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THE PASTOR'S WOMAN - Jacquelin Thomas Harlequin Kimani/Romance September 2007 |
SYNOPSIS: New preacher Wade Kendrick wants a reserved, traditional woman for a wife, but he only has eyes for Pearl Lockhart, who aspires to gospel stardom and doesn't fit into the preachers world, despite their sizzling attraction.
SERIES ROMANCE |4| Keren Childers
REVIEW: Pearl Lockhart has always been the feisty sister who, under no circumstances, lets people walk over her. She has her opinion and is entitled to it, as far as she is concerned. Pearl is the youth choir director and they love her, so she is outraged when the new pastor of Lakeview Baptist Church, Reverend Wade Kendricks, starts making changes in the church. He even goes as far as to insist that she dress a certain way and have the choir sing certain songs. Reverend Kendricks is baffled by Pearl’s attitude; he can’t understand why she gets upset by his suggestions. However, he starts to question his motives toward Pearl when he finds that he wants to get to know her on a more personal level.
Ms. Thomas introduces two opinionated characters that bump heads constantly. Pearl has a beautiful voice and she’s a talented writer and composer. I definitely think she needs an attitude adjustment when it comes to someone giving her advice. She shouldn’t be so quick to jump to the wrong conclusions. Reverend Kendricks, I truly believe, is a man of God. I know he wants to do God’s work and use the Bible as his guide, but please this is 2007. I believe he acts a little too old for his age. He needs to loosen up a little. The Rev and Pearl make a nice looking couple and I think they feed off of each other. This is a fine example of opposites being attracted to each other. Ms. Thomas took a chance on connecting these characters together, but I think she pulled it off.
In THE PASTOR’S WOMAN, the pace is steady and works well with the storyline. The setting is on point. It convinces you to believe the story and the characters. The secondary characters play a major role in this book. You have Ruby, the oldest, who acts like the mother; Opal, the arbitrator; and Amber, she loves drama and gets a kick out of Pearl acting up. Ms. Barbara, the Reverend’s nosey secretary, stirs up the pot with her plans to hook her niece up with him.
If I had to say one negative thing about the story, it would be that THE PASTOR’S WOMAN is not a typical romance novel. Because of the characters involved, you really wouldn’t expect there to be any sex scenes involved. But I love to read steamy, hot love scenes and I feel unfilled when I don’t find them in a romance novel. However, Ms. Thomas pulls this off with her feisty characters. I would definitely recommend reading this book.
reviewer@romanceincolor.com | 1st October 2007