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ESSENCE OF PASSION Antonette Renee Picasso Publications 2000 (3+) Nathasha Brooks-Harris |
Contemporary Romance |
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PLOT SYNOPSIS: |
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REVIEW: |
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Frenchette Devore is an attractive, well-educated woman who’s going places professionally. She intends to go straight to the top of her field as the vice president of Comeau Electronics. Christopher Benet is a very handsome man who “rubs some people the wrong way” with his chauvinistic beliefs and strong demeanor. He is passionate about those beliefs and has a definite sense of who he is and what he hopes to be in the future to his children and the woman in his life. Frenchette and Christopher had met in college and she is perhaps the only person who understands him. Where others find him overbearing, she finds him refreshing. Although she has always been devoted to him and he’s the love of her life, they have a strange love/hate relationship and that relationship is sporadic at best. ESSENCE OF PASSION has all of the required elements of writing that make a romance novel complete. However, there’s a problem with the way they’re put together. The main problem is pacing and the same words being repeated in one sentence after another. These are typical first-time author problems and can easily be rectified in the editing and revision process. The first half of the novel moves a bit too slowly and too much narration is given in the author’s attempt to set the stage introducing the plot and characters. Please keep in mind that this reviewer read an unedited advance review copy of the novel and the above-cited problems will probably be fixed by the time it hits the bookshelves. This novel had many good points, though. One of them was that the plot was like that of a daytime soap opera because there was a lot going on to keep the reader interested. The drama level was high. ESSENCE OF PASSION would translate very easily and very well to the screen because of it. So much happens within the course of this novel that readers won’t be able to put the book down. For instance, Renee addresses the subjects of corporate betrayal and intrigue, lack of parental love, girlfriend drama, strained romance and maintenance sex in her novel. All of those topics plus more make for quite and interesting read. Another good point is that the characters are three-dimensional and are on point with what’s happening now. The characters each have a unique voice and play a specific part in the unfolding of the overall plot. Renee obviously has a good ear because her dialogue is well-crafted. It’s realistic and matches the character speaking at the given time. Their dialogue is not stiff or choppy as is found in numerous first novels, but flows beautifully and is interesting. The second half of the book moves quickly and is a fluid read. Everything flows in a natural progression and romance is ever present. Renee doesn’t make the mistake she made in the first half of the book. Overall, this novel deserves to be read. It’s a good first novel from Renee and readers will see that she has skills. As with any other job, those skills must be honed until they are perfect. She starts from a good place and in time, her name is bound to become known in the romance arena as readers begin to read and appreciate her work. Get in “on the ground floor” now so that when it happens, you can say that you read her work at the inception of her career and you read about her at ROMANCE IN COLOR first! |
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nathasha@romanceincolor.net (1st September 2000) |
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