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WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES - Michele Cameron Genesis Press/Indigo August 2009 |
SYNOPSIS: After tragedy strikes and she loses her fiancé, a woman must find the strength to take a chance on love again when her childhood love reenters her life.
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE |4| Marguerite Lemons
REVIEW:
Grace Foxfire, an
elementary school teacher, is tired of the club scene. Hoowever, she agrees to
go in order to keep her best friend Solange, company and manages to meet the
love of her life, Livingston Lockhart. Livingston is an architect for a large
firm and arranges to be transferred to Atlanta so he could be closer to Grace.
He’s also happens to be the frat brother and best friend of Grace’s “play”
brother, Jethro “Jet” Newman. Jet and Grace were raised as siblings after losing
their father’s at the same time, Grace’s mother and finally his. Grace and
Livingston fall madly in love and are to be married when Livingston is killed in
a fatal accident the night before the wedding. Grace falls into a pit of
despair, and Jet comes to her rescue. While Jet is helping Grace learn to live
and love again, Grace realizes that she’s in love with him and that lightning
does indeed strike twice in the same place.
After Livingston’s death, Grace becomes a shell of the strong, independent woman
she is, and develops an addiction to sleeping pills to help her cope with his
death and her unresolved feelings about her mother. Jet not only has to deal
with his residual feelings regarding his mother’s death at the hands of an
uncaring doctor, but now he has to deal with the guilt caused by his role in
Livingston’s death. Jet decides to move back to their home town and open a free
clinic in order to help the residents who can’t afford their medicines, in a bid
to help assuage his guilt. He comes to Grace’s aid, and helps to excise his
demons and hers over the death of Livingston and her mother.
I didn’t like the fact that Grace became a judgmental snob when she moved to her
home town with Jet, but she was able to redeem herself when she reached out to
help a single mother in her time of need. The move proved to be cathartic for
both she and Jet. I also enjoyed the fact that once Jet decided what he needed
to do for himself and others; he never waivered.
WHEN LIGHTNING STRIKES is a moderately paced
story with an interesting cast of characters. There are characters that you
love, some that you would love to hate, those you feel sorry for, and the ever
present busy bodies. This story is one that many people can relate to in one way
or another. It is a good read.
reviewer@romanceincolor.com | 1st August 2009