|
Thirty-seven-year-old
Felicia Hawkins almost never saw anybody she worked with
when she stuck around her neighborhood, so she was
particularly embarrassed when she ran into her co-worker,
Richard, at the market with his maybe-girlfriend, Regina,
who was dressed to the nines. It was a Friday night, Felicia
was in sweats and a do-rag. She could never compare to
Regina, who was the prettiest woman around.
Felicia’d always gotten
along with Richard. They sat on the city bus and chatted on
their way to work in downtown Cleveland every morning, and
all the way home at night. He was tall and handsome, a
widower with two teenage daughters and she liked him… but
seeing Richard that Friday, Felicia suddenly realized that
she loved him!
There was no way she was
going to tell him so.
Richard Grimes could have
taken his car to work every morning but he didn’t, because
he looked forward to seeing Felicia twice a day. She was
beautiful, inside and out, and he couldn’t figure out why
some other brother hadn’t made her his wife. He knew full
well that Regina was trying to get back with him – they’d
dated in high school – but she wasn’t the kind of woman he
wanted to help raise his girls.
Someone like Felicia,
though? Yes, that was what Richard really wanted. Seeing
Felicia all dressed down like that on a Friday night, he had
so many feelings for her but he’d never tell her so. Still,
as the Christmas holidays neared and thoughts of it warmed
hearts, Richard could only think of Felicia, and he wondered
what she was doing for the holidays.
What Felicia was doing was
thinking it was time to move to Atlanta and try to forget
Richard. But then a Santa’s helper came up with a better
plan…
As novels go, Right
Beside You is nothing thunderous.
It’s not exciting or
agitating. It won’t make your heart pound. It’s just a slow,
gentle romance, a little like a made-for-TV movie with light
drama, lighter humor, and love scenes that never go beyond a
chaste kiss or two.
In short, it’s the perfect
holiday novel, although readers may note that the holiday
itself is far in the background and is almost irrelevant to
the tale. Still, though this story is predictable, yet
comforting and comfortable and it contains the kinds of
situations that make Scrooges scoff, author Mary Monroe
makes it work in the most charming of ways.
If you’ve been waiting for
one of these holiday genre novels to arrive, then, wait no
more. Put this book Right Beside You for a perfect,
quiet Christmas evening.
|
