Customer Reviews

Whatever It Takes

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

 

 

I must say that I was tricked by the reviews of this book. I decided to give it a chance even though it started really slow but once I got to the 5th chapter I relized that it wasnt going to get any better. This book was unrealistic and predictable. Im mad that I purchased this one.

What a book. The characters were very well written. The situations were well thought out and the emotional growth was beautiful. Lacette and Kellie are twins. The fact is they share parents, a birthhday and facial features and thats about it. Lacette is hardworking, diligent and thoughtful. She has long range plans and finds the strenghth to follow through. Kellie is Satans Spawn. She doesn't plan; she conives, schemes and plots. I wanted to be sister girl friends with Lacette. She reminded me of people I grew up with. Mrs Forster created the best villian I've ever read in Kellie. I had to keep reminding myself that Kellie was not a real person therefore I couldn't hunt her down and hurt her. The secondary characters were very real as well. Douglas originally seemed suspect and maybe shady but; Wow, what a man. Douglas'son was not a smart aleck kid but an age appropriate child with kid reasoning. I don't want to give anything away but this is a good read. Thanks to Gwynne Forster for a book filled with great characters.

Lacette and Kellie, I found to be very interesting twins. I was certain that I was gonna find out they weren't even sisters in the end, as they were the most detached twins I've ever met. So often I was smacking my lips at Kellie's awful behavior and wanted to know what was behind it. But then the more I got to know the mother the more I started to see the resemblance. I do believe that she was just `that way' because of her mother.
Even in the end when Kellie was called upon to `do the right thing' she seems so reluctant...
Amazing.
And all of this horrible actions over a broach? I think not. I think Kellie had deeper issues than the jewelry--way deeper. And Cynthia and her mid-life crisis...just a ploy for her 'issues' too. I think Marshell and Lacette had the right idea dealing with those two the way they did.
It was a very nice train book and I finished it in two or three trips. I enjoy books that read easily and are easy to follow and Ms. Forster's style is one that I can tell I'm going to enjoy. This was my first book by Ms. Forster but having heard her do a reading from it, I knew how the characters were supposed to sound and it helped me get a feel for the story and it made it very enjoyable.
Keep up the good work and I look forward to meeting more of your wonderful characters.

I'm a twin, so I love books depicting the interactions between them. In Gwynne Forster's 2005 mainstream fiction release WHATEVER IT TAKES, she introduces readers to twins Lacette and Kellie Graham. They are as different as night and day with personalities to match. Lacette is mild-mannered, respectful, hard-working and always looks out for and suffers at the expense of her sister. Kellie is self-serving, conniving, lazy, and wants everything Lacette has, to include men, material possessions, and success.

When their father, Reverend Marshall Graham, leaves his wife Cynthia after 35 years of marriage without any explanation, things start to fall apart for the Graham family, who all live together in the parsonage owned by the church. Shortly after, their maternal grandmother dies and the reading of the will shakes the family up a bit more. Though left with an inheritance from her grandmother, Kellie is set on having Lacette's inheritance and stops at nothing to get it. She resorts to using her wits, her body, and even illegal means to obtain what she wants despite warnings from her father. Just when you think it can't get any worse, Kellie pulls a major stunt that may cost her sister the things she holds dear, to include life, love, and happiness.

Forster has created memorable characters and interesting sublots that allow the reader to easily become involved in the story. I really, really loved WHATEVER IT TAKES until the last 30 pages or so of the book, but then everything changed. My disappointment was mostly in the character shift with Kellie and some of the events which took place at the end I felt were unnecessary and a bit rushed. Too much happened too fast for me to fully enjoy it as I had the rest of the novel.

Kellie is one of the most vindictive characters I've ever read in a book. I could not believe some of her antics and the extent she went to get who and what she wanted. She definitely makes it easy for the reader to relate the book title to the story...she definitely did whatever it took. However, towards the end of the book, her character seemed to become inconsistent.
Lacette was a good balance to offset Kellie and I enjoyed seeing the strength of the main male characters in the book. The subplot of the separation between the parents adds to the excitement and allows the reader to be drawn into this story focusing on family and their importance in our lives. RAW Rating: 3.5.

Reviewed by Tee C. Royal
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers