 July - September 2003
For Love and Grace
by Kendra Norman-Bellamy
If ever a book can grab you in the first few chapters and hold your attention long enough to know that it's character-driven and not a generic read, then you know that you have a good book. I read For Love And Grace and came away convinced that this author is destined for a graceful future. Kendra Norman-Bellamy has penned a love story extolling virtues of likable men seldom seen in lieu of the penchant to show them in sordid situations. Seldom too, will you find novels written where romance is not based on sex, sex, and more sex! Real life situations work best when storylines are woven to give poignancy to the process of eliciting genuine page turners.
When Derrick Madison lost his mother in a tragic car accident he immediately looks for reasons to justify angst gone awry by blaming others, and not allowing the better part of valor be instrumental in the healing process. The gist of this story involves Grace a college student who was involved in the aforementioned mishap. Enter Dr. Gregory Dixon, Derrick's best friend who falls in love with Grace and opens a can or worms that prove to be troublesome and somehow manages to bring to the fore the real meaning of friendship. I was able to read into the author's reason for writing such a book that would raise the sensibilities of strong male charisma amid the need to make viable decisions. Moreover, I saw how one can really bring back together friendship gone bad, how to deal with misguided guilt, learning how to let remorse guide forgiveness, and most importantly, in allowing a higher spiritual awareness define the real reason to fall in love. All of this is inherent in this book!
This is billed as Christian Romance, but the author articulates with clarity and the aplomb of a seasoned writer. It manages to render a heartfelt storyline allowing the characters to define substance, thus taking it way beyond the usual confines of a stereotypical debut novel. Kudos to you Kendra, we welcome this and look forward to the sequel.
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