"Engaging ethnic romance"

Political consultant Talia Marchand has come along way from her poverty stricken childhood as she hobnobs with US senators. Talia's prime ambition is to never go back to the Louisiana Parish that she despairingly once called home. The only positive thing from her school days was her friendship with Derrick Guillory, but she fled him as much as she did her hometown of Rougon the first chance she could.

Derrick arrives in DC and using his investigative skills easily finds Talia. Though he still desires the woman who was his first love, he knows she will never reveal that she wants him too because he represents her dark past. Still Derrick persuades her to come home in order to take care of personal responsibilities even as he has a secret agenda to convince her that they belong together.

ALL I WANT FOREVER is an engaging ethnic romance filled with a strong love story supported by subplots involving murder and drugs. The story line retains a serious undertow, but insures that the romance remains pivotal, taking the front and center position throughout the tale. Though Derrick is an intriguing hunk, perhaps a bit too perfect, and the support cast adds depth especially to the subplots, this novel is owned in every sense by the complex Talia. Her negative feelings about her heritage has propelled her into making a success out of her professional life, but distrusting anything personal including Derrick. Lynn Emery provides a strong tale that focuses on the theme that a person has no choice but to go home because the adult is the result of the child.

Harriet Klausner

Reviewed by Harriet Klausner
Posted October 20, 2002