Guest Review: Only One Love by Marylyn Lee

Judith‘s review of Only One Love (Book Three in the Long Line of Love series) by Marilyn Lee.

Peyton Grayhawk has spent his entire life feeling as if he’d lost the only woman he can ever love. He can’t quite remember her, or the previous life they shared, but he is certain they’ll meet again. In the meantime, Peyton has other problems. His quasi-little brother Cameron is involved with a woman seventeen years his senior. Peyton is determined to extricate Cameron from her sexual clutches. His decision to seduce the woman will stir long-dormant memories and send his entire family into crisis mode.

Despite her torrid, highly enjoyable physical relationship with Cameron Graydove, Avantae Sovern feels a need to end their affair so Cam can meet someone his own age and she can be free to find the love of her life. She knows her long-lost love is somewhere out there waiting.

One look at Peyton Grayhawk and Avantae knows he is the one. The couple has spent an eternity waiting for another chance at happiness. But by loving Avantae, Peyton has broken a Grayhawk cardinal rule that could force him to choose between family or his one true love.

My mother always taught us to ” . . . treat our company like family and our family like company.” I think that piece of homespun wisdom has been at the root of my own sense of family throughout my life. Certainly friends and acquaintances have often remarked that my relationship with husband, children, and grandchildren is so close that it is sometimes frightening to those who do not have such relationships in their lives. Certainly in this story the relationship between the Grayhawk brothers is extremely close and rooted in very old-fashioned family values. Certainly one does not have to read too far into this novel to discover that the relationship between the brothers is at the heart of the story and the root of the basic conflict in the plot.

Add in a genuine concern for the surrogate brother Cameron and his relationship with a woman old enough to be his mother, and you have the makings of a very sticky situation. In addition, Peyton Grayhawk and Avantae are ensnared in their own attraction which blossoms–actually explodes into wild and woolley togetherness–even before Cameron is completely out of the picture. What a mess, and that mess permeates the entire story. Yes, the core romance is Avantae and Peyton’s story, but the surrounding personalities and charcters make the story full to over flowing.

I think this story is really about family loyalty and the choices people sometimes have to make that may put that loyalty to the test. All of us are fully aware that an overwhelming feeling of “I have to have that person in my life” can put lots of aspects of one’s life to the test. Such a need has often put parents and kids, spouses, and best friends at odds. So it is here. And as such, it is a theme that is rooted in real life and one that nearly everyone has had to deal with at one time or another. I also felt it was very positive that the family really didn’t seem to have a problem with the interracial nature of the relationship with Avantae by either Cameron or Peyton. Kudos to them for their level of acceptance.

But I have to tell you, that I got really weary of Peyton having to explain his loyalty to his family over and over to Avantae. I got even wearier to have Peyton’s twin constantly saying the same thing over and over again as a way of offering support to Peyton and to others as he sought to explain Peyton’s feelings to all the parties involved. After about the fourth or fifth recitation, I was saying to myself: “Aw, come on . . . not again?!?” Yet there are aspects of this novel that are very touching. I thought well of Peyton as he tried to make peace with Cameron. I understood Cam’s sense of betrayal, but he needed to grow up, and I think that truth came out before all was said and done. I got just a little upset at all the wives trying to gentle Avantae’s response to the situation. Support is one thing, but I almost had the feeling that the family was expecting a sort of lock-step acceptance to a tradition that may or may not be realistic in the long run. That it had survived for many years is one thing, but times and people and relationships change. For a tradition to be intractable seems a bit much, and I felt uncomfortable that the characters were so bound that Peyton and Avantae almost seemed to be victimized because they loved each other. And I understood Avantae’s sense of frustration when faced with a family and its tradition that didn’t seem to be able to absorb and process an unusual situation such as faced Peyton and Avantae.

In the final analysis, this story has many aspects that are positive. I have read some of Ms Lee’s work and I think she is certainly a writer that knows her craft. I didn’t feel that the writing in this offering lived up to her former level of expertise–I wouldn’t want to say at what level, but I felt she could have done better. That may be the old school teacher talking, having graded lots of essays in my time, but I was disappointed, to say the least. I think Ms Lee’s stories are usually bright and brilliant, and I look forward to future efforts that return to what I believe is her former glory. I give this novel a rating of 3 out of 5.

This book is available from Ellora’s Cave. You can buy it here in e-format.

You can read more from Judith at Dr. J’s Book Place.

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