A Taste of Reality is not the first book I’ve read that centers on a sassy black heroine who’s making her way in life despite relationship and career issues. It is, however, the first one I have intensely disliked, owing to a selfish, two-faced heroine, a sagging plot, and some very confused race issues. If…
Although Blooming All Over has its romantic moments, it’s not a romance novel. Instead it’s a contemporary novel about the lives and loves of a big Jewish New York family who own an upscale delicatessen/grocery story. I thought Bloom’s Delicatessen and the New York ambience was the most vivid thing in the book But I…
Blooming All Over is the follow-up novel to Love in Bloom’s, a book I’d heard positive things about, both from AAR staff and from friends. I regret to say that I did not find the Bloom family as charming or as funny as they apparently did. Blooming All Over is about the complications the various…
Sometimes, despite an author’s obvious writing skills, a book just fails to get off the ground. For me, Dance With Me was one of them. Although technically well-written, it reminded me of several other authors who write in this same style. The characters are so middle-America as to be bland and uninteresting, and the plot…
This is an anthology edited by Deborah Smith. It is part of a series.
Advertised as “a powerful novel of love, duty and second chances,” The Ocean Between Us does its best to pull readers’ heartstrings. Although this was a polished and well-written novel, I found it really hard to empathize with a heroine whose life seems so perfect. Grace Bennett appears to have it all: three wonderful, healthy…
Many of us have a nemesis; a person that makes our lives just miserable whenever we run into them. My cousin Aaron’s nemesis is a post office lady who is rude to him for no reason and often ruins his day. My friend Jennifer has a nemesis at work, who is constantly trying to steal…
The Goddesses of Kitchen Avenue was not what I was expecting. The cover shows a bunch of young women having a grand old time eating and laughing. But the book is much more about tears than laughter. The goddesses of Kitchen Avenue are four in number. There is Roberta, the new widow, who can’t seem…
I’ve read and enjoyed several of Susan Wiggs’ historical romances; I’ve marveled at how she can bring periods and locations as diverse as Renaissance Venice and Gilded Age Chicago to life, and people them with vivid, believable characters. Passing Through Paradise is her second contemporary and the first I’ve read. While there was a lot…
Brenda Jackson’s newest book, The Savvy Sistahs, is a terrific read about finding friendship when you most need it, and finding love when your heart is ready. It’s a “keeper” in the truest sense. The book’s savvy sistahs are Amber Stuart, Branda Bennett, and Carla Osborne. The three met when they formed a support group…
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