A Good Woman

I received a ebook/kindle copy from the author in a giveaway on LibraryThing for a review. A Good Woman is a self published debut romance novel by Jalana Remy, Published May 10, 2024.

Anele abandoned his mother’s dream for him to become an architect, but he had the desire to follow his father’s footsteps and pursue a career as a contractor. Faye is gorgeous, troubled, loves to cook. She aspires to seek higher education, but works as a bartender for existence.

I love that the characters are mature and ambitious. The viewpoint alternates between Anele and Faye. Dante, Anele’s cousin brings comedy to the story. Anele is a perfect gentleman, compassionate, good looking, emotional, but a man seeking love, a wife and is forgivingly show more attracted to Faye. Faye is a bartender in a seedy bar called “Shotters”, where Anele first lays eyes on her. He quickly turns into her knight in shining armor and cares for her.

The author infused tribal African roots, and the familiar was very present, prominent and proud. The homestead of Aneles parents estate was so descriptive, it made me think of Wakanda…lol.

There are a few love scenes that were lengthy, intense, and very sensual. Some parts of the story became repetitive, but the authors writing is pretty clear and enthralling.

It wasn’t until the 12th chapter that it was revealed to me that the setting was on a island in Trinidad and Tobago. The places mentioned in the story are the cities Cunugia (Cunupia is a town in central Trinidad), and Moruga (The village of Moruga lies on the central south coast of Trinidad at the western end of the Trinity Hills). I would have loved more details and descriptions of the Trinidadian’s history, food, culture and climate. A historical perspective of baptism in this country would have made the novel more insightful. The story heated up in chapter fifteen, where Anele exacts revenge on Faye’s ex-boyfriend. The story ended like a present, wrapped up with a bow and glitter.

My most loved characters were Sam, Anele’s father, and Dante, Anele’s cousin. They were warm and welcoming, honest and respectful.

My personal playlist while reading this book would include:

More Than a Woman by Calvin Richardson https://www.shazam.com/track/64325202/more-than-a-woman?referrer=share show less

"A Good Woman" by Jalana Remy is an interesting story from the standpoint that it includes some topics/scenarios that traditional romance novels avoid, i.e., be advised there are trigger warnings, and rightly so! I don't want to spoil anything so I'm not going to reveal what they are, but suffice it to say that even though I read the trigger warnings, the description still caught me off guard when it came up in the book and it seemed like a very true-to-life description. This scenario is important because it sets up the rest of the premise of the book, so if you skip this part, the rest of the book lacks context. I'm not sure, were I the author, I would've had the intestinal fortitude to write about something so triggering with as much show more candor and vivid detail, so I give her props for that, at least.

Once the wheels are set in motion, however, the book becomes somewhat monotonous. There are only so many different ways you can say they sucked each other's tongues, y'know? And while I appreciate spicy sex scenes as much as anyone, I feel like every scene should serve a purpose and advance the novel's story arc. I felt like sometimes, these scenes were just thrown in to kill time/fill pages until the next big crisis, so they were explicit, but boring at the same time.

I did not like how the female main character (FMC) started out being strong and sassy, then got wishy-washy and wouldn't ever just tell the male main character (MMC) what she was thinking unless he dragged it out of her. And I didn't like how the MMC thought because he saved the FMC once, that he then could tell her where and when she could work, etc. He came across as controlling - or as if he were starting down that kind of path. I didn't like that he threw temper tantrums about big issues and did things like slam doors, glare, and drive fast instead of just talking about them.

This story is set in Trinidad and Tobago, and I imagined in my head a lilting Caribbean accent which really enhanced the world built by the author. I recognize that the dialect of English spoken there is different from what I speak, but the fact that - to me - words were left out or were not used with the correct tense or even, in one instance, simply misused, entirely (using the word "scoffed" instead of "scarfed," p.59) was disconcerting at best and completely took me out of the story at worst.

However, there was believable conflict with genuine issues to be worked out, and interesting supporting characters, as well. So although the book is problematic in some respects, there is a decent plot and I think with some serious editing and help in the pacing, it has great potential.

I rate each of the individual aspects of this book on a scale of 1 to 5 stars as follows:

FMC - 3 stars
MMC - 3 stars
Supporting characters - 3 stars
Plot - 3 stars
Pacing - 1 star
World-building - 4 stars
Sexy times - 3 stars
Grammar/Syntax - 1 star
TOTAL: 21 stars out of a possible 40, for a rating of 2.6, rounded up to 3 stars.

I would encourage this author to keep writing because, as noted, there is a lot of potential here. A good editor would probably help iron out the kinks in the pacing, as well as address some of the syntax and grammar issues. Not counting those two areas, I would probably still only give this book 4 stars due to some character flaws in the main protagonists and the explicit inclusion of what is, I'm sure, a problematic event for many readers. I look forward to what Ms. Remy will do as she develops more as a writer! show less

Title: A Good Women
Author: Jalna Remy
Publisher: J. R.
Reviewed By: Arlena Dean
Rating: Four
Review:
'A Good Woman' by Jalana Remy

My Perception:

'A Good Woman' featured Faye Thompson and Anele Williams, and both characters want someone to love. Will this happen for these two? Find Faye has been in an abusive relationship with her ex-boyfriend that he seemed not to take the word no, and Anele appears to have several ladies he has dated. Still, they were not the one for him until he met up with a sexy bartender from the Shotter Bar named Faye. What will become of this situation? You must pick up this good read to see how this author brings it all out. It will be an engaging story that will keep you turning the pages to see what is next for show more these two. show less

I do not like to give a negative review. But it would not be honest to the books I gave 3 stars or more to do otherwise.

Let us take a look at the positive facts first:
abused woman meets a nice man and, after much misunderstandings, gets happy with him.
I love this sort of stories, that is why I asked for it at LibraryThing.
And I loved him calling her 'woman'. I seldom read sentences like that, so I enjoyed this here.

But then the less positive effects:
The blurb says: 'When ... Faye Thompson is placed in a difficult situation by her abusive ex-boyfriend'.
Well, he rapes her. I would certainly not call that a difficult situation, it is rape.
The new guy is far better than the ex. But he is certainly not perfect: he is possessive and not show more always inclined to listen to Faye. He shouts at her.
I do understand his feelings, but shouting at an abused woman is certainly not what you should do.
Then the sex. I liked most of the scenes, but I did not like the rough sex, for more reasons than one. It would be a spoiler if I explained it in full.

And then the writing: it does not always work. The style is too 'jerky' (sorry, I do not know the expression for this in English).

Then there is a big fight somewhere in the story.
I understand the fight, I even applaude it, but ... can a bartender really walk out of the bar when she is the only bartender at the moment?
I should hope not.

It is a debut, so I know it can, and will, become much better.
Just write on, I should say. show less