Reviewer: Annie
The main character is Abbey Lincoln Ross, and you will simply adore her. Even Abbey’s family is amazingly cool! Her father has thirteen children, some siblings from different mothers. Abbey is the eldest daughter. He is presently married, with four ex-wives and four ex-girlfriends. Some of his children had children, so to say this is a huge family is not a fair and accurate statement. It is a monumental family!
This family had jazz legend, Lincoln T. Ross at the helm. He was truly a force to be reckoned with. There was not one thing I did not adore about this man. Renee Swindle created characters that you really grow to like, and enjoy reading about. This made the story such a fun read! I was amazed at how Renee Swindle was able to introduce us to so many characters, yet not take away from the story. Everything flowed so nice and easily.
Abbey’s father had wonderful relationships with all of his children and exes. He truly believed in the importance of family, for example; he did not like the term “step” or “half”. To this end, they considered one another Brother and Sister, and loved and treated each other with the love that a full-blooded sibling would be expected to. It was refreshing to read about a family with all of these dynamics going on, rise to respect the entire family as a whole unit; and not break them up. It was great to read about the force of love a family can have, as opposed to often reading about the failure of a family. Each ex-wife helped with the others children. They were a beautifully decorated group, and I would have loved to spend a night of partying with them.
The story really begins with Abbeys’ fiancé, Avery; walking out of her life after a documentary was about to expose him as a fraud in the world of art, as a forger. She was with Avery for three years. Abbey was in this documentary, so she and her best friend; Bendrix attended the Premiere, only to find out that Avery cheated on her with two different women! These two women were interviewed for the documentary, so “Total Shocker” to Abbey to find this out while sitting in the theater. Not one of her finer moments.
Since her break up with Avery she purchased her own home and a Bakery of her own, named “Scratch”, but had not given men a thought. In her words ‘Dating Sucked”! I really wanted to taste one of her pastries or wedding cakes.
Bendrix and Abbey have been Best Friends since childhood, and he is always by her side. He has always supported her, telling her once that “She was the star of her own show”! He was one of the most loving Best Friends Ever! He became relentless in finding her a man, at least for a quick sexual romp! It had been four years since she had even kissed a man, and if Bendrix and the Ex-wives had anything to do with it, that was going to change.
Bendrix was not going to give up too easily, so he set up a profile for her on a dating website without her knowledge. This is how she meets Samuel….. And, so the roller coaster ride begins again for Abbey and, as it turns out Bendrix too.
I enjoyed each page of this book. Renee Swindle is a gifted writer, and I am so excited to read the two other novels she has published already. I am sure I will adore her characters just as much.
SIDE NOTE: This book should have come with a CD or iTunes gift card, because there were so many amazing jazz references. I personally had to listen to some of them, because this story was about the Ross Family; with Jazz Legend, (as stated above) Lincoln T. Ross at the helm. And, this family knew Jazz; they breathed it….and NOT the slow smooth Jazz either. The musical notes in the background of this story really made it sing to me! No pun intended. So, yes; I now have a list of jazz songs to purchase for my IPod! 🙂
4 Stars
