Stuff They Said

Have a look at a few reviews

Dear Rita

Here's a review that was posted in the Newsday, one of our local papers.  Thought you might like to have a look.

Roslyn Carrington lives in Maloney where, under the pseudonym Simona Taylor she writes romantic fiction  published by Harlequin Kimani, and by BET/Arabesque and some searing novels in her own name, published by Dafina Books all five or six houses (as I discovered courtesy Google) being under the umbrella of the Kensington Publishing Corporation  – and according to Amazon.com, earning rave reviews from fans of romance fiction.

 There are some who see romantic fiction and romance novels in bookstores, steups, ranking them as ‘bodice-rippers’ while remarking “For this they cut down trees?”. Yet, as Jane Austen observed, in defending the authors of Gothic novels in vogue in her own time “it is only a work in which the most thorough knowledge of human nature, the happiest delineation of its varieties, the liveliest effusions of wit and humour are conveyed to the world in the best chosen language.”.

 Well, perhaps that’s taking things to extremes where romantic fiction in the 21^st Century is concerned – especially with regard to “the best chosen language”. To write romance fiction, to have it published by a publisher willing to risk his own money is no mean feat these days. One feels one must congratulate Roslyn Carrington, even as one feels a small stab of envy …

 That said, “Dear Rita” – the title of Roslyn Carrington’s, or rather Simona Taylor’s, latest offering to the reading public of Harlequin Kimani romances and now available at Nigel Khan” bookseller– is an agony aunt in her late twenties, a virgin whose parents write sex manuals and tour the country promoting their works while urging their daughter to experience life to the full.

 Rita’s best friend, Cassie, has fallen for Clark Burrows, a prosperous lawyer; when he asks her out Cassie begs Rita to come with her on a double date with Clark’s legal partner, Dorian Black. Dorian and Rita hate each other at first sight – but, as all readers of romance know, that means they’re bound to end up … you know where before long.

But not before Rita is hounded by a stalker, a street waif, our hero and heroine have a fight  . . . but why go one to spoil the book for those who can’t wait to make a beeline to Nigel Khan bookseller for their latest ‘fix’ of romance?

Anne Hilton

And that's not the only one.  Check my other reviews out on Amazon. If you've read it, leave one of your own!

May Summer Never End

My fellow Trini writer, Ms. Dalia King, gave me permission to copy her review here.

This book is not really a romantic suspense. And thank goodness for that because the three main characters are way too interesting for Taylor to whittle away the word count on a large suspense subplot. So I’m reviewing MSNE as a traditional romance, suspense element be-damned.

After MSNE’s first two chapters, I tagged Rissa as beige: low on excitement but always pleasant. I thought of her like that because though she’d had all her clothes, money and tickets stolen, we don’t meet her at the American Embassy wailing at an advisor, we don’t see her in a police station demanding the thieves be apprehended, we don’t hear her on the phone begging her bank manager back home to FedEx her new credit card…no. She’s heading to a bookstore somewhere in France to see if she could get a job there to tide her over till she gets enough money to go home. And Rissa hasn’t whined yet.

Rissa has been through a lot in her short life (the sad details of which I won’t spoiler here, but its enough to get you scampering to a doctor for a check-up) but she never bawls – she never even seems to *think* – ‘Why me Lord, why me?’. It’s only when Taylor took us past her public face of composure to the emotional distress underneath, I realized, this girl is anything but beige.

Evan is a wonderful hero. He’s entrepreneurial; he’s successful (black man in France running tings? Hello!); he loves his sister; he wants to be a Daddy; and his butt is round, firm and looks good in jeans. This, we all know, is a deal maker.

Since we’re discussing romance, you may take it as a given that the chemistry between the two characters will always work, but that’s rarely the case. Many romance novels – particularly the suspense hybrids – suffer from poor protagonist chemistry. Happy to say we get both emotional connection and nice sexual chemistry here. After making Rissa and Evan believable – and likeable – as individuals, Taylor made their attraction authentic as well.

The conflict between them is real and given the set-up for most of the story where Evan pays Rissa (but not for *that* - untwist yer knickers while you crawl out the gutter), I liked that she managed it as more client-consultant than employer-employee. Not beige.

Now romance aside, let me talk a little bit about the love stories. These are the elements I actually enjoyed the most and wished they could have been fleshed out more if Taylor had had more space to play with. The love stories are between:

1) Rissa and Frankie. Their friendship was interesting. For most of the novel I wasn’t sure how the dynamics would evolve but you don’t see too many (healthy) relationships between the heroine and a teenage girl where the heroine isn’t her guardian or her nanny or her bestest bestest friend evah! Frankie is a spoilt, annoying teen but a realistic one. I don’t know if I would have had the patience Rissa showed in dealing with her, but then again, I would have been the one demanding my credit card by overnight delivery.

2) Frankie and Evan. I didn’t cry but I could have teared up. Rissa isn’t the only one with a tragic story in MSNE and at some points I just wanted to jump into the book and say: Group Hug everybody! Group Hug!!! The age difference between the two of them accounted for a lot of their issues because Evan found it hard to navigate through the sibling-not-parent waters. I felt for him, I felt for her. I loved their love story.

Okay, I said I wouldn’t have spoken about the suspense plot – and I won’t – except to say I wish it hadn’t been included so I could have spent more time reading about the three different love stories. Way more interesting than some lame-o Catalan malcontent! Just saying.

May Summer Never End - AllReaders.com

"After the death of her sister and a bout with cancer leaves her unable to bear children, writer Nerissa Young packs it all in and heads to Europe to rebuild her shattered life. Rissa's bad luck continues when she is robbed by a group of French girls that she befriends during her tour of France. Left almost penniless and without the fare to fly home, Rissa boards a train from Montpellier to Perpignan in order to find temporary work at a local bookstore. While on board the train Rissa makes the acquaintance of 17 year old wild child, Frankie Maynard, who is traveling home to Perpignan. Frankie and Rissa strike up a sudden friendship and Rissa tells her new friend about being robbed and left without resources.

Generously, Frankie offers Rissa a bed at her older brother Evan's home. Frankie explains that her brother has virtually raised her since the death of her parents in a sailing mishap. Having heard from Frankie that her brother Evan is cold and humorless, Rissa is less than eager to spend the night at his home. But, Rissa realizes that it will be almost impossible to make her way to the hostel in the dark. Once Rissa and Frankie arrive at Evan's palatial home Rissa comes face to face with Evan Maynard.

At first sight Rissa realizes that Evan is drop dead gorgeous and extremely suspicious of her presence at his home and her friendship with Frankie. It seems that Frankie has been missing for several days with her whereabouts unknown by Evan and her grandparents. Once Evan and Rissa spend some time together they both realize that their first impressions of each other were wrong. Evan realizes that Rissa is gentle, caring and mourning a tragedy in her life. Rissa sees that Evan deeply loves his younger sister and that he is a loving man. Evan is a talent boat builder, who's life is centered around his craft and his sister.

As Evan and Rissa give in to their sizzling attraction, Rissa is forced to realize that she may be unable to give Evan the one thing he values most - a family of his own. As Evan and Rissa work together to rescue Frankie from a disreputable conman, they find themselves falling in love. Will love conquer all? "
Sandra Calhoune, Resident Scholar

You can check out the site, AllReaders.com, here.