Official Review: A wrong time to love by Doris N. Johnson

[Jocelyn Eastman]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "A wrong time to love" by Doris N. Johnson.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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A Wrong Time To Love, by Doris N. Johnson, is a story about the struggles of interracial romance for black women in the late 19th and early 20th century West Virginia. We meet Naomi, a beautiful, young black woman, who is in love with Rubin, a young, white man, who lives at Patterson Plantation where Naomi’s mom Elsie works. The two begin a forbidden romance, hiding their feelings and their dalliances until Naomi falls pregnant. Once Elsie learns of the pregnancy, it is decided that Naomi will give the baby away and that Naomi will never see the baby or Rubin again. Hearts are broken, lives are irreparably damaged and eventually some things work out well for some characters as we watch all the characters from Patterson Plantation navigate the ins and outs of racial politics and intrigue.

This book is written in very informal language and has some slang in it, but is very easy to understand. The book has love scenes in it, but is not explicit. The story also has rape scenes in it, so that may be upsetting to those who are sensitive to that topic. There is no profanity in the novel.

The thing I liked most about this book is the characterizations that the author made for each person. Each individual chapter was about a person, and each chapter would go into depth about what happened to that person. Because this book was so much about the impact of racism on romantic relationships and their offspring, I liked how the author was able to delve into the actions, thoughts and feelings of the characters more deeply.

The thing I disliked most about the book was that it was billed as a romance novel, but it was not a romance novel. There were none of the anticipated romance or lovemaking scenes. The buildup was certainly there, but the lovemaking scenes were down to one sentence, maybe two, and that left me a little disappointed, since this was advertised as a romance novel.

Another thing I would like to point out about the novel is that I think the author tried to contextualize the experiences of people back in the late 19th century with what people would do now. She had someone getting their GED in the 1880’s, when it wasn’t invented until 1942. She had the earliest love interest, which by her own timeline would have occurred in the early 1860’s, possibly during the Civil War, driving a car. Aside from the likelihood that the young man in the scenario would have been fighting in the war during this time, cars weren’t invented until the 1880’s. There were other things in the novel that occurred like that, and for me, they were distracting.

Overall, it was a romance novel that never happened. There are some people who may enjoy this novel. Those who want to read about the experience of interracial relations during the early 20th and probably most of the 20th century might enjoy this book. On that level I did find this book enlightening. I just can’t get over the lack of other research that went into the story and lack of actual romance scenes. For that, I rate this book 2 out of 4 stars.

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A wrong time to love
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[That Reviewer]

Looks like the author should really work in this novel to bring in it up to par. I'll take a pass.

[Gio89belf]

The author needs to work on this better. I just couldn't get into it.

[Leanna Duke]

This book need a bit more exciting components to it. It would be a really nice novel to read once they bring it to life better.

[asuccintbeta]

Thank you for your honest review as this is one of my favorite genres and everything you mentioned would undoubtedly send me over the edge.

[Nisha Ward]

I do wonder if a book like this one in particular could be billed as a romance. Certainly, there are romances that deal with interracial love in the Civil War era, so it's not that. It just doesn't seem to fit the genre.

[Jocelyn Eastman]

I do wonder if a book like this one in particular could be billed as a romance. Certainly, there are romances that deal with interracial love in the Civil War era, so it's not that. It just doesn't seem to fit the genre.

That question crossed my mind several times during this book. I’m not sure why this book was billed as a romance, but I figured I should warn everyone.

[gayscott]

Thanks for your honest review. I don't think I would be interested in this book since it's labeled romance and there is very little romance involved.