On Shelves Now: MAMA'S BOY by ReShonda Tate Billingsley

When her son is in trouble, a heartbroken mother finds the courage and faith to save him, in ReShonda Tate Billingsley’s powerful family drama Mama's Boy—a novel as timely as today’s headlines.

The breaking TV news rocks Jasper, Texas, to the core: a white police officer is fatally shot in a scuffle with three black youths—and a cellphone video captures Jamal Jones, the sixteen-year-old son of esteemed Reverend Elton Jones, escalating the tragic encounter. Now, as the national spotlight shines on a town already rife with racial tension, Jamal is a murder suspect on the run. And all of Jasper—even the reverend’s congregation—rushes to judge the teen they thought they knew.

But Gloria Jones knows her son best, and she races to find Jamal before the law does—to the outrage of her workaholic husband. Once she finds him, she has to decide whether to turn him in or help him run. With ruthless prosecutor and Houston mayoral candidate Kay Christensen hungering to put another young thug behind bars, Gloria will face her biggest battle yet. And when long-hidden secrets and shocking lies come to light, throwing Jamal’s case and his destiny into a tailspin, all Gloria can do is pray that the truth—and a mother’s unconditional love—will be enough to redeem the mistakes of the past and, ultimately, save her son.

Mama's Boy will have readers engrossed in thoughts of what they would do if facing the same situation, and inevitably having the conversation with others—a page-turner and conversation-starter all in one.

About the Author
ReShonda Tate Billingsley is the national bestselling author of more than 35 books. Four of her books will be made into BET movies: Let the Church Say Amen, Everybody Say Amen, and Say Amen, Again, (winner of the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work), and I Know I’ve Been Changed. Regina King will direct Let the Church Say Amen. Queen Latifah’s Flava Unit will be producing. Scheduled air date for Let the Church Say Amen is August 30, 2015. TV One will premiere both The Secret She Kept and The Devil is a Lie in 2016.

Facebook: reshondatatebillingsley
Twitter: @Reshondat
Website:reshondatatebillingsley.com

Meet the Author
Saturday, July 11th, 10:00 am – 2:00 pm
Books & Brunch, Forum Caterers, 4210 Primrose Ave, Baltimore MD
Brunch Early Bird, $35 / Brunch and Writers Workshop, $55 / Writers Workshop, $25
To register and make payment: http://www.jotform.us/form/50846354427156

Sunday, July 12th, 3:00 – 6:00 pm
Prince George’s Sports & Learning Complex, 8001 Sheriff Rd., Hyattsville, MD
General Admission $25. To register and make payment:
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/a-summer-tea-tickets-038133516?utm_campaign=201308&ref=esfb&utm_source=Facebookenivtefor001

Monday, July 13th, 6:00 pm
Big Blue Marble Bookstore, 551 Carpenter Lane, Philadelphia, PA

Wednesday, July 15th, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
The Twig, 306 Pearl Parkway Suite 106, San Antonio, TX

Saturday, July 18th, 2:00 – 4:00 pm
Houston Public Library, 5411 Pardee St., Houston TX 77026
*An event with ReShonda’s daughter Morgan Billingsley

Tuesday, July 21st, 7:00 pm
Barnes & Noble, Westheimer Crossing, 7626 Westheimer, Houston, TX
*An event with Victoria Christopher Murray

Thursday, July 23, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Epps Memorial Library, 1324 North Simmons St., Lake Charles, LA

Saturday, July 25, 1:00 pm
Barnes & Noble, 4155 Dowlen Rd., Beaumont, TX

Sunday, August 9th, 3:00 pm
Durham County Main Library, 300 N. Roxboro St., Durham, NC

BOOK FESTIVAL: September 4th – 6th, 2015
Decatur Book Festival, Decatur, GA (10 minutes outside Atlanta)

BOOK FESTIVAL: Saturday, September 12th, 2015
2nd Annual Literacy Mid-South Book Festival, Memphis, TN

Saturday, September 19th, 9:30 – 6:00 pm
Durham County Library, Southwest Regional Library, 3605 Shannon Rd., Durham, NC

#BookReview: Jesus Boy - Preston L. Allen

I don't even know where to begin with this review.  At the recommendation of two readers and writers that I greatly respect, I gave Jesus Boy a try.  It's hilarious, they said.  You'll love it, they said.  Fine. I'll admit that there were funny bits and pieces, but honestly, the only reason I continued listening to it was my other requested audio books had not come in at the library.

Some books are better read than listened to and I think, in this instance, I would have been better off reading.  For some reason, it was decided that there should be three narrators for the story.  And that would have been great had those three narrators been assigned specific characters.  Instead, the narrators were alternated throughout sections of the book, while still voicing the characters in first person, so it became difficult to figure out which character they were supposed to be until they said something or something was said to them that clued you in on which character was speaking.

When we first meet Elwyn Parker, he's an upright and judgmental musical prodigy.  While other teens spend their time hanging out, flirting with members of the opposite sex and having a good time, Elwyn uses the teachings he's learned the Church of Our Blessed Redeemer Who Walked Upon the Waters to evangelize at school.  Elwyn's crush since high school has been Peachie McGowan, but Peachie is in love with Barry, another church member.

As Elwyn's Bible thumping Grandmother tries to keep him on the straight and narrow, he gets caught in Sister Morrison's web. A widowed forty something, Sister Morrison is the late wife of Elwyn's benefactor.  After all, Brother Morrison not only bought Elwyn's first piano, he also financed his college education through a special scholarship. In the meantime, Elwyn's grandmother hasn't always been the God fearing woman she claims to be, and her dealings with the Morrisons go back several years.

Preston L. Allen calls out every kind of hypocrite imaginable with Jesus Boy.  Some of the twists and turns were unexpected, while some were slightly obvious.  Overall, I enjoyed the story line, even with the narration confusion, but I didn't necessarily care for the ending.  After dragging out the story line for so long, Allen seemed anxious to wrap it up quickly and skipped over detailed storytelling for several years, instead giving readers a summary of what had happened through conversations between characters.  I would have preferred to see the story line more evenly distributed.

364pp

Listening time: 10 hours 30 minutes

Published: April 2010

Theme: Old Time Religion by The Caravans

#BookReview: Destiny's Divas - Victoria Christopher Murray

90s R & B superstar Raine Omari had the career most people dreamed of, but she walked away from that life to fully embrace her love of the Lord.  More than that, she wanted the freedom to express her Christianity through her music and use her life's testimony as a witness to others.  And she decided to bring along a few more singers to help her out. 

Twenty something Sierra Dixon is certifiably nuts.  Actually, calling her nuts is an understatement.  Damaged goods, she was raised in a home with an alcoholic mother who dictated to her a list of things to do, and not to do, to trap and keep a man.  Sierra has more issues than the New York Times, but she doesn't see it that way.  She's just doing what she has to do to get ahead, even if that means lying about being celibate to retain her membership in the country's hottest new group, Destiny's Divas.

First lady Liza Washington has been hiding a secret for twenty-eight years.  From the outside, she appears to have the perfect marriage to her mega church pastor-husband.  As the forty something member of the group, her life is supposed to be a testimony to longevity and endurance in marriage.  In actuality, her husband has been shadier than an oak tree of late and Liza fears that it's just a matter of time before his actions bring the world crashing down around her.

The group organizer, Raine Omari, has it all.  She's in love with her husband and would do anything for her daughter.  But how can she testify about unconditional love when she can't stand her mother-in-law?  Truth be told, her mother-in-law, Beerlulu, could drive anyone ever the edge, but her meddling ways threaten to harm Raine's daughter and drive a wedge between Raine and her husband.

I found that though I felt sorry for Raine and Liza, I didn't have much sympathy for Sierra.  While the other women seemed changed by their situations, Sierra's damaged thoughts were too deep to have simply been changed without benefit of therapy or medication.  You don't go off the deep end one day and hop back up a month later like everything is everything.  Perhaps she talked it out with someone, but the author didn't mention it, so I have to assume that she was as nutty at the end as she was in the beginning. 

Even though Destiny's Divas is 400 pages, it's a quick read as you try to find out how each woman will deal with her situation.  I was amused by the author's reference to current places and people.  She referenced Hue-Man bookstore, an actual bookstore in Harlem that's scheduled to close soon, and a comment she heard Melissa Harris-Perry, host of the Melissa Harris-Perry Show, make.  If you're a fan of Victoria Christopher Murray's previous works, this does not disappoint.

400pp
Published: June 201
Disclaimer: Copy of book received from publisher; opinions are my own.

 

Theme: God's Grace by Trin-i-tee 5-7

I'm so over you!

Have you ever had a series that you loved or a character that you adored?  When you first started reading about them, you couldn’t get enough, right? You anxiously anticipated the next book in the series.  You wondered what the characters were doing in their down time.  And then it happened.  One day the series sucked and you wouldn’t care if your character got mowed down by the cross town bus.  So what goes wrong? Has the author run out of new ideas or has the character just outlived their usefulness?  Sometimes it’s a combination of both.

Back in 2000 when Kimberla Lawson Roby’s “Reverend Curtis Black” series first started, it was mildly entertaining. It was Christian lit with less focus on the Christian part and more focus on drama. I like to say that it was as close to secular entertainment as good Christians could come without falling from God’s grace. Anyway, fast forward to 2012 and nine books later, Rev. Black is STILL around. Given that she’s still churning out books and people are still buying them, I guess Lawson Roby plans to ride this wagon until the wheels fall off, but I see far too many negative tweets and comments about them to believe that people are still interested in the misadventures of the Rev, his wife, kids and women.

As much as I used to love James Patterson’s Alex Cross series, let my people go! Remember when the series was really good? Before some movie executive thought Morgan Freeman’s old grizzled self made a decent Alex and way before some misguided movie exec thought Tyler Perry (rather than Idris Elba) personified Alex, there were just the books. And they were good. Patterson has been off his game for awhile as far as his other books and series were concerned, but the Alex Cross series seemed to be a sure thing for the longest. I don’t know if, like with his other books, he started bringing in fledgling writers to assist (read: write for) him, but the plots and developed characters are no longer there. The last Alex Cross book I truly enjoyed wasn’t even about Alex, it was about a distant relative of his.

Has Patterson lost the magic all the way around? Looking at the Women’s Murder Club series, I have to say yes. With the exception of the first book in the series, they’ve all been co-written. I think I lost interest about book five. Beginning in 2000, he published a book about them each year, stopping in 2009 with The 9th Judgement.  Let's pause to give him a collective thank you.

Another series that used to leave me breathless was Patricia Cornwell’s Kay Scarpetta series. Kay was funny, she was beautiful and she was absolutely brilliant. The series about a medical examiner with both a J.D. and an M.D. who canoodled with the FBI and hung out with a cop that reminded me of NYPD Blue’s Andy Sipowitz was so much fun to read. So what happened? About nine books into the series, Cornwell changed the voice of Scarpetta from first person to third person. Honestly, I felt like I was having a conversation with Bob Dole. After poor sales and complaints from readers, Cornwell admitted that she had been “going through some things,” some of which she blamed on George W. Bush (don’t ask how she came up with that), and returned to writing Scarpetta as the way she was meant to be written. Unfortunately, most of her readership, including me, had moved on to other authors and characters.

So what series are you over? Is there a character that you wouldn’t mind seeing take a long walk off a short pier?

#BookReview: Snitch - Booker T. Mattison

One of the codes of the streets is "no snitching."  So when bus driver Andre Bolden sees a man get shot while he's driving his route, he knows that his best bet is to keep his mouth shut.  The problem is, the killer, Clops, saw him and now, whether he snitches or not, he's become a moving target.

A former college football stand out, a run in with the law left Andre expelled from school.  Lying about his criminal conviction on a job application gets him fired.  And his displaced anger and an unwillingness to show emotion have left him without the love of his life and his son.

Snitch is really about a man who is slowly descending to rock bottom.  I wouldn't call it urban lit or Christian lit, though it seemed to have a tinge of both.  I'm not a big fan of either genre, but Mattison keeps it light enough that it doesn't interfere with the overall story telling.

One problem that I did have with the book was the nice and neat way that people were connected and the frequent near misses.  Andre and Clops traveled in different circles, but somebody's grandmother went to church with somebody's girlfriend who was friends with someone's brother, yada yada yada.  Coincidences are fine, but it was just a little too unrealistic.

I was also confused by the ending.  Even now, I'm not quite sure what happened at the end. I went back and re-read it several times and it's still unclear.  Maybe the author's goal was to create a cliffhanger, leaving the door open to a potential sequel.  Um...no.  I was confused enough this go round. I won't be jumping back on that ride any time soon.

290pp
Published: May 2011

 

Theme: Forget I Was a G by The Whitehead Brothers

#BookReview: Sinners & Saints - Victoria Christopher Murray and ReShonda Tate Billingsley

Jasmine Larson Bush and Rachel Jackson Adams play to win.  So when their husbands are both nominated for the presidency of the American Baptist Coalition, they'll stop at nothing to see them win.  And though they're supposed to be women of God, there's nothing godly about their scheming and plotting.  Sinners and Saints could have been aptly named "Christians Behaving Badly." 

While the two ladies battle it out at convention, their husbands are oblivious to what's going on until it becomes all too obvious.  That leads each man to question how badly he wants the position.  If it's meant to be, it'll be, right?  Not if Jasmine and Rachel have anything to do with it.  And what happens if there's someone that wants the position more badly than Rachel or Jasmine? Having personally served on a regional level of a national organization and on the national nominating committee for that same organization, I can honestly say that Murray and Billingsley are definitely on point when it comes to the things people will do to make sure they, or the person they're supporting, wins. A convention has never been so exciting!

It's rare that two people can co-author a book so seamlessly, especially when they're bringing characters that they've each created independently together in one storyline.  With alternating chapters, each author takes a turn presenting Jasmine's and Rachel's side of the story.  I can honestly say I was team Jasmine, but only because I've read about the character previously in Sins of the Mother.  Rachel gives almost as good as Jasmine, but not quite.  I'd say that's only because Jasmine is older and has more years of experience at being conniving and cunning.  I'm sure Rachel will be around giving others hell for years to come.

288pp
Published: January 2012
Disclaimer: Copy of book received from publisher.  Opinions are my own.

Theme: Long As I Got King Jesus by Vickie Winans

#BookReview: A Good Excuse to be Bad - Miranda Parker

Angel Crawford is nothing like her twin sister, Ava.  Older by just four minutes, Ava is poised and professional, the wife of one of Georgia's most prominent ministers.  Angel, on the other hand, is a bounty hunter and also happens to be a single mother.

When Ava's minister husband is found murdered, with Ava close by, it's up to Angel to find out what happened to the brother-in-law she didn't care for and the sister she does.  With assistance from her own minister, Justus Morgan, and her mother breathing down her back to get her baby out of jail, Angel finds herself under the gun, literally.  She calls in favors and relives her own painful past in an effort to clear her sister's name and bring her back home to her children.

Though A Good Excuse to be Bad is not your typical colorful chick lit, there is the banter between Angel and her minister, Justus, that masks sexual attraction between the two.  With Justus acting as her sidekick while she tries to solve the mystery, there is plenty of time for them to flirt, though it's often interrupted by life's situations or simply because it's inappropriate in light of what's happening around them.

In Angel Crawford, Miranda Parker has the makings of a character with potential longevity, but she should be careful to pick a genre and stick with it.  At times this felt like a true mystery, in the vein of Valerie Wilson Wesley's Tamara Hayle character or Grace Edwards' Mali Anderson character.  There were times though when it felt like there was a strong desire to make this Christian lit, and not just because the story involved ministers, their families and their parishioners.  And, as I said earlier, the flirting and banter between Justus and Angel gives it a chick lit feel, though Angel is a much stronger character than the typical woman you might find in chick lit.  Parker should be careful going forward to define which genre this series belongs in, otherwise it may get lost in the crowd.

What did you like about this book?
Angel and Ava's mother was a riot.  She really reminded me of Jenifer Lewis, who seems to have played everyone's mother in black Hollywood at this point.

What didn't you like about this book?
At times it felt like there was too much going on.  Everything leading up to the solving of the mystery was planned out, but the point where the mystery was solved seemed rushed.  I'm still not sure that I understood exactly why what happened did.

What could the author do to improve this book?
Find a genre and stick with it.  And balance the story out so that it flows consistently throughout.

320pp
Published July 2011 (pre-order!)

Theme: I Got A Thing 4 Ya by Lo-Key

#BookReview: The Other Sister - Cheri Paris Edwards

Running away from problems in California lands Sanita back in quiet Urbana, Illinois.  Her family thought she was in school, but Sanita, or Jazz as she was known on the west coast, was leading a life that finally caught up with her.  Safely back in the embrace of her family, she's prepared to put that life behind her and create a new beginning.

With a good ten years on her sister, Sanita, Carla was raised at a time when her parents didn't have much.  So while Sanita had everything handed to her on a silver spoon, Carla has worked hard to get where she is.  As the new principal of a charter school, Carla loves her job.  She's won the respect of her students and most of the faculty, but there are a few teachers that would love to witness her downfall.

Bishop James Jefferson loves the Lord, the church and his family.  If there were any way to remove the pesky Marcella Lewiston from the church, he'd love it even more.  But Marcella was raised in Faith Community Church of Christ as a preacher's kid and she has no intention of leaving the church that her father helped steer for years.  Marcella goes out of her way to keep Bishop Jefferson in his place and with this latest gossip she heard about his youngest daughter, she's sure that she has him just where she wants him.

What did you like about this book?
It was a fairly predictable read, which was fine for a lazy holiday weekend. 


What didn't you like about this book?
I was slightly thrown because I wasn't sure if this was supposed to be Christian lit, but there was a liberal dosage of Bible verses thrown in, so I suppose it is.  Yes, I know there was a pastor in the story, but does that necessarily qualify a book as Christian lit?  At any rate, it felt very much like a Tyler Perry play on paper.  If Tyler Perry is your thing, then this is the book for you.

What could the author do to improve this book?
I felt like the book really focused on Sanita, which was unfair to Carla.  I thought, well maybe there was another book that focused on Carla and so the title The Other Sister was appropriate because we were now focusing on Sanita.

Due to her introverted ways, Carla was often the overlooked sister.  On the flip side, Sanita was the black sheep in a family of "good, churchgoing people."  I would say that since either sister could have been "the other sister," the focus should have been 50/50.

294pp
Published November 2010
Disclosure: ARC received from the author




Theme: Lay Your Troubles Down by Angela Winbush featuring Ronald Isley

#BookReview: Sins of the Mother - Victoria Christopher Murray

I'm a little slow to this party, but that didn't stop me from enjoying it.  The publisher sent me a copy of Sins of the Mother as a "you might also like" when I requested another book.  It took me a minute to realize that this was part of a series, but with a few minor exceptions, it was easy to catch up on what was going on.

Jasmine Larson Bush has had a pretty colorful past.  And I'd fill you in on that past, but all I could make out was that she slept with her archenemy's husband and got pregnant, while married to a minister herself.  Jasmine's husband, Hosea, agreed to love and raise Jasmine's daughter with Brian as his own and has done so for the past five years.  A shopping trip during the holidays turns from a joyous occasion into a tragedy when Jacqueline, the Bush's daughter, is kidnapped in the mall.

Brian and Alexis have had a rocky time since Brian slept with Jasmine Bush years ago.  Their once perfect marriage ended in divorce, but that hasn't stopped Brian from making every effort to reconcile with Alexis.  The stubborn Alexis has tried to distract herself with other men, but in her mind, she knows that her heart still belongs to Brian.  When news that his daughter has been kidnapped is brought to their attention, Brian rushes to Jasmine's side and leaves Alexis wondering if she's going to be hurt by him once again.

What did you like about this book?
Even though this is billed as Christian lit, the author doesn't go overboard with Biblical references.  Instead, they're sprinkled through as appropriate and the reader isn't overwhelmed by them.

What didn't you like about this book?
There's an assumption by the author that anyone picking up this book has read the previous books leading up to it.  While it was not difficult to follow along, it would have been helpful if more background was given about the characters so that anyone reading would have been brought up to speed immediately.  The members of the church disliked Jasmine, but the reader is not really told why.  Jasmine and Hosea live in New York, Brian and Alexis live in California.  If you're not familiar with the story, you have to draw your own conclusion as to how these couples met, interacted, etc.

What could the author do to improve this book?
As I said, additional background would have been great.

400pp
Published June 2010
Disclaimer: Received from the publisher

Theme: Criminal by Fiona Apple

 

#BookReview: Guest Post: Secrets and Lies - Rhonda McKnight

Today's guest blogger is author Sharon Ball.

Secrets and Lies is the story of Faith and Jonah Morgan, a couple struggling to keep their troubled marriage together when the husband’s coworker accuses him of the unthinkable. Jonah is a workaholic, and his wife Faith is sick of it. There are lots of little secrets, lies, and unspoken words that create more secrets and more lies, even amongst the minor characters. Forgiveness is the main takeaway from the story. It's been awhile since I've enjoyed reading a book this much. Not only were the characters believable, their personal struggles were ones many people can relate to—busy schedules, the need to succeed in the business world, balancing family and work life, feeling appreciated, doubt, family secrets, and keeping a family and marriage together. As each page submerged me more into Faith and Jonah's story I found myself rooting for them and wanting them to figure out a way to work things out. Ms. McKnight did an excellent job of tackling the subject of sexual harassment from the angle of the accuser and the accused. Great storytelling! To read my interview with this debut author click here.

To read more from Sharon, please stop by her blog A Break From the Norm or follow her on Twitter @smball804.

About Sharon:

In January 2005 Sharon Ball resigned her position as chief operating officer at a technology staffing company, and began a career as a full-time writer. As an avid reader, and an enthusiastic storyteller, she found that writing contemporary Christian fiction fueled per passion to create stories with a redeeming value. Sharon was a finalist in the 2009 ACFW Genesis contest (contemporary fiction), and she graduated from Central Michigan University. She and her husband make their home in Atlanta, Georgia.

#BookReview: Jezebel - Jacquelin Thomas

I'm not much for Christian lit. Not that I'm a heathen, but I prefer to keep my Biblical studies separate from my reading for entertainment. I expected this book to be heavy on Biblical quotes, but it really wasn't and I think I was a little disappointed. Other than a few verses sprinkled in towards the end of the book, one could almost forget that this story was classified as Christian lit.

A modern day Jezebel, Jessie Belle convinces a visiting minister, Traynor, that she is the woman for him. Acting quickly before the women in town tell him otherwise, Jessie Belle and her mother set up a simple plan to hook him. From then the stage is set for Jessie Belle to act in whatever way she deems appropriate, or inappropriate, to get whatever it is she wants. Always staying one step ahead of her husband, she's on the verge of having everything until outside forces get in her way.

The author goes to great lengths to create the character of Jessie Belle for the reader, but little attention is paid to her husband. While his wife is working to improve his stature in the community, the good reverend is blind to her actions, seemingly to the point of being dimwitted. I'm not sure if the author realized she was portraying him this way, but it seems to be a contradiction that a former child prodigy minister could be so naive to everything happening around him. His answer for every argument with his wife is to simply ask God to handle it without bothering to find out what she's really up to. It just didn't ring true with me as a reader.