Review: Silver Sparrow

Silver Sparrow by Tayari Jones
Genre: Cultural (African-American), Adult Fiction, Young Adult (cross over)
Pages: 352 (paperback)
Source: Publisher | Algonquin Books
Author's Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle | B&N | Book Depo

Description:

With the opening line of "Silver Sparrow," My father, James Witherspoon, is a bigamist, author Tayari Jones unveils a breathtaking story about a man 's deception, a family 's complicity, and two teenage girls caught in the middle. Set in a middle-class neighborhood in Atlanta in the 1980s, the novel revolves around James Witherspoon 's two families the public one and the secret one. When the daughters from each family meet and form a friendship, only one of them knows they are sisters. It is a relationship destined to explode when secrets are revealed and illusions shattered. As Jones explores the backstories of her rich yet flawed characters the father, the two mothers, the grandmother, and the uncle she also reveals the joy, as well as the destruction, they brought to one another 's lives.

At the heart of it all are the two lives at stake, and like the best writers think Toni Morrison with "The" "Bluest Eye "Jones portrays the fragility of these young girls with raw authenticity as they seek love, demand attention, and try to imagine themselves as women, just "not" as their mothers

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Review: A Wish After Midnight

A Wish After Midnight by Zetta Elliott
Genre: YA, Time Travel
Pages: 244 (Kindle)
Source: Purchased
Author's Blog | Website
Buy it: Amazon | Kindle | B&N | Book Depo

Description:

Genna Colon desperately wants to escape from a drug-infested world of poverty, and every day she wishes for a different life. One day Genna's wish is granted and she is instantly transported back to Civil War-era Brooklyn

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Review: Temptation of a Good Man

Temptation of a Good Man by Delaney Diamond
Hawthorne Family #1
Genre: Romance, Cultural, African-American
Pages: 82 (ebook)
Author's Website | Facebook | Twitter

Description:

Can true love be found after one night of passion?
 Celeste Burton goes out with her girlfriends to celebrate turning thirty and winds up spending an unforgettable night with the man of her dreams. One week later, as a favor, she attends a wedding with a friend as his date and is shocked when she sees Roarke again.
 Roarke Hawthorne despises cheating. Cheating tore apart his family years ago. When the physics professor sees the woman he spent the night with show up at his sister’s wedding on the arm of his brother, he knows he should keep his distance. But because of the night they set fire to the sheets in his hotel room, he can’t resist the urge to be close to her–nor can he resist the temptation to have her back in his bed

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Review: Sweet Destiny

Sweet Destiny by Rochelle Alers
Genre: Romance, African-American
Pages: 223 (Ereader)
Source: Net Galley

Description:
An Eaton Summer Wedding

No one gives her heart like an Eaton woman…

A West Virginia mining community is a long way from Dr. Mia Eaton’s Dallas hometown. But trading in her designer duds for flannel and jeans isn’t such a major sacrifice. Not when the town has virile, off-the-charts-gorgeous Kenyon Chandler as their sheriff. Too bad he’s as arrogant as can be…until the night he’s injured in the line of duty.

Ever since they met at her cousin Xavier’s wedding, Kenyon hasn’t been able to get Mia out of his mind. And once he’s under the sultry Southerner’s tender loving care, he knows he’s lost. Kenyon gives her six months before she hightails it back home for the pampered life she left behind. Unless he can convince her that they are each other’s sweet destiny…

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Review: Money Can't Buy Love & Giveaway

Money Can't Buy Love by Connie Briscoe
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, African-American
Pages: 287 (Hardback)
Source: TLC Book Tours and Publisher
Author's Website | Twitter | Facebook | Blog

Book Jacket:

Lenora Stone used to say if she didn’t have bad luck, she wouldn’t have any luck at all. At age thirty-eight, instead of socializing with Baltimore’s A-list, she photographs them for Baltimore Scene, a glossy magazine filled with beautiful people who, unlike Lenora, never have to worry about car trouble and overdue bills. As much as she’d love to slam the door on her overbearing boss, quitting isn’t an option. She’s barely making her mortgage payments and, though her condo might not be a palace, it’s hers. Lately even things with her boyfriend Gerald haven’t been right. They’ve been together for three years and he can’t seem to ask the one question she’s been waiting for. But what Lenora doesn’t know is that her luck is about to change…

Just when she thinks things can’t get worse, Lenora wins the jackpot in the Maryland lottery. In a heartbeat, all her dreams become possible
...
As her life starts to come together, the things Lenora holds dear begin to fall apart. Has her world really changed for the better, or does fortune come with a heavy price?

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Review: The Imperfect Enjoyment

The Imperfect Enjoyment by Dewan W. Gibson
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 173 (Ebook)
Source: Rou Media/Lrc Books

From Goodreads:

When college instructor Dewan Gibson leaves the Midwest for California, he expects to find a world of breast implants, beer and beaches. Instead he enters a secret and ill-fated romance with a Middle Eastern undergraduate. In this vivid and humorous memoir, Gibson describes his attempts to overcome his forbidden love affair by jumping into an office fling gone wrong (Tijuana Mornings), traveling across the world to Denmark in hopes of meeting "Ms. Booty Mama" (Arhus Ain't for Lovers) and musing over the interracial relationships between his African-American uncles and "rural white women that wore 1980's big bangs and resembled Guns N' Roses groupies" (Too Much Tupac). Toeing the line between stable adulthood and post-college debauchery, Gibson presents a comically honest look at the frailty of modern relationships. Poignant, witty and at times downright hilarious--The Imperfect Enjoyment is a story of toxic relationships and the search for a second chance at love that enlightens and amuses as very few books do.

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Review: 32 Candles (Book Tour)

32 Candles by Ernessa T. Carter
Genre: Chick Lit, Cultural (African American)
Pages: 338 (paperback)
Source: TLC BookTours |Amistad/HarperCollins Publishers
32 Candles |  Author's Blog

From Goodreads:

Davie—an ugly duckling growing up in small-town Mississippi—is positive her life couldn’t be any worse. She has the meanest mother in the South, possibly the world, and on top of that, she’s pretty sure she’s ugly. Just when she’s resigned herself to her fate, she sees a movie that will change her life—Sixteen Candles. But in her case, life doesn’t imitate art. Tormented endlessly in school with the nickname "Monkey Night," and hopelessly in unrequited love with a handsome football player, James Farrell, Davie finds that it is bittersweet to dream of Molly Ringwald endings. When a cruel school prank goes too far, Davie leaves the life she knows and reinvents herself in the glittery world of Hollywood—as a beautiful and successful lounge singer in a swanky nightclub.
Davie is finally a million miles from where she started—until she bumps into her former obsession, James Farrell. To Davie’s astonishment, James doesn’t recognize her, and she can’t bring herself to end the fantasy. She lets him fall as deeply in love with her as she once was with him. But is life ever that simple? Just as they’re about to ride off into the sunset, the past comes back with a vengeance, threatening to crush Davie’s dreams—and break her heart again.

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Mini-Review: In Between Lies

In Between Lies by Shawna Hill
Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Cultural (African-American)
Pages: 144 (ereader)
Source: Author
Facebook | Website

From Amazon:

After a devestating break up with her cheating fiance, Savannah Summers delves into her work as the Assistant to the VP of Production in a marketing/production company. Finding refuge in work and her best friends, she finally decides to try her hand at love one more time. This time around she vows to not give her whole self as before and keep her heart closer and guarded more than ever before. Kevin Styles is a smooth, handsome Meterologist at a local news station and is somewhat a local celebrity in his own right. When it comes to women, playing his cards right is his forte and he is just the man to wine and dine her. However, a known player to his heart, he's looking for the right woman to "tame" his wild ways. Just when things are going perfect, Naomi Sanders, a blast from Kevin's past blows through and the drama and lies begin. Shattered trust and betrayal is inevitable. Can their blooming relationship withstand Naomi's tactics, or should Savannah cut her losses and run?

My Rating:

Quick Thoughts: Surprising.  Drama.  Crazy.  Unexpected.
When I started reading I found myself rolling my eyes and feeling like the story was something I had seen before.  I felt like I knew exactly how the story would go and expected to be bored.  While I didn't connect with the characters, I found that I was completely wrong and this is not a predictable read.  It reminds me of one of those Real-Word of [insert city here] where you don't necessarily like the housewives but the drama and craziness is so addictive, you tune in because you can't help it.  I thought of it as a train-wreck that I couldn't take my eyes from (not the writing but the plot).  If you give this one a try, stick through the first 60 pages or so.   You'll be pleasantly surprised.  Read this one if you just can't help but like drama and craziness.