Customer Reviews

Against the Wind (Love Spectrum Romance)

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(13)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

I really enjoyed this book. I am interested in romances that feature interracial relationships and, in the past, have been disappointed when they don't really focus on the romance itself. This book did not disappoint. It's a love story about 2 people who clearly belong together, but, have to overcome several obstacles before they can be together. The race issue is just one of them and not the overwhelming focus. Leslie is smart, talented, determined to meet her goals and afraid to give in to her attraction to Jordan. Jordan is strong, gorgeous, totally in love with Leslie and equally determined to overcome her fears and prove that they can make it together. All his actions display respect and consideration for Leslie -- It's a wonder she held out as long as she did! Throughout the story you discover new and interesting things about the 2 main characters and also important, the people around them. When I finished the book, I wanted to read it again - and did!

What is with the current trend of heroines lacking a brain? In this story, Leslie is a college-educated woman, intent on furthering her education with a Masters Degree. I find that aspect of her commendable; however, the choices she makes left me wondering how a person who had book sense lacked so much common sense.

A stalking victim, she refuses to confide this information to anyone, choosing instead to suffer in fear. Her decision does not make any sense. Okay, the stalker warned her that he would kill her if she told anyone. Common sense should have told her that he'd do that either way. Why help him? Also, by staying at Jordan's estate, she put everyone there in danger by keeping her mouth shut. On one hand, she acts as if she cares about Jordan, his housekeeper and her husband and then later Jordan's nephew. But her actions convey a different story. If she cared about them AT ALL, she would have warned them and put their safety before her "pride."

Jordan was perfect, almost too perfect and had the patience of a saint. Leslie treated their pseudo-relationship like a rollercoaster, going through ups and downs without a moment's notice. Yet, he accepted her lame explanations and still wanted to pursue a relationship with her. Okay. Sure.

The conflict that drove them apart did not gel with the time period in which the story was set. Leslie blew their racial differences into epic proportions, constantly reminding the reader that Leslie is black and Jordan is white. The difference in their skin tones had already been established and using race as the biggest conflict between them would have been better suited for a story set in the 50s or 60s. With high profile couples such as Iman and David Bowie, Diana Ross and her ex and the numerous black professional basketball players and their white wives, the differences in Jordan and Leslie's race wouldn't be that much out of the ordinary. Of course, the racial difference would impact on their relationship (the US isn't the melting pot it proposes to be), BUT it should not have been the huge issue that it was in this story.

Finally, this book would have benefited from having an editor or proofreader looking over it. The punctuation and grammatical errors were distracting, not to mention the inconsistencies with one character's name. Was he Uncle Franklin or Uncle Frederick?

When it comes to romance novels, I prefer interracial romances. If Ms. Forster decides to write another one, I will read it with the hopes that the heroine is fleshed out better and the conflict is something more than the difference in skin color.

I have read other interracial love stories before and have never been disappointed, but this book was a little disappointing. I had to really make myself finish reading this book because I wanted to put it down by the middle of it. Leslie just really grated on my nerves! "I like him,I don't like him, "I want to be with him,I don't want to be with him" COME ON ALREADY! I understand she went through a traumatic experience and everything but.......... PLEASE!

I liked Jordan with exception of maybe he was just a little too perfect. Here is white man that has never dated a black women, he meets her and he falls for her without any reservations whatsoever. I had a hard time swallowing that. I wanted him to have some conflict. I thought Ossie and Julia were more "real" in what they thought of Leslie and Jordan's relationship. I loved Clifford.

I'm not saying this was a terrible book, but I think I would have enjoyed it more if Leslie wasn't.......Leslie.

I have to say that this is one of the worst books that I have ever read. First for all of those who wrote that they loved the book and gave it 5 stars......WTF? For those that have not read the book please don't, and here are my reasons.

1. The main character Leslie is immature and erratic and the author idolizes her as if she is virginal do-gooder the world has done wrong. The author also portrays her as being very naïve in the way of men but highly educated and focused on bettering herself. One of my biggest problems with Leslie was that she had way too many hang ups and insercurties. For the author to portray her as this great strong heroine was pathetic.

2. Jordan was just a baffling as Leslie. The author made him out to be a quasi alpha male that was conflicted with he lustful desire for Leslie and his over protective personality. What I personally disliked about him was that he was really old-fashioned (i.e. he drove a town car) but he was also bi-polar.

3. Overall this book was horrible and I can't believe that I read the whole thing. The grammar is bad with its down home country dialogue and the puns are even worse. (I am from MD and we are not that country!). I have to agree with everyone, the editor must have been blind because there is no way a person with any intelligence could not see them. Lastly the plot was a great idea but developed poorly like all of her characters and it was hard to follow. I know this is fiction but a determined educated black woman being stalked by her old white boss that worked at her bank that now tosses pebbles at her window at night and she does nothing because she is scared (Is this Realistic!) I have so many problems with this book that I could go in for days but I have one question for everyone that has read the book. What black women would voluntarily live at the YMCA?

What a waste of my money. I thought this book was going to be good from the reviews, but I was let down in a big way. First, did anyone proof this book at all. I was so confused that I thought I was losing my sight. Thank God I wasn't. I was just reading a book full of errors. Second, the story was not believable in any way. The whole crock of Leslie being stalked by the Faron guy made me cringe, because it didn't make much sense. I want to kill you by throwing pebbles at your window? I don't think so Gwynne.

Here's a suggestion. Fans of interracial romance read:

Sandra Kitt
Marilyn Lee
Seressia Glass
Eve Vaughn
Octavia Butler
Kim McLarin
Lisa G. Riley
JJ Murray

I truly enjoyed "Against the Wind." Leslie and Jordan were a terrific couple. Leslie was plagued with obstacles from her past that prohibited her from showing her true feelings to Jordan. However, through trust and Jordan's strongwill, their relationship would stand the test and battle the storm that was raging against the wind.

Leslie, as an African American female, had to pit feelings against Jordan's devoted housekeeper, Julia, as well as Ossie, one of the workers, who had trouble accepting Leslie's and Jordan's relationship.

Jordan was a compassionate, kind, considerate man, who was not only responsible for the operation of his ranch, but he also accepted responsibility for his workers and others. However, Jordan was a man who did not let society dictate what he should feel. He was determined to fight for what he felt was his right to have -- the love of a woman, no matter what color she was and to Jordan, that woman was Leslie Collins. Jordan set out to prove to Leslie that she was what mattered most in his life.

Ms. Forster,

Is the first book I've ever read on interracial LOVE. I found the story line good but the outer characters views on dating between a white and african american person were soft.

I would have like to read a more in depth view of what Julia, Ossie and the town folks really thought of one of its's leading citizens Jordan (white)and Leslie(black)a new comer, seeing one another.

Julia was like a mother to Jordan when he was growing up. I can not see her just sitting back and accepting a relationship between her boss and an upstart newcomer. Image is everything to Julia how does she really feel about one of the towns most handsomest men going about with an african american woman.

Ossie definetly didn't like the thought of a sister going out with a white man even if the man was his boss and friend. It would have been interesting to get a african amercian mans point of view for a change.

What about the reaction of the town folks when they were out and about in public. Not much written there except for the two brothers that didn't like seeing Leslie touching Jordan in the resturant. No mention of what the white female population thought of an african american woman coming into there town and capturing the most handsomest male in the town.

The love of the two main characters did flow very well and the love scene's were fantastic. I like the way Jordan handled the complicated matter of the attempted rape of Leslie.

Ms. Foster wrote a whimsical fantasy of interrical LOVE on how the world should be but is NOT. If you're going to tackle a highly charged subject be honest and true to your characters and your readers and make them see that true LOVE can triumph over all adversity.