Summary
An introduction made…a new love born…society, families, and friends against it. A new power appears…a secret told…a culprit revealed. Will love survive? Will they survive?
As Remy struggles to come to grips with her feelings for Jace, an Auralite of a different type, she has no idea that “one of their own kind” is revealing their existence, in a succession of dreams, to a world-renowned journalist. The hunt is on to find the culprit once the journalist reveals the dreams as a series of fictional accounts in a national magazine.
Just as Remy starts to accept Jace, the guilty party is revealed to be someone they both know and love. They are now compelled to find the journalist before their ruling body, The Council, does…or the results will be disastrous. Does the hunt strengthen them, hurt them, or rip them apart?
About the Author
Kathy J Marsh was born and raised in Wilmington, NC. She attended several NC colleges and graduated with honors from Johnson C Smith University in Charlotte.
Writing is a recently discovered passion and as with everything about which Kathy is passionate, she devoted many hours to learning her craft and writing her first novel while working at a local university.
Currently residing in Charlotte, Kathy is hard at work on her second novel, Suddenly Younger.
Reviews
THE AURA OF LOVE by Kathy J. Marsh is the tale of love on an island inhabited by the Auralites, people who hide their island from humans by casting a veil over it. It is invisible even though they are close to Charlotte, North Carolina. Remy Renee falls in love with Jace Williams, best-selling author of a book about vampires. The only problem is Remy is a purple Auralite and Jace is a blue Aralite. The two should never mix, according to most Auralites. Back in the 1800s, the blue Aralites took advantage of the purples and more or less enslaved them, forcing them work for humans and give them, the purples, most of their paychecks. From then on the prejudice between the two groups was rampant. Neither Jace nor Remy could help the way they felt about each other and so they most definitely suffered the consequences of a society brought up in hate.
This is a fantastic story that is so reminiscent of black and white relations in the United States. The parallels are astounding. Jace and Remy, two very well developed characters, falter and sometimes fall as they attempt to deal with not only the prejudice of friends but also of family. Jace's mother is particularly virulent, with Remy's not far behind. It forces Jace and Remy to make hard choices, as I am sure people in black and white relationships must do. Marsh keeps the tension going and the interest up. It's hard to put down. I would highly recommend this book for those who like intrigue and romance.
Reviewed by alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers
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Alice Holman is an avid reader, a writer and a community activist. She lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband Ray and her little dog Boo.
Remy Renee owner of Urbane and one of the best designers around, finds herself in an awkward position, in love with a blue Auralite. Vowing to never enter into an inter-coven relationship of any kind, Jace Williams, a famous author makes it very difficult for her to turn her back on her feelings. The issues that Remy faces with dating Jace are larger than just what her family will think and say. It affects her relationship with close friends, her business, and her personal sanity. So when small things start affecting her dream to expand her business, she first believes that there has been some sort of mistake taking place. As Remy dedicates her time between her personal crisis and her work crisis she realizes that some things just don’t add up. Her relationship with a blue auralite has caused one of her best friends such stress that when things fall apart in her life she tries to destroy Remy’s. After all doesn’t misery love company?
Jace Williams enjoys a comfortable and quiet life until he meets Remy Renee. After just a general running into each other type of thing, he finds himself wanting to know more about her. As he does, he decides that he likes what he is seeing and therefore tries to begin a relationship with a woman that is known to their world as the wrong woman because she is a purple auralite. And of course everyone knows that a blue auralite would never date a purple one, or at least that’s what people like to believe. It’s this nonsense that starts the problems that both Remy and Jace face as they try to decide if what they feel for each other is worth the obstacles they have to overcome.
As Remy and Jace start their relationship Remy’s loan to expand her business is denied and she is harassed by the police, while Jace is faced with family issues involving his father and his illegitimate children. It now appears that Jace’s family issues also affect the life of one of Remy’s friends and the events that follow will keep you reading to the end. You will never guess all the people that become part of this romantic triangle, but each person has his/her place and purpose for being added to the story. I liked this book because it is filled with suspense, romance, and relational issues between friends and family. I think it’s a book that you will enjoy.
Reviewed by Lora McDonald for Romance Readers Connection
Rating 4
Reviewed by Linda Benninghoff for Reader Views (11/06)
In this riveting novel, Kathy J. Marsh tells the story of a blue Auralite and a purple Auralite dating. As the story goes on, a complete imaginative picture of the island on which two Auralites, Jace and Remy, live is built up. The novel purports to be a paranormal romance, yet there is little of the paranormal about it. The Auralites do have some magical powers, but really they resemble human beings--and these human beings are fully drawn. They are all Afro-American, their purple and blue auras invisible to the humans who see them. The story is rich, and, while it is a page-turning romance, it is also social commentary.
The world of the island, set in the Caribbean where blue Auralites at one time exploited purple Auralites, resembles the United States with its former slavery and current race relations. As Remy, a purple Auralite, dates Jace, a blue Auralite, the story centers around the difficulties of interracial dating. The repercussions for Remy and Jace are vast. Remy loses business clients, and Jace, at least for awhile, loses a mother.
The fantastic society of purple and blue Auralites doesn’t have any seams showing. The characterization is rich. Besides being about interracial dating, this book is also about families. Jace, who is a noted author, is very much involved with his mother, father and brother. The parents and siblings enter into the drama and become three-dimensional when they find they have some relatives they knew nothing about.
Remy’s family and friends are also three-dimensional. Sasha, her sister, disapproves of blue Auralites and disapproves of her dating Jace. Her friend, Kara, also disapproves--so much so that she behaves cruelly, in a way that is out of character for her. Remy and Kara part company, at least for a while.
I thought this story was a successful metaphor for race relations in our own country. It is a story in its own right too, and I found the idea of the island in the Caribbean, where purple and blue Auralites live, so believable that I thought I could travel there and visit, if only I knew its secret location. It was the romance that interested me most and forms the backbone of the story. Through ups and downs, Jace and Remy try to stay together and manage to discover that love is stronger than purple or blue auras. This was an excellent and meaningful book. As I turned the pages of “The Aura of Love,” the tension heightened and I couldn’t put it down.
An amazing new voice with a brilliant, otherworldly concept that takes you deep into the issues of race, class, and gender."
--L.A. Banks, author of The Vampire Huntress Legends series
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