Forever
Marilyn SpanierContemporary romance
Available from AuthorHouse
ISBN: 1-4208-5680-4
July 2005
| Linda Mason is an American teaching at a university in Mexico City. She teaches conversational English. She also introduces her students to Shakespeare. Linda is sightseeing at the Pyramid of the Sun in Mexico. She falls asleep at the summit after being exhausted from climbing thousands of stairs. She naps and wakes up 5 hours later after a nightmare. It is very dark, her steps are unsteady and she finds herself needing to be rescued from the pyramid. Luckily when she screams for help, one of the rescuers is Dr. Ricardo Del Campo who was nearby delivering a baby. Ricardo takes Linda to his friend Herman's home safely and puts her to bed. A few days later Linda visits Ricardo to thank him for rescuing her from the pyramid. Linda had been having disturbing nightmares which she discussed with Ricardo. He gave her an examination and she appeared in good health. He gives her a few days of sleeping pills and tells her to exercise vigorously, read before bedtime, and try going to sleep when her eyes are tired. Linda is excited by the doctor's touch while he is examining her. Ricardo seems to feel contempt toward her. Will Ricardo ever have any feelings for Linda? Ricardo was rejected by his fiancee a few years earlier who left him for an American. Ricardo still has a lot of suspicion toward Americans as a result.
Linda took a day off for sightseeing. She visits the ruins at Tula, 50 miles north of Mexico City. During her exploring she finds what looks like an ancient incense burner. Linda is strongly attached to this artifact and returns to Mexico City wanting to check its authenticity. She asks Professor Paco Gonzales if he knows someone who can authenticate the artifact. He recommends Professor Luis Camacho, head of the Archaeology Department at the university, who determines the incense burner is authentic and dates back to before 900 A.D. Linda wants to donate the incense burner to the National Museum of Anthropology. Linda had met Maria, Ricardo's oldest friend, the night she was rescued from the pyramid and taken to Herman's home. Herman is Maria's father. Maria invites Linda to visit her for the weekend while she and her family go to visit Elena, Ricardo's older sister. Elena and her family live in Zihuatanejo where she and her husband own a small hotel. While in Zihuatanejo, Ricardo also comes to visit and Linda and Ricardo get to spend some time together. Linda returns home and finds her house was broken into and the incense burner is missing. Linda is very worried wondering if the thief is someone she knows. A fascinating quality of this book is the vivid sense you are there at all the sites including Pyramid of the Sun, Teotihuacan, Marfil, the Mercado Hidalgo marketplace, Tula, Zihuatanejo, Ixtapa, Chapultepec Park, Guanajuato, the famous church Our Lady of Guadalupe, Cacahuamilpa National Park and Temple of the Morning Sun. I felt like I shared the experience of these sites with Linda after reading this story. The story of Linda and Ricardo is very intense, including love, mystery and danger, and a kinship involving a lot of other characters who are intimately involved with Linda and Ricardo's story. Those supporting characters include Juliana, Miguelito and Rudolfo, Linda's students whom she is assisting in a performance of Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, Maria Vargas Serrano, Ricardo's best friend since childhood, her husband Juan, her son Hermancito who is Ricardo's first godchild, Herman, Maria's father who paid for Ricardo to go to medical school, Raul and Lupe, a psychic, who work for Herman, Graciella, Maria and Linda's friend, Ramon, Graciella's son, Paola, Graciella's daughter, Sofia Torez, Linda's teacher friend, Elena, Ricardo's older sister, Juan, Elena's husband, Antonio, Elena's son, Maricela and Susanna, Elena's daughters, Professor Romero, dean of the university, Professor Paco Gonzales, and Professor Luis Camacho, head of the Archaeology Department at the university and Gonzales' friend. This story is a rich vibrant reading experience. The characters are fully developed and very captivating to the reader. The love story between Linda and Ricardo is full of challenges and unexpected surprises. I was enthralled by this book and recommend it to everyone.
Overall rating:
Reviewer: Ellen |
