Impressed!
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Usually, I approach interracial romance writing with more than a soupçon of caution. This is because I'm never in the mood for certain things, like: being beaten around the head and shoulders of why IR is a good thing (it is! I know! Or I wouldn't read the book!), or the writer tries to be too 'worthy' or the book is in dire need of an editor because it lacks pace, or there are grammatical errors as well as wonky sentence mechanics or all of the above.
Thankfully, this book has none of these attributes. I'm pleased to say that Crystal Hubbard is a fine writer, with a sure, strong sense of style.
The story is as follows: Jackson DeVoy is a lawyer - and he's all about the money - coming from a hard scrabble background with his immigrant dad raising him in the rough parts of Boston - Jackson's drive, skill and ambition makes him one of the best lawyers around - and his boss sends him to the island of Darwin (located in the South Pacific) to meet up with JT Marchand so that he can get exclusive rights to a miracle mint tea that promises to shed pounds, without excessive dieting.
On the island, while trying to pin down an interview with the elusive JT Marchad, he's blind sided by Lina, an island native. Jackson then is called to Boston before he has a chance to say goodbye.
Later, Lina turns up in Boston, and she tries to live in Jackson's world, as well as fighting off feelings for the man, because Lina has responsiblities and ties to her homeland too.
The crux of the story is this: will Jackson realise that Lina is his everything? Will Lina stay and be a distant second in his life - despite the fact that she has ties to her island?
Luckily for us, the characters' journey to do the right thing is a touching and enjoyable one, and a story that I enjoyed on every page. I literally couldn't put the book down.
What Ms. Hubbard does right is characterisations: very deft, very cunning. You think that you might know Jackson, that driven lawyer who think if he works hard enough, and plans well enough, he can have everything - but is baffled by the one thing he never planned on having. Lina is exotically beautiful yes, but unaffected by her beauty, but not in the passive aggressive way that typical romantic heroines tend to be. Of course, there's a nod to the fact that Lina and Jack are different races, and how there may be hiccoughs in an IR relationship in terms of what people see, but at the end of the day, its the relationship that the characters have between each other that takes centre stage- and that's a refreshing take by an IR writer (or probably things have improved in this field since the 1990s early naughties? Whatever, I'll take it).
Ms Hubbard is brilliant, and I'm sure we'll be seeing her moving towards general romantic suspense like the Roberts and Brockmanns of this world.
A+ story, would read again.
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