HARVEST MOON

Rochelle Alers

BET/Arabesque

1-58314-056-5

November 1999

(4+) Wayne Jordan

Contemporary Romance

PLOT SYNOPSIS: 

REVIEW: 

Those of you who have been reading Rochelle Alers’ HIDEAWAY series will be pleased with the first book in her new HIDEAWAY LEGACY’S SECOND GENERATION.  Feeling nostalgic, I approached the book with anticipation.  It was like a homecoming.  Over the years, Ms. Alers has proven that she is a talented author—one from whom I expect no less than excellence.  And HARVEST MOON lives up to my expectations and is much, much more.  The book is the story of Regina Cole, the girl whom we met in Ms. Alers’ HIDEAWAY in 1995.  We remember too, with a bit of amusement, when she married Oscar Spencer, at the end of HEAVEN SENT, a man 50 years her senior.

Now, at the beginning of HARVEST MOON, Oscar is dead.  Regina, now 27, contacts Oscar’s son, Dr. Aaron Spencer, a man who has already decided that his stepmother is a gold digger.  When he finally meets Regina, his attraction to her is immediate:

His pulse quickened as he noted the ethereal slimness of her body in a black, floor-length slip dress and the cloud of ebony curls falling over her shoulders and down her back.

Eventually, he realizes that she is a Cole, and sees her for the caring, wonderful woman she is, and that special woman.  Regina Cole-Spencer is indeed the woman every man is looking for and I’ll go out on a limb and say that she is one of Ms. Alers’ best heroines, and definitely one of my favorites.  It was difficult to understand how a beautiful young woman could marry a man so much older that she is, but when we get to know Regina we realise that when she says that she loved her late husband, we know that she is not only being honest, but sincere.

HARVEST MOON is about relationships, and what makes them work.  Regina and Aaron’s courtship is a passionate one, but one that is not without uncertainties from the two protagonists.  Both strong individuals, the conflicts are many, but Ms. Alers handles this situation with finesse, finally bringing the two lovers together.

In her letter at the end of HARVEST MOON, Ms. Alers hopes that the reader has “enjoyed the love and passion of Regina and Aaron as they established their own legacy to carry on the tradition of sexy, sophisticated men and women who risk everything for love.”  HARVEST MOON is a perfect example of this sentiment.  Regina and Aaron, like all of Ms. Alers’ heroes and heroines are sexy, sophisticated personalities vibrant with life.  Despite their existence in the world of romance, they radiate and embody the reality of love.

HARVEST MOON is a fitting beginning to a legacy that Ms. Alers has established, and like all fan of the HIDEAWAYS LEGACY, I look forward with anticipation to Sara and Salem’s story in May 2000!!

wayne@romanceincolor.net (15th October 1999)