Reality Check

Reality Check is a true-to-life drama that has twists and turns to heighten the awareness of interracial relationships. The storyline puts us all behind the eyes of another race and lets us realize that race doesn't define relationships, but rather our emotions. Set in the backyard of our lives, we can see that perception is not always reality. Fighting our own insecurities about interracial relationships may actually stop us from truly finding love. The author's major motivation for writing this book was her own insecurities. Seeing other interracial couples left questions in her heart and mind and she set out to answer her own question: does race define a relationship? Besides being true to life, unique and relevant today, another quality of this books is the ability for us to laugh at our own inept way of hiding discrimination as it relates to our search for love.

Reality Check is a short novel that lays a foundation to conversation around interracial relationships. The focus on race does not exclude colorism, classism and stereotypes. As the book explores emotions around relationships through sexual desire and fantasy, Reality Check leaves the reader in a state of introspection. Love, lust, lies and deceit are all human emotion and the writer has dropped small breadcrumbs that lead to the subtitled question, Does Race Define A Relationship? As the book weaves through the lives of each character, there are between-the-lines metaphors to the extension of thought processes as we navigate all types of relationships. Finding love, finding a "level playing ground" and finding out who you are can be comical or an extremely deep and dark experience. It is evident through Reality Check that we all have very similar experiences. As we struggle through this thing called life, discovering what motivates us to find love is a personal choice that may or may not include racially motivated actions.

Valerie C. Eaton is a mother of three living in New York. Her writing style is pulled from past present, future and imaginary experiences. She strives to let her light shine and bring out the best in anyone she touches. Working in the technology field, advocating for Black and brown people and managing her daughter's art career has not afforded her the opportunity to write as much as she would like but in the twilight of her years (she states this knowing we are not promised tomorrow so "twilight" is relative), she wants to make sure that whatever work is left behind leaves a smile on someone's face. This is the first of what she hopes to be many novels.