Sweeter Than Revenge

Reviewed by Jill Sorenson on May 23rd, 2008, 4:02pm

by Ann Christopher

Format: Print Books

Series: Kimani Press Kimani Romance

I'll preface this review by saying that my favorite web sites are Dear Author and Smart Bitches.  I'm also a frequent visitor at HelenKay Dimon's blog and Reading While Black.

The issue has come up on all of these sites that there are a lot of great African American authors out there writing romance novels that are ignored by the majority of readers.  So when I saw this giveaway by Ann Christopher, I signed up to win her book, SWEETER THAN REVENGE. 

I've only read one Kimani Romance before and I didn't care for it, so SWEETER THAN REVENGE was a very pleasant surprise for me.  The heroine, Maria Johnson, is a spoiled rich girl who seems shallow and self-centered at first.  Little by little we realize she's recovering from a bitter divorce and suffering from a broken heart--at the hands of the hero, not her husband.  After David Hunt left town, she rushed into a quickie marriage that was doomed from the start.

Now Maria's father tells her it's time to move on and grow up.  He won't give her access to her trust fund until she proves herself worthy by working fulltime in the family business.  To add insult to injury, her new boss is the man who loved and left her four years ago.

Poor little rich girls and alpha businessmen are not my favorite character types, but Ann Christopher executes the story so well I was hooked in a few pages.  Maria discovers she has a knack for public relations and it's fun to see her get back on her feet.  Her relationship with David is full of believable emotion and the dialogue between them sizzles.  The couple generate a lot of heat together, but they also talk through their problems, which is refreshing!  A past misunderstanding threatens their future, and we can understand why Maria is reluctant to risk her heart again, especially on a man who devastated her once before.

I enjoyed SWEETER THAN REVENGE very much and I loved Christopher's voice.  She has an ear for dialogue and a knack for creating modern, likeable characters.  I will definitely look for more of her books.       

Jill Sorenson
http://www.jillsorenson.com