Thursday, May 29, 2014

NEW REVIEW : Get It Girls by Treasure E. Blue





Get It Girls
Treasure E. Blue
3.5 out of 5 books



Jessica Jones and her three best friends: Vonda, Lynn and Tiny dubbed the "Get It Girls" have two months before they graduate. Life for these girls are filled with the promise of a bright future. The night of prom they all share a special moment that they vow to hold dear to their hearts and a secret they plan to keep from their parents. The morning after, their futures are shattered in a matter of minutes.

Doing a seven-year bid in Bedford Hills Correctional Institution, each of these girls are impacted one way or another by their experience. Although the only time that really mattered was the time they walked in and the day they walked out. Everything in the middle...didn't count. So they did what they had to, to survive. Each girl will walk out changed beyond measure. Some for the best, others for the worst.

When the girls are released, they return to Harlem, New York. They soon see how much the state of their neighborhoods have changed...for the worst. The drug crack is effecting family and friends and drug dealers are setting up shop in their buildings. The destruction of what this drug has done was too much. Jessica decides to take a stand and fight back, with her girls the "Get It Girls" having her back. Cross one of these girls, you cross them all and you better believe you will get dealt with.

Get It Girls by Treasure E. Blue is a tale of friendship, survival and having to grow up fast. Mr. Blue knows how to engross his readers into the story and root for individual characters. Although, I did think their were certain parts of the story that were a bit much. All-in-all this was a good read.

Reviewed by Leona
Urban-Reviews

NEW REVIEW : Passion In Disguise by Truth




Passion In Disguise
by Truth Russell
    2 out of 5 books


Seventeen-year-old Heaven has a body like that of a grown woman. Heaven comes from a two parent household and is a junior in high school who brings home a 4.0 GPA, although she does not have to study much and has a boy that is a geek doing some of her homework.

Hanging out with her girls dubbed the Diamond Diva’s, Heaven tells of her first sexual experience at the tender age of fourteen. From there how she was sexing and doing it “all” by the time she was seventeen.  Heaven was looking for love in all the wrong places. That is until she met Justice at a club and after having sex with him that first night she could not get him out of her head and he could not get her out of his. The problem is Justice is a bit older than Heaven and when charges are brought on him for being with a minor this may hinder any future dealings with Justice. Not only does Justice have to worry about his upcoming court date but also a turf war that he has against another rival drug dealer is getting out of hand and only one of these men are going to be left standing.

Passion In Disguise by Truth is your typical storyline in that of urban-fiction. Girl meets drug dealer, tries to make him her man and he is beefing in the streets over turf that makes the most profit in drug sales. But, that really has no relevance on my rating. No the problem lies within the fact that the book was not edited, the synopsis alone on the back of the book warns of this. There are so many misspelled words or missing words to complete a sentence it was distracting to the story. There is a two-week gap in the story that needed to be filled. One minute Justice is with Heaven and the next he is in jail. What happened? How did he wind up in jail? The story itself lacks critical detail or for that matter detail at all. The story is just cut and dry. There are a few scenes in the book that are totally ridiculous that will have the reader shaking their head, thinking to themselves “seriously?” Some parts are contradicting.  Oh and the fact that the author constantly references his own name as the main character’s favorite author is big headed and conceited of him.

A suggestion to the author: Invest in yourself by investing in an editor because a lot of these mistakes could have easily been avoided by using spellcheck and not only that an editor could have cleaned it up even more. Invest in a developmental editor as well. Do NOT put out a book that is NOT edited because it will turn the reader off from purchasing a future book by you. Aside from that you have a blank piece of paper –now fill it with details, descriptions of people, places and things. Everything does not need to be cut and dry. Describing your character in measurements and having bangs like Nicki Minaj is not describing what your character looks like. Hopefully you take this as constructive criticism and take it for what it worth and with the next book improve on some of the things I have mentioned.

Reviewed by Leona
Urban-Reviews






Wednesday, May 07, 2014

NEW REVIEW : Payback Ain't Enough by Wahida Clark



Payback Ain't Enough
Wahida Clark
Available Now !
1 out of 5 books




Mills 'aka' Dark is released from prison shortly after he murders Forever and Dark has plans on making a serious come up. Dark enlists the help of his cousin Shaira, Briggen's ex, who is hell-bent on revenge for the way Briggen dogged her. Dark is willing to do anything to make his come up in the hood.
A pregnant Shan is angry once she finds out her husband, Briggen has been keeping secrets from her. When the police come to arrest him, it is revealed to Shan that he is still in the game. Shan is so angry that Briggen lied to her she refuses to see him while he is behind bars. With Briggen locked up Shan happens upon a package and some money that she knows belongs to someone else, but greed has her plotting and planning on what to do with it. So she turns to the one person besides her husband that she trusts, but will it be a mistake?

Payback Ain't Enough by Wahida Clark is the third installment of the "payback" series. Although I enjoyed the first two, this one leaves little to be desired. The overall story was all over the place, with insignificant storylines and sex scenes that were totally unnecessary. There were too many characters. Even in reading the other books it left me confused. I thought it was ironic that Shan was so angry at Briggen for being in the game and lying, just for her to do the same thing. The characterization of Shan was totally different that in the other books. Although I read the uncorrected proof, I have to mention the fact that there was major editing issues and it was riddled with mispellings. My suggestion is for Ms. Clark to hire a qualified editor with all the books she has under her publishing company. This is not a good look, uncorrected proof or not.


Reviewed by Leona







NEW REVIEW : Creeping With the Enemy by Kimberly Reid



Creeping With the Enemy
Kimberly Reid
Available Now !
4.5 out of 5 books


Chanti Evans is anything but normal starting with her cop-mom and dangerous skills. Starting fresh at Langdon Prep would be anything but easy . By already uncovering lies and almost killing her somewhat of a boyfriend Marco, Chanti finds she needs to do a better job of keeping herself low and out of trouble. First, she doesn't reveal her mother's occupation and also so she can win the heart of Marco's mom . Still, Chanti finds her way into trouble starting at the Bodega which was off limits . More and more mysterious things creep up on Chanti and with the undercover cop skills Chanti asorbed from her mom , she plans on solving this mystery herself .. no matter what it takes.


I loved Creeping With The Enemy by Kimberly Reid. I loved the mystery and how every chapter made the story grow more mysterious . It felt as if I was watching a CSI type of show on tv . The author did an amazing job and there were very few errors. It only took a day to read. 

Reviewed by Tabitha

NEW REVIEW : Animal 2: The Omen by K'wan


Animal 2 : The Omen
K'wan
Available Now!
4 out of 5 books


Animal 2: The Omen by K'wan picks up right where the last book left off. Animal now knows that Priest the man that kidnapped him and saved his and Gucci's life is not the enemy but his father. Animal has a hard time trusting Priest since he abandoned him at a young age and questions why all of a sudden he reappears in his life. Especially after finding out that Preist has been working for the family of Shai Clark.

Priest suggests instead of Animal going to the streets and trying to kill Shai and anyone affiliated with him that it would be a bad move on his part. Especially since the main reason he is wanting to get retribution is for the woman that is alive today. Not to mention there are more of Shai's men than there are guns. No, what Priest suggests is far more complicated, but in order to carry out his plans he advises Animal to remain still and out of sight. When all is said and done and if Priest's plan goes as expected, Animal and Gucci will be able to walk away in peace and the beef between Shai and Animal will be squashed. The question is, is will they be able to pull off whatever Priest has in mind before they all wind up dead. Like father, like son, both of these men have enemies in the streets and wanted by the police. Will Animal be able to remain incognito especially when someone else he cares about is in harms way? With so much on the line, its a race against time.

Animal 2: The Omen by K'wan was a very good read. It has all the elements of street-lit that readers of this genre love. It has violence, drugs, thug love, retribution and so much more. If you think about it though author K'wan is a seasoned writer in the game and with each book they just get better and better. The story with Animal is one that although, he is a bad guy, he is that character that his fans of K'wan have fallen in love with. The only reason I gave the novel a 4-star rating is because I was expecting more for the ending. The last book left readers with their mouth hanging open, anticipating how the story was going to play itself out after that cliffhanger. Yes, K'wan left us with a cliffhanger but not one so shocking. Other than that I would recommend this novel to those who love this genre.

Reviewed by Leona





NEW REVIEW : 30 Day Notice by Kai Mann




30 Day Notice
 Kai Mann
Available Now!
2 out 5 books



Kori Maitland is a woman that thought she found the “one” that she would be with forever. When Layla Bradford and Kori started dating they would spend all their free time together. They could finish each others sentences and when they were in a crowded room, it always seemed like it was only just the two of them. Kori thought that Layla would never leave her, but five years into the relationship Kori felt like she was gut punched when Layla told her she was going back home to be with her family...without her.

After many sleepless night sleeping on a friends couch, Kori decides its time to move forward, so she puts her meager belongings into her car and heads to Detroit. There she stayed with a friend and had a business plan that she wanted to execute but first she would need some backing and money. So Kori took on temp assignments from the job agencies when she could. A series of events land Kori in situations where she had to rely on friends and prayer. 

30 Day Notice by Kori Mann was a difficult book to get through. Mainly because the story jumped around all over the place and parts of the story are contradicting. When reminiscing on the past there is no break in the typeset, it’s not typed in italics to let the reader know. So at times it gets confusing because the reader still thinks that he/she is reading about the present. There is no real description of the characters, conversations are not written out. It’s like the character goes out to have lunch with a friend, they talked and laughed about everything. Ok... but what did you talk about and what was so funny? The main questions that I had when I began to start reading this is in the beginning of the story she mentions she has 3 kids, but there is no mention of them to further along in the book. Eventually she tells the reader why they are not with her, from there there’s not another mention of her kids. The other question is: what caused her to lose all the things she once had. What happened from owning her own business to having her own place and nice things. This was never explained either, just that at one point she had all of this. Another thing the character seemed to be religious at times because she was always praying but yet some of the things she was doing was in contradiction to this. Like I said before the story just jumped around too much. A good developmental editor could have been used and it would have made the storyline much smoother. 

Reviewed by Leona

Order 30 Day Notice today!


NEW REVIEW : A Blessing and a Curse by Andrea Clinton



A Blessing and a Curse 

 Andrea Clinton

Available Now!

5 out of 5 books
 



Malika is not an ordinary woman by any means. Looking at her you would see a hardworking woman that is beautiful in her own right. She is extremely busy with owning an art gallery and working on her own pieces for the gallery leaves little time for having her hair done often or to dress up, but when she does her beauty shines through and through. What is extremely extraordinary about Malika is she has the gift of seeing visions of the future and at times being able to read someone’s mind. Malika at times feels like it is more of a curse than a blessing. Although Malika can see into the future,  the one person she cannot seem to read into is herself. 

Malika’s husband Hooch is an ex-football star that is miserable on how his life turned out. Looking at the perspective on how his life could have been had he not have been injured years ago. Just the thought of what he could have had with a career in the NFL is enough to make him the angry person he is. Hooch takes his anger out on everybody within the house. He has everyone walking around on eggshells because they never know how he is going to act or react to things. On the day that he tells Malika he is tired of going through the motions and is leaving her, she wanted to break down and cry but refused to give him the satisfaction of seeing that. All the mental abuse she taken from Hooch and all the things she sacrificed for him, Malika made a quick decision to take a vacation to get away from it all before he could move out, leaving her stuck with the kids and the bills. The sad thing is the only reason why Hooch told Malika he wanted to leave was to scare her into paying him more attention. Now the question is did Hooch push Malika too far?

A Blessing and a Curse by Andrea Clinton was a very good read! It is a story about love, hate, family, friends and secrets. The characters are easy to relate to and connect to in the story. The reader is sure to feel the emotions of the character/s in the story. Ms. Clinton did an excellent job in weaving together this story. I really enjoyed reading this book and will definitely be reading Ms. Clinton’s first novel One Who Loves You More and future works from her.


As a side note: In the beginning of the story the only thing that kind of bothered me was the fact that Ms. Clinton did not spell certain curse words out. As I was reading this I had to ask, so I sent her a message on twitter and asked her about it. She was quick to respond back and her response to this was she “wanted to make it softer on the eyes for those that hate cursing.”  I had to respect that.

Reviewed by Leona



NEW REVIEW : Sade’s Secret by Sparkle



Sade’s Secret
Sparkle
Available Now!
5 out of 5 books

Sade Washington has been holding onto a secret for nearly ten years. Sade’s well-kept secret is suddenly exposed when she becomes pregnant. When her mother finds the empty pregnancy test in the garbage, Sade is forced to tell her mother who the father to be is. When Sade reveals who it is, her mother Joyce refuses to believe it.
Things between Joyce and Sade reach a boiling point and Joyce is determined to try to keep things calm before the storm really hits. With Sade’s sixteenth birthday and the arrival of her unborn child right around the corner, more than ever Sade needs her mother’s love and support… as much as her protection.
Sade’s Secret by Sparkle was a story that will take you on an emotional roller coaster ride. The reader is sure to feel the pain of Sade’s character jump off the pages. The author did an excellent job in bringing this type of topic to attention. I would strongly recommend this read, especially to teens.
Reviewed by Tabitha


NEW REVIEW : Awaken : Timothy George

Awaken
Timothy George
Available now!
5 out of 5 books


Timothy George takes his readers along with Thomas Jet the protagonist on a journey into history of the continent of Africa.  
An investment banker, Thomas Jet meets a psychic, by the name of Dr. Oble at his family reunion.  After his meeting with Dr. Oble Thomas starts having distressing dreams, which prompts him to seek help. The story really begins when Thomas learns he is part of a group of men that have been recruited from all over the world. It is during what is called their ‘awakening’ that they find out about their individual history to Africa and their ancestral lineage.
Awakening by Thomas George is a story about brotherhood, history and organizations such as the CIA and (IBC) Internal Bureau of Commerce. The story is filled with action which makes for a page turning experience, on the edge of your seat read. The title and the cover fit well for the storyline.  The reader easily connects with the highs and lows of the character. It will have your emotions all over the place wanting the best for Thomas. Overall this was a great read!

Reviewed by Missy

Sponsorship Opportunities for the 16th Annual Great Midwest Book Fest : June 22, 2024

  Below are the different sponsorship opportunities that are available for this year’s book fest. Please contact me at radiah@urban-reviews....