Book Review: A Sinful Calling (Reverend Curtis Black #13) by Kimberla Lawson Roby

Title: A Sinful Calling

Author: Kimberla Lawson Roby

Publish date: June 21, 2016

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing











Goodreads summary:

Two years ago, to everyone's surprise, Dillon Whitfield Black, the secret son of Reverend Curtis Black, boldly moved back home, married a woman named Raven, decided he was going to become a minister, and then founded a church right in the center of his living room. Today he's pastor of a 1,000-plus-member congregation, and new members are joining weekly. Sadly, behind closed doors, Dillon is far from being a saint. Dillon has become more like the man his father was thirty years ago-consumed with money, power, and lots of women. His family may have let bygones be bygones, but they continue to keep their distance...

My thoughts:

  A Sinful Calling is the 13th book in the Reverend Curtis Black series. It features a few of Reverend Black's kids: Dillon and Alicia. Dillon strives to get status, money and power by becoming a mega church preacher just like his dad. Unfortunately the apple doesn't fall far from the tree in other instances in his life, either. One of his obstacles is his wife Raven who wants a piece of the pie. Meanwhile his sister Alicia is having problems of her own with her marriage and mental issues. 
 Without giving too much away, this book was a gripping and entertaining novel with lots of family and church drama. It also deals with infidelity, mental illness and greed. I recommend this book to people that likes to read christian fiction and doesn't mind drama.

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.

Book Review: Unmasking Maya by Libby Mercer

Title: Unmasking Maya

Author: Libby Mercer

Pub date: Dec. 12, 2012

Source: The author












Summary from Goodreads:

 Fresh from a career-killing scandal, New York fashion girl, Maya Kirkwood, arrives in San Francisco to reinvent herself as a fine artist. She's offered the opportunity to create an installation at the Silicon Valley headquarters of a hot new tech company. Fabulous, right?

Not so much.

She can't stand Derek Whitley - wunderkind software genius and CEO of the company. Hot as he may be on the outside, inside the man is a cold, unemotional, robotic type. Way too left-brained for her right-brained self.

As Maya and Derek get to know each other, however, their facades begin to crack. She catches her first glimpse of the man behind the superhuman tech prodigy, and he starts to see her as the woman she used to be. But is this a good thing? Once that last secret is revealed, will it bring them closer together or will it tear them apart?

My summary/thoughts:

 Unmasking Maya is about Maya Kirkwood an artist who falls for Derek who is a nerdy workaholic while she installs her artwork for his company.  This wasn't so much of a romance. It felt more like a chick lit novel. There was a lot of flirting and mysteriousness.  This was a short, light read with some warm and fuzziness at the end. The main character has a lot of male issues because of what her father did. Overall, it was a fabulous read.
 

Book Review: The Color of Tea by Hannah Tunnicliffe

Title: The Color of Tea

Author: Hannah Tunnicliffe

Publisher: Scribner

Pub date: 6/5/2012

Source: The Library








Goodreads summary:

Macau: the bulbous nose of China, a peninsula and two islands strung together like a three-bead necklace. It was time to find a life for myself. To make something out of nothing. The end of hope and the beginning of it too. After moving with her husband to the tiny, bustling island of Macau, Grace Miller finds herself a stranger in a foreign land—a lone redhead towering above the crowd on the busy Chinese streets. As she is forced to confront the devastating news of her infertility, Grace’s marriage is fraying and her dreams of family have been shattered. She resolves to do something bold, something her impetuous mother would do, and she turns to what she loves: baking and the pleasure of afternoon tea.

Grace opens a cafÉ where she serves tea, coffee, and macarons—the delectable, delicate French cookies colored like precious stones—to the women of Macau. There, among fellow expatriates and locals alike, Grace carves out a new definition of home and family. But when her marriage reaches a crisis, secrets Grace thought she had buried long ago rise to the surface. Grace realizes it’s now or never to lay old ghosts to rest and to begin to trust herself. With each mug of coffee brewed, each cup of tea steeped and macaron baked, Grace comes to learn that strength can be gleaned from the unlikeliest of places.

A delicious, melt-in-your-mouth novel featuring the sweet pleasures of French pastries and the exotic scents and sights of China, The Color of Tea is a scrumptious story of love, friendship and renewal.

My review/thoughts:

Grace Miller and her husband, Pete, are living in Macau, China for Pete's work. After they find out they can't have children, Grace opens a cafe called Lillian's where she makes macarons and serves tea. Grace makes friends with people she wouldn't have otherwise known after she opens Lillian's. We meet Marjory, Rilla, and Gigi just to name a few women that Grace becomes close to. Gigi is a feisty character that I liked reading about and was very memorable. This is the first time I've read about China so that was cool since I've never been there. Grace has a lot of issues but she works through them in the book. Overall, this was a light and fast read. Once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. It was a fabulous read. As soon as I finished, I wanted a macaron.

Review: Hope Springs by Kim Cash Tate

Title: Hope Springs

Author: Kim Cash Tate

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

Publish Date: June 12, 2012











Summary from Amazon:

In a small Southern community where everyone is holding tight to something, the biggest challenge may be learning to let go.

Hope Springs, North Carolina, is the epitome of small town life-a place filled with quiet streets where families have been friends for generations, a place where there's not a lot of change. Until three women suddenly find themselves planted there for a season.

Janelle Evans hasn't gone back to Hope Springs for family reunions since losing her husband. But when she arrives for Christmas and learns that her grandmother is gravely ill, she decides to extend the stay. It isn't long before she runs into her first love, and feelings that have been dormant for more than a decade are reawakened. And when Janelle proposes a Bible study a the local diner--and invites both African American and Caucasian women she has met--the group quickly forms a spiritual bond . . . and inadvertently adds to underlying tension in the community.

Becca Anderson is finally on the trajectory she's longed for. Having been in the ministry trenches for years, she's been recruited as the newest speaker of a large Christian women's conference. But her husband feels called to become the pastor of his late father's church in Hope Springs. Will small town living affect her big ministry dreams?

And Stephanie London has the ideal life-married to a doctor in St. Louis with absolutely nothing she has to do. When her cousin Janelle volunteers to stay in Hope Springs and care for their grandmother, she feels strangely compelled to do the same. It's a decision that will forever change her.

As these women come together, facing disappointments both public and private, they soon recognize that healing is needed in their hearts, their families, and their churches that have long been divided along racial lines. God's plan for them in Hope Springs-and for Hope Springs itself-is bigger than they ever imagined.

My thoughts:
Janelle, Becca and Stephanie comes back to their hometown, Hope Springs, because of a death in the family, but they each end up staying for another reason. This book was all about family, love, God, humility, change, grief, and a plethora of a bunch of other things. It showed how family comes together during tragedy. Janelle, Stephanie and Libby are cousins in the Sanders family. Janelle takes care of her grandmother and learns that she can still love after the loss of her late husband when she sees her first love, Kory, who has his own problems with his soon-to-be ex-wife. Becca Dillon is married to Todd who's father has just died. Becca learns a lesson in humility when things don't work out the way she wants them to. Grandma Geri has her own secrets which makes this story so rich. This story was like a seven layer dip with all the yummy goodness layered on top of one another. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I felt like I truly was in Hope Springs and made friends with these characters. This was a really great book that pulls at your heart-strings.

Review: Being Lara by Lola Jaye

Title:  Being Lara

Author: Lola Jaye

Publisher: HarperCollins

Date Published: March 13, 2012












Lara gets the surprise of her life on her 30th birthday. She is an adoptee of two white Londoners who adopts her from an orphanage in Nigeria. All of her life she has thought of herself as an alien. As a little girl, Lara would get stared at while she was out and about with her parents. At 30, Lara starts a new chapter in her life because she finally gets to discover who she is and where she come from. The story weaved her story and her parents' story to explain why Lara is the way she is. We travel from the past to the present from Africa to London. Lara's grandmother and her best friend Sandi were the voices of reason in this book. It was a fabulous read. The main themes were self-discovery, family and forgiveness. I really enjoyed this book. This was the first book I've read by Lola Jaye and it won't be the last.