by Angie Pollock

Created on: November 23, 2008

Author Sandra Brown has published over 70 books thus far during her long writing career. "A Whole New Light" is one of the novels from Brown's early career, published in 1989. A romantic, face-paced novel with love, seduction and humor, "A Whole New Light" takes an old plot idea and adds twists and turns to the characters.

Cynthia McCall, widowed at a young age, still cannot find where she wants to be in her life. Two years after her husband's death, she is living a day-to-day life, caring for her 4 year-old son and finding annoyance in her mother's advice. Everyone around her says it is time to move on. But move on to what? Where does she go and how does she let go of Tim?

Tim's best friend, Worth Lansing, has the perfect solution to both of their problems. Run off for a weekend getaway to Acapulco. What would be the harm in two close friends taking a short vacation together? Worth always knew what to say and Cyn could always open up to him. They were each other's rock and Worth would always be there for his best friend's widow.

Worth was a lady's man; he had many women around but never found one that fit his lifestyle. Cyn teased Worth about his wild ways and Worth let Cyn know that her ways weren't as perfect. If they were, she would be happy. The beauty of their friendship allowed them to discuss everything, just as best friends would. All of that would change in Acapulco as they entered their suite. "...Worth and Cyn stood like statues in the middle of the room, staring down at the bed-the one king-size bed."

Worth and Cyn returned home, never to be the same. Never to have the same relationship they had when they left for their weekend of fun and relaxation. Worth turned to Greta and Cyn found herself accepting dates from a man that she had no feelings for. Worth and Cyn made arrangements to work out their relationship but nothing goes as planned. But nothing was ever going to be the same, not since Acapulco.

The storyline of "A Whole New Light" has been written many times in other romance novels. Woman is widowed. Woman has a male friend. Woman and male friend become closer than intended. However, it is the personalities of Worth and Cynthia and the other characters that bring this story together. Rather than the pages filled with general characterizations and descriptive scenes, the characters tell their stories through communication. A lot of communication.

This was one problem I had during the book. Many times I would need to re-read some of the conversations as I didn't know who was saying what and the communications became confusing at times. This also made the book a fast-paced read because of the many conversations; they were passionate, humorous and heart-felt. You won't want to put the book down until Worth and Cyn are done having their spats. Readers will be able to relate to the characters as they are all humanized, nothing supernatural or extraordinary. A beautifully told romance with that feel-good and most surprising ending.

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