Letting Loose

...I'm on my way to Dominica, one of the settings for Joanne Skerrett's third and most ambitious novel. The other setting is Boston, of course, where Skerrett's latest protagonist, schoolteacher Amelia Wilson, finds life a little on the dull site. It's not that there's no drama in Boston: Amelia's high-school students are disrespectful and unruly, her brother's life is troubling and her alcoholic mother expects Amelia to bail her and Amelia's brother out their never-ending series of binds. To top it all off, her best-friend Whitney is battling a serious mental illness. So when Amelia's roommates, Kelly and James, return from Dominica, a tiny island in the Caribbean and try to set her up with a guy they've met there, Amelia can't help but take a stab at a cross-cultural, long-distance relationship. A few emails and several phone calls later, Amelia's on a flight to the Caribbean. Why not? After all, Drew is rich, smart, handsome and altruistic. But Amelia's golden boy soon loses some of his shine. Skerrett does an excellent job introducing Dominica, its mountainous coastal vistas, its blue-blue waters, green-green trees and a sometimes-rustic existence. (I'm sooo there.) I agree with the previous posters that the story starts slow, but as the novel progresses, it's easy to get lost between its pages. Readers may be tempted to compare Letting Loose to Terry McMillan's "Stella:" A black American woman finds love with a man outside of the mainland U.S., but the similarities stop there. Skerrett's protagonist does find love on an island but the journey is complex and the ending is an unexpected one. Is it a fairytale? Hmmm, not so much. But maybe Amelia is on the road to her happily ever after.

Amelia is a frustrated Boston school teacher. Her students talk back to her. Her needy mother nags her and only calls her to tell her what's wrong with her life. Her brother is never around unless he wants something or he's getting into trouble. Amelia yearns for something more - a husband, a family, a life that fulfills. When her roommates come back from the Caribbean nation of Dominica, they gush about a handsome, smart and philanthropic guy named Drew, who is building a school on the island. The well-intentioned roommates gave Drew Amelia's email address and a series of fun and flirtatious email exchanges begin. A friendship blossoms and a long-distance romance begins to heat up. To Amelia, Drew is someone she can talk to, someone who listens and gives her advice from a point of view that is fresh and insightful. He challenges her. When he urges her to come and visit him in Dominica during her spring break, Amelia can't resist. Sparks fly from the moment they gaze upon each other at the airport. In Joanne Skerrett's third novel, readers will meet another everyday young woman searching for her place in the world as well as for that special guy. Unlike her previous novels, which were written in third-person, Skerrett tells this story through Amelia's first-person narration. We see Amelia complain about her lackluster teaching career in Boston, how she keeps a watchful eye on her alcoholic mother and on her troublesome brother. But the book isn't just about Amelia and her family. We meet Amelia's bestfriend Whitney, a wild and impulsive Boston computer professional who has some personal issues that Amelia tries to help her deal with. We also meet Vanessa, Drew's meddlesome, diva-like mother who has an invisible and strong umbilical cord with her son. The book gradually builds up to the island romantic adventure on Dominica, which reminded me in spirit of "How Stella Got Her Groove Back." But once Skerrett introduces Dominica and all of its scenic mountainside vistas, waterfalls, lush landscapes and the island's laid back vibe, the book starts to cook. (enough to make you want to book a flight to Dominica) Here, we follow Amelia as just falls deeply in love with Drew, whose heart is in the right place in helping Dominicans build a school. We see Amelia's comic episodes in adjusting to island life, from hiking on her own with Drew's dog Sonny to coming face to face with an army of goats that block her path. We see her survive her first hurricane. We also see Amelia's personal growth as she realizes that she doesn't have to be in Boston to support her family to have a life because there is one waiting for her in Dominica. The power of the book is Amelia's character development, how she goes from being there for everyone in her family and her circle of friends to being there for herself. Amelia learns that she too must live for herself and to trust that she can find her own path, even if that means moving away from what she holds so dear in Boston,

Amelia Wilson is a schoolteacher whose life is missing the right components to give her true happiness. In LETTING LOOSE, readers journey beside Amelia as she discovers who she is, what she truly wants out of life, and starts living for Amelia. Amelia's roommates return from Dominica and are ecstatic because they think they have found the perfect man for her. What starts as innocent emails, turns into wonderful and costly phone conversations. Eventually Amelia decides her spring break will be spent with Drew. Amelia is drawn to Drew's personality and his pride in his country. He wants to revitalize it so future Dominicans will return to their homeland, and it helps that from his pictures, he is fine too. So with a bit of coaxing, Amelia embarks on her first real vacation and a sizzling spring break with Drew. She finds life on the small Caribbean island of Dominica is vastly different from her home in Boston. She discovers she is not as fearful as she once thought and there can be true romance without the physical. After her week in Dominica, Amelia returns home to the chaos that is her family and the unruliness of her students. She realizes her life is predictable, and she misses Drew immensely. When summer vacation arrives, Amelia returns to Dominica and starts to enjoy life again with Drew. Before long the lovers start contemplating a future together, however, Amelia discovers a secret about Drew, will trust enable them to ever have a future together? LETTING LOOSE had a very slow start but as the story unraveled, Skerrett started to draw me in. The main character's growth was deliberate and almost crept up on me. The imagery to describe the small island was beautiful. The secondary characters added depth and dimension to the story as well, because they were unique and had their own issues to deal with, but those issues never overwhelmed the main storyline. The writing was well done, however, I found the ending too contrite and unresolved for me. Amelia needed to trust Drew in the end and his secret is one which would require a lot more introspection than the readers were allowed to read. I needed to see how Amelia was able to overlook the issue and decide giving up everything to be with this man was really worth it. LETTING LOOSE is a story of loving yourself and finding love. Reviewed by Cashana Seals of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers