Review: The Love Playbook: Rules for Love, Sex, and Happiness by La La Anthony

Title: The Love Playbook: Rules for Love, Sex and Happiness

Author: La La Anthony with Karen Hunter

Publisher: Celebra

Pub date: 1/28/2014

Source: Library








My Review:

This book is described in the flap as a "guide to finding love, building healthy relationships and being true to yourself". La La takes from her own life experiences and gives examples of what to do and what not to do in romantic relationships. This book felt like an autobiography with relationship and life advice mixed in coming from a long time friend over coffee. I got an insight into who La La is as a person not just the celebrity we see on TV. She is a real down to earth person with really good advice  La La uses basketball analogy to get her point across in each of the chapters. Overall, this is a fabulous read that gives a modern take on advice on love and life.

Waiting on Wednesday: Handbook for an Unpredictable Life: How I Survived Sister Renata, My Crazy Mother, and Still Came Out Smiling With Great Hair

Waiting on Wednesday is a meme hosted by Breaking the Spine. Its a way to share with other readers books we are anticipating reading.



This weeks anticipated read:

Handbook for an Unpredictable Life: How I Survived Sister Renata, My Crazy Mother, and Still Came Out Smiling (With Great Hair)

By Rosie Perez
Publication date: February 25, 2014
Publisher: Crown Archetype 



Summary from Amazon:

Rosie Perez first caught our attention with her fierce dance in the title sequence of Do the Right Thing and has since defined herself as a funny and talented actress who broke boundaries for Latinas in the film industry. What most people would be surprised to learn is that the woman with the big, effervescent personality has a secret straight out of a Dickens novel. At the age of three, Rosie’s life was turned upside down when her mentally ill mother tore her away from the only family she knew and placed her in a Catholic children’s home in New York’s Westchester County. Thus began her crazily discombobulated childhood of being shuttled between “the Home,” where she and other kids suffered all manners of cruelty from nuns, and various relatives’ apartments in Brooklyn.

Many in her circumstances would have been defined by these harrowing experiences, but with the intense determination that became her trademark, Rosie overcame the odds and made an incredible life for herself. She brings her journey vividly to life on each page of this memoir—from the vibrant streets of Brooklyn to her turbulent years in the Catholic home, and finally to film and TV sets and the LA and New York City hip-hop scenes of the 1980s and ‘90s. 

More than a page-turning read, Handbook for an Unpredictable Life is a story of survival. By turns heartbreaking and funny, it is ultimately the inspirational story of a woman who has found a hard-won place of strength and peace.

 

Review: Who Asked You by Terry McMillan

Title: Who Asked You?

Author: Terry McMillan

Publisher: Penguin Publishing

Pub Date: 9/17/2013

Source: Library









 Summary from Goodreads:

Kaleidoscopic, fast-paced, and filled with McMillan’s inimitable humor, Who Asked You? opens as Trinetta leaves her two young sons with her mother, Betty Jean, and promptly disappears. BJ, a trademark McMillan heroine, already has her hands full dealing with her other adult children, two opinionated sisters, an ill husband, and her own postponed dreams—all while holding down a job delivering room service at a hotel. Her son Dexter is about to be paroled from prison; Quentin, the family success, can’t be bothered to lend a hand; and taking care of two lively grandsons is the last thing BJ thinks she needs. The drama unfolds through the perspectives of a rotating cast of characters, pitch-perfect, each playing a part, and full of surprises.

Who Asked You? casts an intimate look at the burdens and blessings of family and speaks to trusting your own judgment even when others don’t agree. McMillan’s signature voice and unforgettable characters bring universal issues to brilliant, vivid life.

My Review:

Who Asked You? by Terry McMillan chronicles the lives of Betty Jean, her family and friends and their lives in Los Angeles. Although Betty Jean (BJ) is the main character, this book is also told in everybody else's voice such as her husband, her best friend Tammy, her two sisters and Nurse Kim. This is a big book but once I started reading I got lost in the story. My favorite characters were: Luther and Ricky, who are Betty Jean's grandkids, and her best friend Tammy. This book deals with real life issues such as drug addiction, identity, loss, love, and overall family drama.