My Look:
Blair Nightingale was not supposed to be alone, let alone raising a child on her own, but soon, after her husband's funeral, Blair cannot help but wonder, whom exactly had she married?
Larry Nightingale wasn't a criminal--at least at first.
Now, she's finding out the man whom said marriage vows to her wasn't the same man in the end. All she really knew was that her husband started their marriage as a fun-loving, romantic, adventurous, ambitious man, but she's not really sure how it ended up that she was very much alone long before he died. At some point, Larry thought of her as little more than a trophy wife and her husband was always at work or going away for work.
However, the wreck her life just became was something she never saw coming, but she knew Larry's best friend, George, just told her she was about to lose everything and then went on to deliver her daughter, Rebecca.
Not too long after she gave birth, another man that she knows through Larry's business parties shows up at her door, with her immediate eviction order and a moving van. Without mercy, he tells Blair of Larry's theft and blames Larry's lack of life insurance for her current situation. No doubt about it, he wants what is coming to him and he has no problem telling Blair that what happens to her is not his worry or care.
Now, with a daughter who is only weeks old, Blair is homeless.
With the array of her limited choices threatening to cripple Blair, her sister wants her to move back to their hometown, but Blair sees that as not an option. She left that boring, small town life long ago, and she's not going backward.
Deciding to stay poses many other problems; she needs a job but has limited work experience and that dates back years ago.
Meanwhile, George Withrop can't help but feel responsible for Blair. After all, his best friend asked George to watch over his wife.
Larry should have thought about them before he stole all that money. Now, Larry is dead. Moreover, he left nothing for his wife and soon-to-be daughter but grief and debt, and George failed them too. George tried to reason with Reinhart and his attorney, but they would not listen. George didn't want Larry's wife and daughter to pay for Larry's deception, but it seemed he could do very little about it.
Calling her constantly to have the will read was like probing her fresh wounds, he knew, but it was the only hope he had left to save her from destruction. Unfortunately, this only increased Blair's hatred for him, leaving him without anymore options. He would have to deliver the news himself to a woman who could give birth any day that she is going to lose everything.
However, the best-laid plans can never happen without complications. Only minutes after receiving his devastating news, Blair's labor begins, but judging by her agonizing pain, this wasn't going to a slow birth.
Before the paramedics arrive, George has to deliver this baby and absorb the face slaps that he's received in the process from the hysterical woman. With the help of an emergency operator, via telephone, George delivers Rebecca and falls in love at the same time.
Although they shared a brief respite from her hatred of him, it doesn't last long. While she had slapped him silly, Blair yelled the reason for her hatred.
Blair believes that he was the reason her husband had left her alone, and she resents him for being with Larry at death, essentially keeping her from being by his side in death. These things were not entirely accurate. George was Larry's best friend and was indeed with him on many nights, but George had no idea that he was leaving his wife to be with his friend. He simply figured, as a married couple, both had been involved with outside activities and thought that Larry was spending free time with George. Yes, he was present when Larry died, but it wasn't the way she visions it. These two best friends had not always been close; in fact, they'd been distant.
Blair Nightingale does have every right to hate him, but she doesn't yet know those reasons. All he can do is hope she never finds out that George was the reason Larry died.
The day Rebecca was born changed both of their lives and he wants nothing more than to be by her side and help raise Becky as his own. Nevertheless, he needs to overcome her hatred and his guilt, and, most importantly, she needs to fall in love with him too.
My Take:
Geraldine Salon provides us readers with a romance that will keep you engaged and invested to the end. Her characters are both flawed and have made their share of mistakes, assumptions, and judgments, but they are both able to redeem themselves to themselves and others.
Blair realizes her marriage had been over long before her husband died but that she stayed in the imperfect union. Now, she's out to prove to herself that she can make it on her own. In the meantime, while George falls in love with the family that's not his own, I was able to fall in love with him. George isn't bad, but he became a fast friend with Larry maybe for all the wrong reasons. However, keeping his secret erodes George from the inside, but if he tells, he could lose everything.
I have no doubt that when you finish CHOCOLICIOUS that you want to read Geraldine Solon's LOVE LETTERS (January 2011). ***This read comes from a recommendation to my private library, but as always, I offer the opinion.***
