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BOOK REVIEW: ‘Brandy’ by Eralides E. Cabrera

9 Brandy book cover2By: Carolyn Maxwell

PERTH AMBOY – Brandy as you can see on the front cover was a beautiful girl. Unfortunately at times her beauty was not always an asset.

Wherever she appeared, she would turn everyone’s head. It didn’t matter if they were male or female. Brandy had an easy and hard life.

Like so many children, although Brandy knew who her mother was, they had very little contact with one another. Brandy’s mother, Carolyn decided it was best if her daughter was raised by her grandparents.

Brandy’s mother, Carolyn, unfortunately fell in love with a young man who could not handle an unwanted pregnancy.

Carolyn worked as a waitress in a small town in Central Jersey during the week. Since her brother lived there, she roomed with him while working and would visit her daughter on the weekends.

Over the years, animosity built up inside of Brandy towards her mom. The one thing that Brandy and her mom did share in common was their love of animals, especially stray dogs.

In the beginning of the story, Carolyn saw a stray dog on a busy highway while riding with her parents in a car. Carolyn insisted that her dad pull the car over. She attempted to try run across the highway to rescue the dog. Fortunately, her mother was able to grab

her before she could do so. Her father proceeded to dart across the highway and brought the dog to safety.

Carolyn decided to name the dog “Brandy” and when she gave birth to her daughter, she named her “Brandy,” also.

The bond between Brandy and her grandmother was so close, they were like mother and daughter.

After graduating from high school, Brandy was determined to go to college in Pennsylvania. Since Brandy’s grandfather passed away, she convinced her grandmother to sell the house in New Jersey and relocate to Pennsylvania with her.

Brandy was a loner, but developed a close friendship with one of her college classmates.

There was one trait that I found in Brandy that was unforgiving. Her grandmother gave her a gift that she selfishly threw away. I don’t want to give anything away; you’ll have to read the book for yourself and make your own determination.

Brandy had many people come in and out of her life. One of those that she became very close to happened to be a police officer. He was a godsend and was her guardian angel. An angel can turn out to be someone else in disguise and this officer at the end was in disguise. The officer gifts her with a dog and by her accepting this gift, he took this as a sign that Brandy wanted to take their friendship to a more intimate level which was not the case.

Carolyn married a man who Brandy despised. Brandy always resented her mother because she felt her mother prevented her from having contact with her biological father.

Brandy refused to have contact or acknowledge her younger half-siblings.

Brandy and her mother both worked as waitresses to support themselves.

The three strongest and most loving relationships that Brandy had would be with her grandparents and a young naval officer who she met while working as a waitress at a local restaurant.

The relationship with the naval officer whom she developed an immediate attraction to would take an unfortunate twist and turn. They were a perfect couple, but sometimes a perfect match is not meant to last.

He was put into her life to give her the strength and courage she would need to carry on. Again, I don’t want to give too much away in the book.

Cabrera’s books are easy reads with short chapters and move very quickly.

For some reason, this book was a very hard read for me because I found Brandy’s character to be annoying at times. Her stubbornness to not want to connect to her younger siblings because of her resentment toward her mother was something I could not wrap my head around. Throwing away a precious gift that her grandmother had thoughtfully given to her was another bone of contention for me.

In my other reviews of Mr. Cabrera’s books, the author knows that I always take his characters to heart. Knowing this, does he purposely make some of his characters annoying to get a rise out of me? Well, Mr. Cabrera, again you pushed my buttons with this book!

I may have to write a sequel to “Brandy.” It would probably be called, “Brandy and Carolyn: the Confrontation.”

This conflict must be resolved.

Eralides E. Cabrera’s books are available at his office at 708 Carson Ave., Perth Amboy, NJ 08861 (732)826-5020 or www.eralidesecabrera.com

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