Saturday, December 31, 2016

Book Review: Conspiracy by De'nesha Diamond


ConspiracyConspiracy by De'nesha Diamond
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Conspiracy took me on a journey. As each chapter unfolded, I was taken in the harsh reality of street-life and human experimentation. Gripping and filled with Political Intrigue. Be patient as the story builds and the author ties it all together leading to a thrilling read. It sort of ends abruptly, which I do not like. But that doesn't take away from the writing craft or suspense displayed in the novel. 3.5 stars

View all my reviews

About the Book

Bestselling author De nesha Diamond brings her dynamic storytelling talent to D.C. s treacherous corridors of power where scandal is merely the first move in a high-stakes game that makes its own rules 
 It s an offer too tempting to refuse: One night as an elite escort will give Abrianna Parker the fresh start she s been searching for and put the pain and costly missteps of the past behind her for good. But getting framed for a high-profile murder isn t what the cool-headed beauty signed up for 
With police, government agencies, and a lethal third party on her trail, Abrianna will have to use all her resources to clear her name. That includes trusting an ex-con and an attraction as incendiary as the lies they must expose. Now, as Abrianna puts her hard-won instincts and a team of street-rebels in play, secrets are their only chance to dismantle a powerful web of corruption or be buried without a trace 

Release Date: December 27, 2016
Purchase A Copy 

Thursday, December 29, 2016

Welcome Suzette D. Harrison of the Seducing the Pen Tour

Taffy by Suzette D. Harrison
Twenty-three-year-old Taffy Bledsoe Freeman doesn’t need her gift of second sight to know her “mockery of a marriage” to a man twice her age is far good. After a seven-year exile Up North, Taffy travels down-home to the small town bearing her family’s name, plotting her escape from a marriage not worth the price of a press-and-curl. She only needs to retrieve the son her husband banished to her parents’ care, before boarding a train headed for the Windy City filled with liberty and opportunity. Instead, Taffy stumbles into Roam Ellis: her long-lost love and the man Taffy meant to marry.

Twenty-six-year-old Roam Ellis is a “broad-shouldered, hard-bodied” Pullman porter riding the rails coast-to-coast, outrunning the bitter heartbreak Taffy left behind. Now, after a seven-year absence, Roam is face-to-face with first love. Anger ignites. Old wounds are exposed. But when pain subsides, passion rises, thrusting Taffy and Roam into a hurricane of family secrets, betrayal, and lies. Bathed in southern lore and sweeping imagery, Taffy is a story of restoration and redemption that you won’t soon forget! 



BOOK REVIEWS 

“I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to let you know that you are a writer with a story to tell. You get 6 stars. [Taffy] was the best story I have read in quite some time.” –T. Davis

“Loved, loved, loved your book.” –K. Thompson

“I just finished reading your book Taffy and didn't want it to end! Thank you for taking me into another place and time. Please do it again!” –C. Hendrick 

“There are few novels that render me speechless, but I can truly say that Taffy has succeeded in taking me on the literary journey of a lifetime.” –J. Blue

“For those who love an excellent love story as well as a nodding sense of African-American history, this is a book to read. Highly recommended.” –Patricia E. Canterbury, author of The Secret of Morton's End

“Taffy is a book to pass on to the generations. Thank you, Ms. Harrison.” –Dr. David Covin, Blue Nile Press

“Vividly realistic characters, colorful dialogue, and rich imagery combined with rare paranormal elements make Taffy a memorable read.” –Shobhan Bantwal, author of The Dowry Bride





CHAPTER EXCERPT 

According to the chime of the grandfather clock, midnight came and went, finding Taffy sleepless. She’d counted stars, the chirp of cicadas. Nothing soothed. Irritable, Taffy climbed from bed, tucked the cool cotton sheet about Angel and tipped from the room. Quietly, she descended the stairs, heading for the kitchen and milk to warm. High-beams flashing across the wall sent her to the backdoor instead.

Cautiously she peered out, instantly recognizing the pick-up entering the gravel drive. “Drew?” Alarmed, Taffy prayed nothing was amiss with Chloe. Grabbing her mother’s sweater from the coat rack, Taffy tossed it over her shoulders, reaching the back porch just as Drew’s passenger pulled something from the truck bed.

“Hey, Taf, I promised Uncle T. we’d bring him a line,” Drew called from the driver’s seat, passenger already approaching the house with a string of fresh-caught fish.

“Where would you like these?” Roam asked, mounting the porch.

Tightening her mother’s sweater over her nightclothes, Taffy refused answers involving the man’s anatomy. “The kitchen sink’s fine.” Holding open the screen door, Taffy let Roam pass while glaring at Drew, wishing she had a brick for his head.

“You still know how to clean and gut fish, Miss Cosmopolitan?” Submerging the catch in a sink full of water, Roam looked over his shoulder at Taffy, hovering at the kitchen entrance, silent and not amused.

“I’m sure my father thanks you, but those fish could’ve held ‘til morning.” Nervously, Taffy fumbled with her sweater as if needing a shield.

Roam snickered, having already envisioned her in nothing but skin. “You okay?”

“Are you?” Taffy snapped, wishing up an extra brick.

They stood eyes locked, heat flowing between them. Roam approached. Taffy moved from the doorway, granting Roam room to leave. Instead, Roam leaned down, whispering, “I’ll be real good once we get some loving.”

“Satan is a lie, and Hell has room! I’m not interested in playing games in the backseat of some car with you.”

Roam laughed, low and deep. “Dollbaby, trust me, we won’t be playing.”

Ignoring the thrill shooting up her spine at the old endearment, Taffy held the door open. “Go home, Beelzebub. You’re wasting my life.”

Staying put, Roam chuckled before advising, “Lemme tell you like the Apostle Paul. ‘When I was a child I spoke like a child. Now that I’m grown I’ve put away childish things’.” Roam moved closer. “Backseat business is for hormonal kids. I’m all man. Our love-making won’t be kiddie-quick in the confines of a car.” Roam’s baritone dipped deeper. “Gonna use whatever room we need and take our time spreading all this heaven,” Roam slowly caressed Taffy’s hip, “real nice…and wide.” Grinning, Roam walked out, leaving Taffy utterly tongue-tied.

Drew’s truck was down the road before Taffy thawed enough to holler, “Red-headed crazy!” She doused the kitchen lights, fish forgotten, and mounted the stairs. Midway, Taffy plopped onto a step, leaning against the stairwell, head in hand. Roam Ellis was out of his unnatural mind and in need of an exorcism, if not an enema. Just the same…Taffy was stuck on Roam’s arrogant assertion.

“…once we get some loving.”

Roam’s sensual prediction incessantly circling her skull, Taffy uncomfortably squirmed atop the steps, something warm like bathwater seeping between her legs.

( Continued... )

© 2016 All rights reserved. Book excerpt reprinted by permission of the author, Suzette D. Harrison. Do not reproduce, copy or use without the author's written permission. This excerpt is used for promotional purposes only.


Purchase Taffy by Suzette D. Harrison
Link: 
https://amzn.com/1523298251
African-American Historical Romance/Historical Fiction
Discussion Topics: Love, redemption, and freedom

About the Author
Suzette D. Harrison, a native Californian, grew up in a home where reading was required, not requested. Her literary journey began when her poetry was published in her junior high school’s creative journal. While Suzette credits Gloria Naylor, Alex Haley, Alice Walker, Langston Hughes, and Toni Morrison for inspiring her early in life, Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings exemplified the life-changing power of African American literary voices to her. A wife and mother, Mrs. Harrison operates a small homebased cupcake business. She’s currently working on her next novel…in between batches of cupcakes. Visit Suzette at www.sdhbooks.com.






Intimate Conversation with Suzette D. Harrison

Suzette D. Harrison, a native Californian, grew up in a home where reading was required, not requested. Her literary journey began when her poetry was published in her junior high school’s creative journal. While Suzette credits Gloria Naylor, Alex Haley, Alice Walker, Langston Hughes, and Toni Morrison for inspiring her early in life, Maya Angelou’s I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings exemplified the life-changing power of African American literary voices to her. A wife and mother, Mrs. Harrison operates a small homebased cupcake business. She’s currently working on her next novel…in between batches of cupcakes. Visit Suzette at www.sdhbooks.com.

BPM: Could you tell us something about your most recent work?  
SDH: My most recent release, Taffy, could be classified as Historical Fiction or Historical Romance. Both work just fine. Taffy is a step back in time as she takes place in 1935. Her story is that of a young woman who’s been made to bear family secrets and lies too long in her young life. Now, she’s done! Her one goal is freedom from a truly foul marriage to a man twice her age—a marriage her mother forced her into. Sounds simple? No, indeed! It’s 1935! In Taffy’s time dissolution of marriage was far from easy. Still, Taffy is determined to live a free woman’s life. So she leaves…only to find herself tangled up with long-lost love in the six-foot-five-inch form of Roam Ellis: the man Taffy meant to marry.

Taffy’s story is one of redemption, exoneration and restoration. It’s seasoned with murder, mayhem, and enough romance to spice the pages in between. Taffy is available in paperback and eBook on Amazon, Kindle, Kobo & Nook!

BPM: Give us some insight into your main characters or speakers. What makes each one so special? 
SDH: Let’s focus on the two central characters of any romantic plot: the heroine and the hero. As my heroine, Taffy is quite unique spiritually and physically. Spiritually, Taffy has the gift of clairvoyance. This gift is a legacy that graces select women in Taffy’s paternal line. These chosen women call her, the gift, Knowing. Yes, her; not it as this gift is very much tangible, physical even. Implausible? My response is a line from Taffy that I love: “if the Holy Spirit could transfigure into a dove certainly God’s Knowing could inhabit feminine form.” 
Physically, Taffy doesn’t embody a “typical” heroine’s form. She’s five-ten, voluptuous (think Serena Williams-plus); grey-eyed, and chocolate-skinned. She’s not delicate, physically or inwardly. This twenty-three year-old young woman possesses an amazing depth of strength! And trust, she’ll need it to overcome the crazy obstacles of her life.

Now, Mr. Hero, Roam Ellis!  He’s a Pullman porter, a pragmatist, an alpha male and a man’s man. But when it comes to Taffy, he’s tried, “wrapped, tied, and tangled.” She hurt him once. He’s determined, never twice. For all his size and prowess, this man is weak to Taffy’s “unsullied seduction” and Roam finds that fractured heart open to Taffy but again. A preacher’s son and descendant of operatives of the Underground Railroad, Roam is protective. When Taffy’s life in jeopardized, Roam’s willing to go “to jail if not hell” saving the only woman he’ll ever love.

BPM: What inspired you to sit down and actually start writing this book? Why now?
SDH: Actually, I first glimpsed the silhouette of Taffy’s story after the release of my first contemporary novel back in 2002. I say “silhouette” because Taffy “then” isn’t Taffy “now”. In fact, that shadow, or forerunner, had an entirely different name…and agenda: revenge! Taffy—her true story, character and needs—had to marinate a mighty long while until I was able to fully receive who and what she was. And as for inspiration, it was a matter of asking “why” and “what if” questions about a situation in my own paternal line.

BPM: What genre of books do you write? Did you pick this genre or did it select you?
SDH: My first two novels are Contemporary African-American Fiction. Taffy is my first voyage into African-American Historical Fiction/Romance. And, Miss Ella, I love this question! I wasn’t seeking a change, per se. I just wanted to tell the stories of my heart. So, change and A.A. Historical Fiction definitely chose me!

BPM: Where do your book ideas come from? Are your books plot-driven or character-driven? 
SDH: Sometimes I have dream sequences that I write down so as not to lose or forget them. They sometimes morph or grow into book ideas. Often, I might overhear or engage in conversations that spark ideas. I can be watching T.V. and something I see sets my mind rolling and racing. Or…one of my favorites…is simply responding to a scene, a sequence of events, a conversation with a “Well, what if…?”. What if this outcome instead of that occurs? What if the true motivation is something other than what we see? What if she’s lying?! ‘What if’s’ set my imagination free.

And I think, thus far, my books are character-driven as if the whole story is all about them and their world and their wants or ways. And that’s fine by me. I try to listen to my characters so that they lead me to the plot. In understanding my characters, I’m better able to understand what would or could happen in their worlds.

BPM: Do story lines come easy for you? Do you feel lonely being a writer?
SDH: Lovely question! Some storylines occur more fluently than others. Some are robust and I can see the thread connecting the story from beginning to end; whereas, others come in glimpses and snatches and I have to wait for the totality to be revealed.

Unless you’re part of a project or a team, writing is an isolated endeavor. As an author, you don’t share a cubicle or sit across the aisle from and take lunch breaks with coworkers. Writing is autonomous and alone and, yes, it can be lonely. But then God has granted lovely jewels of companionship for me.

I’m blessed to be a member of online organizations such as See Ya on The Net, and Building Relationships around Books (founded by LaShaunda Hoffman, and Sharon Blount, respectively). These are wonderfully supportive virtual communities for writers and readers that enable connectivity. I’m also blessed with wonderful sister-writer-friends, online and in-person. Harlequin Romance author, Sheryl Lister, and I live in close proximity so we “take our lunch breaks” and try to meet face-to-face regularly.

BPM: What did you enjoy most about writing this book?
SDH: Oh, Lord, everything! Taffy taught me to be a better writer. It was hard, tedious, tear-inducing work. But she was worth it. I learned to listen to my characters and not force my agenda down their throats. I learned it was okay to be different, and not just follow the flow. I loved writing at odd hours—late at night, early morning—while my family was asleep. I loved the lightbulb moments where a scene or character’s backstory or motivation unfolded itself to me. Taffy was my labor of love, and I absolutely loved stepping back in time and imagining this world from Taffy’s eyes in the year 1935.

BPM: How long does it take to complete one of your books?
SDH: My contemporary novels were completed in three to six months. Taffy? Years! And years. And…years.

BPM: Do you have any suggestions on becoming a better writer? If so, what are they?
SDH: 1) Listen! Don’t wrestle with your characters or your storyline. Listen! Are you telling their story or yours? Give your characters permission to talk to you. And they will. 2) Create a conducive writing atmosphere for yourself. Music. Candles. Quiet. Whatever you want and need. 3) Relax and read. Tension and stress are anti-productive; reading connects you to power and production of writing. A book in hand is inspiring.

BPM: What period of your life do you find you write about most often?  
SDH: So far, my characters have been young adults (20’s-30’s). I do, however, have two children’s storybooks in the works.

BPM: How do you feel when someone disagrees with something you have written?
SDH: It happens! Every book isn’t for everyone. Of course no artist likes to be criticized or misunderstood, but I try to see such moments as growth opportunities. Is there truth in the critique or disagreement? Was something helpful said? If so, then I can draw from it. Discourse is discourse. Even when a reader disagrees, we’re still engaged in talking about my writing.

BPM: Are there under-represented groups or ideas featured in your book? If so, discuss them.
SDH: An underlying theme in Taffy is the power of women—in particular, African American females. Remember the context: Taffy occurs in 1935. That was two generations away from slavery and our rights weren’t fully established. African American women were highly underrepresented. Taffy paints a portrait of powerful, expressive women who dare to live, to breathe, to be.

BPM: How does your book relate to your present situation or journey?
SDH: Ms. Ella, I can’t possibly convey all the treasures Taffy has opened to me. Or the treasure that she is. I’m married. I’m in love. I have gorgeous children. Yet, I’m a woman striving and pressing to beautify my life in meaningfulways. As is Taffy. I’m learning to embrace the Spirit and His world more. So too, Taffy. My education is reflected in Taffy’s being decorated with history in that I hold an undergraduate degree in Black Studies. I’ve found commonalities between Taffy’s fictional and my real world family. It’s truly amazing! I’m connected to Taffy and Taffy to me.

BPM: Did you learn anything personal from writing your book? 
SDH: Professionally, I learned to be a more expressive and free writer not assigning myself a role. Personally, as said before, I found real life treasures that I didn’t know existed until after Taffy’s release. I feel that the unearthing of those treasures are a direct result of my not just writing but releasing Taffy. Family history. Family gems. It was as if God said, “Okay, you did the work. Now enjoy the rewards.”

BPM: Can you share some stories about people you met while researching this book?
SDH: Because my B.A. degree is in Black Studies, I was able to draw heavily from my undergrad studies. Research was minimal. What research I did, I was able to accomplish from the privacy of my home. I did, however, “meet” a fabulous book—Princes of the Road, by Dr. David Covin. It’s a novel and tribute to Pullman Porters. Reading it led to my making Dr. Covin’s acquaintance. Dr. Covin’s feedback and suggestions regarding Taffy proved invaluable. Princes also helped assure me that I was on the right track (pun intended) with Roam Ellis, Taffy’s forbidden love interest.

BPM: What were your goals and intentions in writing this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them? 
SDH: My goal was to tell Taffy’s genuine, unadulterated story without mental or artistic censorship. I believe I did pretty good in listening to her voice so that she’s authentic, and not merely recycled or re-fabricated.

BPM: What does literary success look like to you?
SDH: Oh, Lord! It looks like running down the street with confetti poppers, passing out balloons and celebrating leaving my N.D.J. (Necessary Day Job) because readers are loving my writing and I’m earning a real living!

BPM: What projects are you working on at the present?
SDH: I’ve jumped back to my contemporary fiction and am working on a Dramedy (Drama/Comedy) I hope to release at the beginning of 2017.

BPM: How can readers discover more about you and your work? 
SDH: My pleasure! And by the way, I absolutely love connecting with readers. So please do connect with me.

Book Trailier: http://bit.ly/2cMvsAt
Amazon Books: 
http://amzn.to/2cW5lrY 

 

Web: www.sdhbooks.com
Email: sdhbooks@gmail.com
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Purchase Taffy by Suzette D. Harrison
Link:  https://amzn.com/1523298251 
African-American Historical Fiction

Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Welcome D. Michele Jackson of the Seducing the Pen Book Tour

Join the Lipstick Blog Tour with D. Michele Jackson

Hosted by Ella Curry and the SEDUCING THE PEN BOOK TOUR 
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A native of the “City of Brotherly Love” and a registered nurse, Secret is on a mission to secure equality and address the social issues that plague health. She’ll also decide once and for all, if love conquers all.

In the midst of a bitter divorce weeks before Christmas in 2011, Secret finds herself in a small, Southern courtroom pitted in a vicious dogfight against The Paper. Secret is divorcing a retired sheriff deputy, who is working on a second career in law enforcement, who had a payroll deposit going into a bank account not listed in his name and a vehicle that he denied having, even though there was clear documentation that he is purchased the car. The Paper is a former police officer willing to break laws to protect his double life, even if it means committing perjury.

As she detangles herself in a fictional contract socially accepted as marriage, a document Secret deemed as “final,” Secret is lied to, deceived, and demoralized. What’s worst is the judge’s final verdict states clearly that Secret will also be displaced from her home. It is a home she’d won fairly. It’s a home she deserved. As the winds of change blow, Secret’s new normal is shaky, what isn’t is her sense of purpose.

Secret decides to take on the establishment, one that seems bent in destroying her. Besides her faith in God, it helps that as a nurse, Secret has had seventeen years of experience of what she recited at graduation, “I will do all in my power to maintain and elevate the standard of my profession in the practice of my calling.” Ultimately it’s clear that the local and federal court systems and the Paper offer her a platform to argue for wellness as a legal nurse consultant.

After her observation of threats to health as it relates to marriage, divorce, and law, she begins to question the definition of health as defined by the World Health Organization, “Health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.” Over the next two years, she will submit brief after brief for judicial review, advocating for healthcare reform, especially when it comes to matters of divorce. Secret goes from that small courtroom in Georgia to argue in the United States Supreme Court. She isn’t ready or even able, but she chooses to fight the good fight—she chooses this fight, not with anger, but with heart, and she chooses this fight for all of us.

A narrative that is both heartfelt and impassioned, this novel loosely based on a true story is told in the first person from a retrospective point of view. As she offers a chronological glimpse of her journey, Secret considers her relationships prior to her marriage; each of these relationships offers health data that could be used for arguments pertaining to health in which she submitted for judicial review. Secret offers readers a biopic on sexually charged, if failed relationships, but the most telling health facts come from the man she divorces. Her experiences are reinforced by the statistical numbers presented by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention that, “Women account for one in four people living with HIV in the United States.”

In a Congressional Public Health and Safety Report, an argument is put forth that Congress consider the country’s wellness. Secret lends her voice. A voice that echoes what once sounded to promote women’s suffrage, “…liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants….” The issues include suffrage; healthcare cost; the uninsured; decreasing transmission of HIV/AIDS; criminal justice; unemployment; education; increased divorce rates; promotion of healthy families; and holding courts accountable to judicial prudence decisions, as they have a direct effect on health. Health is a universal right, and neglect of is an offense to well-being.

It’s the United States Supreme Court that Secret comes up against her greatest challenge to help ensure wellness. Secret requested to introduce Maslow Hierarchy of Human Needs. Secret’s stay request to an individual justice was on the grounds of Bounds v. Smith, which states, “The fundamental constitutional right of access to the courts held States must assure the indigent defendant an adequate opportunity to present his claims fairly.” Rivals against “justice for all” presented at the United States Supreme Court clerk who disregards the court rules preventing Secret’s stay application from being reviewed by an individual justice and the attorney who shows due diligence in defaming his oath that, “I offer fairness, integrity, and civility. I will seek reconciliation and, if we fail, I will strive to make our dispute a dignified one.”

Though blindsided and further disenchanted, Secret forwards a brief to the Department of Justice requesting a federal investigation pursuant to a constitutional rights violation, Section 35 of the Judiciary Act of 1789, Federal Statute 42 US 1983. She argues threat to civic danger, obligation to exercise judicial review by disregarding purported laws if they violate the Constitution, and addresses the rights of people worldwide. After being ignored by every system designed for protection against crimes, Secret writes to the 113th Congress for relief, and takes advantage of the opportunity to request policy changes as a politically active nurse requesting legislation that makes it a crime for a spouse to become infected while married related to failure to disclose sexual orientation.

Secret is currently waiting for a congressional response. It’s time for change..

Order JOY – Jesus on You by D. Michele JacksonNovel Based on a True StoryTravels of the Promises Trilogy (Book 2)http://www.dmichelejackson.com eBook Release Date: December 06, 2016


About the Author 
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Listen to D. Michele discuss the book with Ella Curry the host of BAN Radio Show and the creator of the Women of a New Sisterhood Movement.

http://www.audioacrobat.com/note/CTzZlWKk

Donna M. Jackson is an African-American woman, a Philadelphia native, Tuskegee University alumna, and a Registered Nurse. Writing as D. Michele Jackson, she now adds writer, published, politically active nurse to her accolades. Her sociology studies at Tuskegee University and twenty-year nursing career enabled Donna to be prepared when the opportunity of Legal Nurse Consultant availed itself as she represented herself Pro Se in court. That experience allowed Donna to draft briefs during a historical time affording her a voice advocating for health. Donna submitted argument to Congress supporting amending the Nineteenth Amendment. Mission is to encourage, educate, and empower.

BPM: Did you learn anything personal from writing your book?

I had to consider how strategic I was in approaching marriage. I asked what I thought to be all the right questions. Important to me was knowing if he was a believer of the resurrection of Christ. I was honest with who I was as a person, and that included the baggage I carried; my goals, ambitions, and desires as an individual and a wife. Although at this point, I only remember my discussions of me as an individual. I think that is because I never had a realistic opportunity of being a wife with the man I divorced, and unfortunately I learned that fact after becoming married.

My time as a single woman again has broadened my views on matrimony. A more telling line of questioning would have been related to can God trust you with my heart. Are you the man God has sent to relive me of the turmoil that lies within? Do you understand the importance of relationship with God and the role it plays as a husband who can cover his wife in prayer allowing her to become the help meet God created? Are you committed to the vows? I believe had these points been addressed, the issues that were discussed prior to marriage would have proven insignificant because we would have truly been on one accord. Subtly, I had been groomed for marriage my entire life; as excited I was about becoming engaged, I marveled at finally having my opportunity to love a man wholeheartedly as I have always known the holy state of matrimony is endearing to God.

I would have to say I learned how much God is on point in all that He does.

BPM: Can you share some stories about people you met while researching this book?

The only “research” I had to do for the book was legal related. As a result, I was truly at the mercy of some people. I reached out to many people for help. I met kind and helpful law students. I met law students with sealed lips. I met honest attorneys. I met corrupt attorneys. I reached out to people who could care less. My favorite attorney was Attorney Johnny Cochran. After learning that I may have given the benefit of doubt too freely in many instances regarding attorneys, I never forwarded my request for help to his firm. I made that decision as a result of my experiences with requesting assistance. I didn’t want to risk having his name tarnished in my memory.

BPM: What were your goals and intentions in writing this book, and how well do you feel you achieved them?

First and foremost, to honor Jehovah. To offer the world His Son, Jesus – The coming Messiah. To reveal Him as a loving God that loves us all the same. Then, to honor the sacrifices of my mother. I also wanted to pay tribute to talented people, prominent figures, women who paved the way, and leaders who made a difference so that I would have opportunity to do the same for others. I’m proud to say I nailed my goals.

BPM: What projects are you working on at the present?
Inspired by the last ten years of my life which have been quite traumatic for me, I recall how this slippery slope began with me in a hospital with my mother waiting to go in the operating room. It was in that holding room I now understand that a promise for everlasting life was initiated and sealed with a kiss. I present as that vessel that offers what Abraham Maslow describes as fulfilling Self Actualization.

The Lipstick Movement is a vision of mine with a focus on upward mobility. Welcome to the Lipstick Blog Tour: http://thelipstickmovement.com

BPM: How can readers discover more about you and your work? 

Website: http://www.dmichelejackson.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/DMicheleJackson
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dmichelejackson
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/chimingforchange
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/DMicheleJackson 

Sunday, December 25, 2016

Michelle's 5-Star Reads of 2016 - An Eclectic List of Goodies

I have an Eclectic reading taste! I read and enjoy different genres. I'm not afraid to try a new author, but I also stick to my faves! I enjoyed another great read by Sandra Brown, read Jodi Picoult for the first time in years, if ever and revisited my old fashioned historical romances.
I used Goodreads to help me find my 5-Star Reads of 2016. They are not arranged in any order but SMALL GREAT THINGS is my absolute favorite read this year! Thought-Provoking. It was nominated in Goodreads as a literary fiction read of the year and that honor was well-deserved.


Small Great Things
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I can't speak enough about this read. I was riveted from beginning to end. Reading Ruth's, Turk's and Kennedy's real and honest portrayal of racism and it's lasting impact will stay with me for some time. An amazing, well-crafted novel with some surprises and a satisfying conclusion is what you'll get from Small Great Things. Read the Author's note!!! ....This book reminds me of Victoria Christopher Murray's Stand Your Ground, which was also a 5-star read.


StingSting by Sandra Brown
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Sandra Brown is one of my favorite authors. She never disappoints. Sting was filled with twists and turns and so many surprises. I read this in hours. Excellent read. Loved Jude and Jordie's story.





The Pastor's HusbandThe Pastor's Husband by Tiffany L. Warren
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What a tale from start to end. From the title to the cover, I enjoyed Tiffany Warren's read. There was a big lesson to be learnt about trusting God and allowing Him to lead. I have enjoyed other works from Tiffany and she did it again with this read!


View all my reviews When I'm GoneWhen I'm Gone by Emily Bleeker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From the beginning to the end, I was caught up in the storyline. It warmed my heart. I would read it again!





Copycat
Purchase Your Copy
Copycat by Kimberla Lawson Roby
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

First off, I love the title, Copycat. How fitting! From page one until the end, Copycat takes on a journey of every author's nightmare. But it also touches on how easy it can be to cross over the line from admiration to jealousy/envy. A big takeaway is how we cannot be too quick to open our hearts and lives to someone without getting to know them well. Our heroine, Traci so badly wanted a friend that she ignored the warning signs because Simone came with several red flags. Simone, a product of her past, accurately represented the person who repeats the same cycle and makes the same mistakes but refuses to change. Simone had everything she needed but she wasn't satisfied. As I read, all I could think about was how we needed to be content with what we have. We have to learn that no matter the state we're in, to be content. A thoughtful read that opens up conversations and hopefully some life-changing reflection.
Release Date: January 31, 2017


Gone (Deadly Secrets, #2)
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Gone by Elisabeth Naughton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Raegan and Alec had a powerful love. As parents, they went through a huge devastation in the abduction of their child. This kind of tragedy can either pull people closer or tear them apart. Three years after they lost their daughter, Raegan and Alec are reunited because of similar case and realize their feelings haven't changed, Filled with suspense, romance, intrigue and justice, Gone kept me glued until the end. I enjoyed the flawed characters and how they were able to overcome their past. I enjoyed this book very book. It had all the elements needed for great story-telling that makes me eager to read more of Elisabeth Naughton.
Release Date: January 10, 2017


Only Beloved (The Survivors' Club, #7)Only Beloved by Mary Balogh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I really enjoyed George and Dora's story. I loved the fact that the hero and heroine were older. I finished it in one day. I laughed and I cried. Superb storytelling. I definitely want to read the rest of the books in the series.





View all my reviews The Girl from Summer Hill (Summer Hill, #1)The Girl from Summer Hill by Jude Deveraux
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The opening line!! Need I say more. I could sip my tea and watch that. I really enjoyed Jude Deveraux' homage to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. She drew me in from the first line until the last. I read it in hours. I loved it! The humor, the secrets and a satisfying conclusion kept me glued until the end.



Playing the Hand You're DealtPlaying the Hand You're Dealt by Trice Hickman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book had a storyline that had me glued. Love is complicated but the question remains, Can we help who we love? Emily had be turning the pages until the end. Skilled writing by Trice Hickman.




Rescued By a Lady's Love (Lords of Honor Book 3)Rescued By a Lady's Love by Christi Caldwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I love Beauty and the Beast. Any variation of that storyline has me hooked! I loved it from the start to the end. I would read this again!





The Heart of a Scoundrel (The Heart of a Duke, #6)The Heart of a Scoundrel by Christi Caldwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've read several of Christi Caldwell's books and enjoyed them. I was glad to see the ruthless earl finally meet his match. Edmund and Phoebe's story had me enraptured from beginning to end. I love historicals and romances so this HEA warmed my heart.



The Winter Reunion (Restoration Series Book 1)
The Winter Reunion by Rhonda McKnight
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read The Winter Reunion in less than an hour and it was time well spent. Once I began, I was pulled into the storyline. It was clear this story would live up to the beautiful cover! I found the plot intriguing. Anne and Stephen's reunion and love story shows us the enduring power of love and the blessing that comes with forgiveness. It also clearly shows the hand of God and if we open ourselves to listen to Him, we will find peace... and in this case, true love. Everything in this read has meaning. The dialogue was seamless and the scripture references made the story authentic. Another amazing job by Rhonda McKnight. Loved it.


Thursday, December 22, 2016

Welcome Sadeqa Johnson of the Seducing the Pen Tour

Second House from the Corner: A Novel
by Sadeqa Johnson



In the tradition of  I Don’t Know How She Does It,  Second House from the Cornercenters on the story of Felicia Lyons, a stay-at-home mother of three drowning in the drudgeries of play dates, lost pacifiers and potty training who occasionally wonders what it would be like to escape the demands of motherhood.

"A captivating tale to savor about a woman whose buried past threatens her picture perfect family life. Felicia is a wonderfully flawed, compelling main character, one who has stayed with me long after I finished the book. A winning novel from a writer to watch." -Benilde Little, bestselling author

Felicia Lyons, a ­­­­­­­ stressed out stay-at-home mom, struggles to sprint ahead of the demands of motherhood while her husband spends long days at the office. Felicia taps, utters mantra, and breathes her way through most situations, but on some days, like when the children won’t stop screaming her name or arguing over toy trucks and pretzel sticks, she wonders what it would be like to get in her car and drive away.

Then one evening the telephone rings, and in a split second the harried mother’s innocent fantasy becomes a hellish reality. The call pulls her back into a life she’d rather forget. Felicia hasn’t been completely honest about her upbringing, and her deception forces her return to the Philadelphia of her childhood, where she must confront the family demons and long buried secrets she thought she had left behind.

From a phenomenal fresh voice in fiction, comes the compelling story of what happens when the dream falls apart. Sadeqa Johnson's Second House from the Corner is an unforgettable tale of love, loss, rediscovery, and the growing pains of marriage.

Felicia Lyons is a character who mothers can identify with and laugh along with. You can't help but cheer for her in Johnson's engaging and well-written novel.





PRAISE FOR SADEQA JOHNSON 

“A captivating tale to savor…Felicia is a wonderfully flawed, compelling main character, one who has stayed with me long after I finished the book. A winning novel from a writer to watch.”  —Benilde Little, bestselling author of Welcome to My Breakdown and Good Hair

"Sadeqa Johnson is one of those authors you rarely find these days. Her gift of writing sings on every page. When reading her second novel, Second House From the Corner, you can't help feeling like you just received a letter from an old friend.... or an old lover. It is a must read!"  —Here's the Story Bookstore in Union, NJ



Excerpt from Second House from the Corner: A Novel

PART 1
To love means to embrace and at the same time to withstand many endings, and many many beginnings— all in the same relationship. — Clarissa Pinkola Estes


The Witching Hour


That four-hour window between after-school pickup and bedtime?  It’s like walking a tightrope with groceries in both hands. The slightest hiccup will land any mother in a quagmire with her legs in the air. For me the whole afternoon was a fail. I locked myself out when I went to pick the kids up from school, but didn’t notice the missing house keys until I pulled into the driveway. The snacks had been demolished at the playground, so the hunger meltdown began on the drive to my husband’s office for the spare key (a drive that usually takes seven minutes, but ended up being twenty round-trip because of traffic). Things got even shoddier once I discovered we were out of Kellogg’s Corn Flakes. My children will not eat baked chicken unless I dip the pieces in buttermilk, roll them in cornflakes, and bake until crispy. The oven was preheated, the potatoes were boiling for the mash, and I was thirty-three minutes off schedule without the magic cereal that makes my chicken finger-licking good. No time to change the dinner plan. So I swap in seasoned bread crumbs and cross my toes that they won’t notice.

“Mama, this doesn’t taste right.” My son, Rory, frowns.

“Just eat it. There are children right down the street who are starving.”

“But it’s disgusting,” whines Twyla.

How does a four-year-old know what disgusting is?

“Just eat.”

“I have to go pee pee and poo poo.”

“Stop smiling at me. Mommy, she’s smiling.”

“Can we just have dessert?”

“Maaaaaaaa.”

“Mommmmm.”

“Momeeeeeeee.”

Like a song on repeat. Like it’s the last word in the English dictionary. They call “Mommy” until my lips pucker, eyebrows knit. And it takes all my strength not to respond with that inside voice that nobody hears, that you wish would stay quiet, that tells the truth you don’t want anyone to know. That damn voice is hollering. Shut the fuck up!

At what point do I get to shout What the fuck do you want from me? I wouldn’t drop an F-bomb in front of the mommy crew at the park, and I hate to see parents on the street cursing out their kids. But here in my kitchen with everything working against me, I would like to liberate myself just once and let the profanity rip. It’s the nipping at my nerves that gets me. The feasting on my flesh like starved sea urchins. Them, fighting like thieves for their individual piece of me. Me feeling like I have nothing left to give. Any mother who says that she has never felt like her whole life was being sucked out through her nostrils is a damn liar. I feel it every day. Especially when I don’t get at least five hours of shut-eye, like last night.

Twyla (whom I call Two) walked her four-year-old self into my room every hour complaining about being scared. Scared of what? The curtain, the bed, the wall—she had an excuse for each visit. Never mind that she had to walk past her father to get to me. They never bother him. It’s always Mommy. So I upped and downed all night while he slept like a hibernating black bear. 
Breathe.  
I hate when I feel like this. My chest rising and falling. Momentum of failure piled. Anxiety has swept through my belly and is curled against my organs like a balled fist. Just one happy pill would make it all better. But I’ve been on the happiness-comes-from within kick for a few months, so no more pills. Instead I’ve started tapping.

Tapping out my emotions so I can get back to feeling right. It’s that new technique where I say what my issue is and use my fingertips and hit my meridian points until I’m back to even. It usually takes about five minutes and several rounds before I feel centered and strong. My husband, Preston, calls it woo-woo, but he’s not at home with three children all day. I am, and I have to use what I’ve got to carry me through. I turn my back to the kids at the kitchen table, take two fingers, and tap the side of my hand while whispering my setup statement.

“Even though I feel stressed out, anxious, and tired of being alone and responsible for my kids I love and accept myself.”

“Mommy, what are you doing?”

“Calming down.” I try whispering the statement again but Tywla is out of her seat.

“My stomach hurts.”

Rory puts his fork down. “I’m full.”

My fingers stop. I haven’t made it through one minute, much less the five I need. I take a deep breath and usher everyone upstairs. Maybe Preston will surprise me and come home early. The damn voice laughs. When was the last time he did that? He never makes it home before their bedtime and I bet that’s on purpose.

Rory moans. “That’s my boat.”

“Dad gave it to me.”

“No, he didn’t.”

Breathe. “Cut it out and get undressed.”

I run their bath and sneak in a quick tap. Repeating my setup statement, I move from my hand to my forehead, to the side of my eye, under my eye, under my lip, under my chin, full hand on chest, bra strap and top of the head. Fill my lungs with air and exhale. Twyla and Rory are back. I read my body. Better.

“Can I bring this in the tub, pretty please?” Twyla clutches the mesh bag with their toys.

“Sure.”

They climb into the bathtub and play. This should give me a few minutes alone with the baby.

“Guys, I’m going to change Liv into her pajamas. No water on the floor.”

“Can we have more bubbles?”

“No.”

“Awwww, man,” Rory replies, imitating Swiper the Fox. “You only gave us a little bit.”

I cut my eyes in the direction of my six-year-old and hold his gaze for a beat longer so that he knows I mean business.

The upstairs of our house is small, and it only takes three long strides to the girls’ bedroom. Liv, the baby, squirms in my arms and I find solace burying my head in her neck. I could sit and smell this child all day. At ten months old, she still has that fresh-to-the-earth smell that forces me to slow my pace. It’s hard to look at her without feeling deep sighs of relief. She is our miracle child.

When I was twenty weeks pregnant with Liv, a routine sonogram found something suspicious. I was sent to the Robert Woods Johnson Hospital in New Brunswick to see a pediatric cardiologist. There was a pinch in her heart that could hemorrhage. Her chances of being stillborn were high. When the doctor suggested that we terminate the pregnancy, I was bilious. By then I had already heard her heart beat, felt her flutter and kick, loved her. Preston didn’t even look my way when he simply told the batch of white coats that we would take our chances.

On our way home, the traffic on the Garden State Parkway held us hostage. I slobbered and blubbered against the passenger seat window, trudging through my past, knowing which karmic act brought this down on our family. My husband kept patting my hand, but when that didn’t work, he pulled our ice-cream-truck size SUV over to the side of the road and pressed the hazard lights.

“Foxy, look at me.” He is the only person who calls me Foxy, and even with hearing my personal pet name, I couldn’t bring my eyes to his. Tilting my damp chin, he forced eye contact. “This is not your fault.”

But it is.

“You trust me?”

I shake my head, of course, because there really is no other response when your husband asks you that question.

“So the baby is healed. It’s done, no more worries.” Preston clapped his hands, as if he had just entered a contract with God.

“Now stop blaming yourself, you didn’t do anything.”

As our vehicle crawled up the Parkway, he informed me that we’d name her Liv.

“Not short for anything. Just Liv.”

I knew what I had done to deserve this even though my husband did not. I wanted it to be all right. Needed something to cling too, so I agreed to everything that Preston offered because the only hope I had for a favorable outcome was him. I had burned my bridge with God a long time ago.

( Continued... )

© 2016 All rights reserved. Book excerpt reprinted by permission of the author, Sadeqa Johnson. Do not reproduce, copy or use without the author's written permission. This excerpt is used for promotional purposes only.


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Contemporary Women Fiction



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About the Author
SADEQA JOHNSON is a former public relations manager who spent years working with well-known authors such as JK Rowling, Bebe Moore Campbell, Amy Tan and Bishop TD Jakes before becoming an author herself. Her debut novel, LOVE IN A CARRY-ON BAG was hailed by Ebony.com as “this summer’s hottest read.” It was the recipient of the 2013 Phillis Wheatley award for Best Fiction and the 2012 USA Best Book award for African-American fiction. Originally from Philadelphia, she now resides in Virginia with her husband and three children. SECOND HOUSE FROM THE CORNER is her second novel.  For more visit: http://www.sadeqajohnson.com 




Intimate Conversation with Sadeqa Johnson
Sadeqa Johnson is a former public relations manager who spent years working with well-known authors such as JK Rowling, Bebe Moore Campbell, Amy Tan and Bishop TD Jakes before becoming an author herself. Her debut novel, LOVE IN A CARRY-ON BAG was hailed by Ebony.com as “this summer’s hottest read.”  It was the recipient of the 2013 Phillis Wheatley award for Best Fiction and the 2012 USA Best Book award for African-American fiction. Originally from Philadelphia, she now resides in Virginia with her husband and three children. SECOND HOUSE FROM THE CORNER is her second novel.

BPM:  When did you get your first inkling to write, and how did you advance the call for writing?
I’m originally from Philadelphia. As a kid, I started off wanting to be an actress. When I graduated high school, I moved to New York and attended Marymount Manhattan College as a Theatre Arts major. It was as a student that I started fooling around with poetry, which turned to playwriting, screenwriting and ended up with novel writing. I landed a job working in publishing after college and it was there that I became very serious about my writing. My first novel, Love in a Carry-on Bag took me over ten years to finish. I started writing it when I was a publicity manager at G.P Putnam’s Sons.

Every day I would close my office door at four o’clock and write for the last hour of the workday. On my commute home, I edited the pages. Once I got married, I left my corporate job to write and raise my children, but still nursed a burning desire to tell stories. I wrote during naptimes, between feedings, in the midst of sleep deprivation and my kid’s ear infections. The daily pressures of caring for a young family motivated me to finish the book. I was very much like Felicia in Second House From the Corner. As much as I loved being a mother, I didn’t want that role to be my only claim. I knew that it was important for me to carve out something that was only for me, and writing novels was it. My novels are my legacy.

BPM:  What makes your writing different than others?
I’m a lover of words and keep a thick, old school thesaurus on my desk, which I use to deepen the meaning of the text. I don’t like to rush when I’m writing, and I’ll work on a paragraph for three days if it takes that long to make it sound good. Although I’m a commercial fiction writer, I work to bring poetry, beauty and music to my work. My goal is to make readers pause over a delicious sentence, giving them no choice but to read it again.

BPM:  Can you share a little of your current work with us? Introduce us to your book and the characters.
I love everything about Second House From the Corner. In the novel, Felicia Lyons, a stressed out stay-at-home mom struggles to sprint ahead of the demands of motherhood, while her husband spends long days at the office. Felicia taps, utters mantra and breathes her way through most situations but on some days, like when the children won’t stop screaming her name or arguing over toy trucks and pretzel sticks, she wonders what it would be like to get in her car and drive away.

Then one evening the telephone rings, and in a split second Felicia’s innocent fantasy becomes a hellish reality. The call pulls her back into a life she’d rather forget. Felicia hasn’t been completely honest about her upbringing, and her deception forces her return to the Philadelphia of her childhood, where she is forced to confront the family demons and long buried secrets she thought she had left behind.

BPM:  Did you learn anything personal from writing this book? 
I wrote Second House From the Corner in about a year and a half, which was much different from my ten-year haul with Love in A Carry-on Bag. I learned to outline and draft quickly, and then to just punch the story out and fix it later. There were a lot of loving hands that touched Second House From the Corner and for that I am so grateful and utterly proud of the finished product.

BPM:  What would you like to accomplish after this book is released? 
Don’t laugh, but my deepest desire is to be on the New York Times best sellers list. I have been putting that out into the Universe since day one so I know it’s going to happen. I also plan to sell the movie rights and be paid (well) to consult on set as the movie is being filmed. My children are going to love walking the red carpet. Selling the foreign rights and seeing my novel printed in several languages would also make me happy. Eventually I’d like to teach a writing group and get out on the motivational speaking circuit.

BPM:  Are any scenes from the book borrowed from your world or your experiences? 
Oh, yes. I am a mother of three children. My kids were about the age of Felicia’s when I started writing the book and a lot of her experience of feeling overwhelmed and worn out with the duties involved with caring for small children was what I felt as a young mother. I still feel it at least four times a week. She taps her way through it, I go to hot yoga, run and meditate to find my center.

BPM:  What should readers DO after reading this book? 
Tell all of their friends to buy a copy. I really believe it takes a village to make a best seller. Word of mouth is the best form of advertising so please, please tell a friend. Your review on goodreads.com and all of the retailer’s website would also be wonderfully helpful.

BPM:  What are your career goals as a writer? Have you accomplished most of them? 
Right now I really admire Attica Locke. She wrote a book called The Cutting Season that I couldn’t put down. Then one night I was watching the show Empire, and her name popped up in the credits as producer and writer. Immeditately, I had goosebumps. I’m so proud of my fellow writers when they cross over and do big things. As I sat watching, I thought, could I write for television?  Mmmm, I’m just going to let that thought marinate. Hosting a show on television would also tickle my fancy.

BPM:  What have you realized about yourself since becoming a published author? 
I’ve realized that I am exactly where I am supposed to be. Every moment in my life from going to college in New York City as Theatre arts major, to my first two jobs in publishing as a publicist, to starting my own publishing house and having to do everything possible to get the word out on Love in a Carry-on Bag has led me to this moment. I’ve worked hard, I deserve to be right here and my future is even brighter. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for me.

BPM:  What are you the most thankful for now?
I’m grateful for my health and the health of my family and close friends. I enjoy waking up every morning, getting my kids off to school (most times without arguments and tears but not always), putting on a pot of coffee and going to work in my robe. God is always amazingly good to me. Oh, and I have a sexy, supportive husband to boot.

BPM:  Do you have any advice for people seeking to publish a book?
Don’t quit. Writing takes time and dedication and it is very important to be true to the craft. Take writing classes, form a writing group and read as much as you can. Give yourself time and permission to grow, and be patient with yourself. Believe in your creativity above all. Allow the magic to flow.

BPM:  What’s next?
I’m working on my third novel, And Then There Was Me. It’s about deception and betrayal. It’s scheduled to be published by Thomas Dunne Books spring of 2017 so stay tuned. And click right over to my website, www.sadeqajohnson.net and subscribe to my blog. I’ll keep the latest news listed there. I’m on all of the social media outlets so get in touch with me. I’d really love to hear from you. 

Love, Light and Laughter.


Connect with Sadeqa Johnson
http://www.sadeqajohnson.net
https://twitter.com/sadeqasays
https://instagram.com/sadeqasays
https://www.facebook.com/SadeqaJohnson 

Purchase Second House from the Corner: A Novel
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Tuesday, December 20, 2016

Book Review: Gone by Elisabeth Naughton

Gone (Deadly Secrets, #2)
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Gone by Elisabeth Naughton
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Raegan and Alec had a powerful love. As parents, they went through a huge devastation in the abduction of their child. This kind of tragedy can either pull people closer or tear them apart. Three years after they lost their daughter, Raegan and Alec are reunited because of similar case and realize their feelings haven't changed, Filled with suspense, romance, intrigue and justice, Gone kept me glued until the end. I enjoyed the flawed characters and how they were able to overcome their past. I enjoyed this book very book. It had all the elements needed for great story-telling that makes me eager to read more of Elisabeth Naughton.

About the Book

Three years ago, Alec McClane and Raegan Devereaux lived every parent’s worst nightmare: their one-year-old daughter, Emma, was abducted from a park when Alec turned his back for just a moment. Emma was never found, and presumed dead. The crushing trauma, plus Alec’s unbearable guilt, ended the couple’s marriage.
Now a four-year-old girl matching Emma’s profile is found wandering a local park. Alec and Raegan are heartbroken to discover she’s not their daughter but are newly motivated to find closure…and each secretly feels desperate to be in the other’s presence again.
Alec suspects his vengeful biological father is behind Emma’s disappearance. But as Raegan investigates other abductions in the area, she sees a pattern—and begins to wonder if Emma’s kidnapping is actually linked to something more sinister.
As Alec and Raegan race to uncover the truth, a long-burning spark rekindles into smoldering passion, and they realize they need each other now more than ever.

Release Date: January 10, 2017


Book Review: Lady of the House by E.N. Joy

Lady of the House: Book Three of the Forever Divas Series
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Lady of the House: Book Three of the Forever Divas Series by E.N. Joy
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I have read all of the New Day Divas series, Always Divas and the Forever Divas series. Pastor Margie has been an integral character throughout the previous novels.
In Lady of the House, we get to see Pastor Margie in a different light. We see the other side of the camera of being a preacher. Many times, we see the confidence when we seek counsel. However, now we are seeing Pastor Margie is all woman and just like the rest of us, have moments of insecurities.
I had no idea, another reader fave, Mother Doreen would be such an integral part of the read. Together, their interaction made for some entertaining scenes.
This was a very different read to end the series. It was lighter but the second half of the novel really drew me in. There was a funeral scene and the author took the time to give us the entire eulogy. I believe this will benefit someone who experiences the loss of someone who was far from perfect.
All in all, Lady of the House had some creative moments and plugs for the other novels, as a farewell salute. Some readers may not fully appreciate this end to such a dramatic series, but other writers/readers will.

Here are two of my favorite quotes:
"...choose to allow those who do believe in you, who do encourage you, and who do support you to give you the energy and motivation to succeed." Pg. 184, Lady of the House.

"Testimonies heal and save lives, so if people hold their testimonies hostage, someone could miss out on their breakthrough." Pg. 200, Lady of the House

Release date: October 25, 2016
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View all my reviews