Contemporary Romance

Linda Dominique Grosvenor

BET/Sepia

1-58314-261-4

January 2003

(4) Wayne Jordan

PLOT SYNOPSIS: 

In her sequel to the highly acclaimed Like Boogie on Tuesday, Grosvenor reintroduces readers to the characters they met and loved in her earlier novel. Tim Richardson and Nina Madison are now married. But for Tim, the reality of becoming a director in the competitive film world has turned out to be quite different from his expectations.

REVIEW: 

Linda Dominique Grosvenor’s latest release, FEVER, is a worthy sequel to her 2002 bestseller, LIKE BOOGIE ON TUESDAY.  Troi Singleton, whose husband has succumbed to AIDS, is the link between the two couples who are the focus of this story.  Despite the emotion toil of her marriage, she has transformed her life to one that embraces positive goals and dreams, and becomes a source of strength and the voice of reasons for Tim and Nina, and Carla and Sam.

Tim and Nina are now married, but there appears to be no happily- ever-after.  In the years since their marriage they have drifted apart.  Tim, focused on making his name as a black filmmaker, has no time for his wife.  Nina, now a housewife with more than time on her hands, has put on weight and spends they days watching television and eating. Unable to communicate, they drift apart, until a former lover of Tim’s threatens to destroy the love they once had.

Carla and Sam’s marriage also seems in jeopardy.  Sam, a quite silent individual seems unable to communicate with his wife.  He loves her, but for some reason, she has blocked him out and each day the wall that she has erected between them gets higher.   He turns to Troi, Carla’s best friend, hoping that she could offer advice, but finds himself drawn more and more to her strength and confidence.  It is only when Carla’s secret is revealed that the wall begins to crumble, and healing starts to take place.

FEVER skillfully continues the stories of the characters we’d met in LIKE BOOGIE ON TUESDAYS and allows us another intimate glimpse of the lives of these fascinating characters. Each of the stories explores the emotional problems associate with relationships; the joy, the sadness and the sacrifices that ordinary individuals experience in their everyday lives.  Of the two stories, I found Sam and Carla’s story to be the most satisfying because of the nature of their relationship, and Sam’s unwavering strength of character and determination to be there for his troubled wife.

My main disappointment with FEVER would have to be its 177 pages, and the ending which seems a bit abrupt. I would have loved to see Ms. Grosvenor explore the lives of these characters even more.

Despite these minor grouses, FEVER is as thought provoking as LIKE BOOGIE ON TUESDAY, and left me thinking about life and the factors and situations that can often effect changes in our lives.

wajordan@romanceincolor.net (30th December 2003)