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SAY YOU LOVE ME - Adrianne
Byrd Harlequin Kimani/Arabesque June 2009 |
SYNOPSIS: After 15 years of playing second fiddle to her husband's successful software company, novelist Christian Williams is determined to get a divorce. She decides to take refuge at her family ranch to think things through. When her husband follows her there, they rediscover their love.
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE |4| Melanie Schuster (Reviewed in 2000)
REVIEW: SAY YOU LOVE ME by Adrienne Byrd is the third book I have read lately that takes the reader into the ‘ever after’. And the ‘ever after’ is not what it’s cracked up to be if these books are to be believed. This new approach is quite controversial, to judge by the buzz on various chat forums dedicated to romance. Some readers enjoy looking at a couple after a period of time has elapsed; if the couple is experiencing problems, this represents reality and brings a down-to-earth element to romance.
Other readers are quite vocal in their disapproval of this tactic. Once the
curtain is down, leave it down unless it’s to assure the reader through brief
vignettes in other books that their favorite couple is doing well and
prospering. That, in the minds of some readers, is the essence of romance. Once
in love, the hero and heroine should stay in love forever and just have
beautiful children and a wonderful life.
That is certainly what Christian Williams thought would happen with her husband Jordan. After a rapid and romantic courtship, he vowed to love her forever and dedicate his life to her. But now, 15 years after the fact, they have become strangers. The children they so desperately want have not come, and Jordan’s prosperous software company seems to be his first priority.
Christian has fulfilled her dreams of becoming a writer—she has several books
out and her own magazine. But the closeness and sharing that she desperately
needs are not there. She feels empty, lonely and isolated, so much so that she
files for a divorce. This is the wake-up call that Jordan needs. He is
determined to prove to his wife once and for all that he is still the man that
she married and it is never to late to honor the vows that bind them together.
Ms Byrd paints a compelling story of a couple caught up into the traps of modern
marriage; no time together, no communication, etc. The story is, in fact, so
compelling that I wish she had stuck to that and not covered so much ground.
Those of you that read I PROMISE, part of the June Brides Series,
remember Jordan’s twin brother Malcolm and Christian’s best friend Alex. Their
aborted love affair was the teaser in I PROMISE—I, like many others, was
hoping that they would mend their differences and get back together, but not at
the expense of Christian and Jordan. And I was a bit surprised that it took 15
years for them to start speaking again…that would have been hard for me to take,
had I been the lovely Alex.
These were some strong and passionate people and I was hoping they would have a
book of their own. Instead, their story is told along with Christian and
Jordan’s which was for me, unsatisfying. We also revisited Jordan’s parents and
the dynamic of their marriage; it was nice to get the loose ends tied up, but I
really wanted to stick to the matter at hand, Christian and Jordan. I can’t help
it! I liked these people and I wanted to understand better how their promises
had turned so bitter.
Those quibbles aside, it is a book worth reading. Any time an author makes her
characters so real that I am want to spend more time with them, she has done a
good job, in my opinion. I just felt the way you feel at a large party where
there are a bunch of old friends you haven’t seen in awhile. You want to sit and
have a long chat with each of them, but all you can do is a quick hug and an
“I’ll call you”. It’s fun and somewhat fulfilling, but you’re left wanting a
little more.
If you haven’t read I PROMISE, by all means do so. And then jump right
into SAY YOU LOVE ME. As for the question of whether or not authors
should go into full sequel mode, I will leave that to someone else to decide.
Anything that keeps the genre fresh, exciting and keeps us reading I am all for,
especially if it gets readers talking.
reviewer@romanceincolor.com | 5th July 2009