A Reason To Love (Arabesque) [Mass Market Paperback]

Marcia King-Gamble (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Following the recent and highly publicized death of a patient, San Francisco pediatrician Niki Hamilton decides to accept an offer from her old college roommate, Kim, to spend a few weeks relaxing on the Jersey Shore. The stress of a lawsuit, hate mail and threatening calls have taken their toll on the 42-year-old doctor, and a vacation is long overdue. The reunion is cut short, however, when a family emergency arises for Kim, leaving prim and priggish Niki to manage her friend's dating service, Coffee Mates, and enroll its newest applicant--handsome, biracial landscape designer and single dad Cary Thomas. Seeing Cary as nothing more than an uneducated gardener and an uncomfortable reminder of her cheating, house-painter ex, Niki eschews his initial advances and treats him with cool reserve. A subplot involving a shady drug dealer named Quaalude and a fellow doctor's conspiracy against Niki further upsets an already rocky courtship and does little to promote a romantic tone or a credible relationship between the characters. Although mixing romance and suspense is second nature to King-Gamble (Illusions of Love; etc.), her fans will feel let down by this narrative's convoluted plot and straitlaced heroine.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Dr. Niki Hamilton reaches out to her friend Kim when the stress from her work as a pediatrician, and threatening phone calls, overwhelm her. Taking a leave of absence, she flies from San Francisco to the New Jersey shore for some relaxation with her friend but gets more than she bargained for when Kim leaves to take care of her ill mother and puts Niki in charge of her business, a dating service called "Coffee Mates." When Cary Thomas shows up with plants for Kim's yard she assumes he's the sexy gardener, but he's actually a successful garden designer. Other assumptions and confusions endanger their budding romance, such as the fact that Cary looks white but is African American, while biracial Niki has darker skin. But, as with any romance worth its salt, difficulties are overcome and true love prevails. This thoroughly enjoyable African American romance features characters from King-Gamble's debut, Remembrance (1998), and will please all fans of the romance genre. Patty Engelmann
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Kimani Press (February 1, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583141332
• ISBN-13: 978-1583141335
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,161,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book, August 3, 2002

By 

S. M. Anderson "sma331" (Lithia Springs, GA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Reason To Love (Arabesque) (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed this romance book. It was sweet story. Niki Hamilton is a doctor fighting the HMO system and it leaves her burned out. She takes a vaction to help her good friend run her Dating service and meets the man who steals her heart. In the story King-Gamble weaves in a story where Niki Hamilton finds out who is trying to ruin her career. I found this to be excellent.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Love, Danger, and Intrigue, March 22, 2001

By 

Sean D. Young (Merrillville, IN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Reason To Love (Arabesque) (Mass Market Paperback)

Niki Hamilton is a pediatrician in San Francisco. She has lost three patients in the last couple of months. The death of the last child leaves Niki so upset, that she decides to visit her friend Kim who lives in New Jersey. We first meet Kim and Niki in the book Remembrance. Kim who has been a playboy bunny and has been married so many times, you loose count. Kim owns a dating services called Coffee Mates. Kim has a family emergency, so Niki ends up running Coffee Mates while she is gone.

Cary Thomas is the owner of his own landscaping company. Cary is contracted to complete a landscaping job for Kim. He arrives and meets Niki. Niki thinks Cary is just a common laborer. Cary wants to get to know Niki better, so the only way to do that is to pose as a customer for Coffee Mates.

Niki is being threatened by someone and the turn of events makes her very nervous. She is confronted with information about some of her closest friends and colleague. Now who will she trust, when everyone looks guilty.

A Reason to Love started out kind of slow, but picked up as the story went on. I think the mystery was good, you think you've figured it out and something else happens. To get familiar with Niki and her friends read Remembrance first before A Reason to Love.

1.0 out of 5 stars Boring, May 17, 2007

By 

DeeJay "Book Lover" (Georgia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Reason To Love (Arabesque) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book was so slow and downright boring. I couldn't find the happiness or the wild romance that Ms. King-Gamble is famous for. It took me three weeks to read this book. I just kept putting it down and reading something else. I read 4 books while trying to get through this one. It just never got interesting with Niki & Cary hiding their true professions and waiting until the end to reveal their true feelings; and even the most amatuer slueth could figure out Phillip was the culprit causing Niki so much trouble, long before the last 3 or 4 pages. After getting halfway through, I decided to just finish this book & get it over with and I must say it never picked up. The ending was boring and seemed a little rushed. This one is definately not one of the author's best. Thank goodness I got this one at a yard sale.