Lynn Ames

Real Rating: 4.25* of five

The Publisher Says: “Dot Wilkinson is the greatest female catcher ever to play softball . A bold, pioneering athlete, she refused to let others define her and instead defined herself. Her story is an inspiration to people everywhere.” — Billie Jean King, Sports Icon and Champion for Equality

It’s not simply that Dot Wilkinson was one of the most decorated women’s softball players, bowlers, and athletes of all time and one of the original players from the show more three-time-world-champion PBSW Phoenix Ramblers softball team (1933–1965). Nor was it the length of her time here on Earth—over a century—although any of these things by itself would be impressive.

The magic of Dot’s story is in the details. It’s the tale of a childhood spent in poverty, an indomitable, unbreakable spirit, a determination to be the very best to play whatever sport she undertook, the independence to live her personal life on her own terms, and her tremendous success at all of it.

Over more than a decade of countless conversations and interviews, Dot shared all of it with her dear friend, author Lynn Ames. Dot held nothing back. Out at the Plate , told through the lens of Dot and Lynn’s friendship, is the story of a forgotten era in women’s history and sports, and one extraordinary woman’s place at the center of it all.

I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA EDELWEISS+. THANK YOU.

My Review: I had a lesbian "grandma" of sorts, older than Dot Wilkinson, but with the same kind of unwillingness to submit to woman=weakness stereotyping. She saw what she wanted and went out of all ladylike bounds to get it. This included the love of her life, a widow with a son, and the family they made.

Dot Wilkinson is my kinda woman. (Or man, if I'm honest.) Reading about her life, its ups-downs-failures and unimaginably exciting successes, made me smile uncontrollably. QUILTBAG folk are fed a steady diet of disaster and crime with us as the victims, expecting that this will keep us quiet and invisible. This is the classic Linebarger tactic, used for generations now on "minorities" of all sorts. It is now modulated by stories of assimilation, of increased access to "The American Dream" of mortgaged house, kids who need college funds, etc etc. The Dot Wilkinsons who decide to do what the hell they want to do when they want to do it do not, oddly enough, get a lot of overcultural attention.

I can't think why this should be.

Dot Wilkinson deserves every bit of attention you have at your command because she actually was what we're told we love the most, should strive to be, here in the USA. She was strong by every metric, she was a maverick. She was routinely successful in her careers (plural). She lived with the love of her life for almost a half-century. Her example of grace and graciousness under pressure is one to emulate. She never turned it into any kind of doormat behavior. She was likable and well-liked at a time when her rejection of "normative womanhood" could easily have made her a pariah. Lynn Ames manages to convey all this without becoming cloying, though her fangirling over Dot is not at all veiled...or misplaced.

The one thing that leads to, on the "missing three-quarters-star" front, is the tendency to overexplain and repeat. By using many primary sources, Author Ames falls into the "it's really cool how much stuff there is" ditch and doesn't climb out. The sources very often concur, and maybe picking one quote then saying "this is one of the half-dozen angles on this story" could've been less wearing on the reader's nerve. My interest in softball, Dot's biggest claim to Fame and spotlights, is significantly less than hers....

Family issues weren't minimized. It was heartbreaking to learn of Dot's first love's early passing from the then-untreatable scourge of metastatic breast cancer. It was more heartbreaking still to read of Dot's mother's callous...let me be fair, surprisingly insensitive...response to Dot's deep grief at her loss. The fact is a sapphic love wouldn't register with most people as "real" in that day and time, so grief of that depth and duration would seem odd. Still, it's your child! Wouldn't that attune you to the reality of the feeling and thus summon up empathy not dismissiveness?

Apparently not. And honestly that bit upset me as much as the loss did. I was, as you can tell from that, fully invested in Dot Wilkinson's life, and was very, very happy I had this chance to learn about this older sister in queerness. I hope you will give it a chance to grab you, too. show less

All That Lies Within by Lynn Ames is such a terrific novel! We're talking sigh-and cry-inducing, good old-fashioned romance. Plus, it has smarts and great chemistry.

Sure, it's sensual and romantic, but it's also incredibly endearing and adorable and I already want to read it again. Rebecca (whose sensitive personality sometimes doesn't jive with her more sharpened professional take on life) is an interesting enigma and a woman I can understand Dara Thomas helplessly falling in love with show more despite her reservations.

Both women are fascinating characters and it's interesting the way they come together. The letters they exchange once Rebecca seeks out Constance Darrow (Dara's very secret Pulitzer Prize-winning alter ego) are very insightful and a great set-up for all that follows.

Dara's initial standoffishness then incredible foray into desperately needing and inexplicably wanting to protect Rebecca is one of the sexiest things about All That Lies Within. _This_ is what good romance should aspire to, this is what makes a book so good you keep it on your Kindle so you can read it again as soon as you have the time.

The only downside to this book is the little longing it leaves behind in your heart, making you wish love like this could happen in real life!:) show less

Lynn Ames is a top-notch writer and her novel All That Lies Within is one of my favorite books, ever. Great Bones is a cute and sweet read, but something feels missing and I just really wanted more chemistry between the two leads and for the characters to have met sooner and had more time together and less interactions with their grandmas. Don't get me wrong, both grandmas are sweet and feisty and lovable and the family dynamics on both sides are all too uncomfortably familiar, but at times show more it takes away from the bigger picture. One huge plus: Freud is a dog anyone would be proud to have in their family and his appearances with the story are smile-inducing. The main character's devotion to him and her loyalty and kindness to her neighbor makes her someone you want to see get a happy ending. show less

do people really call other people "darling" in real life conversations? "what do you think of this outfit, darling?" "i love you, darling." "darling, would you care to..." is that something that ever comes out of a live person's mouth? it always feels so stilted and like fake dialogue when i read it. drives me crazy.

anyway, other than that, most of this read pretty well. the banter was good, the writing was good (not great, but definitely good), and it was frankly really welcome to read show more about a president serving the office and the people. for me, this started out as a feel-good read, just because of that. it was nice to read about a respectable, caring person doing the right thing and taking the job seriously, and it just felt hopeful in these times. that lasted a good little while, and the writing was good enough, so i wasn't excited by the book but thought it was ok for at least the first half. i wasn't as into it once it became more of a romance, especially as they fell into saying "i love you" as quickly as they did, before they really knew each other well. i would have been ok with "i'm falling for you" or something, but two wounded hearts like these wouldn't just say "i love you" like that, i don't think. other minor quibbles that bothered me were that i was trying to track time and she threw me off by having a state of the union speech a month after she was inaugurated, which doesn't usually happen; shouldn't "president" be capitalized? maybe not; she absolutely telegraphed that emma was going to be shot or injured or attacked and it wasn't remotely surprising when that happened; she wouldn't have spoken directly after surgery as she still would have been under anesthesia; when nichelle was telling palmer what happened to emma, there is no way she would have said "she died" like that when she was alive. it was so much emotional manipulation by the author and that always irks me.

this read easily and it was good timing for me to feel positivity about possible outcomes of the election (although obviously biden is nothing like emma mcmasters), and healing that may be possible. the writing makes me think that if she writes something other than romance, that i'd read her again. show less