affirmation that growth and progress are born in individual acts of courage, in shared humanity, in caring for all living beings.” —KATHERINE V. FORREST, author of Curious Wine

MARIANNE K. MARTIN is one of the most revered writers in the lesbian fiction genre. She is the author of eleven novels, including five Lambda Literary Award finalists. She has been honored with the Trailblazer Award from the Golden Crown Literary Society, and she was inducted into the Saints & Sinners Literary Hall of Fame. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.