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LOVE NOTES LOVE NOTES Leslie Esdaile BET/Arabesque February 2001 (3+) Jeanette Cogdell |
Contemporary Romance |
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PLOT SYNOPSIS: |
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REVIEW: |
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“Step on a crack and
break your mother’s back, ‘cause all in time, three, six, nine, the goose
drank wine, the monkey pulled the back off the street car line.
The line broke, and the monkey got choked and they all went to heaven in
a little rowboat.”
O-kay! How
anyone can take a childhood rhyme and base a book around it is beyond me, but
Ms. Esdaile did. And it works.
She has you thinking, analyzing and scratching your head trying to
surmise this mystery. Nina
and Tony Carpenter have been married for two years after a five-year romance.
Tony owns a club, The Jazz Note and Nina, an artist, teaches at the
university. They have all the
material possessions a couple could want. But
the one thing that would make their life complete eludes them.
Tony hails from a large family, while Nina is an only child.
She so wants a baby of her own. With
Tony working very late hours, they start to drift apart, spending very little
time together. The arguments begin
and now they are more like roommates, polite strangers.
Even their passionate lovemaking became non-existent.
They both fear their marriage is in trouble and decide to seek parental
guidance. Armed
with the advice from their parents, Nina and Tony make an effort to rescue their
failing relationship and to be more understanding of each other.
Then Tony’s brother is shot and Tony becomes the prime suspect, causing
Nina to question his innocence. You
could feel the love this couple had for each other.
What they were dealing with was pride on both sides plus that age-old
problem of open communication along with listening and really hearing what is
being said. This was a bit too
close for comfort. The
counsel given by their fathers was thought provoking and very interesting.
These were the scenes I most enjoyed.
They could have taken place in a class, “Understanding the male psyche
101”. It was extremely
informative and this veteran wife could definitely use the suggestions. One of my favorite family movies is filled with mystical and magical creatures. There is even a place called Fantasia. The movie is The Never-Ending Story. LOVE NOTES reminded me of that title. Even after the mystery is solved there are still several chapters to read. It seems to go on and on and on. It also appears that the object of the book was to see if the author could tie every character into the mystery. Convoluted as it is, she does it. Talk about confusing. What? They knew each other too? And when it does finally end, the ending was so improbable that I found myself flipping back a few pages to see if I missed a chapter or two. This book was just a little two deep for my fantasy driven mind. If I want a challenging, make you think, psychological, theory driven and complex puzzle book, then I’d go to that section in the bookstore. (There is one, isn’t there?) This was supposed to be romance, plain and simple. So here’s the deal. If you love psychological mysteries mixed with a little romance (much like mainstream fiction), then you’ll enjoy LOVE NOTES. However, if you love romance filled with fantasy and “fluff”, then stay away from this one. This reviewer was left in blue funk for several hours afterwards. |
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2002 |
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