Book Review: "The Golden Hustla" by Wahida Clark

The Golden Hustla by Wahida Clark
ISBN: 9780446178105

Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

If I had to use one word to describe Wahida Clark’s book The Golden Hustla it would be inconsistent. The inconsistencies begin on the book’s back cover: there is mention of an undercover cop, but the person ends up being an FBI agent; the “ruthless” FBI agent mentioned on the back cover turns out to be a GBI agent (Georgia Bureau of Investigation); the ex-partner from the back cover goes by a different name in the book until near the end. The book’s main character, Nina Coles, is described as an ex-hustler who is supposed to be one of the best in the game, but more than once she is easily set-up, duped by friends and cops, and suffers from a severe case of naivety. That doesn’t add up to top hustler status.

Before I go any further, I probably should tell you what the book is about. After bullets kill one of her brothers, paralyzes another, and kills her best friend, Nina Coles flees New Jersey for Atlanta. There, she runs into her ex named -- according to the book’s back cover -- Akil, but who is known throughout the vast majority of the book by his street name Cream. Cream twists Nina’s arm and essentially blackmails her into taking a telephone sales position at a company called WMM -- “We Make Millionaires.”

The company’s name is the company’s motto, and soon Nina gets promoted to the company’s elite sales team. She’s making money by convincing elderly rich folk with a gambler’s mentality to “invest” in business products the company sends in hopes of cashing in on a gold coin lottery. Yup, that’s the company’s "scheme." What makes it worst is that Rinaldo, the company’s owner, doesn’t mind using violence -- even murder -- to make sure he keeps making money.

All the sales associates at WMM use phone aliases, and a few times even Clark doesn’t know which name to use for the protagonist: Nina, or her phone name Alexis. How long Alexis -- I mean Nina -- has worked at WMM is also inconsistent in the book; ranging from a few months to a few years.

Every conventional story element from the street literature genre is in this book: single mother whose mother is raising her babies, check; crazy ex-boyfriends, check; boyfriend who is really married, check; sexy cop who the female protagonist falls for, check; a spoken word poem in the text, check; a few club scenes, check; male child-molester, check; etc. Some of the sub-plots work for the book, but most just seem thrown in the book just for the hell of it. Or maybe to fill out the checklist.

The sex scenes, and there are a few of them, are done pretty well. Having the shady company be a tele-sales scheme, where employees bring in $100,000 a year, is sort of comical and is sure to delight any telemarketer working for minimal wage.

In closing, The Golden Hustla needed more polishing in order to shine.

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Book Giveaway: "Playing the Hand You're Dealt"

Trice Hickman, author of Playing the Hand You're Dealt is gracious enough to offer a giveaway of her new book for Black Urban Times readers.

Here's how to enter: go to the author's website, www.tricehickman.com, and join the mailing list, once you join the mailing list you must send an email to tricehickman@yahoo.com, with "Black Urban Times Book Giveaway" in the subject line. If you are one of the first two, you will be notified that you won an autographed copy of the book.

You can read the Black Urban Times' book review of Playing the Hand You're Dealt here.

Good luck and happy reading!


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Book Review: "Playing the Hand You're Dealt"

Playing the Hand You're Dealt by Trice Hickman

Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

We’ve all heard the saying, “There are two sides to every story.” In Trice Hickman’s new novel Playing the Hand You’re Dealt, readers discover four sides to the same story. The story revolves around Emily Snow, an all-around good girl, as she deals with being in love with the father of her best friend of twelve years, Samantha Baldwin.

Emily and Samantha meet in college, where they were roommates freshman year and nearly inseparable since. The same day Emily meets her best friend for life, she also meets the love of her life: Samantha’s father, and successful attorney, Ed Baldwin. Not only is Ed the father of Emily’s best friend – and old enough to be her father – he is also married to Brenda Baldwin, a high-maintenance socialite. Emily was raised to play it safe, taking the paths acceptable by society, and never rocking the boat. She lost her father at a young age to unnecessary violence, and she definitely has daddy issues to deal with.

The death of Emily’s mother prompts her to move from Atlanta to Washington, D.C. – and right into the Baldwin household. Although time has passed since Emily had last seen Ed, her attraction to him hasn’t diminished; she doesn’t know if she can remain the “good girl” living under the same roof as him.

Everyone else is wrapped up in their own affairs – Ed with an important case, Samantha dealing with baby-daddy drama, and Brenda with her various schemes to climb the social ladder – that Emily is sure no one has noticed her attraction to Ed. But she still wonders if Ed feels the same about her, and what would happen if he and Emily were to get together. The only person that seems to have picked up on the chemistry between the two is the Baldwin’s maid and cook, Gerti – but she’s just the hired help and won’t say too much, right?

Hickman spins side tales into the novel – involving lust and love, secrets and affairs – and weaves them into the main storyline like Rumpelstiltskin turning wool into gold. The characters are alive and dynamic – especially the loud-mouth, firecracker Samantha; who, despite being raised in a wealthy and prestigious family, is as no-nonsense and street-savvy as they come. Where Emily is quiet and unassuming, Samantha is loud and obnoxious.

Although they are as different as night and day, Emily and Samantha are like sisters. The key word is “like”; Emily has to decide whether to take a chance of losing her best friend, the only family she really has left, and go after Ed – who’s married, old enough to be her father, and she doesn’t even know if he likes her! Playing the Hand You’re Dealt is thought-provoking and riveting.

Have a book you want The Black Urban Times to review? Email the B.U.T. Book Review Editor, A. Jarrell Hayes, at ajhayes@theblackurbantimes.com for details.

 
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Book Review: "More Church Folk" by Michele Andrea Bowen

More Church Folk by Michele Andrea Bowen

Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

The church is one of the pillars of the black community. Every Sunday, inside church walls around the nation and world, all walks of life are represented. In church, business professionals sit next to the graveyard shift worker, doctors share a pew with the convenience store clerk, and the saved can come to hear a sermon from a drug-pushing, hustling, pimp-daddy preacher. What?!

In Michele Andrea Bowen’s new novel More Church Folk, she brings readers back behind the sanctuary of a fictionalized Gospel United Church.  The year is 1986, just over twenty years since the brothel at a funeral scandal at one of the big Triennial General Conferences. A lot has changed in the life of Pastors Theophilus Simmons and Eddie Tate, and the church, but one thing that didn’t change was the presence of greedy crooks in high places throughout the denomination.

The time is fast approaching for the Triennial General Conference, where elections will be held to fill the empty bishop seats. Senior Bishop Percy Jennings sees this as an opportunity to clean house, so to speak, and place good-minded Christian men into these seats. Bishop Jennings believes in the good spirit of pastors such as Tate and Simmons, and he needs one of them to gain a bishop seat in order to combat the work of other bishops that embezzle church tithes and couldn’t care less about preaching the Bible.

When word hits Bishop Jennings’ ears that there is something serious happening in the Mozambique district, Jennings sends a young preacher under Eddie Tate’s mentorship, named Denzelle Flowers, over to the African country to investigate. What few knew about Pastor Denzelle Flowers is that he is not only an ordained minister but a gun-toting, badge-carrying FBI agent. Denzelle’s supervisor is glad to send Flowers over to Africa; the FBI wants to check out the activity of a smuggling operation some of the bishops and pastors in the African nation are rumored to be in cahoots with.

What Agent/Reverend Denzelle Flowers discovers in Mozambique is a plan to smuggle a powerful aphrodisiac and male enhancement powder, made from a special blend of watermelons, into the USA. The drug is to be used by Pastor Sonny Washington, chief bishop candidate of Jennings’ opposition, to “secure” votes from adulterous delegates at the upcoming Triennial General Conference, of all places. But things get quickly out of hand and bigger than anything Bishop Jennings, Sonny Washington, Denzelle Flowers, or the FBI could have imagined.

Written in a witty, flowing, conversational way, More Church Folk is told in a down-home style reminiscent of listening to church gossip. There is a host of characters, with wildly entertaining personalities. Although the narration is at times redundant, it reinforces the sticky plot, and allows the reader to remember who’s who amongst the cast of characters. Bowen does a good job reminding readers that in the church, just like in life, there are good people and folks out to do you no good in order to feed their lusts and greed  at your expense.

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Book Review: "Relay-tionships" by Andreia Solomon Burke

Relay-tionships
by Andreia Solomon Burke
Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

Relationships come and go; some faster than others. There are some we can’t seem to let go of; we cling to them. That is, unless we make drastic changes – like pick up and move to another state.

Lane, the protagonist in Andreia Solomon Burke’s novel Relay-tionships, decides to do when she catches her boyfriend Dre cheating on her in her bed. Lane leaves her life in Brooklyn and transplants down to Atlanta, where she immerses herself in her career and her friendship with her New York buddy Char. Both of them had the scent of failed relationships lingering like cigar smoke on clothes in New York, and they both feel the change of scenery would do them good.

Eventually, Atlanta gives Lane the man of her dream: Clay, the CEO of his own music company. Lane at first notices Clay from a distance, and is determined to track him down. Although, she finds him, their initial encounter is comical on Lane’s part. She wasn’t prepared for the smoothness of Clay’s moves.

Throughout their budding relationship, Lane seems unprepared for the perfect gentleman behavior Clay exhibits. For Lane, her past relationships weigh on her mind and one threatens to destroy her new found love. Clay gives everything Lane could ask for: time, attention, wonderful conversation, surprise gifts, and great sex. Unfortunately, the distance from Brooklyn to Atlanta isn’t expansive enough to keep her ex Dre from popping back into Lane’s life.

Not only that, but Lane goes through personal problems involving her mother and her friends. Lane is the type of woman who remains loyal and self-sacrificing to those important to her; the thing is can she stay loyal and true to herself, maybe even being a bit selfish at times?

Lane’s story is of a woman being pulled every which way, even when her obligations are self-imposed. She’s also a sharp and headstrong protagonist; she keeps the story moving at the pace she sets. The dialogue between Lane and Char are hilarious and full of love and attitude, showing the deep bond between the two women.

Although the book could use another round of editing, Burke’s writing is full of spunk and lively characters. The story takes readers on unexpected turns, and leaves them teetering on a cliffhanger at the end.

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Book Review: "Alibi" by Teri Woods

Alibi by Teri Woods

Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

Desperate times call for desperate measures. The characters in Teri Woods’ novel Alibi are desperately trying to survive in the tough streets of 1980s Philadelphia.

The book starts with two young men desperate to make it in the drug game decide to rob a stash from Simon Shuller, the city’s biggest drug lord. The robbery is spontaneous and unplanned, and they run into Nard, who is desperate to keep his good name with the boss. This results in a shootout, where Nard is the only survivor. As he flees the scene, he is spotted by a neighborhood child and his mother. Now Nard is desperate for an alibi.

That’s where Daisy comes into play. She’s a stripper that does more than tease her customers. She’s also broke and takes care of her ailing mother. She’s desperate for some cash. When Sticks, Nard’s running buddy and Daisy’s part-time lover, approaches her with a wad of cash to provide Nard with an alibi, she accepts. It sounds like a good deal to her; she thinks all she has to do is talk to an investigator and that’s it. Besides, she’s desperate for the extra money.

Unfortunately, the plan doesn’t go through as Sticks predicted. There are some loose ends that need to be tied up – like the two witnesses to the shooting. Instead of talking it over with Simon Shuller, the main boss, Nard takes matters into his own desperate hands, making more of a mess for himself and his buddy Sticks. When holes begin to appear in Daisy’s alibi, Sticks adds to the body count in a desperate attempt to keep Nard from getting a heavy prison sentence.

Stick’s efforts are in vain, because Daisy wises up and bolts out of state, to live with relatives in the south. Daisy is a naive woman desperate for love. When her new boyfriend, who planned to marry her and buy her a house, disappears on her, and the authorities begin to pressure her, Daisy wants to leave it all behind and escape. Once she is on the run, Sticks and government agents follow her, both desperately trying to drag her back to Philly.

The book is non-stop action; full of plot changes and shootouts, as fans of Teri Woods’ writings have come to expect. The book has a frenetic pace; everything happens quickly and time gets compressed. To keep the action moving, there isn’t many parts for introversion by the characters. Especially for Daisy, who deals with a personal loss and being raped, but doesn’t seem effected by the events as one would imagine. After each traumatic event, Daisy continues with life as if nothing out of the ordinary happened. It isn’t that she’s a character with a particularly strong will.

Woods’ exchange of emotion for continued action is probably the book’s most glaring flaw. But Woods does a great job of adding short little quips of thought from inside characters’ minds – oftentimes the thoughts are humorous. If Woods’ goal with Alibi is to entertain and increase the heart rate of her readers as they read, then she hit the proverbial nail on the head.

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Book Review: "The Secrets of Newberry"

The Secrets of Newberry by Victor McGlothin

Available June 21, 2010

Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

There are secrets worth killing for. And there are secrets worth keeping in order to prevent killings. Victor McGlothin’s new novel, The Secrets of Newberry, is rife with both types of secrets.

Set in the 1950s, in Newberry, a small town near New Orleans, Louisiana, McGlothin weaves a tale where the chief secrets center on the white man’s lust for black flesh. No matter what shape, size, or age of the black flesh, the white men in this novel can’t get enough of it. In order to keep the peace and to prevent violence, the abused and molested Blacks remain quiet about their encounters; sometimes out of shame and fear, other times out of pride and love.

Hampton Bynote is a black man in his early 20s trying to forget his own past while trying to deal with life as a black man in the deep Jim Crow south. His experience growing up as good friends with the son of the white plantation owner of the land his family sharecrops on, and his own take-no-stuff attitude, makes Hampton feel he deserves to be treated equal to Whites. He displays his defiance against the Jim Crow laws through violence and petty crimes against Whites.

Hampton’s schemes and misdemeanors evolve into felonies when he runs into Ivory “Bones” Arcineaux, a white man, at an illegal gambling house. Bones convinces Hampton to join him in burglary scheme where they rob rich Whites and give to themselves. Hampton is fine with stealing, but Bones has something more vicious and dastardly in store for those they rob, and when Hampton finds out what Bones is really up to, he begins to have second thoughts.

All this is going on while the secrets of the White man’s craving for black flesh are being unraveled in Newberry. Hampton discovers more than he ever wanted to know about the sexual practices of his mother and sister, and the lengths they would go to keep their secrets secret from the men folk. In the past, there was a violent uprising of black men once they learned of how black women were used sexually by the white masters, and of course the white men didn’t want another one, yet they couldn’t let go of their secret lust of flesh. So the white men convinced the women it was in their best interests to remain quiet about their affairs; and the black women consented willingly.

McGlothin is a wonderful storyteller and is able to transport the reader into the 1950s with use of language. The characters – and even the narration – speak straight from the era, with the fast talking, slang-filled dialogue that increases the book’s realism and enjoyment factors. Hampton is a great character, especially when he falls in love with the equally marvelous character Magnolia, and the suffering they endure in order to keep their love pure, honest, and without secrets.

McGlothin perhaps extends the novel longer than it needed to be, taking it into the ‘70s. The novel lost a bit of its charm during the transition, and the events within the later part of the book seem to be a reach to connect readers to sexual abuses more familiar in contemporary times. The book didn’t need this extension; nor does the addition take away from the brilliant story. The Secrets of Newberry is definitely a must read.

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Interview with Ci Ci Foster

 Photo used with permission.

Recently, Ci Ci Foster, actress and author of the novel Sunny Rain (read review here) was made available for an interview with The Black Urban Times.

The Black Urban Times: What was your motivation to write Sunny Rain?

Ci Ci Foster: I wanted to tell a story that women from all walks of life could relate to. Some of the serious topics I touch on in the book like infidelity, sexual abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases are very real issues that we are afraid to talk about. My hope is that people will discuss these issues more and start on the path to healing.

TBUT: How did the characters Natalie, Leslie, and Monica come into existence? Are they based off people you know?

CF: I took key personality traits from people I know and used my imagination to build from there. It’s kind of funny because almost everyone who has read Sunny Rain thinks they are one of the characters. 

TBUT: Do you relate to one of the protagonists more than the other two?

CF: I can relate the most to Natalie.  I’m also married with children, so I can understand the challenge of keeping a marriage strong.

TBUT: What lessons and experiences, if any, from acting have helped with your writing?

CF: My acting has helped me tremendously with my writing.  An actor is a creative person who has to be able to be present in the moment. So when I’m writing, I can easily imagine I am there. That helps me to paint a picture in the readers mind. Acting has also made me more observant to little things that the average person doesn’t pay attention to like, facial expressions, body language, and the way people pronounce certain words. I think it’s that attention to detail that strengthens writing.
 
TBUT: What is the most rewarding aspect of writing?

CF: Completing the project. When you’ve spent months, sometimes years working on something, it’s a huge sense of accomplishment when you actually finish it.  It gives you a huge boost in confidence.

TBUT: What is the most difficult aspect of writing?

CF: Right now, the challenge is finding the time. I have so many projects I’m working on; I can only allot a few hours a day to writing. It’s hard sometimes when I really have a good flow going and have to stop because I have somewhere to go. Once I break that flow, it can be difficult to get it back.

TBUT: What is the best piece of advice on writing you have received?

CF: Writer’s block is a myth. It forced me to stop making excuses and write.

TBUT: What can your fans expect from you in the future?

CF: I am currently working on my second novel, Hollywoodn’t. It’s a three part series about a starlet that will risk it all to save her reputation. In the summer, I start production on a short film I wrote about a female assassin blinded by greed.

You can find out more about Ci Ci Foster on her website at www.cicifoster.com.


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Book Review: "Sunny Rain"

Sunny Rain by Ci Ci Foster

 Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

People are molded by their experiences. Some of the experiences are pleasant and are joyous to remember and express to people we know. Then there are the experiences that are unpleasant; we keep them to ourselves, hoard them from loved ones. These are secrets and shame.

In Sunny Rain, the debut novel from actress Ci Ci Foster, the adult lives of three women, Natalie, Monica, and Leslie, are shaped by childhood experiences they just can’t shake – and in some instances, tell their loved ones. The three women are successful social workers, helping children and adults navigate the system.

Of the three women, Natalie grew up in the foster care system, having been taken from her alcoholic mother and raised by her grandparents. Her childhood demons came in the form of a wheelchair-bound grandfather who had a taste for young flesh. She’s married, but kept her past a secret. She feels like a kindred spirit with the kids in her case, especially a frequent runaway named Kim.

Monica is a burn survivor who feels self conscious of her body. She stays within her shell, unable to free herself sexually as a woman. Now divorced from her ex-husband, her first and only love, she’ll try to do anything to win him back so that the two, along with their child, could be a family again. She doesn’t think anyone else would want her – not with her scars.

As a kid, Leslie’s family gets evicted and had to move into her aunt’s cramped, roast-infested apartment. Her aunt is a prostitute, and at a young age, Leslie saw what showing a little skin and flirting can get a woman. But Leslie isn’t a hooker; she’ll get expensive gifts and go on fancy dates with men, but only sleeps with them if she wants to.

The book is broken up into chapters for each of the women, and told through their point of view. For the most part, the women speak the same, though what they say is different. The pattern of their thoughts and speech don’t vary enough, and this otherwise interesting novel chapter breakdown loses its effect.

The book as a whole could use more editing and revising; but the subtleties in the storyline make up for the typos and errors. Combined, the three women are dynamic, as in they don’t sit and let things happen, but go out and make moves. Even shy Monica has a tenacity about her that is fun to read.

The sex scenes are average. They don’t detract from the novel, nor are they explosive. They fit well in novel. Separated, the individual aspects of the book are mediocre; combined, they create a decent debut effort.

Read the Black Urban Times interview with author Ci Ci Foster by clicking here.

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Book Review: "I Didn't Work This Hard Just To Get Married"

I Didn't Work This Hard Just To Get Married: Successful Single Black Women Speak Out

By Nika C. Beamon, forward by Dr. Bella DePaulo

Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes 

People are single for a reason. The causes and reasons are as unique as the single person in question. However, people are bombarded with statistics quite frequently, but rarely with reasons and causes – especially when concerning single, successful, black women; or the reasons given are based on a few select women and given as a generalized overview.

In the book I Didn’t Work This Hard Just To Get Married: Successful Single Black Women Speak Out, author Nika C. Beamon goes beyond the numbers and gets answers from black women about why they are single. The women featured in this book include actress and comedienne Kim Coles and movie producer Effie T. Brown. Though their stories are different, there is one similarity in the attitudes of each woman: they are happily single.

That’s a powerful statement: to be happily single. That idea of being secure as a single, successful, independent black woman is reiterated throughout the book by the different women; sometimes in the same language, often in different words. It shows a multitude of paths on the journey of self-awareness and happiness.

The women are diverse in opinion and experience. There are single mothers, divorcees, and never-married childless women that share their stories of how they became happily single. Some of the women are religious, while others are less so or have non-traditional views on being a woman, sex, and relationships. All of the women are breaking down barriers in their careers, and are doing so while breaking through stereotypes and societal beliefs concerning single women.

The women in the book claim not to be bitter or fall into the “angry black woman” stereotype. However, the beginning couple of sections featured woman that seem to harp on the idea that there aren’t any good black men worth dating – an opinion that Beamon is ready to supply statistics to support. It could be that the women were simply relating experiences from past relationships, but there is a hint that some might have – or are close to – given up on black men in general.

True, men do have to share some of the burden of why women who want to eventually marry (the right guy) are left unmarried. Many men aren’t marriage material, or they don’t want to marry. This book isn’t about men, though; it’s about women taking shape and control of their relationship status without feeling the need to be tied to a man. It’s about women taking responsibility for their lives – and the lives of their children.

Most of the childless women in the book express a desire to become mothers, with or without a man. At first, it might appear that the need to procreate or sow wild oats isn’t unique to the male species; but some of the ladies do point out that if they are unable to find a suitable father for the child, they would not be opposed to adoption. For many of the women, the attitude is: biological clock be damned; the maternal instinct won’t wait for the right man.

This book is good for women who are happily single and need to know that there are others like her; or women who aren’t happily single or in a bad relationship and want to get to the place of self-reliance and self-esteem the women in the book have reached. Men will also find this book useful, because they are able to get insight into the mind of successful black women without having to ask many of the tough questions themselves.

However, men should ask their potential mate the questions anyways. If this book shows the reader anything, it’s that every woman’s reason for being single and attitude towards singlehood is different from the next woman.

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Book Review: "Sexaholics" by Pynk

Sexaholics by Pynk
Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

Stories of celebrity sexaholics (people addicted to sex) make for great gossip topics and South Park spoofs. Tiger Woods’ infidelities and voicemail/text foolishness essentially wrote the jokes for many late night comedians for weeks, months even. But sexaholism should be taken seriously, just like any other addiction. There are stories from regular people that have yet to be heard.

In Pynk’s new novel Sexaholics, Pynk takes the reader inside a sexaholic meeting and into the personal lives of four regular women. There’s Miki, a successful hotel executive and mother who prefers an assortment of men, rather than just one; Valencia is a hot mami who can’t get enough of men and women, she’s also Miki’s best friend; Teela enjoys watching other people have sex, even if it’s her man with another woman; and Brandi, the alcoholic middle school teacher who doesn’t sleep with a man more than once and often moonlights as a hooker.

The four women are new members of a Sexaholic Anonymous (SA) program, and the book starts off with them in their first meeting. After the characters relate what drove them to join the SA group, they return to their regular lives. Miki, Valencia, and Teela all have significant others waiting for them at home, but their partners aren’t committed to helping the women combat with their sex addiction. But, then again, how many men would?

The scenes after the SA meeting is of the women sexing it up – and the scenes are hot and steamy. The book is full of twosomes, sexy threesomes, and wild more-somes. Throughout much of the book it doesn’t appear that any of the women are trying to curb their lustful ways – but going from sexaholic to nun overnight is unrealistic and makes for poor erotic literature.

Like with many addicts, Miki, Valencia, Teela, and Brandi continue along on their lustful paths until something traumatic happens and they realize that their addiction is the cause. Pynk does attempt to explore the mindset of the women and get to the root causes of why the women are addicted to sex, but they come out in monologues that appear out of place with the rest of the novel.

The book falls victim to the pitfall when writing about multiple protagonists: one character and story doesn’t get as developed or as many pages as the other ones. Pynk does break the book into different chapters for the different women, but at the end I felt shortchanged with the lack of exploration into the lives of two of the women.

Pynk’s down-to-earth and fast-paced writing style keeps the story moving and entertaining. The sex scenes are plentiful and titillating. In this book, sex isn’t injected into the story, but the story is injected into sex and the consequences of being a sex addict. In Sexaholics, Pynk delivers on what the audience wants: and that’s sex – lots of it.

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Book Review: "Married On Mondays"

Married On Mondays

by HoneyB

Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

Marriage isn’t easy. If anybody tells you marriage is easy, they’re lying to you. But marriage becomes much more difficult when spouses hoard damaging secrets and fail to communicate properly with one another.

In HoneyB’s new novel Married On Mondays, the lives and marriages of three sisters is examined. The three women, Déjà, Foxy, and Victoria, share the same father but different mothers, and were born only weeks apart. This sounds improbable, but the sisters do fall into a hierarchy of maturity, as if the weeks separating them were in fact years.

Déjà is the leader of the three. In the pastry restaurant the three sisters own and run together, Déjà is the one that keeps the cogs moving. She takes charge and is no-nonsense, and usually is the one the other two sisters run to when things go terrible wrong. She’s the “big” sister.

Foxy is like the middle child; she competes with Déjà for attention and dominance out of the three. She’s her own woman and indulges in her appetites in an almost carefree, reckless manner. She’s needy, but views admitting dependence on others makes her weak; and she doesn’t want to be weak.

Victoria takes on the role of youngest sister: she is babied by the other two women, easily pushed around, and has difficulty standing up for herself. She’s the first one to run to others for help, and the first to give her assistance if asked. She’s open-minded, at times, but has a tendency to wander in life.

Each of the sisters is married to partners in a highly successful law firm in Crème City, a fictional San Francisco, California. Déjà is married to the talented, but somewhat timid Acer; Foxy is hitched to equally unfaithful and arrogant legal ace Winston; and Victoria is married to Naomi – a woman. The three sisters keep secret from their respective spouses their sexual infidelities and a lucrative joint side business as sexperts and attractions in a sexual fantasyland.

The tension in the novel begins with Foxy’s long-time affair with her ex-fiancé and her failing marriage with her husband. Since the sisters work together and their spouses work together, Foxy’s affair threatens the marriages and businesses of everyone. HoneyB weaves an exciting tale of deceit and lies, a result when communication in marriages fails.

The sex scenes are explosive as well as informative. HoneyB does more in the sex scenes than titillate, but goes into finding the sometimes elusive female g-spot, squirting, and obtaining explosive orgasms. Communication isn’t always about words, and HoneyB does a great job of adding the importance of physical and sexual communication between couples into the story.

The book does require the reader to suspend disbelief in order to enjoy it. The book has quite a few improbable situations within it. There’s even a shout out in the narrative to a title from another author on the Grand Central label. One of the love it or hate it moments in the book.

Out of the three marriages, only the marriage between Déjà and Acer is essentially trouble-free, while the other two are crumbling. Those marriages are in trouble because the spouses try to be married only on Mondays – when it’s convenient for them – not the full seven days a week.


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Book Review: "Woman on Fire"

Woman on Fire by Crystal Belle
Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

We all have heard the saying “Hell hath no fury like that of a woman scorned.” After reading poet Crystal Belle’s debut collection Woman on Fire the saying might change into “Hell hath no fury like that of a woman on fire.” The collection starts off with the reflective, almost tranquil, haiku “Double Consciousness” – but it acts as the calm before the storm which is the rest of the poems in the collection.

What’s Crystal on fire about? In the collection Belle takes aim at urbanization, racism, sexism, domestic violence and senseless violence. The Brooklyn-born poet tackles these issues in a variety of ways.

There are fast-paced rhyme-heavy poems, like “Army of Salvation”, “Outside the Box”, “My National Anthem”, and “Assimilation in the First Degree” where Belle displays the gift of wordplay, creating a street voice full of intelligence. There are poems heavy with sounds of urban and domestic life, like “Where It Hurt”, a poem about domestic abuse one can actually hear even while reading silently to oneself.

The poems are heavily infused with music, song, and hip-hop culture, most notably in the poems “Rap and Roll”, “Slowly, Surely”, “Hip-Hop,” and “A Dream Deferred” – an ode to the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Belle’s poems are also heavy in tongue-twisting alliteration, especially in the poem “Realistic Equations.”

But where Crystal really exceeds and displays a profound gift for story-telling are in the prose poems in the collection, poems like “Just Another Wallace”, a story of the deadly game played by drug dealers and cops in the hood that could’ve been used as a script in the TV show “The Wire.” In “39 Acres under the Sun” the poem’s speaker takes the reader on a journey through slavery from inside the mind of an African woman. “Iron Uprising” is where Belle explores the five senses and compares a subway ride to the struggle for freedom, creating some of the most vivid and unique imagery in the collection.

The poems aren’t all a fire of anger. Poems like “Life as a Tourist” and “Sunday Kind of Love” are reminders that fire can burn for passion and love. Also there’s “A Letter to a Woman from a Man Who is Bleeding” – a poem where the speaker is burning with frustration and fear.

The poems are beautifully crafted but lack movement away from urban landscapes. Images of blackness, such as nappy hair, big lips and hips, feel overused at times, causing some of the poems to sound too similar and undifferentiated. However, there is enough diversity in form and style to make Woman on Fire a solid debut collection.

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Book Review: "Push"

Push by Sapphire
Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

Before becoming an award-winning Sundance film featuring comedian Mo'Nique, Mariah Carey, and Lenny Kravitz, Push was a hard-hitting, ground-breaking novel from Sapphire. Written from the perspective of C. Precious Jones, an illiterate young black girl living in '80s Harlem, it pulls no punches, using graphic details and coarse language to create an authentic image of urban life below the poverty line. Not the urban life of shows like The Wire, where drug dealers are kings, but the life of everyday folks put through not-so everyday trauma.

Through no fault of her own, Precious is born to a father that rapes and impregnates her twice, a mother that abuses her in just about any way imaginable (and some that are beyond a reasonable mind), and a community that knows what's going on, but turns a blind eye as silent enablers. By Precious' own sometimes contradictory thoughts, she exposes some of the backwards dichotomy of urban life: belief in the fantasy that "white is right" and light is beautiful mixed with a distrust of white people, especially police and those in authority; though the first two people in the book that actually see her as a person are white -- her "maff" teacher that suggests she has an aptitude for math, and Mrs. Lichenstein that realizes Precious' current school is not doing it for her and pushes her to an alternative school. These two could have helped Precious due to ulterior motives, but the fact remains that when nobody cared about her, those two helped set her on the right track.

The right track was entering Ms. Rain's reading and writing class at Each One-Teach One. There Precious is no longer the overweight, mother of two babies by the age of 17 (both her children and siblings), ugly girl, but part of a community of other girls from similar backgrounds of abuse and rape. Under Ms. Rain's strict, yet compassionate, tutelage, Precious learns to read and write. More importantly, Precious learns about trust, friendship, self-expression, and self-actualization.

Basically that sounds like your normal feel-good, urban-life story. In some ways the book is, but the presentation of the book separates it from others of its ilk. As mention before, the book is written in the voice of Precious. But she starts off illiterate, speaking with improper English, misspelled words, and what can only be described as "hood talk." What is interesting is the way the writing and language matures in the narrative as Precious gains more mastery of the English language. Spelling becomes better, less use of profanity, vocabulary is increased, and ideas are clearer.

Precious also begins to think of herself differently, too. She begins to question if she really is ugly, as everyone else considers her, and if she could one day become a beautiful person like the white and light-skinned women she pictures as the epitome of beauty; she questions if beauty is really inside or outside. She doesn't want to end up like her mother, who lives off the system and refuses to do anything with her life, and aspires to obtain her G.E.D. and go to college, and is disgusted with the idea of "wiping the ass of ol' white folks" to make a living. Only in America can an illiterate girl aim for such lofty heights.

The book is our generation's version of Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man. Does that sound like high praise? Well, as with Ralph Ellison's classic novel, Push offers so much into the psyche of Blacks (in this case, urban Blacks) -- full of double-consciousness, contradictions, and such forth -- that it can be broken down and debated in volumes many times longer than the actual text itself -- just as Invisible Man did decades ago, and still does now. This book is a definite addition to any library, especially those of urban Black America.

"A. Jarrell Hayes is an author, poet, and blogger from Baltimore, MD. He has authored several novels and collections of poetry, all of which are available on his website www.ajhayes.com"

Book Review: "Incognegro"

Incognegro (2008, Vertigo), written by Mat Johnson with art by Warren Pleece, transports the reader to a world of segregation, unabashed racism, and lynchings -- where the color of your skin often foretold the comfort of the life you would lead. Enter Zane Pinchback an African-American man blessed (or cursed) with the appearance of a Caucasian-American. He uses his ability to blend into white society as a means of chronicling the horrific lynchings of Blacks as the journalist "Incognegro." It's a dangerous proposition for Zane, as if he is found out as being Black he'll be the one lynched.

In the beginning of the graphic novel the peril of continuing his work as Incognegro gets to Zane, causing him to reconsider his assignments. He gets pulled back into one last romp in the south to save the life of his falsely accused -- and soon to be lynched -- brother. Zane holds the philosophy that "Whites see what they want to see." Zane uses this to his advantage by successfully posing as a white reporter during lynchings. However, for Zane's brothers the results of this philosophy is that he's accused of murdering a white woman just because he was caught at the seen of the crime crying over the loss. But to white America at that time and place, they saw him lamenting the heinous crime he committed and being a stupid negro all Blacks are to them, he's too dumb to run away.

Besides the obvious expose on race relations, Incognegro makes the claim that America is a white man's world. Those that attempt to make a step up in society have to give something of themselves up -- their identity. This is the assimilation all minorities have to face: losing a part of themselves to fit in the heterosexual, Christian white male America that is the prominent demographic in this country. We do not live in the melting pot of acceptance and tolerance that American propaganda and ideology portrays to the rest of the world.

The artwork is realistic, making it easy to determine intent and emotion throughout the story. It goes well with the heinous subject matter and so-real-it's-surreal plot of the tale. This is a time period that America wants to cover up, to make disappear instead of owning up to it. In doing so we continue to media lynch those that do not fit in the vision of the white man's America. Though this is a fictional story, the real-life person Walter White did the same sort of dangerous work as Zane. I recommend biographies of Walter White as further reading.

Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

Book Review: Back Door to the Black Door

“Betrayal”

By Velvet

Reviewed by A. Jarrell Hayes

Welcome back to the Black Door, where all your desires can come true. Hidden behind unique and colorful Venetian masks you can take on a different persona. You are endowed with the ability to become a new sexually free person, and experience life as it is meant to be lived: absent of categories, such as son or wife. Just like the fictional Black Door sex club, Velvet’s most recent book in the Black Door series, Betrayal, is much more than a hedonistic romp; it has the ability to grab the reader with its vivid prose and multi-dimensional characters.

The characters come to life on the page and bring their own emotional baggage to the story. There’s Trey, only son of a squeaky clean Supreme Court justice and owner of the New York-based sex club The Black Door; Preston, Trey’s father, who is a bit of a pathos and is too preoccupied with his own life that he blindly trusts everyone around him, to his detriment; Ariel, Preston’s wife and Trey’s ex-lover, the foster child who grows up to have a successful law career but is haunted with abandonment issues; and Michele, the sexy slim-downed ex-fat girl that will use her acquired “influence” over men – and women – to her advantage.

The betrayal in this novel happened previously in the Black Door books. Trey and Ariel have an affair. But at that time Trey is dating Michele and Ariel is with Trey’s father, Preston. Both Preston and Michele discover the betrayal, but Preston has a stroke and can no longer recollect the incident. Ariel then takes this prime opportunity to marry Preston, and enlist Trey and Michele in a cover-up scheme worthy of Richard Nixon and Watergate – the only thing this book is missing is Deepthroat, but there was another kind of deep throat going on in this title.

To add tension and conflict to the novel, Michele, the only reluctant participant in the cover-up, lands a job working as Justice Preston’s secretary and assistant. Obviously Ariel and Michele are constantly at one another’s throats throughout the entire novel, but the only reason Michele keeps her job is that she is the weakest link in Ariel’s chain of deceit used to keep her husband.

Preston, arguably the book’s most successful character, is also the most static. The main plot of the book revolves around him and his lost memory and the attempt to hide the ultimate betrayal from him until his memory returns, which allows him to be pushed and moved by the other characters in a way that seems out of character for a Supreme Court justice. He tolerates Ariel and Michele’s bickering without putting an end to it or choosing a side; he becomes an easy mark for Michele’s seduction and appears powerless to stop her; and he constantly believes anything the other characters say to him, regardless of concrete proof or evidence – especially when Michele glosses over her involvement in the scheme and adds other details not factual into story of the affair.

Even though Betrayal is the continuation of the story begun in the novels The Black Door and Seduction, it invites new-comers to the series with open arms and background reviews of important events portrayed in the earlier novels. The deep detail into the back story does create scenes and sub-plots that at first don’t seem to fit in the action of Betrayal – such as the scenes featuring the private lives of Senator Oglesby and his wife, Angelica, and their involvement with the Black Door club – but they bring to light some of the dark intrigue that effect the moods and attitudes of the characters, especially Justice Preston, and eventually foreshadow possible events in upcoming books.

If you’re expecting a book that is filled with sex for sex’s sake, you’re in for a shocking surprise. The sexual encounters, from the first scene between Trey and new beau Lexi to Michele’s desperate romp with the married Congressman Laird Forester, advance the plot and storyline and seem in no way shape or form thrown into the mix just to make the book an erotic tale. The scenes are tasteful, non-offensive, and sophisticated – just like the rest of the prose. Velvet’s descriptions of the places and smells and emotions are worthy of contemporary classic literature. In contrast, the images Velvet gives for the characters provide just enough detail for the reader to use their imagination and create pictures of the faces and bodies that work best for their own sexual fantasies. That’s what this book is: a fantasy with substance; a guilty pleasure that doesn’t leave you feeling guilty.

A. Jarrell Hayes’ most recent books are “Reign of the Good King: Book Two of the Good King Trilogy” and the poetry collection “Just Another Angry Black Man.” He is an educator and freelance blogger.