“When Destiny Lingers” – Rolonda Watts

            With a career spanning over 28 years, Rolonda Watts is one of the most appreciated African American personalities in the entertainment industry. Working as an actress, producer, motivational speaker, and television and radio talk show host, she is widely known for introducing the Rolonda daytime talk show. Born in 1959, Rolonda has gathered enough experience from her life inside and outside the spotlight that she is now considering how to pass it on forward to others. Rolonda can proudly say that she recently added yet another word to her abilities and titles – novelist.

“When Destiny Lingers” is Rolonda’s first novel and it is already seen as a success by most critics. Rolonda confessed that the book is the final result of a line of work which stretched for close to a decade and that she felt an incredible satisfaction once being able to give it its final form. Launched on March 15, 2016, the book is now available in bookstores across the country, so we encourage you to get a copy.

“When Destiny Lingers” is first of all a tale about the power of time as a supreme healer. Although faced with one of the biggest disappointments of her life, the main character, Destiny, is able to look beyond the grey and restart her life. The book revolves around the theme of having a second chance on your first love. Destiny is a reporter in New York City who founds herself focusing more on other’s stories of life than on her own. Entering a real struggle to generate more meaning from her existence, Destiny is given an important blow by life when she finds out that her husband is cheating on her with her best friend. In an attempt to put her life together and make a new start, she goes back to her hometown in North Carolina. The book gets a complete twist when she meets her first love, a boy who grew to become the local police chief. From now on, the book puts in perspective their love across time. Many years ago, their love was impossible due to the considerable segregation that was still in effect in many parts of the United States.  But things have changed and they both receive a second chance at love. We won’t go into more details and we will let you read the book in order to find out if time has preserved their feelings and if such a long separation has added a mysterious kind of attraction.

It’s important to note that the manuscript of the book has passed through the hands of the iconic Maia Angelou, who has confirmed the quality of the story and the complexity of the characters. The famous writer has put forward the idea that a sequel will fit very well “When Destiny Lingers” and this can only add enthusiasm regarding how the book ends.

It’s pointless to ask ourselves if we still need romance in our contemporary world. The answer is simply “yes”. Without it our lives would become empty and pointless. The power of love has been proven as the biggest engine driving our lives forward despite all the difficulties and the obstacles. Stories having a happy ending can give hope and can induce a healing effect. The book takes the form of a strong message of support for those feeling abandoned by luck and stuck in a life they no longer enjoy. Reading has been proven to mend broken hearts and restore smiles on people’s faces.

Segregation is one of the central themes of the book and the book focuses on how segregation has gradually made room for acceptance, equality, and equity in our society. We can look at Destiny as a reflection of Rolonda Watts and we do believe that some of her experiences can be found disguised in the pages of the book. Segregation is put side by side with the second chance at your first love, resulting a very epic and emotional story of loosing and receiving from life.