Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Although I seem to be in the minority as far as the negative opinions go towards this book, I nevertheless stand by my rating. I also rarely give poor ratings such as this one but unfortunately it can’t be avoided. Without giving too much of the story away, I must mention that I found the central character Gaia, a mixed raced woman, to be unlikeable from beginning to end for multiple reasons. For one she was selfish, self centered, prejudiced against many (including her stepmother, sister AND the man she “loved”) and quick to jump to negative conclusions about nearly everyone around her throughout the majority of novel. She was constantly, up to the last chapter, and consistently expecting the least from and worse of those around her, most notably again the man she’s supposed to be in love with. While it is true that often when people don’t love themselves, they mistreat others, but this very fact made Gaia thoroughly unlikeable. Perhaps my biggest complaint is how disparaging she was toward her African descent. True she lived in a time period in which it was scandalous to be joined to a mixed race person. I can even understand thinking low of oneself because of the negativity inflicted by others surrounding you. However, I was disappointed that the author did not give her the depth or strength of character to realize that color does not define a person’s worth. It was only towards the very end that she finally saw her “value” due to the fact that her real father, an African man, sacrificed his life for hers and descended from African royalty. This suddenly gives value to herself and a whole race of people?!? That’s utterly ridiculous as a view based on these facts is shallow with a weak foundation. Genuine impartiality of character, maturity, insight and kindness should have moved her to view and treat people of color in this manner REGARDLESS of if she herself had mixed race ancestry. This is evident in the fact that she barely acknowledged and spoke to William’s (her love) highly esteemed paid employee of color throughout the whole book. This was a major source of contention for me. (Admittedly probably also stemming from the fact that I too am of multicultural descent, so its stirring my emotions here!) Finally there were numerous word editing issues throughout the book. It dragged on for 90% of the book and then had an abrupt ending (no true resolution with her father, no epilogue, not even an actual marriage taking place) that finally sealed my negative opinion of this book. As stated before, I may be the only one who has this opinion of this novel, but I was asked to give a review and so here it is. I truly wanted to like this and root for Gaia but sadly due to the above factors, I do not.