Review: Engaging But Evokes Mixed Feelings
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 15, 2012
This is the first book I'm reading from Carolyn McCray but I already know I'm going to be reading more. Yet I have intensely mixed feelings about this book; it has the basic elements of a romance novel and it goes way beyond that. I wouldn't go as far as calling it a psychological thriller but if I did, I wouldn't be far off.Regina was married off when she was 16 years old. She has two children and a bully of a husband who she can barely stand. Quinton is an environmentalist hired to do an Environmental Impact Assessment for the logging company owned my Regina's husband.Quinton should be the antithesis of all Regina stands for, with his mixed heritage and his tree-hugging ways, except he's not. Strangely the pair are drawn to each other as Quinton represents a fantasy which has before now, been beyond Regina's reach.In getting to know Regina, Quinton begins to rediscover himself and regains contact with a major part of himself that he'd lost touch with. While all this is going on, life does not stand still.Quinton and his charming assistant, Ralph become implicated in a vandalism case, the townspeople are less than welcoming to the strangers and there's the nearby reservation where Quinton has strained relations, or so he thinks. Not to forget the husband, of course. All in all, there's just so much tension that I couldn't help taking frequent breathers from the book.Generally I can't stand stories that have infidelity in them and that seems to be the main theme in Indian Moon. Forget that Regina was told by the old elder on the reservation that she was not married in her "heart," and the fact that she was also hinted that Wayne, her husband could have maybe broken his vows to her; I'm not sure those are reasons enough to excuse infidelity.One thingIndian Moon: Love Isn't As Far Away As You Think (Real Romance...For the Rest of Us)does is challenge the reader. I certainly found myself shifting uncomfortably as I read and as I found myself being drawn into the lives of Regina and Quinton (and getting to like them to boot); I couldn't help but remember that even though these characters might be fictional, they represented the effects and choices we all take every day.So no, I did not fall in love with Indian Moon; it certainly won't be one of those books I re-read until they fall to pieces (or the Kindle falls to pieces, whichever). However, I did fall in love with the author and will recommend her books, including this one