I am so in love with the Hobbs series and the Hobbs universe and it’s lovely characters Elena Graf created in the coastal Maine scenery.

These amazing characters like Liz, Lucy, Maggie, Sam, Brenda, Cherie, Olivia, Courtney, Melissa, Denise are all flawed, as in real life nobody’s perfect, we all choose wrong sometimes and so do they.

They are women in their fifties or sixties, they have been through life and they have all kind of experiences, they are not the typical lesbian romance characters, they are far more complex. They are at different stages in life: Liz and Lucy are getting married, Lucy is getting her doctorate and wrote a dissertation / thesis about sex and religion, Sam and Maggie start a relationship, Sam is working, while Maggie didn’t go back to the stage, but is helping her daughter Alina with her grandchildren, Brenda and Cherie adopted their young children, Olivia is recovering from a  stroke and feels lonely, Denise and Maggie struggle to get along for the sake of helping Lucy running the musical part for the church.

They have issues and doubts, their lives constantly change, yet their wisdom and life experience help them go further and enjoy life, especially in this new beginning after the dark covid winter and after the start of Russia’s war against the Ukraine.

I love their intellect and both their scientific and emotional intelligence make their communication vibrant and smart, like in no other in lesbian fiction.

I love how their passion for the arts, music, theatre, religion, sense of community bring them together and these great loves and friendships are build.

That is why they are so remarkable.

I would have loved to live in Hobbs, if the characters were real and Hobbs was a real place.

I am happy that I have read all the Hobbs series books and I can’t believe this is the eight book already and there is so much more to say and to happen in Hobbs. There are so many plot changes and new situations that leave the reader amazed.

 I have been anticipating a book for Lucy, expecting her wedding with Liz to be the event of the year in Hobbs.

I like how their relationship is build, of course it started flawed with Maggie distancing herself from them, but then, they are really perfect for each other, their relationship has a mixture of opposites attract, friends to lovers features and they have a great love life, their intimacy and chemistry are special, they have awesome sex and they work really well together saving lives and helping people in Hobbs as doctor and church rector.

They make a wonderful couple and even if they are not perfect, they are flawed and they have done their share of mistakes, they never stop learning and evolving as humans, women and never stop helping others and learn how to love from this new perspective.

Lucy is getting her doctorate and writes an awesome thesis on sex and religion which is going to be published book.

Also, she is helping Denise to start her singing career as a trans woman and while doing that and singing professionally for the first time in many years, give her a chance at reviving her professional career as an opera singer by getting lots of concerts and contracts.

What will Liz think about that?

Will Lucy be able to sing opera professionally after so many years, after being through menopause and her voice changing?

Brenda and Cherie are raising their adopted children and have a really busy life.

Sam and Maggie start a relationship, but there are many uncertainties here. They are like oil and water, yet opposites do attract. Sam doesn’t like to be told how to dress when going to church. Maggie would love to go back to acting, but she doesn’t find the time as she is helping her daughter Alina with her granddaughters and she is also helping Denise and Lucy with the church’s musical program.

Olivia is recovering from a stroke and feels lonely, as she doesn’t have a relationship and she can’t go back to work, yet, but she a brilliant idea in organizing Lucy and Liz’s wedding at her home with the help of Maggie and all the other Hobbs women.

Liz is not enchanted by Sam and Maggie’s relationship, but as we know her she is very considerate and she always does good deeds.

Still, what will she think about Olivia and Maggie organizing her wedding with Lucy?

I like these little dramas within the Hobbs lesbian community.

Then, the turning point will be another surprise character returning to Hobbs, fallen angel: Susan Gedney, the woman who inspired Lucy to become a priest and also, her first lesbian lover. In the previous book “Strands” – Hobbs series book no.7, Susan wanted Lucy back and upset Liz. What is she up to now?

“The Rector’s Wedding” is Hobbs series book #8

Let’s do a little summary of the previous Hobbs series books.

The Hobbs series describes the life of a community of lesbian women in their fifties or sixties living at their best in the town of Hobbs, Maine.

In Hobbs book #1 – „High October” we are witnesses of the romantic love between Liz and Maggie, who have loved each other since college, but got separated by Maggie’s parents, she married a man and she meets Liz by accident again after forty years in Hobbs Maine and they fall in love again.

In Hobbs book #2 – „This Is My Body” we are introduced to the most original character  of them all, Mother Lucy, a former opera star at the Met Opera in New York, who has become an Episcopalian reverend and moved to Hobbs Maine, and met and fall in love with Erika, a philosophy professor and Liz’s best friend.

In Hobbs book #3 – „Love In Time Of Corona” we couldn’t wait to see Police Chief Brenda Harrison happy in love. She falls for Cherie Bois, Liz’s new medical assistant, who seems to hate Brenda and she doesn’t know why and how to make Cherie know her, the woman behind the uniform.

In Hobbs book #4 – „Thirsty Thursdays” we are excited (at least I am), to enjoy the love story between sweet architect Sam McKinnon and the almost melting ice queen, retired Wall-Street fund manager, Olivia Enright, who has become one of my favorite characters in the series, because she is just incorrigible.

In Hobbs book #5 – „The Dark Winter”, the two unexpected turning points turned the Hobbs women’s life around.

In Hobbs  book #6 – „Summer People”, we are absorbed in Melissa and Courtney’s love story. Melissa Morgenstern, a forty something trust lawyer from Boston of Jewish heritage („a willowy woman with long, dark hair and the kind of figure only the young enjoy with voltaic blue eyes”), Courtney Barnes („a pretty woman, with long, blonde hair and warm brown eyes”), the new assistant principal of the Hobbs elementary school

In Hobbs boo #7 – „Strands”, the Hobbs lesbian community definitely became more united since Liz and Lucy are the power couple, yet all the other couples add value to it, like Brenda and Cherie, Courtney and Melissa.

There are so many unexpected situations and change of direction in the plot, which I really can’t tell without exposing the beauty of the book, so I won’t, for the fun of the read.

There is a new character who adds to the story: Dr. Amy Hsu, Liz colleague in the Hobbs family practice. She is of Asian heritage and she is really special. I wonder how will she adapt to the other characters and who will have her attention.

Some characters return. We were expecting this, but not in this (absolutely amazing) manner!

Brenda and Cherie are given an unexpected, yet a wonderful gift.

Sam has new life experiences and special encounters.

Olivia is tested in unexpected ways.

They are the most humane characters I have ever read about.

They are truly exceptional.

I still love Liz – „A fallen idol is still a god.” (Elizabeth Cheresh Allen)

And I love Lucy more – „She is a saint with the lips of a sinner / She is an angel with a devilish kiss.” (n3r)

I totally recommend the Hobbs series by Elena Graf, because of the remarkable characters, these lovely lesbian ladies in their fifties or sixties who form the Hobbs universe.

Can’t wait for Hobbs series book #9!.