Distant Lover

Rating:
Summary: Yarn.......(Partly Boring)
Review: Distant Lover is a long distance away from being as interesting as The Honeywell. I guess I favor books that leave you on the edge of your seat and are sexual, funny, drama filled, etc. This is more of an emotional read about Tandi's problems in her marriage, with her father, her brother. The book was long and drawn out. Some would call it descriptive, I call it boring. I enjoyed parts of the book. But for the most part, it's not my cup of tea. I absolutely loved The Honeywell. That was some edge of your seat writing.

Rating:
Summary: Pandora's box
Review: DISTANT LOVER is an emotional story written with a frankness that
is unbridled. Ms. Mallette weaves a simple tale with an emotionally
deplete main character, and questionable secondary characters who
added substance to Tandi's story. Solidly written, DISTANT LOVER
showcases Ms. Mallette's uncompromising honesty about life. This
story casts a penetrating look at family and consequences. And it
raises questions about a bizarre yet believable family situation.
This is a dramatic read. (RAW Rating: 4.5)

Reviewed by aNN
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers


Rating:
Summary: Mallette Does It Again
Review: Distant Lover is the fifth novel of Gloria Mallette. Although Mallette's last novel, The Honeywell, was a tough act to follow, Gloria has once again risen to the occasion.

Tandi Crawford is in a dead end marriage that she is has been desperately trying to save. Finally convinced that her work-a-holic husband is not putting in the relationship as much as she is, Tandi is ready to throw in the towel. Jared, Tandi's husband feels that as long as he is bringing home the bacon he is doing his part. When enough finally becomes enough, Tandi decides to take her son and leave. Due to her father's declining health she is forced to move back to the childhood home that she has always despised. Sporty, her father has never been good to Tandi and she is mortified that she will have to once again live under his roof. The bright side to all the things going on in Tandi's life is that she has reunited with her first love, Brent. But he winds up not being half the man that he used to be. During this period of change for Tandi she has some serious soul searching to do. Although the many unanswered questions are the main things standing in the way of Tandi's real happiness, some things are best left unanswered.

Gloria Mallette has the touch when it comes to stories on dysfunctional families. Giving her novels a touch of warmth while allowing her readers to feel for even the most sinister characters Ms. Mallette has a gift that many writers will never understand. Distant Lover is definitely a novel that will make you appreciate the family that you have.


Rating:
Summary: A recommended read
Review: Distant Lover is the story of Tandi Crawford, a thirty-seven year old married mother of one, who must come to grips were her issues in order to move forward.

After being married for over ten years, Tandi finds herself feeling unloved and unwanted. Is her marriage irreparable? Is a divorce the answer? Or maybe she can find what she's looking for in her first love - a man she's been thinking of more and more with the decline of her marriage.

In addition to her marital problems, Tandi has a strained relationship with her father Sporty, a bitter man who never gave her the love and attention she needed growing up. Why is their relationship so hostile? And why won't he tell her and her brother anything about their mother that died several years earlier?

Readers find themselves pulled into Tandi's world, feeling her pain, as she travels the road of self-discovery. Ms. Mallette delivers a captivating novel.

Reviewed by
Savvy Sista Sophia

Rating:
Summary: Love The Title
Review: For those you enjoy my reviews I am sorry I have been away so long, but I gave birth to my beautiful daughter Tynique Jaz on November 7th @ 5:34 a.m.

Okay, getting to the book....

This book was very enjoyable, it had lots of family drama just like I like it. Suspense right down to the end and a light touch of romance sprinkled in.


This book touches on infidelity in a very tasteful way and how to forgive.

Gloria Malette doesn't fail with this one either.

Later the baby's crying......

Rating:
Summary: Emotional Drama
Review: Gloria Mallette emotionally snatches you inside her books. Using real and honest emotions, she paints her characters with a compelling hand using strokes in which we can relate. With Distant Lover, the story involves Tandi, a married mother of a young son, and she's having problems with her husband and her father. The story follows her journey of self-discovery as she contemplates what to do about her trouble marriage. Should she nix the relationship to join forces with a former lover, or should she give her husband another chance, so they can rebuild their life and raise their precocious son together. And if only she could understand her dad, a man with whom she fights on a regular basis, maybe then life will be all right. Readers may be surprised by the ending of Distant Lover, a novel packed with enough emotion and action to keep the pages turning.

Rating:
Summary: Gloria Mailette followers must add this to their collection
Review: Gloria Mallette's sixth novel, Distant Lover, looks at the effects of love on children as they mature into adults. Meet Tandi, a wife and mother. She seems to have the life her friends can only dream about but Tandi is in turmoil. Her marriage is on the verge of destruction, her husband Jared cheated on her several years ago and Tandi can't forget it. Her father Sporty, who was a single parent, is a crotchety old man who is bitter and treats Tandi worse than imaginable. Tandi's older brother Glynn hasn't the time or inclination to listen to anything she says. As a result, Tandi longs for love from someplace.

Tandi is fighting depression, disillusionment and pent up anger. She longs for her life to be different in some way. She makes seemingly positive and negative changes. She leaves Jared and takes their son MJ. In her haste to depart she winds up moving in with Sporty. He suffers a stroke, so her quick place to stay becomes more permanent. Glynn is only helpful finding a nursing agency that will place home health aides in the home to relieve Tandi of some of the burden, stress and responsibility. Sporty runs the great majority of them off. Even in his stricken stage, he's intimidating and ruthless. He eventually meets his match and is introduced to an aide who can handle him, with her mere presence right when Tandi can take it no longer. Tandi is amazed at the change in Sporty upon meeting this new aide.

In the midst of it all, Tandi reminisces on how life could have been and wonders what her first love, Brent can bring to her life. Ironically, he has returned to town after two wives and two-kids and has settled back into the swing of things. Tandi and Brent attempt to rekindle their old flame. Is this what she truly wants? Is this how life should have been for her?

Distant Lover covers a lot of territory through well-paced plot and character development. Through Tandi's entire journey to self-acceptance, I felt the realness in her persona. Gloria Mallette has crafted yet another memorable novel.

Rating:
Summary: A title says a million words
Review: I loved this book from the beginning to the end, never a dull moment, while reading I kept thinking "oh I see why its intitled Distant Lover" boy was I wrong until I got almost to the end is where I realized the meaning of the title then later in the book my instincts were confirmed. Great story line she is a very gifted writer I haven't read a book she wrote that I wasn't pleased with. Five stars is not enough for this book it is a page turner.

Rating:
Summary: Mallette Does Not Disappoint
Review: This was a well thought out story about Tandi Belson Crawford. She is having problems in her marriage due to lack of communication between her and her husband. This I feel stems from her childhood. So many secrets hidden from her make her unable to communicate effectively in her marriage. Although infidelity on her husband's part makes it even harder for Tandi.This story is set in Jamaica,Queens where I was raised. I could relate to the streets where everything was taking place. Although Mallette has a way of writing about places that I have never been but she still takes me there in her writings. Tandi also goes through betrayal by her so called best friend.
The only thing that was a little pet peeve of mine was the ending but it still doesn't take away from the story.

Rating:
Summary: Don't be fooled by the title---Distant Lover not a romance
Review: When I saw this title, I thought it was a romance and started to not buy it. But having read other Gloria Mallette books, I figured there had to be an edge to the book and I was right. Distant Lover is more than about the relationship between a man and a woman as lovers, but more about all the relationships in the life of Tandi Crawford. Be it her husband, her father, her brother, her girl friends, her first love from high school, Tandi had to come to terms with each of these people and realize that none of her relationships were as she thought, the misconceptions of who she thought each of these people were turns Tandi's life upside down. Distant Lover is food for thought and that old adage, never judge a book by the cover pertains to this title and its characters. Good read. Highly recommended.