The thing is, as the chemistry builds between them, Molly isn’t sure she wants to be a grad student anymore…if she ever did.ĭue to recession and her activist past, Molly Cook decided to pursue a PhD degree in political science.

But she absolutely refuses to get involved with a student. As the two women work together to make their case, they grow closer than Carmen ever imagined. She has no intention of coming out, least of all to Molly, a troublemaking grad student who can’t stop picking fights with the conservative faculty.īut when Molly discovers evidence implicating a homophobic colleague in a scandal, Carmen can’t ignore it-even if the subject hits too close to home. Professor Carmen Vaughn is stuck in small-town Maryland with smarmy blowhards for colleagues and ungrateful students who can’t handle her high standards. Molly decides to give a PhD a whirl but finds herself more interested in campus politics…and her strict and sexy statistics professor. It might be the nineties, and everything’s shoulder pads, Doc Martens, and The X-Files, but people won’t budge on gay rights.

Molly Cook is almost thirty, with dismal career prospects, and has given up on saving the world. As they grow closer, Nadine introduces Bella to the delights of Filipino food and opens Bella's eyes to her own possibilities.īefore long, about the only thing harder to make sense of than Nadine's past is their powerful chemistry together.A smart, opposites-attract, student-professor romance filled with nostalgia, edgy politics, and the forbidden thrills of lesbian love in the nineties. However, Nadine seems to be nothing like the crook portrayed in the media, and Bella is drawn to her troubled, standoffish coworker. At least she's not as clueless as her boss, who just accidentally hired the woman responsible for a national scandal. She wants to go back to school but secretly doubts she's smart enough. Now Nadine's out of prison, broke, hated by millions, and stuck doing a menial retail job in rural Virginia where she barely earns enough to survive.īella Clarke has worked at Overstock Oasis since she flunked college. The brilliant, ruthless lawyer was in line to be White House chief of staff - until she confessed to campaign finance crimes that cost her party the election.

Nadine Bayani was at the top of her game.

The Love Factor by Quinn Ivins