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Practically jailed to her home by her mother’s dependency, Kimberly Greene decides to join her friends on a vacation to the under-developed town of Mapungi in the North. While there, Kimberly meets her best friend’s cousin, Hussein. That’s when the trouble begins.
Kimberly has vowed never to love: if she loves no one, no one can hurt her. But now that she has met Hussein, that rule seems misguided. But is it?
A Northern Affair Book I contains all of the elements of a classic romance. In this work, you will find a heroine reluctant to let a man touch her heart and a hero who is kind and gentle and hardworking, who will stop at nothing to make the heroine happy. You will also find the loving best-friend, the domineering ex (who will make a short appearance to start trouble), and a sub-plot to tie it all in together.
All of this is to say that A Northern Affair is a well-executed romance novel which is why I gave it 4 out of 5 stars. What kept me from giving this work 5 stars was the lack of ingenuity. I did not find the work clever or really all that interesting. The characters were all ones that I have come across before. The character dynamics were one-note and predictable. The sub-plot was touched upon but never really explored, which made it feel like filler between the romance-building scenes.
That said, I found a hint of innovation in the relationship between Kimberly and her mother. After Kimberly’s father abandoned them, Kimberly’s mother crumbled. She became frightened to be without Kimberly, and this fear turned into a type of over-protection and one-sided dependency. This is a realistic parent-child dynamic (considering the circumstances) that not only does this story a great justice, but also gives me a taste of the possibilities for the sequels.