Love Dazzles in Sapphire by Charmyra E. Fleming
This review first appeared on Reader Views. Read the Reader Views version here.
MJ is just back from the Vietnam War, and he can’t wait to see his family and his girlfriend, Phyllis. His family greets him with open arms; Phyllis greets him with a breakup. While devastated by this parting from his childhood sweetheart, he heads off to Howard University to study so he can become a successful jazz saxophonist. What he did not expect or plan for was Sapphire. Sapphire captures his fascination, but for a while the two focus on building a friendship. Soon Sapphire has captured MJ’s heart and vice versa. The two manage to navigate trials together from exes to parents to a lengthy hospital stay.
Love Dazzles in Sapphire is a genre-abiding romance novella and part of the Purple Charm Series. A few aspects of the story make it stand out from the pack. The first is its post-Vietnam War setting. While the devastating effects of the war on the American soldiers could have been explored more, author Charmyra E. Fleming clearly does address these issues through MJ and his college roommate Paul—a fellow Vietnam vet. Another notable aspect is the dialogue. Fleming writes characters’ dialogue in believable voices, which makes it easy both to distinguish characters from one another and to bond with them as a reader.
Overall, Fleming’s prose flows quite naturally, carrying the reader through multiple cities and years. However, there are a few instances where awkward phrasings stand out. Additionally, there is an occasional dip into a side character that does not pay off in the way a reader may hope. This is not meant to suggest that this book is not worth reading, however, merely that readers should not discount the wonderful bulk of the book for a few brief mismatched moments.
MJ and Sapphire’s love is an easy-to-root-for friends-to-lovers romance. The setting is likely to educate many readers at least somewhat on the post-Vietnam War United States (including an incident at LaGuardia Airport in 1975). The easily flowing dialogue and prose of Charmyra E. Fleming’s Love Dazzles in Sapphire will carry readers through this quite lovely novella.
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