#BookReview: The Guardian's Heart - Michel Prince

I found a lot of fault with this read from Michel Prince.  I gave it three purple arm chairs, but I was far more generous than I should have been.  I won't go into all of the reasons why I don't think it deserved three stars, but I will touch upon a few of them.

The Guardian's Heart is about a mid-20s graduate student whose parents have been killed in a car accident and left him to raise his twin toddler siblings.  The story starts off with him, Case, meeting his love interest, Gabbie, in the aisle of a store as he's trying to figure out what kind of diapers to buy for the kids.  Gabbie assists him, sparks fly, yada yada yada.

So in their initial conversations, Case mentions that he has to go back to school to finish his last six weeks before graduation.  Problem is, he never goes back!  After it's mentioned early on, no other mention of school is made until almost the end of the book when it's magically time for graduation.  Instead, those six weeks are used to bring him and Gabbie close enough that she's ready to let his sibling calls her mom and he's ready to marry her.

WDDDA???

Gabbie meets Case in a store, feels sorry for him struggling with two kids, follows him home, cleans house, bathes the kids, etc. for a man she just met.  Ummm...ma'am...WDDDA??? You don't know this dude from the man on the moon, but you're that trusting?  And that leads to the next scattered plot line.

Because of past relationships, Gabbie is hesitant to get involved or even interact with men.  But Case is so charming and what not that she dives right in with little to no hesitation.  One minute just the thought of a guy you dated in high school seven years ago is enough to have you on the brink of mental collapse, the next you're playing house with Diaper King??

I understand that magic is supposed to happen in books, but it works better if it's believable.  The author would have us believe that a group of high school seniors forfeited scholarships and going to college when one of their friends got pregnant, pooled their money together to open a day care center (when none of them had any previous experience) right out of high school.  Or that a mid-20s woman with no kids would add water and have instant family in six weeks and think nothing of it.  She would also have us to believe several other outlandish story lines that all end up wrapped in a nice bow at the end of the book.  Girl, I guess.

188pp
Published: September 2012

 

Theme: Ebony and Ivory by Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder

#BookReview: South by Southeast - Blair Underwood, Tananarive Due & Steven Barnes

I'm always surprised when my Twitter followers are shocked to find out that Blair Underwood writes.  Okay, really, the man is like a fine wine that just gets better with time, but he's more than just a handsome face.  In addition to being an actor with a long career that I've been drooling over since his LA Law days, he's the co-author of the Tennyson Hardwick series.  Yes, series.  South by Southeast is the fourth in a series that started with Casanegra, In the Night of the Heat and From Cape Town with Love.

To bring those of you who haven't read the previous books up to speed, here's a quick recap.  Ten is a gigolo turned actor with a side order of private investigator.  His wheelchair bound, retired police captain father and his nurse turned girlfriend, Marcela, live with him in a house he inherited from a former client.  When he's not rescuing kidnapped babies or pining over his ex-girlfriend, but still a good friend, April, he's guardian to Chela, a fiesty 17 year old that he rescued from his former madam.

Life is finally on track for Ten.  He's been handpicked by the famous director Gustavo Escobar for a part in his next zombie flick.  Temporarily relocating the family from Los Angeles to Miami is just what the doctor ordered.  Marcela will get to see her family, the captain will get to relax and Chela will have a chance to shed her LA baggage in a city where no one knows about her past as a prostitute.  But trouble has a way of finding the Hardwick clan and it's not long before Ten is thrown back into the role of protector and private investigator.

I don't know how the three authors work out writing amongst themselves.  Perhaps one of them writes the outline, someone else does character development and the third fleshes out the meat of the project.  What I do know is they seem to work seamlessly together.  Even though the only character that we have an actual image of is Tennyson, it's not difficult to imagine what the others look like based on the descriptions we're given.  Because of that, it's easier to visualize each scene as it plays out.  It's like the books are written as a screenplay, but without the stilted directions and scene set ups that you'd see in an actual screenplay.  It was reported back in August of this year that Blair Underwood signed a major development/talent holding deal with Universal Television.  Let's all keep our fingers crossed in hopes that we see Ten, Captain Hardwick, Marcela and Chela gracing our television screens in the near future.

384pp
Published: September 2012
Disclaimer: Copy of book received from publisher, opinions are my own.

Theme: Quimbara by Celia Cruz

#BookReview: Secret Daughter - Shilpi Somaya Gowda

Kavita and Jasu live in a rural Indian village and are pregnant with their second child. The first, a daughter, was brutally murdered by a family member of Jasu at birth because the girl child was thought to be more of a burden than benefit to the family.  The second child is a girl as well, but Kavita refuses to let Jasu handle her like he did their first. Instead, she and her sister travel to an orphanage in Mumbai with the baby, Usha, and place her up for adoption.

Somer and Krishnan are a young married couple living in California. Despite being busy medical professionals, Somer desperately wants a child. After a couple of miscarriages, Krishnan tries to convince Somer to travel back to his home country to adopt. His mother has ties to an orphanage in Mumbai. Somer finally relents and they travel to India to adopt…yep, you’ve guessed it—Kavita’s baby girl, Usha.

Renamed Asha (thanks to some illegible penmanship), Somer and Krishnan's daughter has grown up knowing she was adopted from India her entire life. In the back of her mind, she always wondered about her biological parents and why they put her up for adoption. Offered a chance to travel back to India for a year on a journalism fellowship, Asha learns more about herself, her adoptive parents, and biological parents in that short time span. Narrated by nearly every character mentioned above at some point, Secret Daughter is a novel that spans decades and continents while exploring the family dynamic.

Gowda's debut work was a smash, in my opinion. Her writing is very reminscent of one of my favorite authors, Jhumpa Lahiri. Not only because of the superficial connection of them both being Indian, but in the way they let a story unfold. This story was carefully layered so that the we could get a feel for each character, their motivation for behavior as well as interactions with other characters. The tenuous relationships between characters in the book lead to some tense moments, but overall it's a pleasurable read. It's part coming-of-age, part cultural enlightenment.

Rating:

#BookReview: Being Lara - Lola Jaye

Dating back to the 1950s, it was not uncommon for Nigerian families to send their children to live with white families in England in a situation best described as private fostering.  Rather than go through agencies similar to those here in America, families would simply advertise their child in the local papers, in hopes that a family would be willing to raise them until they were ready to do so themselves.  Unlike foster care in the U.S., the birth parents paid the families directly for the care of their child.  In most instances, the parents were not poor or seemingly neglectful, as are many parents in America's system.  Rather, these were parents that came to England to pursue education or job opportunities and, hindered by their children, sent them to a full time family to care for them until time and money afforded them the chance to do so themselves.  

- excerpt from my review of Colorblind by Precious Williams

Being Lara is the story of Lara Reid, Nigerian by birth, English in spirit.  Adopted at three by a former English pop star and her husband, Lara has grown up in a household where she knows she is loved, but still longs for the piece of herself that she intuitively knows is missing.  When the missing piece shows up in the form of her birth mother on her thirtieth birthday, Lara questions if this is a prayer she truly wanted answered.

Though the situation in Being Lara is not the same as the situation in Colorblind, I still found myself comparing the two.  While Precious in Colorblind, which is based on the author's true life story, was fostered to a family, Lara, a fictional character, is adopted.  However, both women find themselves questioning their differences from their white playmates as children and again, as adults, their co-workers, friends, etc. In both situations, the characters had problems with introduction to the Nigerian world that was unfamiliar to them.  The assumption from their birth parents seemed to be that they should naturally know and understand all things Nigerian. 

I appreciated Lola Jaye taking the time to not only tell Lara's story, but telling her mother's as well.  Too often the story is only told from the perspective of the adoptee, so I found Yomi's story fascinating.  It was also interesting to see Yomi's interactions with Lara's adopted parents. Most enjoyable, though, were Lara and her grandmother's conversations.  There was a lot of self-discovery for several of the characters.  This was my first read from Lola Jaye, but I was impressed enough that I'll be checking out more from her.

Note: If you're interested in reading more about fostering and the long-term affects, I encourage you to read Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's, best known as Adebisi in HBO's Oz and Mr. Eko in Lost,  recent article in The Guardian.

320pp
Published: March 2012
Disclaimer: Copy of book received from publisher, opinions are my own.

 

 

Theme: Come In by Dianne Reeves

#BookReview: The Wedding Wallah - Farahad Zama

Mr. Ali of The Marriage Bureau for Rich People is still up to his usual antics.  As we saw in The Many Conditions of Love, the follow up to Marriage Bureau, the marriage bureau has taken on yet again a smaller role.  Though it was the focus of the first book in the series, it now only serves as a point of reference to tie the various characters together.

Aruna, who we initially met in Marriage Bureau, is happily married.  Even though her husband is a doctor and she can afford to be a housewife, she continues to work at the bureau and sends her salary to help support her parents and younger sister.

Rehman, the son of Mr. Ali, is heartbroken following his broken engagement to Usha.  Her family would have preferred a son-in-law with a safe profession.  Rehman tried to stay on the engineering path, but with so much unrest going on in the countryside, he feels that his talents would be put to better use by helping those less fortunate than himself.

Pari, the Ali's niece, who we met in Many Conditions is a recent widow with an adopted son.  She knows that her status as a widow limits the number of men that may be willing to marry her, but she's in no rush to remarry.  She agrees to think about a proposal from the handsome Dilawar, but he seems to be harboring a few secrets that could potentially end any thoughts of engagement.

When several characters in the book are kidnapped by a group of Naxalites, everyone is forced to come to grip with truths and consequences.  Moving more slowly than Many Conditions, which moved much slower than Marriage Bureau, I have to wonder if Zama is running out of steam.  While I can appreciate him using the books to bring awareness to social issues, I  think it's time for him to explore either another series of books or different characters to get his point across.  Although Marriage Bureau was hilarious, The Wedding Wallah falls painfully short.

352pp
Published: April 2011

 

Theme: Mauja Hi Mauja from the Jab We Met soundtrack

#BookReview: Diamond Life - Aliya S. King

When I read Platinum back in 2010, I couldn't wait for a sequel.  The author, Aliya S. King, did a great job of making you dislike the characters you were supposed to and like the characters that you should.  When I added up which characters I liked and which I despised, I came up with only a handful that I could tolerate.  It doesn't matter, because King brought most of them back for Diamond Life and introduced a few new ones.

In my review of Platinum I mentioned Jackie Collins' Hollywood Wives.  Platinum definitely gave me that kind of vibe as it focused on the women in the lives of the rappers, producers, etc.  If Platinum was Hollywood Wives-like, Diamond Life is Hollywood Husbands.  Though we were introduced to the men in the last book, and some had prominent roles, readers really get a chance to meet them this go round.

Birdie and Alex find themselves dealing with Birdie's new found fame.  Beth and Z are dealing with Z's post-rehab views on life.  Josephine and Ras find themselves adjusting to life with a new baby, while fending off an unwanted (by one) and wanted (by the other) intruder in their lives.  And Jake is having a hard time putting his life back together following the tragedy that befell his beloved wife Kipenzi.

I love that King has taken time to develop both the male and female characters.  Often times, one group tells the story from their point of view and the reader is left to draw their own conclusions as to how the other side thinks, feels or reacts.  With so many characters and story lines, it might be difficult for another author to develop both and keep readers interested in so many, but in King's capable hands, readers find themselves totally and completely immersed in everyone's story.

This was truly a can't put down book.  I've already stalked ask the author if we'll see more of these characters in the future.

So it looks like while we may not see everyone, there's a small chance that we may get to explore the Jack and Lily story line.  I'd also like to see more of Beth and Z.  They were the one couple that really had too many loose ends for me at the end.  I wasn't very clear on where they stood and King didn't give any big hints either.  I guess it's up to each reader to interpret as they choose.

416pp
Published: February 2012
Disclaimer: Copy received from publisher.  Opinions are my own.

 

Theme: The Originators by Jas & Jay-Z

#BookReview: Something Old, Something New - Beverly Jenkins

Readers of Bring on the Blessings and A Second Helping will be happy to know that the residents of the fictitious town of Henry Adams, Kansas are back.  In Bring on the Blessings, we learned of this town that had been founded by freed slaves after the Civil War.  When the mayor put the struggling town up for sale on eBay, Bernadine Brown, the ex-wife of a multimillionaire purchased it and began to turn the town around.  With Bernadine's help, town residents were able to foster and adopt needy children from around the country and bring them to a place filled with love and history.

In A Second Helping the residents and kids prepare for the adoption process and readers are treated to a history lesson about an August 1st parade.  If you're as unfamiliar with it as I was when I first read about it, here's some background.   Most of us are familiar with Juneteenth, which is celebrated on June 19 to commemorate the abolition of slavery in Texas, the last state to free their slaves in 1865. August 1st celebrates the abolishment of slavery in the British empire in 1834 and was celebrated throughout towns in the United States up until 1927. To this day it is also celebrated in Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Anguilla, The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and the British Virgin Isles.

With Something Old, Something New the town is preparing for the wedding of mayor Trent July and his high school girlfriend, Lily Fontaine and a few of the adopted children are starting to wonder about their birth parents.  As Lily and Trent move forward with wedding plans, they're challenged with assisting their foster kids with making the transition from the new home life they've come to love to being an extended family.  And, as is the case with everything in Henry Adams, Kansas, the whole town is involved.

What did you like about this book?
Beverly Jenkins always has a lesson to teach and in this book, she treats readers to lessons about Seminole and Cherokee traditions.  I always look forward to reading her work because I'm sure to learn something.

What didn't you like about this book?
Very rarely do things not end perfectly in a Beverly Jenkins book.  While I can appreciate a happy ending, it's not realistic to believe that things always work out so well.  It would be more than okay if things didn't turn out as well as expected.

What could the author do to improve this book?
I'd like to see a book that focuses more on Tamar, Trent's grandmother.  There's a lot of history that swirls around her and it would be interesting to maybe see a prequel or something that focuses more on her back story. 

352pp
Published June 2011

Theme: We Must Be In Love by Pure Soul

#BookReview: From Cape Town with Love - Blair Underwood, Tananarive Due & Steven Barnes

Okay ladies, let's just take a moment to marinate on the sexiness that is Blair Underwood.  I'll give you a minute or two...notice how I made the picture a little larger than usual.  That's my Friday gift to you.  Now let's move on to the book.  I mean, that is why we're here, right?

The third in the series that started with In the Night of the Heat and followed by Casanegra, From Cape Town with Love is the best of the three.  I liked the first two books, but there were segments of the previous books that moved too slowly.  There is none of that in From Cape Town.

Tennyson "Ten" Hardwick is a sometimes actor, sometimes gigolo, sometimes detective.  He's also the guardian of a 17-year old girl, Chela, that he saved from the former madame for whom he previously worked; and caretaker of his father, a recent stroke victim and former Los Angeles Police chief.  His relationship with journalist April Forrest left him reeling and in an effort to rekindle their romance, he tracks her down in South Africa.

Through April's connections Ten is offered the job of body guarding Hollywood actress Sophia Maitlin, who is in the country to adopt a baby girl.  Ten and Sophia have an immediate bond that is only made stronger through their mutual admiration of adoptive parents.  When baby Nandi is kidnapped back in the states, Ten is the one person Sophia trusts to bring her baby girl home.

What did you like about this book?
The pace of the book was just right.  There was never a slow moment and, at the same time, it never felt rushed. The storyline and characters were equally exciting and made this book a real page turner.

What did you dislike about this book?
I can't think of a thing.

What could the author do to improve this book?
Insert a pullout poster of Blair Underwood...No? Well a girl can dream, can't she?

365pp
Published May 2010



Theme: Agent Double-O Soul by Edwin Starr

#BookReview: CHILDREN OF THE WATERS by Carleen Brice

As I told her on the Twitter the other day, I blame Carleen Brice for my house work not getting done the day I read this. I started reading Children of the Waters during a break at a workshop, then proceeded to leave the workshop an hour early so that I could go home and read in peace. I purchased this book during an auction back in December, but waited until I really needed something good to read to pick it up. It was well worth the wait.

Children of the Waters is the story of two sisters, one unaware that the other exists. The older of the two, the recently divorced Trish, is struggling to raise her teen son, a biracial youth, trying to find his place in a society that doesn't always view him favorably. Trish's younger sister, Billie, has lived her whole life without knowing that she was adopted. A free spirit with a nurturing instinct, she's head over heels in love with her musician boyfriend and the baby she's carrying.

In 298 pages, Ms. Brice masterfully blends words and phrases to create a special story of two women learning how to be mothers, sisters and daughters. This is an absolute page turner and my only regret is that it ended.

What did you like about this book?

Though the sisters are of two different races and their racial differences do come into play here and there, race is not the overall theme of the book.

What did you dislike about this book?

At right under 300 pages, it didn't seem long enough. I need a sequel!

How can the author improve this book?

She can't. There is nothing about this story that needs to be changed.

298 pp

Published June 2009

#BookReview: A Second Helping - Beverly Jenkins

The second in what I hope becomes a series, A Second Helping is the follow up to 2009's Bring on the Blessings. The residents of the historically black town of Henry Adams, KS are back for more.

Readers of the first book will remember that newly divorced millionaire Bernadine Brown bought the struggling town while looking for a project to immerse herself in after she found her husband of twenty-plus years cheating. A woman with a big heart, Bernadine began a project in the first book to unite the families of Hays Adam with hard to place foster children. In her latest sequel, we find the kids and their families thriving and readying for adoption.

Eleven year old former car thief, Amari, has found a home with the mayor of the small town and has made the decision to become a part of the July family. In order to do so, he must complete a spiritual quest guided by the matriarch of the July family, Tamar, and complete an unselfish task that brings joy to someone else. Paging through old photo albums, Amari stumbles upon pictures of the August 1st parade and decides to organize one for his new family and new town.

Prior to reading this book, I had never heard of an August 1st parade. Most of us are familiar with Juneteenth, which is celebrated on June 19 to commemorate the abolition of slavery in Texas, the last state to free their slaves in 1865. August 1st celebrates the abolishment of slavery in the British empire in 1834 and was celebrated throughout towns in the United States up until 1927. To this day it is also celebrated in Barbados, Bermuda, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Jamaica, Anguilla, The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and the British Virgin Isles.

During the 1830s these annual events were small affairs largely organized in schoolhouses, debating halls, and black churches. Over subsequent decades, however, these annual meetings became much larger, more public, and communal affairs. Thousands of people of African descent would congregate in villages, towns, and city squares during the opening days of August to celebrate the ending of slavery elsewhere and organize for its overthrow in the United States. During the 1850s, these public meetings became breeding grounds for more militant opposition toward American slavery: through the attraction and participation of fugitive slaves; the parade of armed black militias; and, fiery speeches demanding the violent overthrow of American slavery. In British Canada, an older generation of black people, along with fugitives and more recent emigrants, also adapted August First as an important expression of their antislavery actions and political identities. In short, August First Day was to become the most important public commemorative event and popular form of mobilization among people of African descent in the English-speaking Atlantic world between the 1830s and the 1860s. - excerpt from Whatever Happened to August First by J.R. Kerr-Ritchie

Along with the adventures that come with planning a parade, readers are introduced to a few new characters and will be delighted to reacquaint themselves with old, familiar characters.

What did you like about this book?

I loved the introduction of August 1st. The author is known for writing historical romances. Though this is not a romance in the true sense of the word, I'm glad that she introduced the historical aspects of this fictional town.

What did you dislike about this book?

It ended too quickly. Yes, even with 386 pages, I wanted more.

How can the author improve this book?

No improvements needed. It's my hope that this becomes a series and that it doesn't take another year for the next edition to be released.

386 pp

Published January 2010

#BookReview: Dark Child - Travis Hunter

Black babies are missing in Atlanta and no one seems to notice or care. In Dark Child Travis Hunter weaves the story of Urban Brown, a white man raised in a brown world; his biracial sister, Jamillah; and the foster mother that raised them.

Once a promising athlete, Jamillah is a crackhead looking for her next big score. When she comes across a black market for babies, she's sure that if she can just sell one baby, she'll have enough money to get herself into rehab.

Urban has protected his younger sister since their parents died at the hands of the police. But when she shows up on his doorstep demanding the baby he rescued from her and a crack house, he shuts her out of his life, determined to raise the baby she's left behind.

Young black girls are being pushed to give up their babies and when they refuse, they're taken. With the assistance of Priest, a cop criminals love to hate, and Jethro, a small town cop from a nearby town, Operation Dark Child is about to come crumbling down and you'll never believe who's involved.

#BookReview: October Suite - Maxine Clair

Set in the midwest in the 1950s, October Suite, is the story of two sisters, Vergie and October. Raised by their spinster aunts after the brutal murder of their mother by their father, Vergie and October are plagued by a case of sibling rivalry. The rivalry only worsens when October, an unmarried schoolteacher living in Kansas, gives birth out of wedlock to the son of a married man. Returning home to her aunts and her married sister in Ohio, October can't muster up an ounce of compassion for her newborn son. Overwhelmed by what lies before her, she offers the baby to her sister and brother-in-law, knowing that they've not been able to conceive.

October returns to her life in Kansas determined to make a new start. As she begins to rebuild, she realizes that the one thing missing is the son she left behind in Ohio. Knowing that she agreed to never lay claim to him and to never tell him she's his mother, October is torn when she returns to Ohio for the holidays. Sensing that October wants her son back, Vergie fights back with words that she knows will surely hurt her, the truth about their father.