#BookReview: COPYCAT by Kimberla Lawson Roby

Summary: Befriending Traci Calloway Cole is the best thing Simone Phillips has ever done. Traci is the kind of woman Simone wants to be-in every way possible. She begins copying her role model. Not because she wants to be Traci. She just wants to be exactly like Traci.

Traci doesn't worry, though. She knows Simone doesn't mean any harm and that her mimicry is only sincere admiration. Until she discovers how far Simone's obsession has gone. It is then that Simone's entire world begins unraveling, and dreadful secrets from her past are exposed with no warning. Secrets that she'll do almost anything to protect.

Review: From the very beginning, Copycat felt familiar and that's because Kimberla Lawson Roby continues to stick to her tried and true, simplistic plot lines and story telling. Much like her 2011 Secret Obsession, Copycat is predictable from page one. As a reader, I felt like a movie patron that screams at characters on the screen to, "Get out! You're in danger, girl!" But the characters didn't heed my warning and, instead, readers are subjected to 192 pages of meh.

When I read 2016's Best Friends Forever, I swore I would never read a Lawson Roby book again.

The flat characters mixed in with one dimensional characters and weak story lines continue to be a theme in Lawson Roby’s work. After all of these years, and books, one would think that there would be progress with her writing. It continues to be formulaic and predictable. I know that her books sell well, but that says more about lazy readers than it does about her writing. I would imagine that the bulk of her faithful readers are the same people that shill out money to watch Tyler Perry’s gun toting, foul mouthed, wisdom spewing Madea. I can honestly say that this is the last Lawson Roby book that I’ll pick up.

And yet here I am again. Nothing has changed. Her writing still falls flat and I'm still unimpressed. No more, I say! No more!

192 p.
Published: January 2017
Disclaimer: Copy of book received from publisher, opinions are my own.

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#BookReview: BEST FRIENDS FOREVER by Kimberla Lawson Roby

Whenever Kimberla Lawson Roby can pull herself away from writing about her most infamous character, the Rev. Curtis Black, it's typically a good thing. In my opinion, she exhausted his story line long ago and so I won’t even bother picking up a book where he or members of his family are the central characters. I don’t know how her character development is in those books. Though I would imagine that after almost 20 books about the good reverend, she’s managed to fully develop his character down to the minutest of details. However, Lawson Roby continues to fall short with her characters in other books.

This is the same complaint I had about 2011’s Secret Obsession and 2014’s A Christmas Prayer. While the premise of the books is interesting, the characters are so one-dimensional that it’s difficult for the reader to connect with them. In her latest, Best Friends Forever, that doesn’t change.

As the book opens, Cecile Richardson’s husband, Keith, announces that he’s unhappy in their marriage. Feeling overlooked while Cecile pursues running her own business, Keith steps outside of the marriage and outside of the home, leaving Cecile to raise their perceptive ten year old daughter. In the midst of family chaos, Cecile is diagnosed with breast cancer. Enter her best friend, Lauren, to save the day, except she really doesn’t.

Here’s the thing, if you name your book Best Friends Forever, I kind of want to get to know the best friend and her side of the story, not just the storyteller’s. First and foremost, this book is about Cecile and her drama. Yes, Lauren steps in and takes her to the doctor and mean mugs Cecile’s husband and flirts with her brother, but Lauren doesn’t really get her own story line outside of her interactions with Cecile. Sure, she gets some lines here and there, but overall, this is Cecile’s story.

The flat characters mixed in with one dimensional characters and weak story lines continue to be a theme in Lawson Roby’s work. After all of these years, and books, one would think that there would be progress with her writing. It continues to be formulaic and predictable. I know that her books sell well, but that says more about lazy readers than it does about her writing. I would imagine that the bulk of her faithful readers are the same people that shill out money to watch Tyler Perry’s gun toting, foul mouthed, wisdom spewing Madea. I can honestly say that this is the last Lawson Roby book that I’ll pick up.

288 p.
Published: January 2016
Disclaimer: Copy of book received from publisher, opinions are my own.

Amazon | B & N | Book Depository | IndieBound

#BookReview: A Christmas Prayer by Kimberla Lawson Roby

Synopsis: Alexis Fletcher hasn't had a merry Christmas in five years-not since her mother passed away. Every December she remembers the joy her mother brought to everyone during the holiday season and feels the pain of her absence, even more so now that she and her sister are barely speaking. More than anything, Alexis wishes her family could be whole again. However, with her wedding fast approaching, Alexis might just be ready to make some holiday memories with a new family of her own. Alexis's fiancé, Chase Dupont, is everything she ever dreamed of. He's kind, handsome, fully supportive of Alexis's career, and the CEO of a large company. But outside forces threaten to derail this happy couple from ever reaching the altar. As tensions rise, a dramatic event causes Alexis to question everything. Will fate give her what she needs to finally embrace the season that has brought her so much pain? Will Alexis get her wish for a happy holiday? Or will her Christmas prayer go unanswered?

Review: I'm always glad when Roby takes a break from the Curtis Black story line. Like a lot of people, Alexis lost an important family member and it affects how she does (or does not) celebrate holidays, but especially Christmas. As someone that lost someone during the holiday season, I could relate to her story. I appreciated her relationship with her fiance, though I have to admit that I kept waiting for him to screw up. He seemed too perfect at times. His mother, on the other hand, is determined to make Alexis's life miserable and she does a good job of it. Of course, because this is a Christmas story, it has a happy ending. I think it was originally publicized as a novella, but at 192 pages, it reads like a full length story, one that is mostly enjoyable.

192pp
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: October 2014

Disclaimer: Copy of book received from publisher, opinions are my own.

#BookReview: Secret Obsession - Kimberla Lawson Roby

Well she finally took a break from the ridiculously long story line of Reverend Curtis Black, but I can't say that Kimberla Lawson Roby did readers any favor with her detour into the crazy world of Paige Donahue. Paige has always lived in the shadow of her sister, Camille. From the time they were kids until now, Paige has wanted whatever Camille has, including her husband, and she'll stop at nothing to get him. Thank goodness this was a short read because the naivete of Camille and her husband, Pierce, combined with the far fetched schemes of Paige were hard to read due to the constant eye rolling on my part.

With at least 15 books under her belt, Roby still has not learned to fully develop her characters and give them plausible story lines. Yes, Paige is bat shit crazy, how do you give the reasoning behind it less than a page and then wrap up the entire story with a nice neat bow a few pages later without fully exploring the transformation from bat shit crazy to regular old crazy?

Paige and Camille's mother admitted a family secret that had a devastating effect on their lives and Roby didn't feel that it needed more than a paragraph? The people that Paige and Camille became was solely based on their childhood and the role that this secret played in it, but a paragraph will suffice? Oh, ok. I guess the author thought readers didn't require more or maybe she was only obligated to write a 200 page book and this one had hit 192 so she figured I could use the other eight pages to write my own ending. Hell, I don't know.

What did you like about this book?
Twas short.

What didn't you like about this book?
Relleh b, relleh? (Ok, seriously, in order to understand my usage of "relleh" you'll need to listen to Jay-Z & Kanye West's HAM. Tis hilarious!)

What could the author do to improve this book?
Learn that character development is key.

192pp
Published September 2011

Theme: Crazy Love by Ne-Yo featuring Fabolous (and that tooth of his)

#BookReview: A Deep Dark Secret - Kimberla Lawson Roby

I'll start by saying that this book really belongs over in the YA (Young Adult) section. If the author was shooting for an adult audience, she missed the mark. I applaud her for tackling the subject of molestation, but she does a poor job of keeping the reader's attention.

On the plus side, it's a very quick read at only 174 pages so you won't feel as if you've wasted too much of your time.