Judith‘s review of Can’t Get Enough of You by Bette Ford.
Jenna Gaines has her Ph.D., a great teaching job at her alma mater, everything she ever wanted in life . . . almost. Once upon a time she wanted Scott Hendricks, but the NBA called and he left her to become a hoops star. Now his career is over, and the only man Jenna ever loved is back at her school and in her life–too many years too late, as far as she is concerned.
Jenna could have given up her dreams to follow Scott, which was the last thing he wanted. All Scott can think about now is the taste of her lips and how it feels to caress her silky ebony skin, but Jenna won’t give him a second chance to break her heart. She will, however, let him be her backup and support when she reconnects with her long-lost brother and sister. But anything could happen on their fateful trips–because Scott still has the moves–and the magic.
This is a novel set in contemporary Detroit and involves an African-American cast of characters, all of whom are determined to make their lives productive and to count for something substantive and worthwhile. But in many respects this is not an easy novel to read. It is very up and down emotionally, caught in the hurt of happenings 10 years earlier when a set of misunderstandings began. Both Scott and Jenna feel that they have been let down by the other. Scott never wanted Jenna to give up her educational plans and goals. He just wanted one year as he began his NBA career and then he committed himself to assisting her in any way so that she could finish her education. Jenna, however, saw his acceptance of a professional sports career as breaking his promises for a life together. Scott sees Jenna bailing on their love; Jenna sees Scott as a man who does not keep his word (he left for the NBA prior to graduating from college) and whose presence in her life is no longer welcome.
And so begins the story. Add in the pressure that Jenna has endured for the past 20 years as she has tried unsuccessfully to find her long-lost brother and her identical twin. They were separated when they were very young because their father was long gone and their mother abandoned them. Now Jenna has secured a teaching position at the Univ. of Detroit-Mercy, her old alma mater after four years of post-graduate doctoral study in New York while she worked as a stock broker to support herself. Scott has retired from the NBA and is back at their old school, completing his degree in chemistry as a fulfillment of his promise to his family. Their journey back to one another is sticky and Jenna’s reluctance comes to the fore constantly. Scott is so patient–he has decided that no matter what, he will demonstrate that he is worthy of Jenna in action as well as words. He puts himself, his time, and his fortune at her disposal in order to aid in bringing her together with her lost siblings.
I wanted to like Jenna, and I did much of the time. I understood her drive–she had become a very determined little girl from the time she entered her foster home–and I appreciated that she had done great things with her life through her own smarts, her own determination, careful use of limited resources, and an appreciation of the value of hard work. But I didn’t like that she allowed those very same qualities to build barriers between the people who loved her, that she also used those qualities to become her excuses for keeping Scott distant from her, and that she used her fears, as understandable as they were, to upend what might have been.
This is also a story that highlights the problems that arise when families are broken up, especially identical twins, and when two people who are two halves of a whole are taken in different directions and exposed to different values. It raises questions about how bringing those two people together can pose some unexpected difficulties, in spite of common parentage and a desire to re-unite. This story also highlights what happens when couples make commitments that perhaps were not as clearly spelled out and when people become intractable and inflexible in their goals. That may be because of fear of the future, or immaturity, or both.
Ms Ford has written a fine novel that exposes the reader to life seen through a different cultural and ethnic set of lenses. But there are issues in this novel that are universal in their scope and which encourage the reader to consider these concerns as human beings, not as one race or the other. There are some very strong characters in this cast–Jenna’s foster sisters are truly her family and her support through difficult times. Scott is one genuinely nice guy, a man who has matured and seen the reality of professional sports and not just the glitz. He demonstrates depth of values and a perspective on life that would be a credit to any professional athlete. Jenna’s brother and family are delightful people and her twin sister . . . well, suffice it to say that the reader will have to explore her personality and behavior on their own.
I got a lot out of this book and appreciate the opportunity to read it for review. I think it was well-written and the story line development was consistent. All of the characters came across as real people, struggling with real issues, and living life in their own way. So I recommend this as a very nice read and one that does Ms Ford credit. I think romance fans will enjoy this book a great deal. I give it a rating of 4 out of 5.
This book is available from Avon. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.
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