At Last

Rating:
Summary: This Could Never Be
Review: Caroline Singleton is a wealthy artist who longs for some normalcy in her life. Caroline interviews and is hired as the Art Director at an up and coming minority advertising agency. It is enroute to the interview that Caroline literally runs into Brian Keene and from there the romance takes off, or does it?

Several obstacles stand in Caroline and Brian's way; Brian is Caucasian and Caroline is African-American. However, this does not pose a problem for Brian. Brian has one-fourth ownership of Inclusions, Caroline's employer; Brian's ex-girlfriend is the Office Manager at Inclusions and, someone is out to kill Caroline for some unknown reason.

At Last could best be described as a romance/mystery novel. There is high drama, anxiety and affirming love between the main characters and their families. The only problem I had with the plot was the romance appeared to be love at first sight. While I am somewhat a believer in this phenomenon and while it is great to read about, this union appeared over the top from the beginning.

Lisa Riley has given the readers plausible secondary characters, some humorous antics, good writing and a true romance read.

Reviewed by Dawn R. Reeves
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Rating:
Summary: Looking Forward to More!
Review: I am a new fan of interracial romances. I've read books by Seressia Glass and her books are what made me want to find more romances with an interracial theme. Ms. Glass's books are good, but At Last by Ms. Riley is great! I couldn't put this book down.

The book tells the story of Caroline Singleton, an African-American artist/heiress and Brian Keenan, an Irish-American techie. The way they meet took my breath away. I won't spoil it here, but let's just say it was one of the most original meetings I've ever read about. It was written so well and credibly that I had to keep telling myself that stuff like this really doesn't happen in real life. However, Ms. Riley made me want to believe that it can.

Just to give a brief summary of the book: Caroline doesn't want to date Brian because 1. they work together and 2. (very secondary)she's never dated a white man before. Brian, of course, is eager to get things started with this woman who (from the moment he meets her) he can't get out of his head. Caroline's feelings for Brian are almost just as strong, but she's more cautious. Throw into the mix a little suspense involving a drug lord and you have an awesome book.

The editorial process could use more work and I have to say that the mistakes are a bit distracting, but the story is so strong and the characters are so interesting and likeable, that I overlooked all the mistakes. I give this book five stars and I am looking forward to more work from Ms. Riley!

Rating:
Summary: A true page turner
Review: I enjoyed "At Last" on so many different levels! I just couldn't put it down. As an active New York subway rider, I almost missed my train stop on multiple occasions because I was so enraptured with this book. While at first "At Last" seems like a classic romance novel between Caroline Singleton, an attractive African-American artist, and Brian Keenan, a white technology guru, I found many interesting twists and sub-plots that kept me guessing until the very end. I particularly liked the way Ms. Riley addressed the issue of interracial relationships--non-confrontational and thought provoking. At last!

Rating:
Summary: finally!!
Review: I gave this book five stars because i really enjoyed it and it was different from the others.I think that i have mostly all the interratial BWWM books out there and one thing that most have in common is the the hero is clueless in some ways and the heroine is just mean to him. I wonder why he likes her if she has no faith in his love and most of the books, she cares to much for what other people think and treats him nasty. she usually acts like a ghetto mama and has no manners and he takes it until all of the sudden she is a sweet little innocent something. In this book race did come up, but there were much more important issues to deal with and if someone said something derogatory to her she stood up for her and her man and didn't care. this seemed more realistic to me.in my family there are many interratial marriages(black,hispanic,asian,white)and we never had a problem with race but others did and the couples knew that the people were ignorant
and had no say in what happened in their marriages. I am happy to read about about a woman that is confident in herself and her man and is someone i wouldn't mind being around unlike some of the others.

Rating:
Summary: AT Last What...
Review: I have to be honest, I really didn't care for this book too much. When I first got the book I was so upset to see I didn't get the cover that Amazon has pictured. Instead my cover is of a man and a woman's hand. Now I say I didn't care for the book too much because I did enjoy some of the book. I just felt like it could have been alot less high class and violent. I mean first off Caroline was just too over the top. Here she is a heiress/artist/can be model. I mean talk about giving me a complex. And I don't think any woman wants to read about a "painfully thin" woman at least not me. But I can say I did enjoy her humor and her ability to make Brian and any other man in her presence forget thier own name.

As for Brian, I really loved his sense of humor also, and his wit. Although I am alittle tired of the 35 year old grey eyed black hair white guy look (Twist of fate had the same type of leading man) I did however love his attitude throughout the book, and the way he attempted to be the macho guy that refused to get intimated by Caroline, her family and the "stalker/Ida/Pete whoever".

And I have to say that Caroline was alittle tiring at times, and what was all the hitting about? Everytime her and Brian interacted on some level there she was pinching or hitting him. I mean I know us black women are vocal, but I do keep my hands to myself when trying to prove a point. Well like I said I did enjoy the book, like all interracial books, but I just wish interracial books would just keep it simple and not add murder and stalking to the mix, because when your reading a romance novel you want the fantasy not the nightmare.

Rating:
Summary: FANTASTIC READ
Review: I just loved this book! I loved it so much, that I couldn't put it down and I finished it in two hours! Caroline and Brian bump into each other in a crowded office building and find, to their amazement, that they have this phenomenal attraction for one another. Caroline is afraid of her feelings, but Brian is eager to get to know her. There are other things holding Caroline back as well. Her main concern is that by a horrible quirk of fate, Brian is her new boss. Another obstacle, to Caroline's way of thinking, is their different ethnicities. He's white and she's black.

This book kept me turning the pages as I read about their relationship growing and flourishing despite their perceived differences. And did I mention that the author did us a tremendous favor and added mystery to the mix? To Caroline's astonishment, she is being stalked and she has no idea by whom. The author wove the mystery through the novel seamlessly and I was genuinely surprised when I reached the end of the story.

My only complaint is that there were mistakes in the novel, not a whole lot, but enough to notice. I was surprised by the mistakes because the author writes so well. The mistakes didn't keep me from reading this great story though, and I hope this author gives us another book soon!

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I loved At Last by Lisa Riley. She really had a sense of the characters and the way she described things was amazing! I'd like to take a trip to Chicago myself just to see the city's Navy Pier, which sounds just beautiful.

Anyway, I digress. Caroline and Brian are two wonderful characters who experience love at first sight. He's all for it, she's not and the laughter, joy and the chase ensue from there. I don't want to give anything away, so I'll just end this by saying that this book is well worth anyone's time. If you love a good entertaining story, then this is the book for you! I'm really looking forward to her next book, which I understand is coming out in August, 2004.

Rating:
Summary: Well I bought it... LOL
Review: I must agree with Babygirl. I live in a almost completely white area and I found that it played into all the afr american woman/ white man stereotypes. In the first 5 pages he was trying to get her naked. I had to go back and read to see if maybe I missed something.

It just did not hold together very well. I mean I understood the issues the author was trying to bring out, but it would have been so much better if they would have explored that earlier rather than about 1/3 into the book. Interracial relationships are difficult mainly because so often as 'Jason" said in the book it is felt that blk women 'sell out' when they date (especially) white guys. The book though a romance novel and not a political statement hould have addressed her hesitation because of the pressure that educated blk women get anyway, but then to 'cross over' leaves you in no mans land. And often it makes other men think u r open for business because they now realize you will 'go there'.

I think that Brian was unrealistic in his approach and asking his buddies permission LOL... Most blk women are very strong willed and no matter what permission he got, she would make it clear it is mine you need to win. It just was not very realistic in my opinion.

I was happy to find this line of romance novels though, it was exciting to see how far society has come. I think that Ms. Riley will improve as time goes on and that some of the issues and feelings she touched on were very good, but if explored it could have been a much better novel.

Rating:
Summary: Well I bought it... LOL
Review: I must agree with Babygirl. I live in a almost completely white area and I found that it played into all the afr american woman/ white man stereotypes. In the first 5 pages he was trying to get her naked. I had to go back and read to see if maybe I missed something.

It just did not hold together very well. I mean I understood the issues the author was trying to bring out, but it would have been so much better if they would have explored that earlier rather than about 1/3 into the book. Interracial relationships are difficult mainly because so often as 'Jason" said in the book it is felt that blk women 'sell out' when they date (especially) white guys. The book though a romance novel and not a political statement hould have addressed her hesitation because of the pressure that educated blk women get anyway, but then to 'cross over' leaves you in no mans land. And often it makes other men think u r open for business because they now realize you will 'go there'.

I think that Brian was unrealistic in his approach and asking his buddies permission LOL... Most blk women are very strong willed and no matter what permission he got, she would make it clear it is mine you need to win. It just was not very realistic in my opinion.

I was happy to find this line of romance novels though, it was exciting to see how far society has come. I think that Ms. Riley will improve as time goes on and that some of the issues and feelings she touched on were very good, but if explored it could have been a much better novel.

Rating:
Summary: Very disappointed with this book
Review: I read all the reviews for this book and they were so good i decided to buy the book.
I did not like the book at all. First of all there were so many editing errors that it was hard to get past that. I thought the storyline could have been stronger between the couple. I am not a writer so this is only my opinion. Usually when i read a romance novel and it is really good i get pulled in by the characters, and i did not feel that way with Caroline and Brian.