 July - September 2003
Loose Ends
by Electa Rome Parks
Electa Rome Parks’ sophomoric effort, Loose Ends is bound tight with an engaging storyline and vibrant characters that is every bit as dramatic as its predecessors, Ties That Bind. Not so much as a sequel in my opinion as it gives just another analogy to how a character-driven story can have continuity without telling the same story. The book flows and manages to hold enough interest to let you know that this is a good story. I like the way the author alternates each chapter to elicit episodic tie-ins that’s conducive to each character’s involvement with each other. In writing a book of this magnitude where characters were first introduced in a precedent offering, it’s important that the author revisit those scenes for background information to paint any impending or subsequent renderings for better illustration. Not only does she do this with style, it has enough twists and turns to not lose you along the way.
Four charming but different characters fuel this yarn. Mia, who is depicted as a sexy siren who may have made wrong decisions but find ways to regain posture and shine. Christian is a ladies man, the Adonis who woos them, but really has eyes for one lady. Brice. A nemesis that everyone loves to hate, but with attributes that are hard to ignore in one with domineering and aggressive character traits. Last but not least, there’s Kree who happens to be my favorite. She has a somewhat naïve attitude, extremely attractive and widely underestimated in how she’s able to get the man of her dreams using less. With characters like these that interrelates with each other’s penchant to excel under various triumphs and tragedies, it‘s to the authors credit to be able to mix mayhem with scandal, betrayal, and lust, to elicit a daring and dramatic love story.
Reading this book reminded me what can be imagined when poignancy is coupled with well-placed intimacies to deal with guilt and other ingredients that would allow love to blossom. I also enjoyed how each relational sequence gave familial order to crafting a story that’s not predictable and contrived. I was able to engage the author in an online panel discussion recently and some of the salient points rendered there seemed to have spilled onto the pages of this book! This novel will not disappoint…read it and be enlightened.
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