Sinners & Saints - Victoria Christopher Murray and ReShonda Tate Billingsley

Jasmine Larson Bush and Rachel Jackson Adams play to win.  So when their husbands are both nominated for the presidency of the American Baptist Coalition, they'll stop at nothing to see them win.  And though they're supposed to be women of God, there's nothing godly about their scheming and plotting.  Sinners and Saints could have been aptly named "Christians Behaving Badly." 

While the two ladies battle it out at convention, their husbands are oblivious to what's going on until it becomes all too obvious.  That leads each man to question how badly he wants the position.  If it's meant to be, it'll be, right?  Not if Jasmine and Rachel have anything to do with it.  And what happens if there's someone that wants the position more badly than Rachel or Jasmine? Having personally served on a regional level of a national organization and on the national nominating committee for that same organization, I can honestly say that Murray and Billingsley are definitely on point when it comes to the things people will do to make sure they, or the person they're supporting, wins. A convention has never been so exciting!

It's rare that two people can co-author a book so seamlessly, especially when they're bringing characters that they've each created independently together in one storyline.  With alternating chapters, each author takes a turn presenting Jasmine's and Rachel's side of the story.  I can honestly say I was team Jasmine, but only because I've read about the character previously in Sins of the Mother.  Rachel gives almost as good as Jasmine, but not quite.  I'd say that's only because Jasmine is older and has more years of experience at being conniving and cunning.  I'm sure Rachel will be around giving others hell for years to come.

288pp
Published: January 2012
Disclaimer: Copy of book received from publisher.  Opinions are my own.

Theme: Long As I Got King Jesus by Vickie Winans

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The Liberation of Alice Love - Abby McDonald

Can you ever really know someone?  If you're Alice Love and your identity has been stolen by the woman you thought was your best friend, the answer is no.  When the bills start rolling in and you realize that person has been leading a better life than you could ever imagine, do you get mad or do you do something about it?

After briefly wallowing in misery, Alice decides to get herself in gear and start living herself.  Always a straight laced and by the book kind of girl, Alice has been stuck her a rut for years.  The day a crystal "toy" arrives at her office, along with calls from creditors and bills she knows she didn't create, Alice decides to trace Ella's, her former friend turned identity thief, steps.

On an adventure that takes her to shops she's never imagined, with items she's never imagined; a small town in Italy where she winds up spending a night in jail after a reckless one night stand; to Hollywood, Alice gives new meaning to the phrase "mother has lived."

By the end of the book, I wasn't even mad at Ella for stealing Alice's identity.  Sure, she caused her some discomfort, but she opened her up to a whole new way of living and actually gave her a life much better than the one she'd been leading.

432pp
Published: March 2011

 

Theme: Diva by Beyonce

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Paris Noire - Francine Thomas Howard

I loved the author's previous work, Page from a Tennessee Journal. I love reading about "black" Paris.  And I love historical fiction.  So when I came across Paris Noire, it seemed to have all of the elements of a great book.  Meh, it was just ok.

Marie-Therese is the mother of two, Collette and Christophe.  A native of Martinique, the mulatto Marie-Therese came to France with her children, thanks to the inheritance her father left for his illegitimate daughter and the French citizenship afforded to her by her ex-husband. 

As I started Paris Noire, it seemed to me that this set up was somewhat similar to Anne Rice's The Feast of All Saints, though Feast was set in New Orleans.  However, where The Feast focused on both children, much more attention was given to Christophe than to Collette.

Collette is in love with a Frenchman that her mother opposes, though we're never really told why, other than the fact that he's French.  Since the author doesn't care to explain this or Collette's story line in depth, the reader is left to guess as to whether her relationship with him has any substance prior to her wedding announcement.

Christophe seems to be the real focus of the story.  His affair with a married waitress turns tragic as her husband returns from war.  Unfortunately, it's a tragedy that's just really uninteresting.  I didn't have enough background about him to really care if he and this woman were able to be together.

One mistake that Howard made, as I see it, is that she tried to include too many players in the game.  Marie-Therese has an American friend, Glovia, that hosts parties at her house.  Through that connection readers are given the history of blacks in Paris with stories about Bricktop, Langston Hughes, Josephine Baker, etc. during World War II.  So when Howard introduces Glovia, she introduces miscellaneous characters that attend her parties, as well as a love interest for Marie-Therese.  So we're going with that story line, right? Well not really.

We jump from Marie-Therese's story to Christophe's and begin to invest time in his story line, only to be abruptly thrown back in to Marie-Therese's.  Yes, I can read more than one thing at a time and follow several story lines, but this didn't flow very well.  It was very disjointed and really took away from the overall story.  I'd love for Howard to take another stab at this and either fully flesh out Christophe or Marie-Therese's story lines, but not both.

363pp
Published: September 2011

 

Theme: April in Paris by Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Armstrong

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Blue Christmas - Mary Kay Andrews

Fans of Mary Kay Andrews are probably familiar with her characters Bebe Loudermilk and her best friend, Weezy Foley.  I first read and reviewed them in Andrews' Savannah Breeze. Over my hiatus, I had time to catch up with them in the short story, Blue Christmas.

Whereas Savannah Breeze really focused on Bebe, Blue Christmas is mostly about Weezy.  The owner of an antique shop in the historical district of Savannah, Weezy is up in arms about the annual window decorating contest.  With her window decorated, she notices the proprietor's of a new business across the square doing things differently.  And you just don't do that in Savannah.  There's the Savannah way of doing things and then there's everything else.

Unfortunately, Weezy doesn't have time to worry about whether or not Manny is following the rules because her shop has been broken into and her display vandalized.  Not only has her shop been vandalized, someone also broken into her house and stole all of the food for the contest judges.

With her boyfriend Daniel and best friend Bebe assisting, Weezy goes on a mission to find out who's invading her space in true Weezy fashion.  And in the meantime, she's still determined to win that contest!  As always, Andrews' stories are lighthearted and heavy on the humor. 

256pp
Published: November 2009

 

Theme: Blue Christmas by Porky Pig

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