STRAIGHT TO THE HEART - Bettye Griffin
B
January 2003
SYNOPSIS: Freshly single and facing 40, Monique Oliver jumps at the offer to run a bed and breakfast in her mother's North Carolina hometown. The moment she arrives she becomes a man magnet, although the one man who really grabs her interest steers clear of her.
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE: (3) Katika Floyd
REVIEW: After a string of mishaps in her life Monique Oliver looks to start over in her family hometown of Washington, North Carolina. She’s lost her man, her job, and her hair. So her uncle’s offer to run his bed and breakfast comes at just the right time. Since she’s just sworn off men, she is very surprised when handsome Mac MacDonald walks into her B&B and into her life. Will the time be right for Mac and Monique to find a love to last?
Monique and Mac are both in their forties and neither is really looking for love. This in part leads to the slow pace of the story. As they slowly fall into a relationship, the reader gets to see attraction and passion develop between the two. Monique, who was raised as an only child, is trying to improve herself and outgrow her long lived selfish streak. So she tries to resist her attraction to Mac, and just let a friendship develop instead of hoping for more. Mac, who has been dating for a while, is cynical of women in general, and hopes Monique won’t be like all the other women he’s dated.
The most interesting part of the story is how Ms. Griffin presents two other relationships in STRAIGHT TO THE HEART with an interesting cast of supporting characters. Lyman and Connie, the handyman and housekeeper at the B&B, show a relationship between an older couple who have loved before. We get to see the foibles and mistakes of teen love with Jerome (Mac’s teenaged nephew) and Adrian (Monique’s teen niece). The way she handles the relationship between Jerome and Adrian leaves much to be desired as she uses their relationship to cause needless conflict.
I found this romance to be a bit on the bland side. There is not a lot of action going on. For most of the story, Mac and Monique slowly circle around the idea of even having a relationship which seems to make the story drag. Monique has so much going wrong in her life, the reader knows it has to get better eventually because it can’t get any worse which makes the story a bit predictable.
Despite its weaknesses, however, STRAIGHT TO THE HEART, is an enjoyable read.