Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson (A Book Review)

Eleanor Bennett is dying. She lost her husband, her children aren’t speaking to each other, and her daughter is disconnected from the family. This is not how she wants things to end. Eleanor solicits the help of a close family friend, Mr. Mitch, to record her telling the story of her life and for it to be played upon her death.

Byron and Benny thought they knew their mother. After hearing their mother’s story, in her words, everything they ever knew was not as it appeared. They are trying to understand how this newly revealed information will lead them forward.

Although it was quite lengthy and a little disjointed at times (the “seemingly random” characters as well as the constant era changes), it was a good book. It’s a rich story that kept me engaged. Wilkerson strategically brings everything full circle in the end. The journey had many excursions, but the destination was worth it.

Rating 8/10

My Other Husband By Dorothy Koomson (A Book Review)

Cleo Forsum, a novelist, is relatively successful in most aspects of her life. She writes best sellers, turned those best sellers into a successful TV show, and has a loving husband and extended family. So why does she want to abandon it all to start anew? When people close to her start turning up hurt or dead, it is evident that something sinister is lurking in the shadows beckoning her to leave it all behind. These criminal acts are almost identical to the crimes in her best-selling novels, which gives reason to the police to be doubtful of Cleo’s innocence.

Cleo just wants the violence to end. Will her compliance with the demand from a figure from her past be enough to stop the bloodshed?

This book was a slow burn. The story became predictable quite early on. About the halfway mark, the predictability was laid right out in the open only to twist ever so slightly and on to another trajectory making this a beautifully treacherous ride. My only grievance was that the book was a bit too long, it could have been shorter. I will be reading more from Dorothy Koomson though, she has tickled my fancy for her other work.

Rating 8/10

Hush Delilah by Angie Gallion (A Book Review)

Delilah Reddick is a woman trapped in her own life. She’s in a brutal cycle of abuse at the hands of her husband, Chase. Her best friend Carmen constantly pleads for her to leave, but it’s not so simple.

As Delilah folds into herself and examines her life both present and past, she sees a very small glimpse of a silver lining in the unraveling of the tight grip of the abuse. However, exactly what that silver lining will cost, is a thought that shakes Delilah to her core. There is her son Jackson, who would be collateral damage in it all.

This book delves deep into multiple perspectives of what abuse and the decisions linked to it looks like, depending on what a person’s viewpoint about it is. It explores how an abused person wrestles with vaccillating and ruminating thoughts and the difficulty in deciding weighty matters.

Delilah’s inner guilt leaped through the pages. I felt her guilt of how she found herself in what she viewed as a very pitiful place in her life. It appeared most of her guilt involved what she viewed as a betrayal of her own self.

As a reader, it was important to know the delicacy of the situation and not judge her, but to feel compassion. This book opened my heart and made it sensitive to inner battles that others may have to deal with, sometimes with very arresting characteristics. The author really captured the essence of the whirlwind, the fog, and the ties of a toxic relationship.  It was a great book.

Rating: 10/10

Beautiful Little Fools by Jillian Cantor (A Book Review)

Jay Gatsby, an alluring young man with promise, was shot to death at his West Egg, NY home. For all intents and purposes, this is a clear cut case of murder-suicide between local mechanic George Wilson and Jay Gatsby.

Not everyone believes this solid and neatly crafted conclusion to this unfortunate ordeal. Enter Detective Frank Charles, who is called in to find out what really happened. Detective Charles is relentless and is determined to do just that once he finds a diamond hairpin near the murder scene.

During his investigation, three women become persons of interest. Daisy Buchanan, a woman from Gatsby’s past who is currently married to Tom Buchanan, a philandering millionaire. Jordan Baker, an excellent golf player who plays on the national circuit, is Daisy”s best friend and knows Gatsby from earlier years as well. Catherine McCoy, a suffragette, passionate about women rights, whose sister Myrtle Wilson, is in an abusive marriage, is also a familiar acquaintance of Gatsby.

All three women are entangled in an intricate web of deception and obsession, carefully orchestrated by Gatsby himself. Will Detective Charles uncover the truth of who really led Gatsby to his demise?

A brilliant remix on the classic, The Great Gatsby, Beautiful Little Fools, offers a strongly crafted possibility of what happened to J. Gatsby. It is told from the perspectives of the women in Gatsby’s world.

I absolutely loved the reworking of The Great Gatsby. In Beautiful Little Fools, Cantor with much care and respect for the original story, beautifully offered a nuanced retelling of the timeless classic. It brought into focus the women of the Great Gatsby in an interesting way. I thoroughly enjoyed every drop.

Rating 9/10

The Two Lives of Sara by Catherine Adel West (A Book Review)

Sara King, an expectant mother, appears in Memphis under the cloak of hidden truths to start life anew. She arrives at a boarding house ran by a fiesty but warm matriarch named Mama Sugar. Shortly after Sara arrives, she gives birth to a son she names Lebanon.

They’re embraced as family by Mama Sugar, her husband Mr. Vanellys, their grandson William, the boarders and some of the people in community. Sara’s hard exterior starts to soften. It all but vanishes when she starts a romance with William’s teacher, Jonas.

Sara’s embraces her newfound joy. But when the past collides with the present, it brings with it the possibility of forever altering the future for Sara and the people in her life both now and in the future.

There were so many profound moments in this story. The writing was impeccable and poignant. This story will stay with me always. Some of the quotes that both moved me and gave me pause were as follows:

“Well, what’s done is done but I found out when people go through hard places, they don’t need tough’ an they don’t need coddling. They need mercy.” ~Mr. Vanellys

“Friendships are strange evolving collections of laughter and fights and secrets, this rarified brew of humanity you choose to share with another person. And I want that again. To feel close to someone. To share with someone.” ~Sara

“So if you struggle or see someone struggling, seek understanding. You don’t know the wars people fight on the inside. No one save the Lord knows about those inside battles.” ~ Sara’s mother.

“No one likes to own the harm they did to others, it makes them hurt in a forever kind of way.” ~ Sara

“Everything we go through reshapes us, makes us new.”~ Cora

Rating: 10/10

Mrs. Wiggins by Mary Monroe (A Book Review)

Maggie Franklin grew up in a family of ill-repute. Her mother was a former prostitute, while her father was the town drunk. She becomes really fast friends with Hubert Wiggins. Hubert, comes from a prominent family in their community of Lexington, Alabama. Both Maggie and Hubert knows deep things about each other that solidifies their friendship.

As they grow up, Hubert becomes one of the most eligible bachelors in their town. Maggie, on the other hand is not so lucky. Both of their parents however, are pressuring them to get married. Neither of them are interested in marriage at the time. However, in an attempt to stop the parental pressure, they make a pact to marry one another. Their family is complete when their son Claude is born.

The Wiggins become the most revered family in Lexington. Maggie now has a charmed life. She’s the daughter-in-law of a pastor, her husband runs the family funeral business and works part-time at the turpentine mill, and she’s the doting mother to a wonderful son.

All is going great until her son grows up and becomes involved with a young woman named Daisy. Daisy proves to be a very challenging person. Claude’s relationship with Daisy sets a domino effect of events in Mrs. Wiggins life that threatens all that is good in it.

I enjoyed this story a lot. It showed how life can turn out, depending on how the person living it perceives the circumstances that they’re faced with. It was a story loaded with life lessons. I was hooked from start to finish.

Rating 9/10

Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow(A Book Review)

Escaping the shattered home life she shared with her parents, ten-year old Joan relocates to Memphis with her younger sister, Mya and their mother, Miriam. Memphis is quite the experience and wide-eyed, Joan takes it all in, this magical, colorful place.

When they all arrive in Miriam’s childhood home, a home built by love, Joan feels the weight of a thing in this very safe haven they’ve escaped to. Her artwork is her balm for the powerful weight she’s carrying from years ago.

Joan melts into the fabric of her community, which includes people like her sassy aunt August and the ever present elders Miss Dawn and Miss Jade. She is surrounded by love, secrets, and wisdom. It ushers her into an understanding of both her family’s past and her own identity and purpose.

I absolutely loved reading this story. I especially appreciated the lyrical language the author used. It was a well written and poignant story about fierce women and their life choices and journeys. It was a refreshing experience to be overtaken by such a rich story.

Rating: 10/10

Firekeeper’s Daughter by Angeline Boulley (A Book Review)

Daunis Fontaine feels like an outcast amongst her Native American community due to her mixed heritage and extremely pale skin.

She’s 18 and about to start her life’s journey by way of college. She meets an attractive young man named Jaime, who is a player on her brother Levi’s hockey team.  Two tragedies occur within her inner circle of family and friends that changes her path. She initially puts college on hold to face these personal setbacks in her life. Both tragedies brings Daunis  into an FBI investigation.

Jaime Johnson, a mysterious teenager who blows into town with his Uncle Ron, is not who he appears to be. He takes center stage in Daunis’ orbit. It’s a laborious yet delicate investigation for Daunis. She discovers so much hidden information in the investigation. This journey results in shocking discoveries that Daunis must face head on.

This book moved at an extremely slow pace for me. It did nothing to hold my interest. There were a lot of details in the book that I had difficulty understanding, like the Native American expressions. As a result I found myself lost when I came up on those in the book. This was especially disappointing because I knew the importance of that and was eager to learn.

I really wanted to connect to this story but was unable to. I do however, respect the tireless labor of love ( it took ten years) this author put in to tell this story and represent her culture. That is a huge feat and is to be appreciated. Unfortunately, it didn’t connect for me.

Rating: 6/10

Over The Fence by Mary Monroe (A Book Review)

Milton and Yvonne Hamilton are former convicts who met each other at a time each of them were trying to turn over a new leaf in life. Fresh out of prison, Yvonne moves in with her man, Lester, who supported her while she was in prison. One night she goes home and discovers that Lester and her best friend Katy is having an affair. After she heaps revenge on the two, she moves forward in her life with Milton. They marry and he gets her a job as a waitress at the restaurant where he is the head cook. Milton’s friend, Willie Frank, gets them into the bootlegging business. The combination of their salaries and profits earned from their bootlegging operation, helped the Hamiltons move to a well-to-do neighborhood. Their business topples out the competition and they do exceedingly well in their new neighborhood.

They meet their next door neighbors, Odell and Joyce Watson. They are upstanding citizens in the neighborhood. Joyce and Odell are role models for Milton and Yvonne. They’re friendly and neighborly with the Watsons. When Milton discovers that Odell is living a double life, he starts blackmailing Odell, simultaneously keeping secrets of his own.

In a drunken stupor one night, he spills the beans of Odell’s double life to Yvonne. She tips her hand to Odell and starts getting paid from him due to her own blackmailing scheme. Things come to a head when the Hamiltons are raided during one of their parties on trumped up charges. Who is responsible for toppling the Hamilton’s bootlegging operation?

What I loved about reading this book is the immediate way it grabbed my attention. The story was entertaining and the pace moved right along without dragging out. I wanted to read more and more to see what was going to happen next. Once again, this is what I love about reading Mary Monroe’s books. This is a great formula and I’m glad she sticks with it. This story ends with a major cliffhanger. I’m ready to read the next installment in the series to see if everything gets revealed. I’m so ready for that.

Rating: 9/10