From Booklist
Regina Pearson has reached the ripe age of 40 knowing nothing about her family, so after her father's death she decides it's time to leave Hawaii, where she's lived with native Hawaiians, having no clue about African American life on the mainland. She finds an aunt in New Bern, North Carolina, who welcomes her, but the rest of the family keeps their distance. Regina takes a job managing a large hotel and there meets Colonel Justin Duval, who is designing the hotel's interior, and even though they clash at work, a personal relationship develops that is threatened by Regina's quest to have a relationship with her relatives. Justin would rather live without his large extended family and can't comprehend Regina's desire to wade into her gene pool. Regina realizes that maybe she had unrealistic expectations, but her tenacity starts to yield results even as her new family ties jeopardize her relationship with Justin. Forster's sensitive portrayal of a woman trying to find her roots offers some unusual offshoots and is a cut above the ordinary. Patty Engelmann
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Harriet Klausner (5 stars)

Almost forty, Regina Pearson has always felt like an outsider in her home on Oahu, but now also feels all alone since her father recently died. She knows nothing about her extended family except that her parents left the Southeast United States without a look back four decades ago. Her mother died when she was two and over the subsequent years her father refused to talk about their life in the states.

Regina finds an envelope postmarked from the year before she was born from a Maude Witherspoon of New Bern, North Carolina with no letter inside. She makes inquiries and soon makes contact with her Aunt Maude van der Kaa, who invites her to visit the family. Regina goes stateside hoping to bond with her relatives, but instead finds individuals filled with animosity and distrust of everyone else. Only retired Army Colonel Justin Duval, whom she met over hotel business, makes her believe her fairy tale that a family can be full of love and trust.

BLUE FROM DOWN DEEP is an intriguing relationship drama that uses a twist on Roots to enable the audience to observe dysfunctional families hiding behind lies and deceit. The story line could have turned melodramatic and soap operaish, but Gwynne Forster avoids that pratfall by making much of the cast multidimensional and several simply nasty and filled with their own self worth. Thus the audience receives a strong look at an extended Southeastern African American family predominately through the eyes of the "Hawaiian" newcomer.

Harriet Klausner

RAWSISTAZ.com

Gwynne Forster has written a heart warming story of love, loss, and forgiveness. The story moves slowly, as well it should, because with each page Forster's writing draws you deeper into the story and indeed into the hearts and minds of the characters. This is a story that most anyone can relate to on some level and is sure to be an enjoyable read. She has developed the perfect recipe for a great book combining a mound of family drama, with a generous sprinkling of romance. In spite of the family drama that surfaces in the book, the story is realistic and the issues are never too over the top. I highly recommend Ms. Forster's latest mainstream literary offering for anyone looking for a book that will leave you begging for more.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers