niaforrester's review
5.0
What I like most about this author’s work is its unvarnished realism. In this one, the main character Crea runs into her first (and only) love James unexpectedly after he’s served 15 years in prison. When he was convicted, Crea dropped out of his life, and didn’t contact him at all while he was incarcerated, choosing instead to build a life for herself. That decision, though understood by James, was not accepted by his sister Janice, who despite James’ resolve to have Crea back in his life, refuses to make it easy for the woman who (in her opinion) abandoned him when he needed her most.
It would have been so easy for the author to spin us a yarn that made James blameless and innocent. Or to make Crea have pined for more than a decade in active regret over the decision to go on with her life. It would have been easy, and it would have been romantic, even. But she chose the more difficult path of having the two main characters and their extended families and friends work through the reverberations of having made some wrong choices, and some very tough ones and find their own path to peace.
As often happens in Angelia Vernon Menchan’s novels, the women are strong, and have a solid foundation of support from other women but also show their vulnerabilities, usually in their love for their family and the men in their lives. And this novel was no different. I also loved that as a recurring theme, this author shows that women who ‘do for themselves’ need not be afraid of opening up to the love of a good, equally strong, and caring partner. Another theme that I spotted in this one was the idea of a love ripening over time as two people who were ‘meant to be’ go through their separate journeys so that when they come together again, they can be more whole and complete for each other, and ready to go the distance.
Finally, the secondary characters in this author’s work are never “sidekicks”, transparently constructed for the sole purpose of exposing something about the main characters. They are always so fully fleshed out that you often find yourself wanting them to have as much ‘screen-time’ as the leads. This book was no exception. There are always entire communities built around the main couple, making you look forward to more. I haven’t kept up with reading this author as fast as she writes them, but this book pulled me in, and has me eager to backtrack, just to see what I’ve missed. Recommended for readers of ‘grown folks’ fiction’ looking for something low on contrived drama, and high on good, solid characters dealing with real-life issues.
It would have been so easy for the author to spin us a yarn that made James blameless and innocent. Or to make Crea have pined for more than a decade in active regret over the decision to go on with her life. It would have been easy, and it would have been romantic, even. But she chose the more difficult path of having the two main characters and their extended families and friends work through the reverberations of having made some wrong choices, and some very tough ones and find their own path to peace.
As often happens in Angelia Vernon Menchan’s novels, the women are strong, and have a solid foundation of support from other women but also show their vulnerabilities, usually in their love for their family and the men in their lives. And this novel was no different. I also loved that as a recurring theme, this author shows that women who ‘do for themselves’ need not be afraid of opening up to the love of a good, equally strong, and caring partner. Another theme that I spotted in this one was the idea of a love ripening over time as two people who were ‘meant to be’ go through their separate journeys so that when they come together again, they can be more whole and complete for each other, and ready to go the distance.
Finally, the secondary characters in this author’s work are never “sidekicks”, transparently constructed for the sole purpose of exposing something about the main characters. They are always so fully fleshed out that you often find yourself wanting them to have as much ‘screen-time’ as the leads. This book was no exception. There are always entire communities built around the main couple, making you look forward to more. I haven’t kept up with reading this author as fast as she writes them, but this book pulled me in, and has me eager to backtrack, just to see what I’ve missed. Recommended for readers of ‘grown folks’ fiction’ looking for something low on contrived drama, and high on good, solid characters dealing with real-life issues.
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