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Willaful Review (and thoughts): Always in My Heart by Kayla Perrin

 

 

Sensuality rating: steamy

This is my first book from Harlequin’s “Kimani” line, and my primary thought reading it was that it’s really messed up that there needs to be an entire separate line for romances with black characters. By any standards I can think of, Always in My Heart is a category romance — it’s a secret baby story, for crying out loud, what could be more typical? — and could be published under a general line, which makes Kimani seem like a publishing ghetto.  Or is it valuable as a tool for people to easily find romances with black characters?  There’s no one definite answer, as the author points out in a Karen Knows Best interview from 2007:

KP: in many ways, I understand the publishers’ dilemma. They know there is a huge AA market. They want AA readers to be able to easily identify books they might relate to. The easiest way to do that is to make the covers ethnocentric.

Booksellers say the same thing—that having an AA section where there is a large AA readership helps readers know where to go to find the stories they’re looking for. It’s the kind of question for which there isn’t necessarily an easy answer.

KKB: What are your thoughts on niche marketing? What do you think the limitations are if any?

KP: I think there are lots of limitations, one of which is alienating the general reader. There really is a feeling, with the current marketing, that if the books are being marketed to the AA reader, then that’s the only demographic which will enjoy AA books. That’s a serious limitation.

I know there are category lines that do publish a few romances with black characters. This is what I’ve noticed in my (extremely limited) reading experience:

The Kimani romance: standard category, no major focus on race, but did include an issue particularly relevant to the characters as black people. The heroine and hero were both activists against racially motivated police violence; the original conflict between them was his joining the police force to try to improve the system from within, and her seeing this as a betrayal. Also, their son is given a West African name. I thought the story did a good job overall of having black characters without making everything be about the fact that they’re black; perhaps other readers might think there’s not enough about it.

The Silhouette Desire romance (name forgotten): This was an absolutely typical Texas tycoon story and nothing, except the cover and a very minor mention of the heroine’s skin tone, indicated in any way whatsover that the main characters were black and that the writer was black.

Of course this comparison is useless because you can’t make a judgement about entire lines based on two books. Still, it gave me food for thought. It’s as if the Desire characters were allowed to be black as long as readers don’t have to think about it; Kimani characters got a little more freedom within the basic formula, although only the most bigoted “general i.e white reader” would find anything in the story to alienate them. I’d love input and title recommendations from others who’ve read these lines more extensively.

As for the book itself: If I were rating solely on the writing, I’d give it 2 1/2 stars. The style is bland and there’s a lot of grating repetition; when every character uses the same phrase to describe a situation (“couldn’t be faithtful” is said about an offscreen character three times) it doesn’t feel real to me.

I’m rating it up a bit because I found the portrayal of Nigel so appealing. He’s very vulnerable, having loved Callie devotedly and been deeply wounded by her. Unlike many romance heroes, his pain doesn’t cause him to act out in hyper-masculinized ways; he’s a family man at heart and is still hoping to find the right woman to settle down with.  Although he’s wary of Callie, fearful she’ll run away from him again, he embraces his newfound son with complete commitment.

So as a pleasant story with an appealing hero, I’m giving it three stars; I’ll probably check out the next books in the series, which will be about Callie’s sisters. You can buy Always in My Heart from Amazon here or from B&N here.

A few more pertinent comments from the interview:

KKB: Have you been personally involved in trying to bring about changes within the publishing industry, with regards to how African American authors are treated? If so can you tell me about your efforts?

KP: I have voiced my opinion in support of having an AA category for the Rita Awards, since our books don’t final (or hardly ever) in the current categories. We have some fabulous books out there, but they’re not finaling. I’d love to know why.

KKB: Do you think this will still be a controversial subject in five years time, or do you think major changes would have been made by then?
KP: The cynic in me says that in 5 years, it will still be a controversial topic. The dreamer in me hopes there’ll be substantial changes. Only time will tell!

This interview took place in 2007 — five years ago. There’s no African American RITA category and in 2012 there were no African American winners. It looks like time hasn’t told us anything very encouraging.

"...romance as a pop-culture entity–fucked me up pretty severely." - Romance Is Damaging?

I saw this post courtesy of RRRJessica this morning, and I have to say, it gave me food for thought, as well as pissed me off a tad. There’s nothing I hate more than people who bang on about feminism, whilst trying to minimise my right to choose.

The blogger writes:

…I’ve been reading Dear Author. This is my Big Chance granted to the romance genre: I wanted to see if my prejudices against it were unfounded. While I don’t have exact statistics to wave in anyone’s face, I think it’s no distortion of the truth to point out that most of the content discussed and reviewed on Dear Author is a matter strictly white and middle-class and western–American mostly, with a daub here and there of the Irish or Scottish to liven things with a little exotica; sometimes books about characters of color will be reviewed, but those are overwhelmingly books written by white people. A limited, vanishingly small quantity of lesbian material is reviewed once in a blue moon (the latest under this tag? May 2011). M/M is reviewed now and again, but only those with reality distortion fields on will insist M/M as a genre is about the advocacy of gay rights.

[…]

I imagine a lot of us grew up internalizing homophobia to hell and back. I imagine a lot of us didn’t even know we were in the closet, because it’s easy to believe you are straight when everyone is straight and tells you it’s the normal thing to be. Haruka and Michiru weren’t enough to combat everything else; neither were Anthy and Utena. I thought yuri manga was dirty (although, to be sure, I was also repulsed by yaoi) and I avoided it like the plague.

So, I don’t know about other queer women, but to me the prevalence of romance–not as a genre by itself, but romance as a pop-culture entity–fucked me up pretty severely. I didn’t grow up on romance exactly, but I did consume my share of shoujo manga. I consumed my share, later, of urban fantasy. You and I know this shit is everywhere. The heteronormative hegemony. The automatic recoiling at any mention of the gay. It’s not to be pinned onto any one genre, any one category, anyone form of media.

But if you’re telling me that romance is categorically feminist, you’re contributing to this large damage in an insidious, silencing way. The proponents of romance-is-feminist school of thought like to pass such fiction off as inherently progressive because it is written mostly by women and targets women as an audience: it pushes the idea that reading these books is liberating and sex-positive and, what’s more, reading them is good for you. Because feminism! Liberation from the yoke of repression and sexual dissatisfaction!

Tell me this and I’ll kick you in the fucking teeth.  (more…)

A Plea To AA Romance Writers…

Monday, February 6, 2012
Posted in: AA authors, AA romance

If you want to appeal to a wider audience and market, please refrain from giving your characters ghetto-fabulous names like La Shonda or Deshawn. Seriously, stop it.

Seriously, instead of thinking about what a shit job you did writing this book, you decide to slag off the reviewer?

It makes me laugh uproariously that you start off your post thusly:

“As all of you know, I love reviews. The good, the bad and the ugly. I have no problem posting them on my website or blogging about them.”

I’m pretty sure that what you meant was that you love glowing reviews, seeing as you just got a bad one, and you’re so pissed that you’re waving your knickers in the air for all and sundry to gawk at.

As for this part: (more…)

Angela has a really interesting post up entitled Religion and Interracial Romance. I have an idea that using the word ‘romance’ is a bit of a misnomer though, seeing as her column seems to really be talking about religious influence on interracial relationships, period, rather than the bookish side of things.

She starts:

The black church has a history of being the pillar of the black community, and admittedly, most blacks–that is, blacks who consider themselves Christian–are pretty religious and/or spiritual. I have observed, however, in online conversations between black women and the issue of interracial dating, that a few of the black women conversation who are married or who date white men, have mentioned their lack of religion.

So basically, the more religious you are, the less likely you are to enter into an interracial relationship?

(more…)

Come one, come all, to meet black authors of romance, mystery, poetry, science fiction, and every other genre and subgenre of writing, fiction or otherwise! Many of them are hidden away in the African American (also known by some as black ghetto) section of most bookstores.

Via Farrah Rochon’s blog I chanced upon this wonderful idea (brain child of author Carleen Brice) to start changing the tide, to dispel preconceived notions (both among readers and book sellers) about writing by blacks. In her own words, from the White Readers Meet Black Authors blog:

Welcome readers of all races, shapes and sizes. Here is where you’ll be safely, carefully introduced to books written by black people. Now, don’t be alarmed. The books are written by black people, but like other books, they can be read by anybody. In fact, we WANT you to read our books. Don’t let the fact that publishers and booksellers put us in the back in the special section of the store scare you. They do that because they want African American readers to be able to find us easily, which is a good thing. However, it has come to our attention that it also puts some of the rest of you off.

So we are extending an official invitation for you to check out our section of the bookstore. Much like in the rest of the bookstore you’ll find books about thugs, hos, murder, revenge, sex, sisters, mothers, daughters, friends, husbands and wives, children, and God. You’ll find romance, mystery, deep thoughts about the meaning of life and death, tear-jerkers and belly laughs.

I’m foreseeing actual in-store parties around the country one day. But first our humble little blog here will introduce you to some of the writers you may never otherwise know about, but I promise you will like. At least, I promise you will like or hate as much as any other writer or any other book you’ll find in the rest of the store.

(more…)

Risk by Ann Christopher.

Risk is the first book by Ms Christopher that I’ve read, and I was very eager to read it because the premise of the story intrigued me very much. Unfortunately, this was one of those cases in which my personal baggage interfered severely with my potential enjoyment of the novel.

A spark of desire

Fine and fearless, Justus Robinson doesn’t hesitate to hit on gorgeous law student Angela Dennis at his brother’s wedding, even though she’s the bride’s sister. That night the two share an unforgettably sexy dance, but nothing more–until ten years later, when a tragedy reunites them.

A test of love

Angela has barely healed from a breakup when her sister and brother-in-law are killed in an accident. Sharing their grief, Justus and Angela discover they are still attracted to each other. But when they find themselves competing to adopt their orphaned young niece, their rekindled passion is sorely tested. Justus is determined to raise the child even if it means alienating the woman he’s never stopped wanting. Reeling from loss and tormented by her desire for Justus, Angela makes a drastic move—one that will change the lives of everyone involved.

As usual, the blurb has more than a few things wrong: Angela gets dumped on a Friday evening, her sister and brother in law die in a car accident that same weekend—how much healing can she have done? I’ll say pretty much zero. As for the ‘rekindled passion’ bit… *put upon sigh* (more…)

Blurb from Eharlequin.com:

You can buy His Holiday Wedding here, and learn more about the author here. (Cute website btw)

Via Blogging In Black

My Verdict

Loved. It. I really, really did.

The Heroine

Angela was exquisitely neurotic, and had me teetering forwards and backwards in terms of how I felt about her, throughout the book.

In the beginning she was a stuck up, selfish bitch who needed a good kicking, but as the story went on, I realised that the one thing I liked about Angela was the sense of ‘realness’ that I got from her character.

She wasn’t perfect, at times she could be downright selfish and self-absorbed, and ordinarily, this type of heroine would usually have me running for the hills screaming blue murder, wielding an axe, but as the story develops, the reader sees less and less of the self-indulgent Angela, and instead is introduced to a woman who wants to do the right thing by her niece.

The reader sees a woman who’s plagued with insecurities, desperate to change, but doesn’t really know where to start. A woman who every now, and again is willing to unbend enough to try something that takes her out of her comfort zone. I liked this Angela, I got this Angela.

The Hero

Justus was wonderful. Decent, and honest, and kind. He really was.

He was a red-blooded, charismatic, successful man, who’d had his share of beautiful women, and wasn’t ashamed to admit it, but his fateful encounter with Angela ten years ago, had made a huge impression with him, and left him with feelings that he’d never been able to explain away.

He wasn’t as complex as Angela, because I didn’t find myself in the same tug-of-like conflict with his character. He was fairly consistent all the way through the book, and actually, that was quite nice, especially in light of the fact that Angela’s character was as mercurial as the weather.

The thing that I loved most about Justus was the way he was with Maya. I love stories where the hero is able to interact in a normal way with children, without giving me a sickly sweet, sugar overdose, or channeling The Pied Piper of Hamelin.

I could tell that he loved Maya, and that his relationship with her was one of the most important things in his life. That says a lot about a man, and it made me as the reader more willing to trust that for all of his male-slut ways, when he eventually fell in love, it would be for real, and forever.

Although the two of them didn’t actually consumate their relationship till much later in the story, the build-up was so tension-filled, that I started looking forward, in desperate anticipation, to their next chemistry-fuelled scenes, together. The pages fairly smoked with all of the sexual tension, between the two of them. It’s great when an author is able to harness that, and bring it to a story.

Secondary Characters

One of the main secondary characters in the story, was Vincent, Justus’ cold, super-driven, super-snobbish father. Justus and his father had never seen eye to eye, and Justus had always felt that he was a bitter disappointment to his father. A point which Vincent had no qualms about harping back to, time and time again.

There was a particluarly powerful scene in the book, where Vincent spurns Justus’ attempt to help him, after his heart starts troubling him, and he intimates that if he had to have a son die, it should have been Justus. At that point, I must admit to actually wanting to seriously injure him in some way

I feared that Ann Christopher was going to go the route of turning Vincent into a one-dimensional, evil-bastard character, but luckily, as the story unfolded, we got to see a gentler, less reprehensible side to him. I like characters in books, who make me question my feelings towards them. I like the uncertainty of not knowing how I feel about a character from one minute to the next, it makes things a little more interesting.

Maya

Maya was the thread, that not only brought Justus and Angela together, but she was the common ground that Justus and his father desperately needed to reach a place of compromise and conciliation.

I loved how Christopher didn’t turn her into the model child, fully equipped with a halo on her head, and angel wings sprouting from her back. She was sometimes, naughty, and she was sometimes nice, but she was always an interesting character, for one so young. The scenes with her and Angela were bittersweet. Angela’s inexperience with children shining through, every time Maya behaved like a typical three year-old. There were a few heart-warming scenes, between Maya, Justus, and Angela, but at no point did Christopher wade into Corny As Hell territory. I liked that.

The Story

I loved how Christopher was able to weave such a beautifully intense story, without making me feel like I’d been put through an emotional wringer. She didn’t waste time with extraneous plots, and a multitude of secondary characters, and instead concentrated on developing multi-dimensional leads, who fairly jumped off the page for me. The pacing was good, and at no point did I feel the need to go and watch my grass grow in the garden.

Risk wasn’t quite the perfect read, I wasn’t overly enamoured by the fact that Justus was just 17, and Angela 24, when they first met, I think I would have felt a lot more comfortable if he had been at least twenty years old. Also, I noticed that Christopher really liked using the word ‘cried’ a lot. Had she kept this particular verb to just the females, (e.g. “My God Angela, he cried”) I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have noticed her over-use of it.

I was able to get past the imperfections, and as minor as they were, they certainly didn’t stop me from being enchanted by Christopher’s version of love at first sight. I loved the way she made me believe in the possibility that love can start with a single glance, and a single dance, and that those feelings can be strong enough to transcend time and tragedy.

This was romance in the truest sense of the word, and so often, authors fall short of providing that very necessary ingredient. I certainly take my hat off to Ann Christopher, she wrote a wonderful story, and one that was very hard to put down.

You can buy Risk here, and visit Ann Christopher’s website, here.

Thanks to Linda for reccing this to me, you were soooo right.

A few people have recommended this book to me, (thanks Byrdlovestoread!) so I bought it. I may let you know how I like it, if I can be arsed. I’ll be writing the review for Rockstar later today, so, we’ll see…

Blurb From Amazon

You can visit Ann Christopher here, and buy Risk, here.

For the full report, with photographs, pop over to Rosie’s blog.

Wonders never cease…