Like most women in dead-end relationships, Holly Markham was used to finding substitutes for love. Like chocolate. Fun times with good friends. Throwing herself into her work as a mathematician. But throwing herself into the arms of a leather-clad stranger was never on her list. Even when she does exactly that, she's stunned when the other woman tells her there can be no repeats, no contact, never again. Reyna Putnam has lived by the rules of her politically ambitious father for years. Increasingly anguished by the work she does at his behest, trysts with women like Holly are all that keep her sane. She tries to banish the memory of Holly as she has so many other women because nothing has changed. She's trapped in a cage not of her own making. Holly has no intention of living in the shadows, and sets out to uncover the secrets of her own past hoping they will lead her back to the mysterious Reyna and some kind of future. The first of Karin Kallmaker's many Lambda Literary award finalists, Substitute for Love is a powerfully sensuous exploration of love in its many forms. Fans of this book will not want to miss the short story in Frosting on the Cake 2: Second Helpings.