B
January 2003
SYNOPSIS: Desperate to forget the charismatic lover who betrayed her trust, Tangie Taylor throws herself into her career and into a peril that reunites her with Eric Duval, making him determined to reclaim their love.
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE: (3) Dee Y. Stewart
REVIEW: BET/Arabesque Book's Love Worth Fighting for is the first novel of a four part series on the FBI's Special Corruption Unit.
Tangerine Taylor is jilted and dejected until she meets the ultra sexy, Eric Duval/Duvernay a drug lord/undercover FBI Agent. This mystery man
sweeps her off her feet; but then lands her into the arms of a man that he is sworn to protect. Will he save Tangie from the Columbian Cartel?
Will he save Tangie's new love and, thereby, sacrifice any future for them?
I love romantic suspense fiction, and I love it even more when it has the right balance of romance and intrigue. Ms. Jones, however, tipped the
scales on this first installment, whereas there was more romance than suspense. The two story lines, the romance and the corruption story, did
not mesh together until Chapter 22. In order, for this book to have some serious punch it needed to have started from the first chapter.
I gave this story an average (3) rating, because there wasn't a nice enough balance of romance and intrigue to keep me interested in the
characters.
I didn't care about Tangie until halfway through the book and Eric didn't gain my intention until the next to last chapter. The resolution
would have been better, if Tangie was forced to make a decision instead of someone making it for her. After all, this is her story. The
conflict was weak and still didn't address the two character's relationships fundamental issues- why was Eric putting his career first? And
when were they going to stop punishing each other for their past? Finally, Kevin de Palma was introduced, too late into the story.
Ms. Jones does a nice job at pacing LOVE WORTH WAITING FOR and I was glad to not read the back-story in the first chapter. It made for greater suspense.
However, as I said before, Eric's family and his back-story should have been introduced earlier. I do applaud Ms. Jones for jumping into a
promising genre. We all love action and romance put together and I can't wait to see what else happens in this series. From what I gathered of
the last few chapters the second book will be more fast paced and action packed.
dee@romanceincolor.com (4th April 2004)