Rotten Peaches

Rotten Peaches

Two women get caught up in the lies if one man as he tries to manipulate both of them wanting something different from each one. Leonor is married but seems allures by JayRay whose behavior at times is warm and others violent and abuse. Creating his back-story about his past when you hear him yell it to someone else you hardly recognize the words or the twisted truths he’s fabricated. Lies and manipulations are what he excels in and exposing someone in National television his goal. Bernice becomes his second pawn ad Leonie is the first and getting on the talk show where she was promoting her new book was his chance to make a move on her claiming he was her step brother.

Two distinct voices each wrapped in the wrong relationship yet obsessed with their choice. JayRay is abusive and Dirk is into illegal dealings yet both Leonie and Bernice seem bent on remaining in theses relationships. As the author allows readers to get to know Dirk and realizes how he managed to align himself with Bernice, you’d think someone intelligent and rich would think twice about falling for his line knowing his wife dumped him for having an affair.

JayRay manages to dig deeper into Leonie who angers readers with her callus attitude towards Dave and her children including his mother. Her beauty products may enhance your looks but are questionable.

As we hear Leonie’s thoughts she allows readers to understand her obsession and fixation on JayRay. If she bothered to open her eyed to the harsh realities about his odd and erratic behavior she might have realized that her family was in danger of no longer being a unit. Hearing Kenzie yell at her and not wanting her to come to her recital should have been an awakening.

Next Bernice related that Dirk is now living with her and yet won’t sign the divorce papers claiming he wants to analyze his failure as a husband. Two women trapped in their own separate veil of fog not seeing the truth or past what they think they see.

Leonie goes to JayRay and falls for his lines about what he feels their relationship is and yet he wants a rich wife to keep him in the style he feels he deserves. Yet she’s his real life wife of some sort. Falling for the lines and yet hoping to show remorse to her family we hear Bernice lament on the fact that Dirk went back to his wife as if she’s been scorned as she takes her mood out on Betty who cares for her when no one else will deal with her attitudes and moods. Two women caught in the crossfire of rejection and denial of the truths the refuse to see.

As Dave gives Leonie and ultimatum to get help and they need counseling, Bernice tries to create her own ground rules for her disjointed relationship with Dirk. Flashbacks help readers understand Bernice’s mother and why she seems to be taking the same downward road to disaster. As her thoughts she hopes will encompass her next novel.

As Leonie tries to befriend Iris the interest of JayRay’s hope to marry rich. Obsessed with this man Leonie can’t seem to function in her own world as JayRay and Iris take center stage building their romance is n front of her. But, Leonie steals things and creates s problem right out in the open for herself and although she’s attempting to save her marriage and deal with her children it’s all a show. Depressed and taking meds for it she’s all consumed about a man who uses people for his own selfish needs.

A session with her therapist allows should have allowed Leonie to understand and decide what makes her happy but she is so obsessed with JayRay that all she sees is her happiness with him until something awakens her when her daughter is hit by a car and that sends her flying home but for how long?

Leonie is so unhappy with herself that she can’t find happiness with anyone else and for anyone else including using a formula for Iris’s makeup that might take Iris’s life but she is so desperate to satisfy herself she does not see past her own selfish needs.

Author Lisa De Nikolits takes us inside the minds of two disturbed women who are so blindsided by two men that they think are their be all and end all but never see that it might be their permanent downfall.

Confronting her own feelings and explanations to her therapist make her crave this man even more. Telling to become aware and more focused on her craving and then taking time to breathe and acknowledge the consequences of her actions makes her revengeful and the fact she could lose all that is good does not matter to her as we learn that it stems from the fact her mother rejected her and her father thinks she’s a dirty little girl. With no support and love Leonie becomes a carbon copy oft he negative that encompasses her parents.

• Bernice unravels and Dirk scams her money supposedly for a business they would own together but he has other ideas plus her cookbooks are really comprised of her maids recipes and things unravel all around her and once again she goes off in the wrong direction with someone else looking for validation the wrong places. Using the money to blow up a monument and stating that his people were no longer entitled to it Bernice never sees the danger that’s coming her way and a starling revelation about her parents smacks her right in the face. As Betty reveals another shock but will Bernice ever recover after learning these harsh truths, lies and betrayals. Thinking past what will profit you at the time is what both Leonie and Bernice did as they pursued their goals, dealt with the men they thought were true to them and as many young adults and older will learn that not everything or everyone is what it seems. When you build a fog around you and cannot see past the thick mist you might find yourself in a garden filled with Rotten Peaches.
• The ending intertwines both Leonie and Bernice as revenge is the high note as the final reveal takes place and the fate of both Leonie and Bernice is in the hands of author Lisa      Nikolits.
• Fran Lewis Just reviews/ Mj network /Mj magazine

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