Ebony Eyes (Love Spectrum Romance) [Paperback]

Kei Swanson (Author)

Book Description

Series: Love Spectrum Romance | Publication Date: November 1, 2006

Corie Rickman’s parents have always indulged her, but chafing under their protective care, she chooses to marry a man from the wrong side of the tracks. After one too many beatings from her husband, she leaves him and starts her life over. Unfortunately for her, she knows too much about her ex’s illegal activities, and now he’s gunning for her.Undercover cop Laine Tanizaki is out to avenge his partner’s death. He meets Corie while trying to bring down a ring of drug dealers. The attraction is instant, but the deceptions begin almost as quickly. Can they survive both Corie’s murderous ex and the weight of their own lies?

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 272 pages
• Publisher: Genesis Press (November 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585711942
• ISBN-13: 978-1585711949
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.2 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,223,176 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a wife, the mother of one, the grandmother of one, a nurse, teacher, writer and Christian. Born at the Florence Nightingale Hospital in Dallas, I grew up in Arlington, Texas and now we have retired to North Texas. I've lived several states and countries as the military wife of an Air Force Master Sergant and know the agony of sending him off to war. My husband, always my hero, and I are remodeling at 1920 Craftsman Bungalow, bringing it back to its period. I teach nursing at a local community college.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Hmm..., July 20, 2007

By 

Literaturephil (NY, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ebony Eyes (Love Spectrum Romance) (Paperback)

When I saw that "Ebony Eyes" featured an Asian male and Black female romance, I was excited. While this is a more common pairing in real life (especially in the Caribbean), it is rarely depicted in movies and books. Yet when I began reading "Ebony Eyes," the disappointment began.

Laine Tanizaki is a refreshing depiction of an Asian male. He is emotional and not the least bit stereotypical. I particularly liked how he lashed out at stereotypes of Asian males. Unfortunately, Swanson fails to give the same breadth of character to Corie Rickman, his love interest. Corie is incredibly weak and childish, possessing almost no backbone. In any scene where she does actually stick up for herself, it is only when Laine is present. Interestingly, Corie is an incredibly wealthy Black woman; in fact, she is the sole heir of her family's fortune and property. Let me explain why I point this out.

As I am interested in reading more AM/BF romance novels, I found that Kei Swanson has written two such novels. But in each novel, the Black female protagonist is well off (in her other novel, "A Drummer's Beat to Mend", the woman is a surgeon) and has an incredibly weak and childish character. Also, the Black female's childish character causes many one-sided petty arguments, leaving the reader to wonder how the male can remain attracted to her.

At the end of "Ebony Eyes," and after reading the reviews for "A Drummer's Beat to Mend," I must ask why Swanson cannot create stronger, more well-rounded Black female characters? Must her Black female character always be wealthy and have some obvious characteristic of recent white ancestry (i.e. longer, straighter hair and lighter skin)? Does Swanson believe this is the only way an Asian male can be attracted to a Black woman? Black women, just like Asian men, come from a variety of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds. Yet Swanson makes no effort to sample this spectrum and to create a believable Black female character, especially one whom readers readers can root for. And frankly, Swanson's description of Corie made me honestly hate Corie's character. It was a struggle to finish the book, as I couldn't understand how Laine could remain attracted to Corie. Lastly, Swanson basically glossed over the issues Corie's and Laine's romance would bring up. Their different ethnicities only became an issue at an expensive, star-studded fund raising event. Otherwise, readers see nothing about the animosity their relationship could face in real life.

Despite some negative reviews, I bought this book and did look forward to reading it. I admire Swanson's dedication to creating a more masculine image of Asian/Asian American males. This definitely needs to be done. But this book proved to be a disappointment because of Swanson's depiction of Corie, a Black female. I'm now reluctant to read her other novel, "A Drummer's Beat to Mend." While Swanson is avidly fighting stereotypes for her Asian characters, she readily uses them for her Black characters.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Very Disappointing, January 5, 2007

By 

lawlady (Lexington, SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ebony Eyes (Love Spectrum Romance) (Paperback)

I liked both of Ms. Swanson's previous books- A Drummer's Beat to Mend and Words of the Pitcher- and I eagerly anticipated this book. The book started out with some promise but I was very disappointed when that fizzled out pretty quick.

Cori is from a wealthy background and she is operating a bookstore in the mall. She is getting over an abusive ex-husband who it turn out is a drug dealer. The ex keeps harassng her for something he thinks she took from him. She uses her bookstore as a haven even going so far as to sleep there. Laine is an undercover cop who is looking to stop the drug trafficking in the mall. He is working undercover as a burger bar employee at the mall when they meet.

As I said, the story started out with some promise of their romance and you could sense the chemistry between the characters but this fizzled.

The author was very descriptive about Laine and his desire to have a permanent woman in his life. He was concerned about his budding relationship with Cori because he could not tell her the truth. He felt that the lies he was forced to tell might come between them.

Cori was portrayed as a silly, whiny girl. When she and Laine had an argument, she reacted very silly and childishly. It was as if the author could not make up her mind whether to make Cori a silly little girl or a sexy woman at times. She acted so childish that I was truly sick of her by page 67 (literally). Cori did not act like a woman who knew her mind and was able to take care of herself. I only finished the book past page 67 because I paid good money for it.

Ms. Swanson has proven that she can write a good hero but she really needs work with the leading women. All of them from her books have come across as juvenile and silly acting at times despite their advances educational degrees. However, of the three books, this book was the worst offender.

There were several inconsistensies throughout the book too. The book often jumped from one thought or scene to another without any cohesive flow and the author was inconsistent about the characters' relationships with their family members. Also, the book suffered from some poor editing as there were some grammatical errors and missing words. This problem though was not as bad as some of the other books by this publisher.

The fact that these characters were an interracial couple was not an issue at all except when they brought it up themselves. In fact, what should have actually been an issue was made way too little of and Cori was actually the most offensive person in the book about their differences. Even when she was trying to make a joke about them, she would say something silly and would irritate me anew.

I was heartily sick of the author's continued descriptions of Cori's flowing waist length hair. It was mentioned almost every other page and I cannot tell you another thing about her physical description other than that.

Laine was working undercover but that was the worst undercover I have ever seen portrayed. He regularly went to visit his father. He carried a police badge. He went in and out of the police station and regularly met with another cop and he did not even do any investigation of Cori. He even went to a karate class where everyone knew him from his real life and he attended a party with Cori where he ran into his own boss. What kind of undercover officer is this? A pretty poor one. You do not keep living your own life while you are undercover. The author clearly should have talked to a few cops or at least watched a move on the subject before writing this.

Cori is living in her bookstore in the mall with her cat directly across from a fast food burger place. Again, I do not know what malls Ms. Swanson frequents, but no mall that I have been to allows this.

Also, after all of the buildup to the undercover mission, it was over way too quick. It was as though the author realized that she only had 20 pages left to go and so she hurried up and tied up the story. That or she was on a deadline adn just threw an ending on because she could not figure out how to fix this mess.

There is alot more that I can say about how disappointed I am in this book but that would require me to continue thinking about it. I just want to forget this absolute waste of cash and move on.

Two stars for the promise it started out with and the fact that one is the lowest. I would have given it one but that honor was given to another book that I reviewed that people should avoid at all costs. See my reviews to be warned about that turkey.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pleasant Cultural Flavor, November 22, 2006

By 

Louisiana Lady (Louisiana USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ebony Eyes (Love Spectrum Romance) (Paperback)

Corie Rickman lived an affluent, indulged, and sheltered life but rebelliously married a man from the wrong side of the tracks. After suffering physical and emotional abuse she leaves and tries to start over again; but her ex has other ideas.

Laine Tanizaki hasn't worked undercover for two years, not since a friend was killed during a drug sting. Though many told him it was not his fault, his conscience continues to bother him. Now, to ease it, he wants to complete the sting by working undercover at a fast food restaurant in a Beverly Hills mall. He did not count on playing the role of knight and rescuing a damsel in distress at the bookstore across the way...

I almost did not purchase this book because of one review but decided to give it a chance. I expected to find Corie irritating, but her character flaws did not diminish or detract from the story for me. I enjoyed the characters, cultural diversity, story, and overall I enjoyed book.