Customer Reviews

Candlelight and You: Valentine Love\Wait For Love\Seventy-Two Hours & Counting (Arabesque)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What a lovely way to spend Valentine's Day in preparation for a night out with your sweetie. Ms. Esdaile weaves a magical tale around a gift shop owner and a radio executive. I thoroughly enjoyed the 'angel' in the form of the little old lady who visits the shop one day and gives our heroine a tiny golden angel. Then, things reallys start heating up! What an artist Ms. Schuster has proven to be. In her story, WAIT FOR LOVE, she makes me believe in second chances. A misunderstanding between two shy souls in college turns into a fiery love affair many years later when they meet again. Curt is an ex-basketball player turned coach. Janice is an interior designer extraordinaire. Once the air is cleared and the misunderstanding is explained sparks are ignited. What chemistry! And in Linda Walters'tale a long-time boyfriend has to sit up and take notice because his lady is tired of being ignored. Every man should get this kind of wake-up call just to make sure he's still interested. All three stories were delivered is different styles with varying degrees of spice. All were romantic. All were excellent reads. Arabesque continues to get better and better where their anthologies are concerned.

This was a really nice anthology...no weak stories in the bunch. Each author easily holds her own. You'll find yourself cheering for each of the heroines in these stories

Leslie Esdaile's story brings to reality the magical powers we've always heard Cupid had. In Seventy-Two Hours and Counting, Linda Walters' heroine must choose to let an old boyfriend go while giving into the feelings she has for another man. You'll find yourself cheering for one brother, while wanting to choke the other one!

My favorite of the three stories is Wait For Love by Melanie Schuster. I've read one other novel by this author, and I enjoy the charming characters she develops. Her main characters are surrounded by a great secondary characters...they alone are enough to hold your attention. But the heat between the Janice and Curt, the hero and heroine is definitely what makes this story hot!

I only picked this books because one of my favorite authors (Leslie Esdaile) wrote a story in it. I now have 2 new authors to put on my list. The thing that I liked about all the stories is that the women did not sit around and whine and cry about what they did not have. They made things happen and looked after their own. I wish more authors would write stories about strong black women who know how to use their minds and how to think for themselves. Don't get me wrong. I have been happily married for 30 years. But I know how to think for myself also. The women in the stories are an image for our young women to emulate. You GO ladies!

THIS BOOK WAS AMAZING, exciting, good and romantic. I love all 3 stories but the one that got me to the point were i had to reread it over within a week was the second story WAIT FOR LOVE by Melanie Schuster you have to have to have to read this story, Janice and Curt was perfect for each other you won't be disappointed this is the type of book that you will want to read every Valentine's Day
If you purchase this book it will be worth it and i hope you will enjoy it...

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I always end my reviews by saying everybody has a different opinion when writing a review if we all had the same reviews or opinions it would be boring. Reviews can sometimes down play a really good book or up play a really bad book its up to us to read the book and judge for ourselves and draw our own conclusion that's the best thing about a review its like a silent debate....

Feel free to join my book group on facebook ( Romance Novel Junkies) we have well known and indie authors and avid readers as members who are apart of this group who would love to hear about new books and thoughts.

Over all, the book was a good read. I had a few issues with the stories but that's to be expected. Before I continue I do want to let it be known that I didn't/couldn't complete the last story. My review was dropped from five stars to four because I couldn't force myself to read it.

Valentine's Love~
This story was good but the attraction felt forced at times. Honestly, this would have been a five star story if Brandon and Denise never interacted with each other because those [the ones where they were not together] were the scenes that drew me in. Case and point; the conversation in the kitchen that was supposed to seem sweet, genuine and naked came off more as forced, corny and rushed.
This story was hilarious and had me laughing out loud at points but the chemistry [or lack thereof] between the hero/heroine seemed awkward and I felt odd witnessing it.
I feel like this should have been a whole book rather than a short story and that would have provided more time for Brandon and Denise to get to know each other and also allow for the story to flow naturally and not seem so rushed to get a connection, which was nonexistent, between the two protagonist and then the reader wouldn't feel like a voyeur to a obligated relationship.

Wait for Love~

Okay, I want this story to have been a book rather than a short story for a completely different reason than Valentine's love. I NEVER WANTED THE STORY TO END. It was too short for me. I loved the whole concept of being forced to break up before they even got together. The fact that they both were crazy over what was "almost" and held on to that for years was cute! The fact that they connected after all the childish antics on Curt's side was awesome. And just when I was saying, Okay there's nothing else to this story, we got a little twist that I was not expecting. I wish this was a regular book because I wanted Her to extend Nyeesha's {sp} part. That could have been so good.
I also love the three little kids in the story. I really wish that Ms. Schuster fast forward into the future and see what the mini matchmakers are like all grown up. They're an interesting trio.

I want to apologize if some of the structuring of this review doesn't make sense. I'm at work and am trying to rush to write this in between calls. Hopefully you all get it. :-D

Seventy-two Hours and Counting~

Not read. Couldn't get through

Ms. Fayt

Although I found VALENTINE'S LOVE to be a pleasant diversion, I didn't really care for the other two stories in the collection. VALENTINE'S LOVE had a cute story line and winning characters. I particularly liked Esdaile's clever Cupid methods.

WAIT FOR LOVE and SEVENTY-TWO HOURS AND COUNTING were both tedious reads for me. The narratives were uninteresting, and the characters, along the same line, unexciting. The stories came across as unimaginative, often-told tales.

Because of the latter two stories, CANDLELIGHT AND YOU makes a wearisome read. To make up for them, just read VALENTINE'S LOVE over and over again. One out of three isn't all too bad.