Title: Searching For Tina Turner
Author: Jacqueline E. Luckett
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publication Date: January 27, 2010
Hardcover: 320 pages
ISBN: 978-0446542968
Genre: Fiction

About the Book:

On the surface, Lena Spencer appears to have it all. She and her wealthy husband Randall have two wonderful children, and they live a life of luxury. In reality, however, Lena finds that happiness is elusive. Randall is emotionally distant, her son has developed a drug habit, and her daughter is disgusted by her mother’s “overbearing behavior.” When Randall decides that he’s had enough of marriage counseling, he offers his wife an ultimatum: “Be grateful for all I’ve done for you or leave.” Lena, realizing that money can’t solve her problems and that her husband is no longer the man she married, decides to choose the latter.

My Review:

I was pleasantly surprised at the breadth and depth of this novel. At first glance I had assumed Searching For Tina Turner would be a fluffy chick-lit novel, however I was rather delighted to discover I was quite mistaken. Searching For Tina Turner is a deeply moving and insightful novel and one that many readers will identify with. Lena is a strong woman whose needs have long gone un-noticed and unfulfilled as she devotedly supports her husband’s increasing appetite for power. Randall is the highest-ranking employee of TIDA, yet he wants more; he wants to be the CEO. Lena has noticed their marriage is falling apart and finally convinced Randall to attend a counseling session with her before leaving for his business trip to Asia. Lena, wanting and needing more and at the same time desiring to save her marriage suggests to Randall they make more counseling appointments, to which he refuses on the grounds it could hurt his cooperate ambitions. I had a difficult time relating with Randall, quite frankly his self-absorption annoyed me, as did his blatant disregard for his wife’s feelings and his unwillingness to try to understand, rather he gives her an ultimatum. Lena on the other hand proves to be a strong willed and resilient woman and while supporting her husband’s CEO ambitions, she decides to take action with her own life. While Randall is away Lena reads Tina Turner’s autobiography and finds a renewed strength to become the woman she was meant to be and in so doing discovers happiness and a newfound freedom. I found Lena to be a rather likeable character and was impressed with her inner strength, courage and convictions to follow her dreams. Searching For Tina Turner is a well written novel, filled with beautiful prose, descriptive characters, whether they are likeable or not, and the prevailing message to be true to yourself and never give up on being the person you were meant to be. I would recommend this book to anyone and think it would be a brilliant choice for a book discussion group.

About the Author:

Jacqueline Luckett is a former sales representative for Xerox. After leaving the corporate world, Jacqueline took a creative writing class on a dare (from herself) and began writing short stories and poetry and never looked back. Jacqueline loves living in Oakland, but travels frequently to nurture her passion for photography and learning to cook exotic foods. She is currently hard at work on her next novel.

The blog tour will run during the week of February 1st.
Learn more about the book and author:
JacquelineLuckett.com
Jacqueline Luckett’s blog
Jacqueline Luckett on Twitter
SEARCHING FOR TINA TURNER on Facebook

Other Tour Stops Today:
http://www.madeleineatbooksandphotos.com/
http://myreadingroom-crystal.blogspot.com
http://www.geekgirlreviews.com
http://startingfresh-gaby317.blogspot.com/
http://sumanam.wordpress.com/
http://dixie-afewofmyfavoritethings.blogspot.com/
http://reviewfromhere.com

I received a free copy of Searching For Tina Turner by Jacqueline E. Luckettfrom Hachette as part of the tour. Receiving a free copy in no way reflected my review of aforementioned novel.