Title: Until Ray
Author: Cheryl Robinson
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Age Group: Adult
Rating: 4 stars
Purchase: Amazon
Review copy provided by Enchanted Book Promotions in exchange for an honest review.
Two people in the same city but worlds apart.
Until Ray is an unconventional love story of how two young people transitioning into adulthood find each other and develop a bond that will be tested through three decades.
HE IS LOST…
Ray lives in northwest Detroit in a four-family flat with his mother. When he’s not at home, Ray’s either at the mall selling women’s shoes or in the club. In both places, he’s focused on one thing—picking up women. Dissatisfied, dysfunctional, and leagues behind his peers, Ray’s ready for a change but isn’t sure how to make it happen.
THEN SHE ARRIVES…
At twenty-four, Sarita has an MBA, is a CPA, and works in upper-level management at GM. But all that success comes at a cost: she’s lonely and craves the one thing she’s never had—attention from men. Until now. Dr. Graham Emerson wants to marry Sarita, and her parents expect her to, but Sarita isn’t convinced he’s the one for her. On a blind date, she meets Ray Saint and is immediately drawn in by his good looks and sense of humor. But his reputation for being a ladies’ man raises several red flags. Ray swears he’s changed. Is giving up a sure thing for a maybe worth the risk?
Set in the mid-eighties, Until Ray explores life and love through the lenses of colorism, classism, and family dysfunction.
Until Ray is an unconventional love story set in the mid-eighties. Two young people transitioning into adulthood find each other, but their bond gets tested time and again. Ray is a character who you just want to slap some sense into. He lives in a four-family flat with his mother, and he works at the mall selling women’s shoes. He spends most of his free time in the club, picking up women. He has deep-rooted emotional issues that stop him from becoming the person he could one day be.
Sarita is different, but she too has a vast array of issues. She has an MBA and works in upper-level management. However, success in her career comes at a high cost: she’s lonely and lacks attention from men, something she craves for often. Dr. Graham Emerson wants to marry her, and her parents expect her to say yes, but Sarita isn’t convinced he’s the one for her. She meets Ray on a blind date and is immediately drawn in by his good looks and sense of humor… But can she trust a ladies’ man like Ray?
The strength of this novel is showing how dysfunction brings forth more dysfunction. Sarita has led a sheltered life, and is a bit naive when it comes to matters of the heart. Ray starts out as a womanizer, and though he often swears he’ll change, change isn’t that easily accomplished, as it shows by him often failing in what he sets out or swears to do. I too, like Sarita, offered him probably more chances than he deserved, and felt let down when, once again, he just didn’t appreciate the chances he was given.
Ultimately, it’s a strong book, an emotional rollercoaster that shows that you can’t always change people, and not all people will mature properly, no matter how much you try. It has a lot of depth, the characters all have their own unique strengths and weaknesses, and overall, it’s an intriguing read.
[…] Until Ray by Cheryl Robinson […]