Against the Wind (Love Spectrum Romance) [Paperback]

Gwynne Forster (Author)

Book Description

Series: Love Spectrum Romance | Publication Date: October 1, 1999

For months, Leslie Collins has been trying to outrun the man who is trying to kill her. Determined to establish some semblance of a normal life while she finishes her masters degree, Leslie arrives at the home of Jordan Saber, looking for a job.Jordan takes pity on her and hires her to help out in the kitchen. He also falls in love with her.Jordan tries to protect Leslie from the pain of her past and the disapproving stares of those in her present. It seems lots of people don’t like the fact that Jordan, a white man, has fallen in love with an African-American woman, even though they make a great team and really love each other. Although Jordan is dealing well with the race issue, Leslie must come to understand that regardless of the color of the wrapping, love is a precious gift.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 266 pages
• Publisher: Genesis Press; 1st edition (October 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1885478909
• ISBN-13: 978-1885478900
• Product Dimensions: 7.2 x 4.8 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (57 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,544,288 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ABOUT GWYNNE FORSTER
Gwynne Forster is national best-selling and award-winning author of seven novels of general fiction, thirty-one romance novels, and eight mainstream and romance novellas. All of her mainstream novels and several of her romance novels have been featured in Black Expressions Magazine. When Twilight Comes, her first mainstream novel, was featured on the magazine's cover, and it also remained on the Essence Magazine list of best sellers for several months. Her latest mainstream novels, A Different Kind Of Blues and Getting Some of Her Own were published in October 2007 snf 2008, respectively to excelledt reviews. Publiher's Weekly called A Different Kind of Blues "An ode to life...wise and wonderful..."

Among her many awards and forms of recognition, Gwynne is most proud of her election in 2006 to the Affaire de Coeur Magazine Hall Of Fame and of the Life Time Ahcievement Award conferred by Romantic Times Magazine in 2007. The following novels were nominated by Affaire de Coeur Magazine for 'Best romance novel of the year with African-American Hero and heroine: Ecstasy, Obsession, Naked Soul, Fools Rush In, Swept Away, Secret Desire, Scarlet Woman. Winners of the award were: Beyond Desire,Ecstasy, Naked Soul, Fools Rush In, and Swept Away. Readers of Affaire de Coeur Magazine named Gwynne one of Top Ten Favorite Authors for the years 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2006, and one of five outstanding achievers (1998). Rendezvous Magazine voted Secret Desire "Rose Bud of the month" for November 2003. The 2001 Gold Pin Award from Black Writers Reunion and Conference went to Beyond Desire.

Double Day Book Club and Literary Guild selected Beyond Desire and used the book to start the Black Expressions Book Club. Romance In Color internet site gave its 1999 Award of Excellence to Against The Wind and voted Gwynne Author of the Year. The site voted Flying High runner-up to best romance of the year 2003 and gave it Honorable mention. Romance Slam Jam 2000 nominated Gwynne for the Vivian Stephens Lifetime Achievement Award. Romance Slam Jam 2001 gave Gwynne an Emma Award for her novella, "Learning to Love" in the anthology, Going To The Chapel. Romance Slam Jam 2003 nominated Blues From Down Deep for an Emma Award as best mainstream novel. Gwynne lectures extensively on fiction writing, and on making the first sale.

A native North Carolinian who grew up in Washington, D. C. , Gwynne holds bachelors and masters degrees in sociology, a master's degree in economics/demography and has additional graduate credits in journalism. As a demographer, she is widely published. She is formerly chief of (non-medical) research in fertility and family planning in the Population Division of the United Nations in New York and served for four years as chairperson of the International Programme Committee of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (London, England). These positions took her on official business to sixty-three developed and developing countries.

Gwynne sings on her church choir, loves to entertain, and is a museum hopper, gourmet cook and avid gardener. She enjoys classical music, opera, jazz and blues with her husband with whom she lives in New York City. She is represented by the Steel-Perkins Literary Agency, 26 Island Lane, Canandaigua, NY 14424. Reach Gwynne at P.O. Box 45, New York, N.Y. 10044; E-mail [e-mail]; Web page - http://www.gwynneforster.com -. Blog: http://gwynneforster.blogspot.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Against the Wind is one of the year's best romances!, December 7, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Against the Wind (Love Spectrum Romance) (Paperback)

I tend to shy away from interracial romances because the major emphasis in most novels is not on the romance. Interracial romances are often hampered by an overzealousness to tackle "the race question" head on. As a result, the main characters spend most of their time focusing upon the objections to their relationship than on the relationship itself.

Against the Wind is the story of accountant Leslie Collins and Jordan Saber, a college professor and gentleman farmer, set in Talbot County, Maryland.

As the story begins, Leslie has come to Saber Estates in search of a job. When a former employer attempted to rape her, Leslie filed charges against the man. He was convicted and sentenced to jail, but not before vowing to get revenge against Leslie. He has served his time and recently has been released from prison. The threats have begun anew. Afraid for her safety, she has left town and has found temporary shelter in a women's residence near Saber Estates.

When Leslie asks for clerical work, Jordan tells her he has recently fired his bookkeeper for dishonesty and only needs seasonal workers to help with his lettuce crop. Noting her desperation to find work, he offers her a job as a cook. Leslie, who cooked for a family in exchange for room and board as an undergraduate, accepts his offer.

We know from the outset that Jordan Saber is somehow distinct. But Leslie has had a bad experience with men in general and with male employers in particular. She does not necessarily balk at a relationship with Jordan because he is a white man, but because he is a man. Period.

Leslie has been traumatized by the attempted assault and she is determined to fight any attraction she may have to Jordan Saber. She keeps her distance. And, although Jordan is attracted to Leslie, he respects her space. He also senses that she is afraid and hiding from something.

Jordan secretly vows to protect her and to find out what is causing her so much anxiety. His pursuit of Leslie is intense, yet subtle. It is powerful, but at its core is always respectful. Because Leslie is Black and Jordan is white and she is his employee, Gwynne Forster was careful not to create master-slave story. Jordan is a man, a wonderful man that any woman would want. However, we are not blind to his shortcomings.

Forster is painstakingly sensitive in her development of the romance, but she has been careful not to create the pretense of a utopian, color-blind existence for Jordan and Leslie within the happily ever after. To her credit, she is not heavy-handed with pronouncements on the subject of race. On Saber Estates opposition within Jordan's world will not be tolerated. Reality sets in once they leave the fortress he has created. A restaurant scene in which two men silently react to seeing Leslie and Jordan together speaks volumes without getting on a soapbox.

In Against the Wind, Gwynne Forster has given us a mature, believeable, full-bodied romance.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Read this before buying..., November 24, 2001

By 

A. Maddox "nevahsatisfied" (Charlotte, NC United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Against the Wind (Love Spectrum Romance) (Paperback)

I am going to come right out and say it, bluntness is the best way. This book in all honesty is not good. I had to keep looking at the front cover and back of the book while reading it to reassure myself of the year the book was supposed to be set in. Let me explain this, if you were to read this book and didn't know it was a contemporary romance novel, you would think it was set in a time when he was the owner of some sort of "plantation" (or halfway house...maybe?) and she worked for him as his cook. But that isn't the only reason why I disliked the book. From the beginning they had a distrusting relationship, but all of a sudden (I still don't know how!), he saw her differently and she wasn't just his cook anymore...she was beautiful woman he had to have. The book made very little sense in a way that it wasn't believable. I could not make it through the book, I had to skip to the end about half way through it. I am an avid interracial romance novel reader and from the bottom of my heart, trust me...don't waste your money.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Was this even edited?, November 18, 2006

By 

eureka - See all my reviews

This review is from: Against the Wind (Love Spectrum Romance) (Paperback)

The blurb made the characters seem interesting....WRONG! First, did anyone bother to proofread this? The typos were rampant and annoying, the grammatic errors were frequent and the story was just underdeveloped! One minute she's running from him and the next they're sailing? Too many unfinished scenes to keep track of what was taking place. Besides, if the author doesn't know who's speaking from one moment to the next, how am I supposed to?

The female lead's reason for running was extremely weak and her reason for hiding the story was even weaker.

The male lead didn't really have a reason to fall in love with her. It seems like he fell in love with the first woman who didn't run from him.

The relationship between the two characters never developed and in the end, I wanted them to be together only to end the story.