Boy! There's just too many books!!!

NUMBER 86 

There are just too many damn books!!! I am reading JAMES W. LEWIS - SELLOUT - $99 cents - - -  This is James’ debut novel about three individuals--a black woman, black man and white woman--facing the consequences of interracial dating. He says he found that people sometimes have strong reasons for dating outside the race, which include negative stereotypes (i.e., black men are players). He once knew a black man who was in the middle of divorcing a black woman and he told him would never date another black woman again. James thought that was sad and interesting at the same time. In this book, he is exploring the root cause of the characters' racial dating decisions by delving deep into their psyches. What makes a person completely ostracize their own race and "jump the fence?"   I’ll tell you why, there just aren’t enough black men to go around.  A Sister got to do something and I am just a few pages into the book when white gril friend meets a black basketball player (he’s not one yet, but close, or maybe he is?) and having sex with the man the first night because she just wanted some “blackness.”  Her father was one of the original KKK members in my book the way he has raised her and told her to stay away from "those people."  I got to finish this just to see what girl friend SELLOUT answers are and the black guy who gave up on black women.  Whoa!!! Momma!!

Sellout

And reading, STEPHANIE MORRIS - CUTTING TO THE CHASE - $5.99 - - - Another black and white romance novel between two friends (long ago friends from kindegarten), and they meet up again.  So far the reviews I have read say the book is slow and a little boring, but since I liked her other two books, STAKING HIS CLAIM - $5.99 and HER EVERY FANTASY - $5.99, I thought I keep on going.  Most of the ones I am reading are interracial and that’s OK with me since I will read anything and everything as long as it’s good, funny and with a little bit of murder and suspense.  I’m not a big fan of Romance because I still see the cover with some woman with her long ass hair flowing in the wind (from the wind machine, I’m sure) and some big, burley, six-pack stomach man leaning over her with his hand around her waist or like on the cover of "Every Fantasy", the girl and guy don’t to me, seem to fit the characters in the book.  I enjoyed the story but still don’t quiet believe how his kids brought them together.  I guess it’s possible, but come on!! How many times does that happen to you or your friends.

Cutting to the Chase

Staking His Claim

Her Every Fantasy (The Smith Sisters)

And reading, CARL WEBER - UP TO NO GOOD - - - I went to this book because I needed to find out more about Mr. James and his slick ass ways.  I found out about him in THE FIRST LADY - $6.64, and I have been trying to get back to the beginning of Bishop T. K. Wilson.  What a rip roaring read.  That’s the book I got by my bed at night.  Dirty, Dirty man!

I have become the biggest fan of Carl Weber and cannot wait for the next book - THE FAMILY BUSINESS (FAMILY BUSINESS TRILOGY) - pre-order it now.  It will be released on January 13, 2012.  It may seem to be a long time away, but we (stores and others) are already putting Christmas decorations out. !!

Up To No Good

The First Lady

And reading a new author - KELI GOFF - THE GQ CANDIDATE - $11.99 - - - I was in Barnes & Noble and saw the cover, looks like a young Obama and I do enjoy a good political book, but with black folks.  So far, so good.

The GQ Candidate

Next in my kitchen, Oh yeah, I got books throughout the house in every room just in case I get stuck there doing something or another and got to read something.  Carry books in my car, just in case I get stuck some place else, usually some place I ain’t supposed to be, but what the hell, I need to read is all there is!!!

Next in my living room, another romance, I guess I’m hooked, JACQUELIN THOMAS - YOU AND I - $3.82 - - - Another place they “meet” on a romantic Mediterranean cruse.  Have you every been on a Mediterranean cruise? Neither have I.  Maybe we should try it once we become millionaries!! 

“Moonlight, open seas, kisses under the stars. It's everything Cherise Ransom ever dreamed of and so is Steven Chambers. Passionate, driven and attentive, Steven sweeps her into a whirlwind courtship and before she knows it, Cherise is engaged! (Ok, I have been engaged before, for about a minute and then he dumped me.  His damn lost, not mind.  At least that’s what we say in our minds!!!) But her past just might derail her chance for happiness before she makes it down the aisle.  Once he meets the sensual, voluptuous counselor, Steven knows his bachelor days are over. The celebrated architect (my guy worked at a train dump refueling it with coals.  Don’t laugh.  At least he had a job!! or a job I could stomached) has found the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Except Cherise is keeping a secret. (Some ding dong somebody is always, always, always keeping secrets.  Don’t they get tired of that!) He hopes their love is strong enough to overcome anything but she's got to be willing to take a chance and trust in their future together.  I’m still going to read it when I get back to the living room.

You and I (Kimani Romance)

Got to stick on one for Black History Year.  

SUSAN VAUGHAN - A GAME CALLED SALISBURY: THE SPINNING OF A  SOUTHERN TRAGEDY AND THE MYTHS OF RACE - $5.99 - - - I realize that you may not be interested in a book about a murder committed in 1906 of two black men and a teenage boy accused of killing a white family on the farm they worked on, it just shows how the past continues to haunt us and the impact it and other crimes of racial conflict has on today’s courts, communities and families.  Named after the lynching games children played in the aftermath, A GAME CALLED SALISBURY is more than a story about a racial tragedy. It’s how the politics and the press affected the lives of the men, wrongly accused, the family who was murdered and the people who reported the story and I’m sure lied about many of the facts.  And how it has effected the mind of us (African American) and others in todays society of race and racial un-representations.  I’m a history bluff and I did not know this story existed.  Try reading BEBE MOORE CAMPBELL - YOUR BLUES AIN’T LIKE MINE - A NOVEL - $11.16 and see if you don’t see the similarities.  

A Game Called Salisbury: The Spinning of a Southern Tragedy and the Myths of Race

Your Blues Ain't Like Mine: A Novel

We Need some Comedy!!

NUMBER 85

Hey, we got a day off of work today.  That’s only for government and Bank employees.  I think the Post Office is closed too but don’t remember who else is off.  I’m just glad to have a day off.  We should celebrate, but who is in the mood.  With so many people without a job and I’m blessed to have two jobs and it still amazes me that many people cannot find a job.  I know, I know, there are lines every where you see on TV or the news and I feel for them.  I know what it is like to be without a job.  I also know that you take what every job you can until you find the job you want.  I also know that making minimum wage, I think it's $7.25 (that's what I'm getting at the part time job) is not enough to fee and clothed one parent and one kid.  It's just awful how hard it is to buy the necessities on such low salary.  I just know.

I left a good government job when I got married the first time (Oh, yeah, I did forget to mention that I was married before, he died and no I did not kill him!!!) and left to live in Spokane, Washington.  Why you ask? I had a best friend who was station out there and my husband at the time was not able to find a good job.  So we packed up and drove from Washington, DC to Spokane, we took his nephew who was, can you believe it, 5 years older than him.  It was a long ass drive, but we figure we were not in a hurry so we took two weeks to get there.  It was fun at times and a few times I knew I saw some KKK in Montana and Idaho.  Got to a small town in Idaho to stop for some food.  We entered the “diner” and noticed that we were the only black people there.  I got scared, but hubby and nephew said we needed to eat.  Didn't see a got damn McDonald's for miles.   We sat at the counter and ordered, hoping like hell that we would not be hung or food thrown at us or something worse.  The waitress and a few other “white” people surrounded us and I knew we were going to be killed.  The time was 1984 and even though there may have, I mean “may have” been some racial harmony, I was not going to take or feel any chances.  The first young white guy asked where were we heading and my hubby told him Spokane.  Remember, this is Idaho, not country talk, but it sounded like country talk with a twang.  The waitress asked, hold on now, if we were the “Cosby” family because I looked like Claire.  I'm not kidding.  I told her no and she was a bit disappointed, but told me, “We don’t get many people like you guys here,” maybe a truck drive now and then, but no black people.”  “You kinda of friendly so what would you like.”  Jesus!! I just knew I was in some crazy horror movie, but knew I was awake too!.  We ordered and they (more white folks surrounded us) continued to ask us questions about DC and our travels.  It was completely surreal and if you can believe it, the food was good and they would not let us pay for it.  They told us they enjoyed out company.  In the back of my mind I'm thinking we will leave the "Psycho Dinner" and end up in some slaughter house waiting to be cooked.  We “haul assed” out to the car and I took over the driving this time and left Idaho.  That placed scared me and after I looked back when we left, it appeared to be some “Texas Chain Saw Massacre” diner with a big old, fat, slimy and greasy white man staring at me.  Too weird, just too weird that I remembered it.  Ding Dong!!, I won't be having any dreams tonight.

Lets get to some books, I need to laugh and so do you.

ERIC JEROME DICKEY - SISTER, SISTER - $7.99 - - - It takes guts for a male writer to tackle the trials and tribulations of upwardly mobile African American women. So, let’s see how he does. Southern California sisters Valerie and Inda are close. Fair-skinned Valerie is the younger of the two and takes after their white mother in appearance. After six years of a lousy marriage to Walter, she knows she's miserable but doesn't know any role other than that of a satellite eternally in orbit around her husband. Inda, who inherited their father's dark skin and features, has a stable career, but a divorce from her white husband has made her pessimistic about men of any color, a situation exacerbated by flagrant evidence of her current lover's infidelities. Inda meets Chiquita, a young flight attendant, whom she instinctively likes, and their friendship is cast when they discover they both have been simultaneously deceived by Raymond, who is engaged to a third woman. Chiquita is drawn into the girls' tight-knit family as she falls for their brother, Brown, and learns something from them about courage and love. In recovering from their individual disappointments, Valerie, Inda and Chiquita risk new relationships, strengthened by one another's humor, candor and understanding. I enjoyed this book due to it’s humor and the relationships, bad and good, of Valerie, Inda and Chiquita.  It’s made me a laugh too!

Sister, Sister

ERIC JEROME DICKEY - FRIENDS AND LOVERS - $7.99 Paperback - - - Tyrel, whose twin sister MyeGYN nurse, have fallen for each other big-time. It takes Tyrel and the outspoken, harder-edged Shelby, a flight attendant (who hates being called a ``stewardess''), a little longer, but after a rocky start they too find in each other what they've been searching for. Los Angeles seems at first a paradise for the foursome as they enthusiastically hit the beaches, comedy clubs, restaurants, and discos. Then a massive misunderstanding destroys Tyrel and Shelby's romance, leading them to move to San Francisco and San Diego, respectively; by this time, Leonard and Debra are happily married and frustrated with their best friends' inability to resolve their differences. It takes tragedy on a grand scale to reunite lovers destined for each other and to teach both couples that friendship is perhaps the most valuable gift they've been given. With four characters taking turns offering snippets of the story, it's sometimes hard to keep track of who's talking, but stick with the story, Dickey does know how to keep it real and funny. 

Friends and Lovers

LURMA RACKLEY - LAUGH IF YOU LIKE, AIN’T A DAMN THING FUNNY: THE LIFE STORY OF RALPH “PETEY” GREENE AS TOLD TO LURMA RACKLEY - $31.99 Hardback - - - I know the price of the book is high, but if you were born and raised in Washington, DC and a bit older, over 35 I suspect, then you may or may not remember listening to the radio station WOL’s show Moonman.  Petey green was the only black man, at that time, who could say what we wanted to say and everyone listen.  I remembered my mother, while working at Walter Reed Hospital with my grandmother and great aunt, coming home and talking about the black men in the hospital just arriving from Vietnam, the Korean War and how they got hooked on drugs and alcohol.  They also talked about their youth growing up in Georgetown (it’s now all white), Howard University Hospital, which was called, Freedman’s Hospital in the 1800s, which served freed, disabled and aged blacks and their love of Petey Green.  I did not listen to him, but I know about him from them.  It was our black history living in DC with GoGo music and funk.  Petey Greene died before the book was completed and his funeral was the largest in the history of DC for anyone who was not elected to office, but I’m sure Lurma has done a great job.  If you never heard him you can see a movie on his life with Don Cheadle called, “TALK TO ME” which was directed by an African American woman, Kasi Lemmons.  Who also directed “EVE’S BAYOU” with that crazy ass Samuel L.Jackson, Jurnee Smollett and my girl Lynn Whitfield (Do you remember her in “Madea’s Family Reunion” and “A Thin Line Between Love and Hate with Martin Lawrence).  I can go on forever about connections to books and movies, but you need to get this book and those movies.  Halluyah!!

Laugh If You Like, Ain't a Damn Thing Funny: The Life story of Ralph ''Petey'' Greene as told to Lurma Rackley

TYLER PERRY - DON’T MAKE A BLACK WOMAN TAKE OFF HER EARRINGS: MADEA’S UNINHIBITED COMMENTARIES ON LOVE AND LIFE - $11.99 - - - I don’t think there’s more to say.  It’s “hilarious”

Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life

CARL WEBER - THE CHOIR DIRECTOR - $8.99 (It went down a $1.00) - - -   I’m here to tell you, that man knows how to tell a story.  I read the second in this series, THE FIRST LADY - $4.47 The First Lady, just to get a better knowledge of Bishop T.K. Wilson, who I think is one of the best characters in novels around.  He has the looks and intelligent of a man of the cloth, but still a man with some serious needs in the bedroom just like any other man.  Second book is about his wife coming back from the dead to help him find a new wife.  The women in this book, scared the living day lights out of me.  It has been a long time since I’ve read about so many evil-minded and venomous bitches to get a man and his church.  Then I read his newest one.  Took the woman’s hair our by mixing the woman’s hair shampoo with Neet hair removal.  Taking a sister down by accusing her, maybe a new boyfriend, of being a rapist.  Stealing money from the church, yes I said it, stealing money from the church, even though that’s not really unusual in today’s society.  Damn, are we woman that desperate for a man?  Wo-cheggin!!!  

I laughed so hard, my dog fell out of the bed and gave me a, “what the hell is wrong with you look,” and one of the best lines, let me set it up for you first.  Mackie is getting it on with Sandra.  Knock at door, Mackie hides Sandra in bedroom.  The two men at the door are Bishop T. K. Wilson and Reverend Jenkins,.  Bishop is offering Mackie a job and Reverend is a mentor to Mackie and his boss at their church.  Mackie turns down the job offer and both men leave.  Mackie goes back to finish “getting it on” with Sandra, but there’s another knock at the door, this time its just the Reverend.  Mackie is thinking the Reverend is coming back to thank him for not taking the job, but my boy the Reverend pulls out a gun and accuses him of having an affair with his wife.  Mackie lies and says no, but the Reverend knows he is lying because when he was there earlier with the Bishop, he saw his wife’s hat pushed into the sofa.  Tells Mackie to show him where the wife is and they find her naked on the bed, she is shock and trying to cover her self with clothes and an excuse.  The Reverend tells Mackie to take the job and leave town or he’s going to shoot him.  Reverend smacks wife and knocks her off the bed, then says, “She may be a ho, but she’s my ho, bought and paid for.”  Damn!!! 

You have got to read to this book.  If you want to laugh, take my word for it, Carl Weber can make you laugh.  I’m glad I got a chance to meet him at Books A Million in Charleston and saw him again in Atlanta.  He was funny and he still wants to own a McDonald's.”  Side joke. 

The Choir Director

WANDA SYKES - YEAH, I SAID IT! - $10.99 - - - I’m not a big fan of hers, but some of the comments received about her book tells me I may need to get it.  Let me know if you have read it or know someone who has.  They say it’s hard to write comedy than do it on TV or a movie, that is probably why I would not buy the book because I rather see them in concert or on TV, but who knows, I'm not the expert.

Yeah, I Said It

CHRIS ROCK - ROCK THIS! - $10.00 Hardback - - - According to my sources, these are his routines and it’s funny.

Rock This!

CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER - GROWN-A$$ MAN - $6.50 Hardback - - - 

I’m going to get this book because I did not know he had a book out.  I love me some Cedric.  Can’t go wrong with this guy!! Word!!!

Grown-A$$ Man

Got to stick on one for Black History Year.  

BERNIE MAC - I AIN’T SCARED OF YOU: BERNIE MAC ON HOW LIFE IS - $11.99 - - - I’m sorry that he passed away.  I always thought he was one of those actors who could play anyone.  He just had the gift of talking you into anything, especially with those big eyes.  

I Ain't Scared of You: Bernie Mac on How Life Is

Still miss my grandmother and our libraries

NUMBER 84 

I was off work today and I needed this day off.  I got an oil change, mammogram (ladies, please, please, please, please do not avoid this test.  It has and will continue to save lives.  Please, Please don’t ignore it), picked up heart worm pills for my dogie and finally my eye exam.  Needed new glasses since the second dog, my crazy self got another one, chewed them.  I got rid of the dog.  No, No, I did not kill it or have it put to sleep, I was able to give him to a family of four boys living on a large farm.  I don’t like that the older I get the more I need to wear glasses more.  I thought it was an "getting old thing," but found out from the doctor that because I have been reading so much and on the computer so much all day, my eyes are getting tired.  Hey, that's what she said.  Probably trying to make me feel better.  I don’t need glasses to drive or anything like that, but to read, I got to keep my body and eyes in check.  And since it was so beautiful with the sky milky white and light blue, soft wind and such quietness because many people were at work, I got a free frappuccion at Starbucks and sat outside and watch people go by.  Man, are we funny when we think no one is watch.

Older white woman walking up the street with dirty white socks and fish (yes, I wrote “fish), looking shoes.  It looked like she caught the fish, cleaned it and gutted it out  and shaped it into a slipper.  I kid you not!! I had to look it up on the Internet to see if I was tripping, I wasn’t.  I was just sitting down at the tables outside relaxing.  Not thinking, working, or worrying about anything.  After an hour of watching craziness, I went to Barnes & Noble and spent money I did not have.  Oh, well, will have to find some overtime or continue to work part time until I pay it off.  I brought a couple of magazines and two British TV comedies and HILL HARPER - THE WEALTH CURE: PUTTING MONEY IN ITS PLACE - $12.99  The Wealth Cure: Putting Money in Its Place - -  Hill is using his own life as an example to help us evaluate our values in order to lay and continue to have a sound financial picture.  I started reading it when I got home (Yes, I got books to read in the car, in the bedroom, living room, at work and any other place), I'm usually reading three or four at a time. 

There are lots of “money” books out there on how to save and such, but I'm a fan of Hill Harper and I figure I give it a chance to see if he is saying anything different.  He is and it's simple.  Not finish reading it yet, so I will update later.  I myself have been trying to save money for the next book festival, The 2011 National Book Festival on September 24th and the 25th at the National Mall in DC.  I cannot wait.  I miss home so much and I need to see my old neighborhood and my daughter.  

While in the book store walking around I got quiet and started to cry a little.  I grew up around libraries and book stores and being in that world makes me feel so rapturous.  I still to this day don’t know how to describe it.  I just walk in a library or book store and anything I may have been thinking or worrying about leaves my mind and I start to float like I’m standing on the sands of the beach and watching the water go back and forth over my feet.  Just quiet and very soft music in me.  I’m not doing a good job of describing it, maybe I will get better at it later.  For right now, it’s the only world where it’s just me and nothing or nobody else, just me and I miss my grandmother more on days like that.  She would stand next to me holding my hand and say nothing, just breathing along the same tide as me.  We are just standing there holding hands in the library and I miss that more that life itself.  I miss my other half, my life, my soul.  I just miss her.

When my daughter arrived, there were more bookstores than you can shake a stick at.  I use to take her to New York every year to visit Borders, Barnes & Noble, The Strand, where you could get first edition and good beat up paperbacks for $1.00, The Murder Ink, Mysterious Bookshop and Argosy Book Store which carried old and rare books.  I found a first edition Sherlock Holmes book there years ago.  My daughter and I would visit these stores and browse for hours and hours.  I remember the 2nd or third time I took her to the Borders on 5th Avenue and let her sit by herself in the children’s section.  I and other patrons in the store heard a scream and I ran because I knew that scream, it was my kid.  Got to the children’s section and she is screaming with joy because the latest Rug Rat book was out and they had the complete series.  She was in heaven and the book sellers asked me, “I have never seen a child act that over a book!! How did you get her to love reading and books so much?  You got a secret?"  “Nah, I said, it just started from the time she was in my womb and before that when my grandmother sparked and pushed the love of reading in me.”  “She just got the gift and I’m more than happy.”

We spent too much money in there.  When the receipt was printed out, the cashier just about dropped her self on the floor.  It was due to the fact that I did not flinch one inch about the total.  I did not care, those books I was buying for me and my kid was just the beginning and it hasn’t stop since.  

MARVA FARRIS - A CHANGE OF GRACE - 99 CENTS - - - Grace had been running from her past for years, and part of her believed that she could keep her secrets forever. But when her only two children reached adulthood they are eager to get to the bottom of things. As her youngest daughter Egypt prepares for her dream wedding, she wants to know the truth about the identity of her father. 

While the oldest, Kenya, struggles to understand Grace’s absence during her childhood. Kenya finally gets the opportunity to confront her mother when they drive from Charlotte, NC to Cleveland, OH (long drive if you ask me!) for Egypt’s wedding. Grace’s revelations are so surprising that they change the lives of everyone involved.  It’s always about secrets that are kept that catches up with you.  Is it worth it sometimes?

A Change Of Grace

JAMES W. LEWIS - SELLOUT - 99 CENTS - - - I had the pleasure and honor to meet James in Houston at the NBBF and I had read his first book, A HARD MAN IS GOOD TO FIND - $3.99 A Hard Man Is Good To Find, which is funny as hell and the plot will have you guessing to the end.  After I profiled his book on my face book account, he had a contest on how many people would do that for his book.  I did not win the prize, I think it was a $50.00 gas card, but I did win this book with a personal autograph.  I’m reading it now and so far, it has my attention, interracial dating!  Didn’t I bring that up before? I will bring you up to date on it when I finish.  In the meantime, get the book, you will not be disappointed.  Here’s “Urban Diva “S.C.” review, “I have often said to myself when I see a black man with a white woman...Why? This is a question I believe we all as black women have ask ourselves. Now that I have a 19 year old son I think about this more, he is a college student and dates white and black women. Me, as a mother would love for him to marry a black woman, but his happiness is all that really matters..I guess. 

Well James W. Lewis did a wonderful job with this book... So after dealing with the tired/no good brothers who have cheated and hurt us time and time again is it enough to make a sister date a white man? Is she a Sellout if she does? And what about our black men who get tired of the black woman drama with her guards up, jealous, and not trusting, is that enough to make him date only white women? Does that make him a Sellout? What about the white woman who only dates black men? Sellout? And lets not forget about the white man who thinks and acts like a black man and loves black women? Is he a Sellout? 

But this book is so much more...I read it in a day because I could not put it down. It takes a turn that I did not expect and actually has you on the edge. I don’t want to give anything away because its a must read. I'm glad that I read this book because it hits home in so many ways...I tell my son all the time when dating white women "just because she likes you doesn’t mean her father does". 

This book actually made me think more about the word Sellout...does it actually mean racist? Can we actually be prejudice against our own? What a great job James W. Lewis...I wish you much success and I will always be a fan!”   I know I am a big fan and will continue to be.

Sellout

Another one of my subscribers, who I am taking the honor to promote her book is CHICKI BROWN.  You don’t know how much I enjoy promoting a book, buying it and pushing it to people to buy, especially when I get to know the author.  It’s a BIG pleasure to do this.  Buy her books, you will not be disappointed.

CHICKI BROWN - HAVE YOU SEEN HER - $2.99 - - - Marcia Hadley, Santa Barbara, California socialite has been married for seven years to the heir of a family fortune. He sees to it that she has the finest home, cars and clothes. Yet that isn’t enough to keep Marcia from running.

Dani Reynolds, Atlantic City nightclub cocktail waitress works on her feet seven hours a night, five days a week for less than minimum wage in a crowded, smoky nightclub. She lives in an aging, run-down apartment, rides the city bus, and she’s happier than she’s ever been.  Marcia and Dani have more in common than anyone could imagine. They are the same woman.  Only Taylor Villanova, the club’s sexy bouncer can help her reconcile her two distinct persona's, face her greatest fear and discover a love greater than she’d ever imagined.

Have You Seen Her?

CHICKI BROWN - HOT FUN IN THE SUMMERTIME - $2.99 - - - Seven very different singles – four women and three men – rent a New Jersey beach house for the summer: author Shontae Nichols, self-employed accountant and realtor, Linda Harris, Linda’s sister, hip-hop video dancer Kinnik Watkins, cosmetologist, Jovita Blassingame, Calculus professor Curtis “Doc” Whetstone, actor and drama instructor, Kip Lee, and new housemate, up and coming film actor, Devon Burke.

During their two month stay, romances bloom friendships are tested and when a tragedy strikes one of the housemates, they all learn the answer to the age-old question: Can men and women ever be just friends?  

Hot Fun In the Summertime

CHICKI BROWN - HOLLYWOOD SWINGING - $2.99 - - - You know you at least like the title since it reminds you of the song by Kool & and Gang, old school song, but one of the best dancing and partying songs around.  

Newlywed author Shontae Nichols Burke is trying to adjust to her life in Hollywood as the wife of actor Devon Burke, one of the film industry’s brightest upcoming stars. She’s left her home and her friends and moved to Los Angeles. They both have blossoming careers. She’s attending movie premieres and living a life she only dreamed of.

Unknown to Shontae, someone else also believes Devon Burke is the love of her life. When this disturbed woman insinuates herself into their lives, Shontae learns that all Hollywood drama isn’t scripted and finds herself in a fight for her marriage that’s worthy of the big screen.

Hollywood Swinging

CHICKI BROWN - I CAN’T GET NEXT TO YOU - $2.99 - - - Rick Gardner never intended to visit one of Atlanta’s premiere strip clubs, but his fellow attorneys choose that venue to celebrate his latest courtroom victory. A born again Christian, Rick knows Dreamland is the last place he belongs. Still, he’s confident he can withstand the temptation. Until the beautiful woman sent to entertain them walks in. Oh, Oh!, why don’t they every learn!!

I just brought all four after reading the synopses of each.  I got to at least find out how Shontae and Devon met and married and how preacher boy survived strip joint down!!

Chicki appears to have some great and ding-dong good books out there, buy them, buy them now.

I Can't Get Next to You

Got to stick on one for Black History Year.  

VALERIE WILSON WESLEY - EASIER TO KILL (TAMARA HAYLE MYSTERY) - $2.86 Hardcover - - - Here’s another author I found in 1998.  A black mystery woman writer.  I read all of this series and still want to re-read them again.  There are some black detectives you want to see over and over again like Virgil Tibbs (played originally by Sidney Poitier.  You remember the scene where he smacks the white guy face?  Love it!) and Shaft (Richard Roundtree), boy I need to go to bed and some good dreams!!!

Tamara is summoned by Mandy Magic to take a case that could lead to a substantial contribution to Jamal's college fund (Tamara’s son). Magic (formerly Starmanda Jackson) has the most popular radio talk show in Essex County and a lifestyle that a struggling PI could only envy. But as Tamara probes the fears of her new client, she begins to see that this talk show host's world is hardly wine and roses. Magic's second "cousin" and stylist, Tyrone Mason, has just been murdered, and now Magic is particularly unnerved by a mysterious note reading simply "Movin' On Up." As Tamara digs deeper, she suspects that these and other events are hinged to Magic's misspent youth and her relationship to such characters as Rufus Greene, a former pimp. Unfortunately, Magic and her adopted daughter, Taniqua, are unwilling to cooperate in their own PI's investigation. What drives the mystery for Hayle (and the reader), then, is a profound curiosity about Mandy Magic's apparently sordid past. What is she hiding, and why would she hire a private detective if she didn't want her secrets revealed?

Easier to Kill (A Tamara Hayle Mystery)

Romance and Urban to Boot!!

NUMBER 83 

I guess I’m still in a “romance” mood because I just read both of KIMBERLY KAYE TERRY’S books.  The first, TO DESIRE A WILDE - $3.99 - - - As I told you before there are three brothers, African-American (Nathan), White (Holt) and a Native American (Shilah), this one is about Shilah Wilde.  Kimberly, from what I have seen on Amazon, writes multiracial romances, which in 2011 is probably what a lot of black women may become involved it.  Now, don’t go and say I’m saying, “black men are no good,” their are plenty of good black men.  There just isn’t enough of them to go around and maybe, just maybe, “dating” another race could be a good thing.  Nothing beats a failure but a try, so try it.  I guess I shouldn't talk.  The last time I dated a white guy was in college.  Went out a few times with other white guys, but nothing panned out.  So who knows, one day I might go back or not.  Either way I'm just happy being single with my dog Tommy Pickles (yes, my daughter was going thru her Rug Rat phase when she named him).

Back to the story.  These three “brothers” were adopted from an orphanage and raised on a huge ranch.  After their father’s death, they continued in the horse-breeding and successfully made the ranch one of the largest in the world.  Shilah met Ellie as a child when she had an accident (notice how there’s always some “accident” that these lucky women meet the men of their dreams!), and his was the first eyes she saw when she woke up in the hospital.  He didn’t say anything, he just looked at her and he was only a child at the time.  Years later when he saw her again, he remembered her from the hospital and fell in love with her then and more now.  Yeah, Yeah, I know, but its kinda of kooky and cute.  They play “will I give in to him” and “will I give in to her” romance game until they realize they are truly in love.  There is a dark side to the story and it’s the “bad” guys trying to take over the ranch with Ellie’s help as a USDA agent, she’s not aware of the “bad” guys plot.  Sounds like some Hallmark movie.  The book has a pretty good writing style and Kimberly even adds a little twist with a “killer.”  It’s all good and sweet and for $3.99 if you are traveling on a plane, train, or the slow Greyhound bus, perish the thought will yah!, you will enjoy it.  Like I said before, Mrs. Terry’s sexually scenes should not be read in bed or around a man unless he is your husband.  It will give you some ideas so he better watch out.

To Desire a Wilde (Kimani Romance)

The next one TO TEMPT A WILDE - $3.82 - - - Now this one I enjoyed a lot. It starts out with Althea running from and hiding from some nut and that nut is watching her from a window in a run down apartment she escapes to.  She is not able to sleep and gets a “feeling” that something is wrong and starts running again.  She ends up on the Wilde's ranch working and meets Nathan, the African-American of the three Wilde brothers.  He avoids her until he cannot get over those lips and her other features (that’s a better word than what I had in my mind!! lol).  He also knows she is hiding something.  You see, he can feel it (Sure!).  He is another man who was hurt by some woman who did not want to live on the ranch and she left him.  Poor baby!!  “Whenever he was around, the back of her neck would tingle, a slow heart invading her entire body, something she’d come to understand signaled that he was near.  Unable to look away, her heart would thud slowly against her rib cage as she stared across the distance at him, watching as his muscles bunched beneath his work shirt. . . . . it was like some invisible thread connected them together. . . and that tingling awareness would sweep over her, and her body would respond on cue.”  See, I told yah

, watch out, you might get attached to one of these boys!!  Believe me when I say half the book is Nathan and Althea in the “mood,” if you know what I mean.

The nut who has been watching and following her will show up and that’s when the book gets a bit interesting, especially when Nathan and his brothers kick but, now that’s romance!

To Tempt a Wilde (Kimani Romance)

Reading these books also put me in the mood for a movie.  I sat in my big old comfy chair with Tommy Pickles, my dog and watched “Jumping the Broom”  Jumping the Broom with Angela Bassett (I still love that woman in “Waiting to Exhale” and “What’s Love Go to do with it” especially when she finally kicked “Ike” ass, played all too real by Laurence Fishburne).  Paula Patton (married to Robin Thicke.  See, you may want to try a white guy or maybe not, it’s your choice) and my favorite preacher, T. D. Jakes.  There are other great actors in the movie.  A funny Mike Epps and a serious acting sister Loretta Devine

.  I just enjoyed the smooth feel and soft music and story.  It was pleasantly sweet.  Get the movie.

Got to move off Romance and into some “urban”  SEAN WRIGHT - A GANGSTER’S MELODY - $2.99

 

A Gangsters Melody

RAN WALKER - B-SIDES AND REMIXES - $2.99 - - - Chauncey “Cool” Brown has just been named one of Soul Sista magazine’s 25 Most Eligible Bachelors and the news couldn’t have come at a better time. His business, C&J’s Rare Grooves, is struggling to stay afloat, but Soul Sista

has a suggestion that could change everything: write a column for their website where he documents his dates with three women selected by their readers. Cool signs on, but he quickly learns that he might have bitten off more than he can chew. Now, in addition to trying to save his business, he finds himself facing an even more daunting challenge: opening himself up to the possibility of falling in love."

B-Sides and Remixes: A Novel

Got to stick on one for Black History Year. 

EVELYN COLEMAN - WHAT A WOMAN’S GOTTA DO - $5.45 Hardcover - - - Romance, Urban, Christian and Murder.  Just about all of my favorite.  I brought this book years ago because it was another black woman mystery writer.  As you can tell, I love me some mysteries.  I’m a big fan of Agatha Christie and Pamela Samuels-Young, I just love those women, so, while going thru

my massive collection of books, I found this one and could not quite remember if I read it, but will go back and read it.  I have been buying books since I was able to and it makes my heart soar when I see I have so many books by black writers.  It’s my soul, my passion and I would not give this up for nothing.  

There were not many good reviews about this book.  Some said the plot was boring and not as good as they hoped.  I say, always give a book 50 pages before you dump it.  So, don’t dump it until you try.

A review from Candace Ccottrel - I have to give hats off to Evelyn Coleman. I honestly can't say I've ever read a book quite like this one. She gives the readers all the elements they could ask for: a classic Whodunnit

, a history lesson, and a love lesson so deep it brought tears to my eyes. Give this one a try.

What a Woman's Gotta Do