This story shines a light on James’, a Guyanese immigrant in Sweden, search for the right woman. His self-doubt and even the way he thinks; was different than I expected. The cultural differences between James and Maude, plus their slowly evolving efforts to make their relationship work; was a little too much at first. It was hard for me to feel immersed in the storyline for the first chapter, but, the pace quickly picked up after that. This is unlike a lot of the romance novels I read, and, that’s a good thing. Its refreshing to look at everything from a different angle, a different writing style. The journey that we all take to find authentic and genuine love is where this focused my thoughts. To find love and be excepted for who we really are is a quest in itself. Balancing that relationship without completely changing to please someone else is what I saw in Maude and James’ relationship. For most of the story, supporting characters were more likable than Maude. I felt like she was too much. Until I remembered that the world is brimming with overly opinionated individuals.
I enjoyed the two learning to compromise for the relationship to work. At first, I didn’t really see a change in Maude. It only felt like James was changing. Until I reread certain parts and noticed that her change was subtle at first. For people weary of sexual content and curse words. There are some extremely subtle love scenes and a sprinkle of light cursing. Overall this was a very nice read. Seeing human nature from James’ point of view was insightful. Lawrence G. Taylor’s writing style here made me think. So I would definitely read some of his other works.
Suzanne is the supporting character that interested me the most. What she tells James about Maude, during different circumstances helped James to see Maude’s character better. Her presence was essential in the development of James and Maude’s relationship. Acknowledging how different Maude is, essentially gives James a few tips on how to act, and saved it in my opinion. As well as James’ opinion.”
