~ Review: What Matters Most ~

PLOT SYNOPSIS:  Ashley Steele knows the demands of love and career don't mix, having seen her marriage destroyed by her dream of singing. Ashley meets horse-breeder Derrick Quinn. Strong-willed Derrick wants a stay-at-home woman, and knows he should stay away from globe-trotting Ashley, but he can't resist. Now, both must learn to turn their solo lives into a sweet duet.

REVIEW:  In Francine Craft’s WHAT MATTERS MOST, beautiful and talented gospel singer, Ashley Steele, battles with a very common dilemma faced by today’s women:  Career or love life?  Or is it possible to have them both?

Having already gone through one failed marriage, Ashley blames herself and her career for the demise of her marriage.  Then she is reunited with an old acquaintance, Derrick Quinn.  Derrick and Ashley’s attraction to each other is so quick and powerful that to describe it as magnetic would not be inappropriate. 

But whereas attraction alone is never enough, Craft allows us to watch as they sort through their feelings as they attempt to discover if what they feel is stronger than what they fear.  A sorting that brings about very powerful scenes of love-making, followed by long sighs of confusion and frustration.

Most of the story is set on the beautiful farmlands of Crystal Lake; a setting so well depicted by Craft that the reader has no trouble visualizing the big oak trees, the strawberry fields the family loves to pick in or the horses frolicking in the meadows.  When Ashley goes horseback riding, Craft paints such a warm, inviting scene, it makes me wish that I was the not one sitting on a horse right next to Ashley enjoying the beautiful scenery.

A couple of the characters in WHAT MATTERS MOST were a bit harder to visualize.  With the history the reader is given on Derrick, making him only 30 years old seems inconsistent with the other facts are given about his life.  This made it hard for me to picture Derrick’s teenage son.  This also made it difficult for me to feel empathy for the grieving widower that he depicted as when Ashley first meets him.

Several characters, however, worked very well.  Ashley’s family members clearly define the strong bonds of love and unity.  Ashley’s ex-husband’s attitude, behavior and negativity is painted so well that readers are sure to sympathize with her, and rally in her corner for her happiness.  If Ashley were really a neighbor, she would have been receiving, “it wasn’t your fault, sweetie,” from friends.  Derrick’s sister-in-law is another character for which Craft’s word gift shows is evident.  Her depiction will have readers scurrying to find a word far stronger than “vindictive” to describe this character.

WHAT MATTERS MOST was a bit slow in the beginning.  Some of the early scenes made me question the purpose of several characters. The mid-section of the story is what stands out most in my mind, as its solid pacing allowed me time to appreciate the characters, without being overburdened by unnecessary detail.  As a result the story’s abrupt ending was disappointing.  Ms. Craft had worked so hard to bait, hook and reel the readers in, and would have sealed this novel’s place among my favorites, and made any discrepancies a mute issue.  Unfortunately, the chosen finish left a throng of questions swarming in my head.

I would recommend this book to others.  Despite its weaknesses, there are many things about it that readers will appreciate.  Gospel music fans, for one, will love the time that Craft put into researching songs, and accurately depicting the music genre; a depiction capable of making the songwriters swell with pride, while readers weep with the powerful presence the songs present.

March 31, 2002