The Aura of Love

Kathy J. Marsh
Black Diva Publishing (2006)
ISBN 0977495000
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.

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