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LOVE TAKES TIME - Adrianne
Byrd Harlequin Kimani/Arabesque April 2009 |
SYNOPSIS: All her life, Alyssa Jansen has loved Quentin Hinton, but he has barely noticed her. When Alyssa returns after years of living in Paris, Q suddenly sees her in a new light. However, so does his brother, Sterling. Now Alyssa must decide where her heart truly lies.
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE |4+| Susan Plummer
REVIEW: In LOVE TAKES TIME, best selling author Adrianne Byrd, uses words to artfully craft an amazingly vivid picture of characters and scenes, bringing them and their story to life. I was connected to each character, vested in their happiness, sharing in their laughter, feeling their loss and most of all, celebrating in their happiness.
The story begins with a young Alyssa Jansen who has a giant-sized crush on the
man of her dreams Quentin Hinton but all he sees is a fresh faced teen. Years
later and now a stunning and successful supermodel, Alyssa returns to her
childhood home and this time Quentin has definitely taken notice. He has no
problems making at least part of Alyssa’s dream come true. His brother Sterling
cautions Quentin that he is not the commitment kind and will only end up
breaking Alyssa’s heart. When a mind numbing event pushes Alyssa into Sterling’s
arms he is riddled with remorse believing he has taken advantage of Alyssa and
betrayed his brother. Alyssa unsuccessfully tries to convince Sterling her
feelings for him go beyond her crush on Quentin. Ironically, it is Sterling who
breaks Alyssa’s heart when he walks away from their love. Unaware of what
transpired, Quentin makes his move on Alyssa. Sterling has to counter his
brother’s move or risk losing Alyssa for good.
I have yet to read a novel by Adrianne Byrd that lags at any point. In fact,
LOVE TAKES TIME is so captivating, I
couldn’t put it down. Alyssa’s character experiences a metamorphosis throughout
the story resulting in a kinship. I wanted Alyssa to be happy and was fuming mad
at Quentin for not being the man for her. Yet, as much as I disliked Quentin’s
ways I didn’t dislike his character. He is like that charming rogue women should
stay away from but are inexplicably drawn to. Sterling turned out to be a
sleeper because he didn’t come across as particularly right for Alyssa but when
the sparks started flying between them, I was a believer.
Honestly, I don’t even remember the locale because I was too busy devouring the
story. I guess that speaks towards location not being a make or break element in
this wonderful story.
Adrianne Byrd has a way of creating attention-grabbing dialogue that is both
contemporary and realistic; conversation between characters flow like water over
a rock. You are transfixed, placed smack dab in the center of the dialogues; an
eavesdropper listening to a scandalous exchange. My one pet-peeve and this is in
no way a criticism, just me being nosy: I wasn’t sure of the age difference
between Sterling and Alyssa. Then again, as I said before, it’s possible I
missed that bit of information while busily getting to the good stuff in this
engaging story.
LOVE TAKES TIMES is 100% pure grade, Adrianne Byrd at her best. And, as a huge admirer of her work, she keeps me hooked and happy with every new novel. I got nothing but love for LOVE TAKES TIME.
reviewer@romanceincolor.com | 27th April 2009