RIM's Review of A Marriage of Convenience by Jewel Amethyst

RIM's Review of

A Marriage of Convenience by Jewel Amethyst  

When one door closes a window opens, or so the cliché says.

Tamara is jilted at the altar and financially taken for everything she has by a con artist. When the bills are due and she is unemployed; Tamara is looking for the window. Her best friend, Jordan, presents her with a request that will help her financially; yet the requirement is she marry a perfect stranger. When, to marry or lose everything, become her choices, Tamara takes the man and his money.  Yet what if the sham that they portray became real?

Tamara is a full figured beauty that doesn’t know she is beautiful. She is always comparing herself to her society approved thinner cousins as the standard of true beauty. Adding in straight hair or hair weaves and color contacts she again errantly thinks are necessary to prove one’s beauty. In accepting the attention and compliments of her husband, Tamara learns that her natural, confident self is all the beauty she needs.

Kwabena is a handsome accomplished scientist. He has many degrees and awards to back his intelligence up; however, he conveys himself to Tamara as just another man from Ghana. He never lets on about his company, his accomplishments, or even his ability to speak several other languages. Kwabena like Tamara has his own hidden issues; including running from an arranged marriage and an evil ex fiancé that wants him back.

Through all the twists and turns of this relationship, one is taken for a multicultural experience. The reader will learn about Jamaican, Ghanaian, and African foods, clothing, history and even a few words. The interaction between the American family and Ghanaian family shows that no matter the language, love and respect is universal.  As this couple faces their pasts collectively, they must also look to there future to see if once their arrangement is fulfilled will they remain a couple? Can what was supposed to be a temporary fix be something permanent?

My Rating: 5*****

Review for Readers In Motion Bookclub

Review by Karen Reynolds



RIM's Review of Eye for an Eye by Dwayne S. Joseph

RIM's Review of Eye for an Eye

by Dwayne S. Joseph

In the last novel, Home Wrecker, she encounters Kyra. Every time that named is called it takes her to a bad place. Now Lisette is back and fiercer than ever. Shuante is a client that comes to Lisette. She wants Lisette to set up her no good brother in-law because he is always hitting on her. But it seems that you cannot do the job of being a home wrecker without someone trying to get back at you for what you did. The question now is who is trying to harm Lisette and why. Can history strike twice?

Aida is another woman that whom makes a living out of breaking up unhappy homes. She gets a client by the name of Vivian. Now Vivian does not want to lose her husband; she just wants to make him go to counseling to work on their marriage. Things do not always go as planned all the time and this is one of those times for Aida. Aida falls for her client’s husband. Will Aida do the work that she was paid to do or will she let her feelings for this man over take and tell him what his wife wants to do?

A great author is someone that can pick up from where a book left off and continue with the same fire as the first book. Dwayne S. Joseph did just that with this book. The situations that the characters are placed in gives this book a solid storyline. The drama starts from page one and continues to the end. The sexual encounters, drama, and twist and turns in this book will keep you guessing until the very end.

5 stars

Reviewed by Patrice

For ReadersInMotion Bookclub

RIM's Reviews Dangerous Pleasures by Fiona Zedde

Dangerous Pleasures by Fiona Zedde

  

Two friends who are brought together by schoolyard drama are forever inseparable. Mayson met Renee when her family moved from Jamaica to Dana Point, when the other kids picked on her for her accent Renee defended her; and for the rest of their lives they would defend each other. Renee would need defending for her choice to end her marriage of too many changes. Her ex-husband Linc always trying to change her to what he wants versus who she really is and with Mayson being a lesbian she needs to be defended from her ex flings that sometimes want more than a fling.

Renee is tired of being sweet, innocent, a damsel in distress Renee. After the divorce, she no longer sees the benefits of a traditional relationship other than the sex. Since there is nothing else she feels like she can control other than her sex partner she decides to do something for herself. So after much deliberation and some ill advice from Mayson, Renee signs up for an online dating site and finds someone to her liking and begins to get her groove back.

Mayson is never in a rut as far as sex goes; anytime she needs a fix she thumbs through her black book and finds someone to scratch the itch. However she has one rule; she does not have any desire to be a straight woman’s experiment into the art of lesbian sex.  As Mayson avoids relationships for booty calls, she finds herself in a ticklish position; she is now the center of a straight woman’s fantasies, which of course goes against her rule. Mayson soon realizes that fantasies can turn deadly.

Here we see love has no gender, has no hurt and sometimes has no sense of time. As each woman is forced to take off the blindfold, no matter the material it is made of, and see each other and herself for what they are. Decisions that can not be made by society’s standards or even the ones that can be dictated by corporate America, but from a loving heart. The heart wants what the heart wants and sometimes the easiest decision is the one that’s right in front of you.

My Rating 5*****

Review by Karen Reynolds

Review for Readers In Motion Bookclub

RIM's Reviews Raising Kane By Darrien Lee

RIM's Reviews

Raising Kane

By Darrien Lee

 

Raising Kane By Darrien Lee  

Everyone deserves a second chance.

Denim is back and she has crossed the path of someone else that needs her help. Denim meets her new neighbor in the weirdest way. Kane is a sixteen year old student at a private school. She has a father cares who for her deeply and a mother that is addicted to drugs. The paths of Denim and Kane cross as Kane decides that she is going to run away from home. Drama at McDonald’s between Kane’s mother (Yolanda) and her gets so out of hand that the police are called and her father has to place a restraining order to protect his family. Kane is frustrated with having to be a second mother to her two younger brothers. She tells her father that she wants a normal teenage life but that is impossible with all the responsibilities that she has. This is where Denim comes in. Denim starts to spend time with Kane and her brothers. At this time Kane’s father notices that she is growing up and that she needs to be around others her own age. Yolanda sees the damage that she has caused her family and really wants to overcome her addiction. Devin sees all the pain and beatings that Yolanda is taking from the hands of Leon and decides it is time to help her overcome her demon. With the help of Devin, Yolanda overcome the drugs but also falls in love with him.

Will the relationship between Kane and her mother be mended? Does overcoming an addiction means a happy family? Will Kane be able to have a teenage social life or will she always be a second mother? 

With this novel Darrien Lee deals with the subject of addiction and the dynamics of the family. She nailed it on the head with making sure she includes the feelings of the whole family. The handling of the subject matter was very much at a level that many teens can understand. Lee places words in a way that the teenage reader is not feeling like a young child but as an adult that they are growing into.

Raising Kane by Darrien Lee receives 5 stars.

Reviewed by Patrice Smith

Readers in Motion Book

RIM's Reviews Blood of My Brother by Zoe and Yusuf Woods

RIM's Reviews

Blood of My Brother

by Zoe and Yusuf Woods

Blood of My Brother by Zoe and Yusuf Woods

Am I my brother’s keeper?

Roc knows all about game because that is his life. Roc wants better for his little brother, Lil Mac, and has made it a life goal to keep him away from the streets. That was his goal but his brother  has other ideas. Unknown  to Roc, Lil Mac is the creator of the Get Money Click. You can say that the motto of this group is by any means necessary. Roc and his crew prepare for battle with the Get Money Click. Roc wants to get out the game but how can he leave knowing that this new Get Money Click is taking over and he crew is not getting money anymore. How can he leave the people that help him create his empire? So Roc goes to battle one more time still not knowing that the person he is battling is his little brother. Who will spill blood first? Will Roc find out that the person that he is fighting is his flesh and blood before it is too late?

I have to give these book 3 stars. Blood of my Brothers started off very slow. Not being able to grab the attention of the reader until the middle of the book is not a good thing. Zoe and Yusuf Woods have a great storyline but it is lost in the first half of the book. If these authors spent a little more time with the beginning of the book the rating would have been more that three stars. Once in the middle of the book the flow goes very quickly to the end. The ending of the book leads greatly into the next novel.

Rating: 3 Stars

Reviewed by Patrice Smith

For Readers In Motion Book Club

RIM's Reviews Hot Fun In The Summertime by Chicki Brown

RIM's Reviews

Hot Fun In The Summertime

 by Chicki Brown

Every summer six friends rent a home on the Jersey shore for rest and relaxation but yet still manage to work. Linda is an accountant and real estate broker, Shontae is a fiction author, Doc and Kip are professors, Kinnick a model, and Jo a hair stylist to the stars. However this year Kip brings a friend, Devon, with him. He too is a model, heating up with the women in the house. On the first day they pay rent, divvy up chores, set down the ground rules and pick out rooms.  As everyone finds their own corner of paradise and set out to venture the beach, some old memories transform into new ones.     

 Kinnick, working as a video model, is constantly looking for the next come-up which is normally in a baller’s pocket. She plays a deadly game of being a rappers lady yet flirty with a mogul expecting neither to find out about the other. However when the lies catch up to her will she learn that a woman can have it all and not need to sell her body in the process?

Linda is coming out of an ugly divorce and is not looking for new seat filler just yet. However Doc has his sights set on her again this summer and is not letting her use her year old divorce as a crutch. As hard as Linda tries to control the situations surrounding her, she might have to let go of her preconceived notions of Doc and blast through her post divorce thoughts of men.

Kip, the forever player, is scoping the beaches for young women to fill his summer calendar and bed; however he needs to keep an eye out for the cops because an older black man dating young white females still causes some upset to the community. Seems archaic, but racism is still evident.  Kip seems quite smitten however by this summer’s catch no matter the consequences.

Shontae was hesitant to come this summer due to last summer’s debacle with Kinnick. However she has two things to accomplish this summer, getting her new novel done and the purchase of a home, and no one is coming between those goals, or so she thought. Devon seems bound and determined to get her attention and to get her to give love another chance.

 Jo and Walter have been together for five years and he is ready to take it to the next step, a business partnership. Slightly disappointed Jo takes him up on his offer but not prepared for all the conditions that come with the hefty price tag. Will her dreams of being the best in the business leave her before they start?

Interesting how in three short months the issues that all the characters faced were things they had been using as crutches all their lives and as with any injury eventually the crutch is no longer useful.

My Rating: 3 ½ stars

Review for Readers in Motion Bookclub

Review by Karen Reynolds

RIM's Reviews Poetically Speaking By Targie Taylor

RIM's Reviews

Poetically Speaking By Targie Taylor

Poetically Speaking By Targie Taylor

Poetically Speaking is a poetic journey of life based on the struggles of the author.

I was extremely excited about the idea of readings someone’s life through poems, it was something interesting and new to me. After the first few pages it became a struggle for many reasons.   The poems were supposed to tell a story, which they did but at the same time they didn’t. The poems were in no particular order and oddly thrown together by years but not chronological, so I found myself looking back to try and figure out what stage in the author's life these particular poems were coming from. Secondly the poems ranged from elementary, one sentence poems that left you with a feeling of that’s it? To very detailed ones that left you wanting more. Adding to the confusion there were poems written by other people, inserted for no discernible reason, such as the one or two her ex boyfriend wrote.

There were some that I did like; but for the most part found myself completely confused about who authored what, and at what stage of life they were supposed to encompass. The reviewer gives this 2.5/3 stars.

Reviewed by Kecia

For: Readers in Motion Book Club

www.readersinmotionbookclub.ning.com

RIM's August Author of the Month- Author Boo Jackson

RIM's August Author of the Month- Author Boo Jackson

1. Tell us about you.

I'm 28, reside in Liberty, Missouri...not married, no kids. Very family oriented and I would lay down my life for my mom and my sister. I graduated high school in 2002 and went on to pursue a degree in psychology...still haven't gotten that degree yet.

2. When did you first consider yourself a writer?

I've always enjoyed writing. From poems, to short stories, to essays, to plays. My grandma was an English teacher so I've always been drawn to writing.

3. What inspired you to write your first book?  

My inspiration to write my first book came from my sister. She actually bet me that I couldn't write a novel and I was hell bent on proving her wrong, so I knocked Khamani's Angel out in 2 weeks.

4. What book are you reading now?

I am currently reading Cameron by Jade Jones.

5. Can you share a little of your current work with us?

"Guilty Pleasures" will take you into the life of Janet Clark. She's beautiful, she's successful, she's been married for over 20 years, but she's bored. Thoughts of her husband having an affair drives Janet to join the local gym and that's where she meets Lucky. Lucky works Janet's body out in more ways than one and has her feeling like she's on cloud nine; until she finds out the truth about her husband's affair.

6. Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

My favorite author is K'wan. The thing that made me fall in love with his work is the fact that it's so unpredictable. He doesn't have "cookie cutter" books. You never know what to expect from him.

7. How do books get published? Why did you choose the method?

My first book was published under a publishing company, but I've since decided to do everything independently. I chose that because in a sense I'm controlling my own destiny. I know what's going to come out, I decide when it drops, what the cover looks like, I do the editing, etc.

8. What do you like to do when you're not writing?

When I'm not writing, I enjoy reading. I tell people that I'm a reader first, then an author. I also like playing basketball with my brothers and going out with my sister.

9. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

The most surprising thing that I learned was that people actually want to read what I write. When I first started doing this, I had no intentions on being published or anything. I was just writing because I loved to write. Now I'm actually learning that I'm a pretty good writer and people enjoy my stories.

10. Do you have anything specific that you want to say to your readers?

To the readers I want to say THANK YOU for supporting me and I hope to have your continued support in the future. As long as you keep reading, I'll keep writing...well I'll keep writing regardless but I do hope you keep reading my work.

 

Author Boo Jackson has several books that are on the Amazon website that is ready for you kindle to download....

Check out Khamani's Angel by Author Boo Jackson.....

Khamani's Angel follows the lives of Khamani Johnson, and his sexy incomparable girlfriend, Angel Mendoza. Dealing with a rough and unstable childhood, Khamani turned to the streets and went from being a street corner look out to a drug kingpin. Angel on the other hand, never had to want for anything. Both of her parents are successful doctors that made sure Angel lived a comfortable and stable lifestyle. But as the saying goes “opposites attract” and Angel's once picture perfect life is filled with love, lust, betrayal, and deceit. Is Khamani's love strong enough to withstand Angel's addiction or will he turn his back on his precious........ Angel