A half century ago Walter Marks opened a musical on Broadway entitled “Golden Rainbow”. While the musical lasted a little over a year, it’s legacy included the song “I’ve Gotta Be Me” which made the top of the music charts with Sammy Davis Jr. singing these lines: “I can’t be right for somebody else if I’m not right for me.”
That song could well have been the theme song for Anh Nhi Walsh, the main character in this book. Annie outlined how “not right for me” she was with two descriptors. First she referred to herself as “a banana” – yellow outside and white inside. She is referring to being Vietnamese by birth but adopted by a loving white couple. Shortly thereafter she referred to herself as being a PPF, a Professional Practice Fiancée. Time after time what seemed like her one-true-love ended unhappily.
So when life inadvertently dumps Annie and Emmitt Bradley together, Annie is in no position to even think of romance. For that matter, Emmitt has suffered his own unhappiness in the romance department and is unable to see Annie as anything other than a potentially happy moment in time.
The bulk of the book follows Emmitt and Annie on their slow, methodical journey to being right for themselves. Only then can the romantic attraction that the reader had sensed all along come to the forefront.
I loved the careful, complex flow of this plot. The author has done a marvelous job drawing us into the lives of two broken characters and following them to wholeness. I highly recommend this book.
That song could well have been the theme song for Anh Nhi Walsh, the main character in this book. Annie outlined how “not right for me” she was with two descriptors. First she referred to herself as “a banana” – yellow outside and white inside. She is referring to being Vietnamese by birth but adopted by a loving white couple. Shortly thereafter she referred to herself as being a PPF, a Professional Practice Fiancée. Time after time what seemed like her one-true-love ended unhappily.
So when life inadvertently dumps Annie and Emmitt Bradley together, Annie is in no position to even think of romance. For that matter, Emmitt has suffered his own unhappiness in the romance department and is unable to see Annie as anything other than a potentially happy moment in time.
The bulk of the book follows Emmitt and Annie on their slow, methodical journey to being right for themselves. Only then can the romantic attraction that the reader had sensed all along come to the forefront.
I loved the careful, complex flow of this plot. The author has done a marvelous job drawing us into the lives of two broken characters and following them to wholeness. I highly recommend this book.