Rosalind's Sister by Tara Scott-Page.

 
"I am everything you ever feared in your life. Someone would pay one way or another for the filth and humiliation suffered. Bitter Sweet Revenge."
 
Rosalind McKinley is a tough 28 year old cookie, ambitious and extremely determined to leave her unhappy past well and truly behind her in Indiana and an abusive, sexist lout of a father unwittingly following in sister Shirley's footsteps who had long since escaped this drudgery.
 
Both girls carry a family portrait, sentimentally showing two young girls standing in a park, one 5 years of age the older one, 15. A lifelong bond and inevitably, essential to the plot and the thriller element of this story. Will they meet up and be reunited?
 
Rosalind undergoes a dramatic transformation: a new persona emerges with a "tinge of quality for a woman of obvious quality." Leonora Carrington-Jones' love affair with Manhattan, New York begins at the salubrious Carlisle hotel, synonymous with wealth and power, working for Madame Durand. Our girl aspires towards grasping this opportunity firmly in both arms, embracing wonderful opportunities through fair or foul means. She can exploit opportunities and manipulate her men to suit her needs. Her own shot in the power stakes?
"There was money to be extracted from the silk-lined pockets of the rich and famous today and she wanted her fair share."
It is 1976 and Leonora has this vision of being a hair stylist to the stars and lover to one or two British lords or realistically, their athletically suitable sons."
 
So, what is missing from the life of this successfully popular stylist? A handsomely wealthy, eligible bachelor perhaps? Or even a married man? Not just anyone. Leonora craved the powerful and wealthy. And as luck would have it, the most beautiful man she had ever seen enters her life and sweeps her off her feet. Powerful yes, wealthy yes but also married. The wrong type? The dangerous type. Like playing with fire.
 
Hareb bin Aziz al Hareb, a Saudi Prince is a man of considerable substance and looks a million dollars. Leonora was completely absorbed by the near hypnotic quality of his deep dark brown eyes and the whirlwind of a passionate love affair is kindled. But fire burns and it can easily destroy.
 
His stay in New York is for business and once he returns to the Middle East a lovesick, forlorn Leonora agrees to meet him in Dubai, excited by the formulaic smells of the orient with its spices, exotic fruits and the salty sea air. Atmospheric and exhilarating.
 
Our heroine fantasizes over her dream man appearing in the misty distance mounted on his white Arab stallion on a mission to whisk her away to his tented, desert palace of love. Full of anticipation and excitement like the fairy tales.
 
But reality and fantasy are poles apart and pigs don't fly so poor Leonora becomes enmeshed in a poisonous web of deceit, lies and more abuse. How can love turn so sour, transform dreams of love to ones of despair?
 
Survival meant letting go of her dreams and her dream man. In spite of her betrayal and distress she holds on to a thread of hope that they would indeed ride off in to a desert sunset together. Dream on naive one.
 
Ironically salvation in the form of Susan aids the mentally battered, bruised, physically nauseous and disillusioned Leonora, fighting for her life, for her survival in an alien world where females are powerless and exploited for the pleasures of men. A long way from home, almost friendless and alone and isolated. Easy prey. But some women are made of stronger mettle and can look danger in the eye without flinching and seek retribution such as an eye for an eye without suffering the pangs of guilt. Even murder.
 
Amidst this erotic tale of love and despair, Rosalind's sister fits in there somewhere but that's something you'll have to work out for yourself.
 
Available on Kindle: ASIN-B00C438ADA.
 
Paperback: Create Space. ISBN-10-148401-36-11 and ISBN-13:978-148401-3618. Publication date is 1st June 2013.
 
 
COPYRIGHT 2013. Permission must be obtained from the author before any of this review is reproduced.

Comments

  1. Tara Scott-Page21 May 2013 at 03:02

    |What a simply fantastic review. It hits all the spots and you have managed to capture all the grit without a hint of a surprising ending. It's great.
    Your great command of the English language and the ability to create "mystery in the mind" comes shining through.

    Tara Scott-Page (pen name)..

    ReplyDelete
  2. Carol Naylor21 May 2013 at 03:03

    Thank you for the positive comments.

    ReplyDelete

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