Cold? Too cold to leave the fireside and your snuggly slippers? Well there is only one answer - order a copy of the New Zealand lesbian must-read of the year: The Open Accounts of an Honesty Box. It's impossible not be effusive in reviewing a book which feels so familiar it's like reading your own diary. This is because Auckland writer Julie Helean has an ability to create characters that come alive in your mind. Her protagonist Jinx is someone who utterly bounces with being, jumping out of the pages of the book and into your life like your new best friend. She is utterly real. Perhaps it's because Helean has created a character that is so incredibly reflective of many of the women in our lives. She is the type of person you'd love to have a beer and a yarn with, maybe date for a while and have remain a slightly frustrating but adored friend for life. She is a tough woman, this Jinx, and one who seems to run into trouble, whether from an overbearingly bossy ex or know-it-all friends. Things come to a head when she loses her much-loved job teaching building apprentices and packs up and hits the road with her dog – but not before truly sticking it to her ex-employer with a particularly enjoyable piece of revenge. It's from the cafes and lesbian-filled city fringe suburbs of Auckland to the heart of Central Otago, a gloriously named town called Easy, where life proves to be anything but for the woman who just wants a break. She runs from one bunch of women right to another, who are determined to have her stay and help them with their dream to erect a toilet block in their town. Helean captures this fictitious town and its gorgeous characters brilliantly, from the woman who seems to run the place Martha to the young bartender Haily who seems to be without a clue, to (of course) a gorgeous and mysterious local who catches Jinx's eye and makes her a bundle of nervous energy. The Open Accounts of an Honesty Box is a romp, impossible to put down thanks to the true blue Kiwi characters that will jump into your heart and stay there as you giggle, sigh, cry a little and maybe fall in love with them. Hands down it will make you want to plan a road trip down south. It has to be the best book to curl up by a fire with this winter. And perhaps a book to re-read for many winters to come, because when you reach the final page you will find it darn hard to let the women Helean has brought into your life go. You can win a copy of this book on our competitions page, otherwise it is available from Auckland's Women's Bookshop or online here Jacqui Stanford - 18th July 2011