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Mystique is the story of Janice, a young woman who is married to an abusive man, Paul. She grew up in an emotionally abusive home, and married in order to get away from her mother. Paul struck her while she was pregnant, resulting in the stillbirth of her daughter Karen. When the story begins, Paul has Janice isolated in a cabin without a car, while he is looking for work. He is accustomed to making a six figure income, and his self-esteem has suffered since he was laid off. As a result, he has been more volatile and abusive to Janice.
Janice married after her boyfriend Steve rejected her. Janice and Steve were high school sweethearts until Steve left home to go to college in Ohio. Janice found out she was pregnant after Steve was gone, and when she called to tell him, he accused her of sleeping around. Her best friend Christina, introduced her to Paul, and he fell madly in love with Janice. She married him, but didn’t tell him she was pregnant. Somehow he found out the baby wasn’t his and he became abusive.
Janice has unusual powers and is able to sense tragedies before they happen.
She has “visions” that are disturbing, and so she tries to block them
out. She becomes increasingly dissatisfied with her marriage as the book
progresses.
Ms Shirley has written a compelling story about a woman overcoming both her past and present. The beginning chapter had a great deal of background information, and it took a little bit of time to get to the actual story line. Once the action began, there was a more realistic flow.
Unfortunately, the final chapter is all loose ends. The marriage is ending, the villain is revealed, but not captured, and Janice and Steve have just begun to work through their problems. The book felt unfinished and dissatisfying as a result. There is no happily ever after,
at least not in this first book.
Ms. Shirley makes reference to an upcoming book, next in the series. It is the hope of this reader that she will be able to write it as a stand alone book.
Reviewed by Nancy Riggins-Hume
for The Road to Romance
March 8, 2004
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