Newlyweds Ethan and Tricia are starting their life together. They’re about to embark on a major milestone as a married couple, purchasing their first home together. They luck out to find a grand home off the beaten path that’s been placed on the market.
When they go to view the home, they are stranded and must spend the night in the home due to a blizzard. The home is the former home of renowned psychiatrist Dr. Adrienne Hale, who disappeared three years prior.
While there, Tricia discovers cassette tapes that Dr. Hale used to record the therapy sessions of her patients. The tapes reveal a roadmap to what may have led to Dr. Hale’s disappearance and so much more.
This was a wickedly good story. In the beginning, I really thought that I had this story pegged. Boy was I wrong. One plot twist kept turning into another plot twist, and yet another. Freida McFadden’s work will regularly be on my TBR list with high anticipation.
Sheila Johnson overcame immeasurable odds. When she was just sixteen, her family imploded when her father left their family for another woman. It destroyed her mom. Defiantly determined she would not be caught in this predicament as a woman, she set out to prove just that. However, this singular event shaped Sheila in more ways than one.
Music was her refuge. She became an accomplished violinist and managed to get a full scholarship to college. She was well on her way. Then she met a young, ambitious man named Bob Johnson in college. They began dating and married a few years later. Her life and self-esteem was being shaped and molded by her new husband. His drive and ambition had carried them to great heights professionally.
However, behind closed doors, their marriage became a toxic breeding ground of lies, deceit, and emotional abuse. She had come full circle to the moment of her youth that she was determined not to experience again. When her thirty-three-year marriage to Bob ended, Sheila was struggling to find herself and rebuild life on her own terms.
She walked through shame, humiliation, male chauvinism, and racism to find her sweet spot. She became a philanthropist, entrepreneur, and formidable businesswoman. Sheila has indeed walked through fire and triumphantly come out on the other side.
I am grateful to Sheila Johnson for sharing her story. It is a story of courage, redemption, and fierce determination to keep moving forward.
Impactful moments/quotes from the book:
Sheila was reading in her bunk bed and was climbing down the ladder to come down for dinner.
Sheila’s dad to Sheila: “Just jump, I’ll catch you,” Dad said stretching his arm toward me. He’d never suggested such a thing before, so I was excited. I threw myself off the bunk, grinning from ear to ear-and then smack! I hit the floor hard. Confused, with the wind knocked out of me, I looked up at him.
“That’s a lesson,” my father said. “Don’t trust anybody.”
I started crying. “I trusted you,” I said. But he just turned and walked out of the room.
Sheila: “I wouldn’t want to live through that pain again. But the truth is, I wouldn’t be the woman I am today if I hadn’t gone through it. I walked through fire and survived. I am the salamander.”
Sheila: “My journey here has been arduous, as you’ve read in these pages. But going through those awful times built my character and my strength.”
“Artists are quickly labeled, and my label was “force of nature”. ~ Jenifer Lewis
Jenifer Lewis recounts her life to bring us a funny, insightful, and rich memoir. From her humble beginnings in Kinloch, Missouri to Broadway to Hollywood, Jenifer’s life was filled with crushing lows and equally exhilarating highs. She bares her soul in the most raw and truthful fashion as only she can. From sex addiction, a bipolar disorder diagnosis, to spiritual exploration, Jenifer owns her life boldly and unapologetically. Through it all, she comes full circle to find serenity and balance to live a rewarding life that commands the label “force of nature” in the most glorious and happy existence that shines through the pages.
I laughed out loud often (especially about a song that came from a camel ride), yet I gleaned many gems from Jenifer’s story. To see the beginning to the end and everything in between, was a lesson. Jenifer shows us what fighting for one’s own happiness looks like. Though difficult at times, she pushed through to get out of destructive cycles to get to her happiness. As if the retelling of her life wasn’t powerful enough, she wrote a letter to the reader at the end of the book. I really enjoyed that. It was the perfect end to sum it all up. I found myself reading it more than once and soaked up as much as I could. Great book.
Cool Quotes From Book
“Your playing small does not serve the world. Who are you not to be great?”~ Nelson Mandela
“There’s no greater journey, than the journey within.” ~ Beverly Heath
“The fact is many parents don’t or can’t give you everything you need. Mine couldn’t. So, I went in search of substitutes. I often advise young people in this situation to understand there are probably people around every corner who will take them under their wing and help them on their way. But you have to ask.”~Jenifer Lewis
“If you can dream it, you can make it happen.”~ Shirley MacLaine
“Your landscapes are vast”~ Shirley MacLaine
“I’ve learned in life that what you give to others is what provides the most value to your life.”~Jenifer Lewis
“When you are not at your best, surround yourself with good people.”~ Jenifer Lewis
“You have to slow your roll; give yourself quiet time and stop to smell the roses, thorns, and all.”~ Jenifer Lewis
Eleven powerfully rich stories are the building blocks that compile this masterpiece.
In “Cutting Horse”, a story set against the backdrop of the recent police killings towards black citizens, introduces us to a former drug dealer/ horse breeder who gave up life as he knew it for his college educated wife. Although, he got a piece of the American dream for himself and his family as a homeowner in a HOA community, his free spirit is chained and stifled. When a horse breaks loose and stumbles onto his property, he and the horse connect, and he is reminded of the inner freedom he tucked away so long ago.
Highlighted quote: “Black boys need two things, a man to help form them and something they could look away to.”
In “Sweat”,a woman’s resentment of her husband’s existence grew to epic proportions one evening.
Highlighted quote: “He always choosing the wrong damn thing”.
In “Everything’s Fine”, a young pastor openly expresses his displeasure in his wife’s downward spiral. He ends his diatribe of disappointment in her by entertaining thoughts of a separation. She in turn blames him for ruining her life. She blames her biological daughter for her sudden hate of children. All this juxtaposed with the outward display of her seemingly gracious service of being a foster mother. She silently seeks retribution in the most sinister way.
Highlighted quote: “God make folks just the way he want them.”
Highlighted quote: “Makeup couldn’t cover the ruin of her life.”
This collection of stories blew me away. I often had to sit in a reflective state after reading. Judgement is turned inside out as the characters present the depths of their reality. Watkins knows how to get to the heart of a matter and arrest the reader and make us invested in what is being shared.
Watkins is a fearless writer who reached down in the crevices of the human experience to extract choices, pain, regret, sorrow, and trauma and fine-tuned it to create literary gold.
I am in awe of her stories and looking forward to reading more from her. She is a force to be reckoned with in the literary world for sure. Now, I must back track and check out her debut novel, Perish.
Janie Crawford was a young girl born with a freedom in her spirit. That freedom was stifled by her grandmother”s fear for her future. Janie’s grandmother knew she was all she had in her world, and wanted to ensure security for Janie when she was no longer here.
Janie fought against it initially. Though she didn’t lean into it, she did resign herself to her grandmother’s suggestion that she marry an elder gentleman named Logan Killicks. Janie settled into her marriage with Logan. Janie’s restlessness bubbling beneath the surface, created conflict almost immediately. The union appeared shaky from the onset.
When Joe Starks passes through town, Janie takes her chance to escape from what she perceives as a life of gloom. Joe Starks was distinguished and self assured, a man going places. They married and hopped on a train to a town in Florida where he became the mayor. Janie became a woman expected to stifle her own ideas. As the mayor’s wife, she was not allowed to mingle too closely with the common townsfolk.
Once Joe Starks is no longer in her world, she emerges as freedom personified. She looses her hair and takes to wearing overalls, and embraces her innate carefree spirit.
A young and carefree man named Tea Cake crosses Janie’s path. From the beginning of their encounter, Tea Cake was Janie’s home. Wild, beautiful, and free best describes their love and union.They celebrate each other with joyful abandon. Janie is encouraged to come forth fully as herself, which was discouraged prior to Teacake’s presence in her life.
A storm appears in their town and changes things; bringing with it loss and uncertainty. It changes the course of Janie’s life profusely. Janie’s journey of walking in the freedom she always had within was fascinating to experience as a reader. I read this book years ago as a high school student and loved it. It was a joy to read it all these years later as an adult. The story is part cautionary tale, part deliberate allowance. Their Eyes Were Watching God is truly a classic work art .
** Impactful Words From The Book**
It’s uh known fact, Pheoby, you got tuh go there tuh know there.
Two things everybody’s got tuh do fuh theyselves. They got tuh go tuh God, and they got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves.”
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.
Finding Me is a tour de force. It’s a memoir that encompasses self development, determination, resiliency, and so much more.
Viola recounting her childhood of abject poverty and trauma was heartbreaking to read. However, knowing about her origin and all what she defied in the face of many challenges was inspiring.
I loved the memoir. It’s evident that Viola’s life serves as a powerful reservoir she can pull from in her craft. Her illustrious career is the result of her blood, sweat, and tears. It was great to read about her journey.
This was an interesting read. Will laid his life out as honest as he could. He bared his inner struggles with what he deemed as cowardice early in his life; a trait that he appeared to carry and battle with throughout his life.
He spoke of how inadequacies in his early life fueled his personal recipe for success. He was able to carve a successful path for himself and his family at least it appeared so externally. He confessed that the success did not always transfer internally within his family.
I enjoyed reading this memoir. It had a few gems as takeaways sprinkled throughout the book. One downside was that in certain instances the book came across as preachy. I would have liked for it to remain matter of fact and/or recounting solely on his experience in those instances.
It felt as if he was giving a lecture to his readers at times instead of trusting his readers enough to get it.
Impactful quote: Living is the journey from not knowing to knowing. From not understanding to understanding. From confusion to clarity.
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
Belle de Costa Greene is a formidable collector in the art world. As the personal librarian to Mr. J.P. Morgan, she is entrusted to secure art for one of the most powerful financiers in America. However, there is more to Belle than meets the eye. She is not all she appears to be.
Belle was born Belle Marion Greener, the daughter of a prominent Black professor and civil rights activist. With growing racial tensions developing in the nation, her mother made a fateful decision that the entire family was to pass for white. This destroyed the family as Belle knew it. Belle’s father leaves the family because he did not agree with his wife’s decision. He continued to live the rest of his days as a Black man, while Belle, her mother, and her siblings passes for white.
Belle hides in plain sight by being somewhat of a socialite while acquiring art for Mr. Morgan. While researching and mingling in social circles to acquire art for the library, she is unapologetic in her approach. She accepts the advances of a fellow art enthusiast, Bernard Berenson. Berenson is in an unconventional marriage with his wife, and due to his accepted dalliances outside of his marriage, he and Belle engage in an affair. She falls in love with him. However, as time moves forward, Belle discovers many things that alters her view of him in a tainted way. She reluctantly accepts the truth and is forever changed in matters of the heart.
When Mr. Morgan dies, Belle briefly struggles to see her purpose in the world. The family chooses to keep her on as the personal librarian for the library. She continues building on Mr. Morgan’s legacy by acquiring art for the library. She uses the skill she honed in her profession to also govern other areas of her life and lives her life on her own terms. The story flowed at a natural pace, which kept me interested. I enjoyed the various layers unfolding in Belle’s life. The authors fleshed Belle out nicely.
FOREVER BOOK FEVER 