 Mainstream Fiction |
BLUES FOR DEEP DOWN Gwynne Forster Kensington/Dafina March 2003 (4) Nathasha Brooks-Harris |
|
PLOT SYNOPSIS: |
|
|
Regina Pearson has never really known any family other than her late, widowed father. Living among the native Hawaiians so different from herself created in Regina an aching for people to call her own, until an old letter leads to an extended family in New Bern, North Carolina.
|
|
|
REVIEW: |
|
|
Regina Pearson is gorgeous, but she has issues. She has a great job, a loving best friend and lives in sunny Hawaii, but it isn’t quite enough for her. She feels like a piece of her is missing and she aims to find out what it is.
She has been a resident of Hawaii since her father packed them up and moved them there after her mother’s death when she was two years old. Over the years, her father has admonished her not to ask questions about her family. He acts as if they don’t exist, setting up a whole new life for Regina and himself. But this doesn’t fully satisfy her.
Regina always felt as if something was amiss in her life, but she doesn’t know what it is. She feels like a lost soul even though she has her great job and a passel of friends.
One day, she is sorting through her parents belongings and she finds a yellowed letter from her Aunt Maude to her mother. Regina makes contact with her aunt and is determined to meet her and finally have the family she always dreamed about.
Regina moves from Hawaii and everything familiar to relocate to New Bern, North Carolina and takes her place amongst the Witherspoon/Pearson clan.
Things don’t work out as she had imagined them because the only person who shows her any love or has any use for her is her Aunt Maude—a cigar smoking, beer drinking, semi-retired blues singer who had been popular in Europe. The rest of the family shuns her—especially her mean grandfather, Abner, who has generations of hatred and misunderstandings to get over. Her cousin, Juliet, her dark-skinned mirror image, hates her and lets her know it at every turn.
Regina’s best friend is her cousin Harold, a musician who convinces their Aunt Maude to sing again. He also works at the hotel where she is the manager—a first for a black woman in that area.
During her tenure as manager of the upscale Craven Hotel, she meets Justin, a retired Colonel. The two bump heads plenty of times, but the sparks fly between them and they like each other despite their arguments. She ignores his arrogance and gives as good as she gets. Justin realizes that he adores the tough as nails Regina, but she is still reeling from the bad break-up with her Hawaiian boyfriend who mistreated her because she wasn’t a native. Romance and relationships are two concepts that don’t enter Regina’s mind.
Regina fights for respect at her job and from her family. But she knows that in order to win it in either situation, she must get to the cranky patriarch first before the others will give her a chance. Since her grandfather is a retired hotel manager, she sees that as the common ground between them and she works it.
The more she pecks away at his gruff exterior, the more curious she becomes because she knows they’re hiding a secret from her and she aims to find it out.
She ignores the pleas of her aunt and grandfather to leave the secrets where they are and to go on with her life as it is. What she learns will either make her stronger or destroy her.
Forster has penned a fine novel—probably her best to date. Her characters are multi-layered, strong and believable. The conflicts in which they are embroiled are sure to evoke serious emotional reactions in the readers. She takes the themes of secrets, deception and lies to new heights and makes the intricate plot her own. Forster’s use of imagery, dialogue and a wide vocabulary makes this novel sing. Her craft is tight and thus, is a real treat for anyone who enjoys reading a good book.
Very simply, go to your favorite bookstore or online bookseller and get this book. You won’t be sorry! |
|
|
nathasha@romanceincolor.net (15th March 2003) |
|