 Contemporary Romance |
NO MORE TEARS Shelby Lewis BET/Arabesque March 2003 (2+) Kakita Floyd |
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PLOT SYNOPSIS: |
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Shattered by her husband's betrayal, Miranda Evans walks away from their upper-class life and discovers the healing power of love when she meets successful rancher Brody Campbell.
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REVIEW: |
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How do you know when you’ve found home, the place where you belong and were meant to be? This is the question that faces Miranda Evans, the main character in NO MORE TEARS by Shelby Lewis. Miranda Evans is a woman on the run from her past and its pain. The home she knew is no more and she is in search of a new place to regain her sense of self. Her struggle comes to a conclusion when she meets and falls for Oklahoma rancher, Brody Campbell.
To help answer the novel’s central question, Ms. Lewis attempts to show Miranda’s struggle and eventual growth as she tackles the issues in her past and present. Creatively, the setting of Brody’ Oklahoma ranch and the small black community of Guthrie are used show Miranda the beauty and safety she needs and craves. It is in these two places that Miranda finds not only herself but new friends and a family.
NO MORE TEARS starts out strong, as you can truly feel and empathize with Miranda’s anger in the beginning of the story. But that depth of feeling is not carried out to the end of the story. As a reader I did not feel the same depth of emotion as Miranda finds herself and a new love. This leads Ms. Lewis to fail in her attempt at defining what is home. Although there is character growth and development in Miranda, the passage to this growth is not very interesting. The developing relationship between Brody and Miranda happens swiftly and is predictably interrupted before it can get very strong as Miranda’s past shows up in her present to cause conflict.
Overall, I found this novel to be average. It fit the model of a romance but it does it without much flair. I believe SIMPLY WONDERFUL to be a better example of Shelby Lewis’s writing talent. |
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katika@romanceincolor.net (30th March 2003) |
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