RIM Review of Only Time Will Tell by Maseyree

RIM's Review of

Only Time Will Tell by Maseyree

Caroline, Punkin, Dorothy, and Andrea are back. Embark on another journey with this family in the thing we call life.

Caroline is still the same Caroline. More excited about having a second chance at motherhood with her granddaughter than sending time with her newly emancipated daughter, Andrea. Caroline feels like everything is about image and throwing parties and buying gifts should show her love. When tragedy strikes the family, Caroline’s world is changed forever.

Andrea is ready to be a mother to her daughter Timaya. She vows to be a good mother and leave the past behind her. Andrea soon discovers that life is in fairytale and we can’t write the ending. Andrea finds comfort in Tim, the love of her life. The problem is, Andrea doesn’t know if Tim will choose her over his family.

Punkin has always been a wild child. She is finally ready to settle down and have her own man. She meets Mark, a sweet, caring, and compassionate man. Punkin believes that she has found the one after a short whirlwind romance. When the couple begins to show their truth self, horrible discoveries are revealed.

Dorothy and Sullivan are madly in love. They seem like the perfect couple. The problem is Rhenee, Sullivan’s ex wife knows he is a great man also. Dorothy and Sullivan relationship will be put to the test like never before, can the “perfect” couple survive.

Maseyree delivers another drama filled story. She touches on single parenthood, trust, infertility, and a host of other everyday issues. Maseyree does leave you wanting more about some of your favorite characters like Monet and Sheila. The ending is a cliffhanger is a sequel has to be in the works.

Final Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Kim for
Readers In Motion Book Club

RIM's Review of Black Beauty by Elaine Flowers

RIM's Review of Black Beauty by Elaine Flowers



Terri is as close to a saint as you can get. She is what everyone wants in life, a loyal friend. To Terri she has never really felt complete. She has always had the feeling she was missing something in life. That missing link is her real family. She is there for everyone else but who will be there for her? Will she ever meet her real family and learn about herself or will that stay a mystery to her?


Wendell is a male stylist with sex appeal. He is what many call a ladies’ man. He has a secret love with someone. With all the women that want Wendell he has his eyes on a prize that is very close to him in more ways than one. But how long can his secret stay a secret from his coworkers.

Naomi is the chick that is not to be messed with, a hothead. She is all about the money and she does not handle it correctly. For every hothead there is a chiller, and the chiller for her is the person that she will need when things get a little too hot for her to handle. Will the “chiller” be there for her or will she go through this one alone?


Elaine Flowers does a great job when it comes to the descriptions in the book. I wish there was more dialogue between the characters to keep the reader interested. At times it feels like the author takes away from the book with all the illustrations that are given. On the other hand the Flowers does a great job with combining all the relationships in this book. Reading this book has given me a real feeling of the actual beauty shop. This is great book for those that are into descriptions.


Book Rating: 3 Stars

Reviewed by Patrice Smith

For Readers In Motion Bookclub

RIM's Review of Inner Journey Home Letters to My Son, Love Dad by Malcolm Baptiste

Inner Journey Home Letters to My Son, Love Dad by  Malcolm Baptiste

As any parent that has a child you want what’s best for him or her, even when that means neglecting yourself of things or pushing past your own capacity. However some parents’ capacity is small because their own parents couldn’t get past generational issues, which then get passed on until someone can break the pattern.  In this story a father reaches out to his son that is now incarcerated and tries in his own way to encourage him and yet explain to him why things are they way they are.

Correspondence between father and son is a series of letters from the father’s prospective starting with the son’s court appeal trail date until the day they take a family photo.  In efforts to ease the son’s time in jail, the father starts from the beginning, his beginning, describing to his son the relationship with his parents, mostly his mother.  In efforts to make a son a better man she teaches him in a cruel way how to be man, talking negatively about him and worse yet to him, telling him things like he is worthless and will never be anything.  Later in life when the father becomes a drug addict he hears all the things she told him like a tape player and fights daily to prove her wrong and prove to himself he is worthy of all the good things life has to offer.

In need of help to get clean and stay clean the father enters rehab. In rehab he addresses all his issues from the negative tapes of his mom, the need of the drug, dating, and his own mental state.  Through some of the exercises in group therapy the father finds salvation and journaling. He begins to journal his life’s experiences in and out of rehab, in efforts to connect to his son he sends him excerpts of what he has written and what he feels about life and most importantly he constantly conveys his love for his son.

Readers probably would like to have liked to see more dialogue between the father and son. All the reader knows is that the son does respond to the letters but not aware of what he says. However readers can appreciate the honesty of the father, because most parents want to protect their child or children by not telling them what could essentially keep them from harm’s way.  So often we need help but to afraid to reach for it. A father’s love versus his attendance seemed to be an issue but in this case his love superseded his lack of attendance and a son sees a life outside of the 8 by 10 he is in.

My Rating 3 ½ stars
Review by Karen Reynolds
Review for Readers In Motion Bookclub

RIM's Review of Trouble Ahead… Trouble Behind… Patiently Waiting My Turn - by Anthony Stubbs

RIM's Review of

Trouble Ahead… Trouble Behind… Patiently Waiting My Turn -

by Anthony Stubbs 

People are sent to prison by society as a means to reciprocate any loss and to try to get a person to conform to society’s rules and laws. That doesn’t always happen, as in the case of Tony “Scorpio” Starks. Scorpio was sent away on a seven year bid and instead of diminishing his criminal abilities, being incarcerated actually improves his abilities. Scorpio comes home and within days is completely submerged once more into the criminal world. Since it’s finally his turn; will Scorpio come out a winner in the game or will he fall victim to the game again?

 I feel the need to be extremely honest in this review.  The author has an extremely plausible concept and characters you can relate to but it lacks plot, setting, time, and details. For example Scorpio goes from talking to his friend eating lunch, to being released from jail, to a welcome home party, all on the same page. There is nothing in a believable sequence of events and that goes on throughout the whole book.  Even understanding this is fiction, it’s not believable fiction. The lack of time references makes it   seems as though everything happens overnight, when in reality there is a process.  At times it felt like the author was trying to impress the reader with the command of vocabulary by the placement of excessively large words that take away from what is being read. There were also many editing issues which also took away from the overall presentation of the book.  Because of the issues stated the reviewer at this time rates this book one (1) star. However, it is also the reviewers opinion that with improvements this has the potential of a five star read.

Rated 1 Star.

RIM's Author of the Month for June- Aleta Williams

RIM's Author of the Month for June

Aleta Williams

1. Tell us about yourself.

I'm Aleta aka West Coast DivaHotPen. I self published my titles through my company "Alana's Book Line!" Writing for me is more of an hobby; a stepping stone to get to where God is trying to take me. My calling is to give inspiration to young ladies and women who can relate to where I come from. I went from being a motherless child... to an angry teen...a gangster chick.. .and now I'm a diva out to please the Lord and uplift others. I write true2life street tales with an inspirational bang. I feel in order to be a voice, a voice that's heard, and understood I have to give the real and its gets no realer then the tales I write. I thank you for taking the time to get to know me and I pray that my titles will serve you a satisfying course.

 

2. What part of your book was the hardest to write?

The hardest for me is the sex scenes. Its like I'm getting so personal and I don't like that. So I have to forget that I'm writing for an audience. Kind of hard to do, but I try.

3. Which of your characters is your favorite?In Salty ( my latest novel) it would have to be Pam. Pam is the type of chick that is loyal to those around her. However, when she gets played she can be a cold bitch.
In my debut it will be Lana. She shows us how she went from a gangster chick to a God loving Diva. She left the hood and found her way. The person she was yesterday she is not today.

4. If you were to do your career as an author again, what would you do differently, and why? Lots of Research. Less money on marketing. That's it.

5. Have you ever been surprised by a controversy among fans or reviewers - for example, you created a character without thinking too much about what people would think of him, and found some readers loved him and some hated him? Yes. I did not think people would not like her. I thought they would respect her game and feel sorry for her, but most thought she was a heartless bitch. LOL..When I think about it from their stand point they are right. But at the same time there was a reason she was the way she was. She has issues, inner demons and a lot of pain she was struggling with. There are plenty of Pam's in the world.

6. What are your favorite authors/books?Karen Williams-All
Tracy Brown- White Lines
Wahida Clark- Thug Series
New Author LaTonya West- Crazy In Love

7. If you could have dinner with one person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?My Godmother. I sure miss her. She was always an inspiration to me and still is. I will always admirer her strength.. I would love to hear her say she is proud of me. And go around the church and her friends saying "My God Daughter did that, now what?" LOL....She was a mess.

8. Do you recall how your interest in writing originated?I have been writing all my life. When I was a kid, I had big dreams of becoming a rapper/singer and while, I can't sing, I can rap and write songs. I pushed that to the back burner for years. I forgot I could write poems and what not. One day I wrote a piece for the church that received a lot of praise and right after I started college I did a lot of writing. Then one day my husband came to me with the concept of writing a script and he was doubtful that I could pull it off . I took that as a challenge and configured my characters in my Debut ZipCodez.

9. If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor? Karen Williams. Strict but a very very helpful and genuine diva.

10. What would you like to say to your readers? I thank God for you. I write for you guys.. Stay Blessed. Oh, and spread the word. :)

All of Aleta Williams' novels can be found on Barnes and Noble, Amazon, and at her website ww.alanasbookline.org.

Salty: A Sassy, Grimy, and Envious Ghetto Soap Opera

ZipCodez 90002*90220 A Watts and Compton Tale

Codez2Codez (A Watts and Compton Saga)