Review: Excellent romance
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 09 4, 2013
Sometimes dark memories of the past and ingrained stereotypes blind you to the pure light of future possibilities and a chance at love.Insurance risk assessor and good girl April Church grew up middle class in a small southern town, but she has aspirations for the life that defines true southern gentility--being accepted for membership in the Summerbrook Ladies League and, just maybe, finding the wherewithal to join the country club at some point in the future. But despite her pearls and conservative attire, April isn't vain and doesn't put on airs, she volunteers for the local Humanity Project, and the attachment she formed for young Ben Evans, a child recently diagnosed with leukemia, means she's further committed herself to helping her community civic leaders raise funds for the little boy's treatments.Yet, at the initial fundraiser planning session set up by the Summerbrook Civic Club, instead of finding herself sitting among female pillars of the community dressed in Lily Pulitzer sweaters and sporting pearls, April finds the only remaining seat available leaves her sitting among a leather-clad biker group and, in particular, next to an attractive man called Bull who's sporting a Rebel Angels tattoo. And, not unexpectedly considering her past, April's suddenly fighting to keep her long suppressed fears and outright panic at bay.Local garage owner and biker Bullworth Clayton knows everything he needs to know about April Church just by looking at her. Her pearl necklace and perfectly pleated skirt mark her as one of those high and mighty women who were too good to let a poor woman like his mother join their ranks when his family came to town, the kind whose well-to-do offspring taunted his kid brother Adam in school years ago because he was bald and had to use a walker to get around. So, goading the lovely woman into helping a biker group she was clearly reluctant to acknowledge, was poetic justice; a little bit of payback for the way women like April Church had treated him and his family. Yet, little does Bull know that April shares a tragic link with the Rebel Angels that wrought a night of death and retribution that still feeds her deepest fears and quietly lingers in the memories of a small South Carolina town.Obviously, doing what's best to aid an ailing child is April and Bull's first priority, and that means overlooking the stereotypes, the assumptions, and the growing attraction between two people who think they can't grow, change, or cross the chasm that defines the very essences of who they are as individuals. Lucky for April and Bull, seeing with an open mind and an open heart can miraculously change things.Vicki Wilkerson has produced a delicately crafted romance that deftly addresses the very nuances of human nature and the assumptions we make that allow us to label others without really knowing them at all.  Her description of life in a small southern town is spot on, and she populates it with an interesting mix of people who she uses to demonstrate that outward appearances can be misleading, but a good heart is true.In this opposites attract story, Ms. Wilkerson pits Bull, who's a bit of a rebel and a risk-taker, for all that he's a good man and well-respected friend to a good many, against April, who assesses risk for a living, doesn't venture out of her comfort zone, and is a woman who truly gives of herself to those she cares for. Both of these characters pass judgment upon one another based on appearances and first impressions, but it's their individual pasts that have truly dictated the people that they've become and led them to wrongly stereotype one another. With skilled timing, Ms. Wilkerson uncovers the past and peels back the layers of two complex personalities. She then engineers a sweetly moving meeting of hearts and minds that thoroughly defines excellent romance.Reviewed by Angie Just Read...for TheRomanceReviews.com