Book Review :: Moonlight in Odessa by Janet Skeslien Charles

A Short History of Tractors in Ukrainian meets Desperate Housewives in this exploration of the booming business of Russian e-mail-order brides, an industry where love and marriage collide with sex and commerce.

Odessa, Ukraine, is the humor capital of the former Soviet Union, but in an upside-down world where waiters earn more than doctors and Odessans depend on the Mafia for basics like phone service and medical supplies, no one is laughing. After months of job hunting, Daria, a young engineer, finds a plum position at a foreign firm as a secretary. But every plum has a pit. In this case, it’s Mr. Harmon, who makes it clear that sleeping with him is job one. Daria evades Harmon’s advances by recruiting her neighbor, the slippery Olga, to be his mistress. But soon Olga sets her sights on Daria’s job.

Daria begins to moonlight as an interpreter at Soviet Unions(TM), a matchmaking agency that organizes “socials” where lonely American men can meet desperate Odessan women. Her grandmother wants Daria to leave Ukraine for good and pushes her to marry one of the men she meets, but Daria already has feelings for a local. She must choose between her world and America, between Vlad, a sexy, irresponsible mobster, and Tristan, a teacher nearly twice her age. Daria chooses security and America. Only it’s not exactly what she thought it would be…

A wry, tender, and darkly funny look at marriage, the desires we don’t acknowledge, and the aftermath of communism, Moonlight in Odessa is a novel about the choices and sacrifices that people make in the pursuit of love and stability.

- an excerpt from Barnes and Noble

This book had me hooked from page one.  I first want to thank the publishers at Bloomsbury and Walker and Sabrina Farber, who made it possible for me to get a copy of this lovely book.  Without this being made possible, I probably would have never given this book a second thought.

This story rang so true to those who have fallen upon bad times within a relationship, especially in hard marriages.  We all have, at one time or another, experienced the verbal manipulation of “If this… then I will…”  I, of all people, have myself.  Not with my husband, but I was in a very abusive relationship where verbal threats such as “If you leave me, I will kill you so no one else can be with you, can have you.”  The harsh relationship portrayed between an Odessan woman and an American man and how he tries to get a dutiful wife that does everything for him.  Yet, she has bigger and better plans.  She not only dreams of America, she begins to live it!

The odd twist to the of the story is when all else fails, a new beginning is in the midst.  If you enjoy romances, you will like the twists and turns this romance novel takes.  If you enjoy watching the woman go from victim to the strong winner that gets what she wants, then you will love this novel!

Image credit goes to LexiCat’s List Blog