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Rating: 
Summary: Following Your Heart
Review: Captain Jeff Williams is an African American fighter pilot during World War II stationed in China and fighting against the Japanese. While in China he meets a young Chinese woman named Nulinh who works in her father's store on the military base and there is an immediate attraction between the two. Since Jeff is in a committed relationship with another woman back home, the two decide to become friends. In addition, they both realize that their cultural differences would make it difficult for them to pursue a romantic relationship. However, after a series of difficult events they discover that there may be a chance for love after all. The war serves as a backdrop for the story and between the battle scenes and the slowly developing story of forbidden love, this story has a wide reaching appeal. For the most part I enjoyed this story, but the pace of the book lacked continuity. There were times early in the book when I felt the story dragged along, but the last 100 pages seemed more like a race to finish the story and tie up loose ends in the plot. As a result, the relationship between Nulinh and Jeff was slow getting started but then seemed to progress unrealistically. The author did an excellent job providing enough back story so readers could understand what made the characters tick. He also did an impressive job including period related details such as desegregation of the US military and racism into the storyline, though there were a few anachronisms in the book. For example, there were times the characters used slang that was out of period. With stronger editing HAVE YOU EVER? could have easily been a five star book. Victor McCullum is a promising young author with a great deal of potential.
Reviewed by Stacey Seay
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
Rating:
Summary: Following Your Heart
Review: Captain Jeff Williams is an African American fighter pilot during World War II stationed in China and fighting against the Japanese. While in China he meets a young Chinese woman named Nulinh who works in her father's store on the military base and there is an immediate attraction between the two. Since Jeff is in a committed relationship with another woman back home, the two decide to become friends. In addition, they both realize that their cultural differences would make it difficult for them to pursue a romantic relationship. However, after a series of difficult events they discover that there may be a chance for love after all. The war serves as a backdrop for the story and between the battle scenes and the slowly developing story of forbidden love, this story has a wide reaching appeal. For the most part I enjoyed this story, but the pace of the book lacked continuity. There were times early in the book when I felt the story dragged along, but the last 100 pages seemed more like a race to finish the story and tie up loose ends in the plot. As a result, the relationship between Nulinh and Jeff was slow getting started but then seemed to progress unrealistically. The author did an excellent job providing enough back story so readers could understand what made the characters tick. He also did an impressive job including period related details such as desegregation of the US military and racism into the storyline, though there were a few anachronisms in the book. For example, there were times the characters used slang that was out of period. With stronger editing HAVE YOU EVER? could have easily been a five star book. Victor McCullum is a promising young author with a great deal of potential.
Reviewed by Stacey Seay
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
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