Book Review: Only True Love Waits by Dwan Abrams

A couple of weekends ago, I had the pleasure of sharing a ride to my book club's retreat up in the beautiful North Georgia Mountains with Atlanta author Dwan Abrams. She dropped so much knowledge on me that I am STILL trying to comprehend it all! She definitely makes me think differently about the whole writing process! After conversating with her... I was high as a kite!

Had me almost leaping from the car, snatching up my laptop and screaming...

I feel like writing!!!!!

So you know I had to read her book, right?

Really though.

Well, the title of her book is Only True Love Waits, and it is a romantic suspense. I was especially interested in her book because my manuscript is a romantic suspense. So you know I had to read it.

The book starts out with a bang, right off the bat (and I like that!). None of that warming up type stuff, let's just shoot from the hip!

Xavier Roberts, the male protagonist, has everything going for him. He's an aspiring rapper and he is engaged to be married to the love of his life, Summer Love. But a doctor visit brings some bad news: he's been diagnosed with testicular cancer. He goes through a range of emotions, and instead of sharing his feelings with his fiancee, he decides to call the wedding off. He doesn't want to put her through any unnecessary grief about his problem. Summer is crushed. Summer has no idea why he called everything off. As a result, she is left distraught, rejected, and alone.

Summer does what a lot of us women normally do: she pours all of her energy into work, i.e., opening her new company, Spa Nevaeh. She meets a nice man, Ryan Kennedy, at the glitzy grand opening of the spa. Ryan just so happens to be the CEO of the record label that signed her ex-fiance Xavier. Summer decides to date Ryan, as she feels that she needs to get over Xavier and move on with her life. She decides this even after learning of Ryan's troubled past.

Hmmm.

That's not the end of the story, though. Xavier goes through medical treatment for his early stage cancer, and after receiving a clean bill of health from his doctor, gets up the courage to pursue Summer again. He comes clean about why he broke up with her, and Summer gets back with him (after breaking up with Ryan).

That's not the end of the story either. It would have been a nice ending, but nope... not the end.

Ryan's not going out like that. A darker side of Ryan is revealed...

And honey? It ain't all about him being upset about the breakup...

GOODNESS!

You will have to read the book to find out the details...

Now, at only 151 pages, Only True Love Waits was a FAST read, full of suspense, with so many twists and turns that it left my head spinning. It's been a long time since I've been like...

"Hold on, I know that THAT didn't just happen! Let me go back a page and make sure!"

And I liked that!

Now, what I really liked about this book was the inspirational/spiritual vibes and undertones. As women, you know we can always think back to when we were dating someone, and knowing within ourselves early on at some point that something just wasn't right about dude. I saw that here. Summer was a good girl, doing everything "right", like saving herself for her future husband, etc., but we all make mistakes and use poor judgement even in the midst of being prayerful about the situations. And as a result, we have to deal with the consequences of that lack of judgement. Even in the midst of the issues, we can still pray, and things come together again.

I was thinking about that aspect of the book long after I read the final page.

And I was very impressed with the amount of backstory in this book, especially in the latter chapters. I am always amazed when an author can successfully blend a good backstory into the main story, and everything is relevant...

I enjoyed this book, and I most definitely am looking forward to more books by Ms. Abrams.

So if you're looking for a good fast read that will keep your attention, and have you thinking long after you turn the last page...

Pick up Only True Love Waits.

You won't be disappointed!