Category: Book Reviews

Down Low Sistahs by Wakiem Freeman

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Publisher/Date:  Apricot Books International, Feb. 2008
Genre(s):  Contemporary Fiction, Bisexual
Pages:  224

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ 

If you pick up DOWN LOW SISTAHS, here’s a warning: Read at your own risk.

Urban author Wakiem Freeman’s tale of sistahs gone wild is blunt in its approach, to the point that it might offend the delicate black lesbian reader. The eye-opening plot centers around a dude named Nicor, who can’t seem to find a straight sistah to save his life. He tells the story in the most graphic fashion, his exploits downright dirty.

How it all begins is with the surprise his girlfriend Tamar drops on his 25th birthday: she has a girlfriend. This comes after dating him for six months and seeing future with the tall beauty. While he imagined they’d be married and having babies, she was slipping out her female lover. Nicor is incensed, hating the fact he was played like a fiddle.

Nicor is determined to find an honest woman with no lesbian tendencies. Instead he runs into female after female with a scandalous past of licking the cat. Either they’re straight forward with it (no pun intended) or play it off by claiming “that’s just my cousin.” Nicor gets fed up with lies and decides to expose these down low sistahs for what they are. He’s tired of men getting browbeaten about having DL inclinations, when women are out here wilin’ out.

His revenge occurs when Nicor writes a song about these women and catches superstar media attention. It all comes together for the befuddled brotha – until Tamar attempts to re-enter his life.

Freeman, to his credit, does give a candid male perspective to women living double lives, unbeknownst to their male partners. This behavior does happen, but is it possible that every woman he dates has a female lover? What I also didn’t care for was the explicit sex scenes Nicor had with different (read: a lot) women that didn’t add much value to the story. It offended me that he can denounce down low sistahs for their callousness, but he could sleep with woman after woman with little regard. The disrespect surely goes both ways.

The author does grab your attention – even if it’s the wrong kind.

Reviewed May 2008

Grace After Midnight by Felicia “Snoop” Pearson

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Publisher/Date:  Grand Central Publishing, Nov. 2007
Genre(s): Lesbian Real Life, Street Life
Pages:  240
Website:  http://www.myspace.com/bmoresnoop

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

“I’m not making excuses and I’m not feeling sorry for myself. Don’t expect you to feel sorry for me either. Just want to tell my story while it’s fresh.”

And so begins GRACE AFTER MIDNIGHT, the striking autobiography of Felicia “Snoop” Pearson, star of the critically acclaimed HBO series, The Wire. In the short but poignant memoir written with David Ritz, Snoop recants her upbringing in the tough streets of Baltimore, the place that both raised and almost killed her.

Born with cross-eyes and crack in her system thanks to a drug-addicted mother, Snoop had much to overcome in the first moments of her life. She was no more than three pounds at birth, but surpassed the grim expectations placed on her. After years in foster care, she was taken in by a loving older couple, Cora and Levi Pearson. They offered her a good home with Christian values and worked to make sure Snoop had a better life.

Yet it didn’t stop her from taking on the streets. By her pre-teens, Snoop had her first taste as runner whose quiet strength took her far in the game. At 12 years old, she was witnessing murders, drug deals, shakedowns, and way too much for a girl her age. One of her mentors, a man known as “Uncle,” took Snoop under his wing and tried to get her abandon her dangerous behavior, but it was too little too late when Snoop ended in the Jessup State Penitentiary at 14 for murder.

Snoop recalls this night in third person and tells the story of how she ended up killing a girl in self-defense. It landed her a six-year sentence for second-degree murder, but ultimately saved her. While there she turned her life around, gaining a new appreciation for doing the right thing. With Uncle’s help, she left there feeling like she could do anything – and quickly found her good intentions weren’t worth much. That is, until she met Michael K. Williams from The Wire, landing the role of a lifetime with no acting experience.

The rest is history.

Snoop’s story is compelling and heart wrenching. You see the innocence of a child wanting her mother and a heart growing cold from rejection. You also glimpse a woman truly turning her life around, trying to obtain the grace after midnight she found in prison. And you also witness a woman true to her sexuality, being openly gay all her life.

For that, she should be applauded. Bravo, Snoop, bravo.

Reviewed May 2008

Sister Girls 2 by Angel M. Hunter

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Publisher/Date:  Urban Books, Mar. 2008
Genre(s):  Contemporary Fiction, Straight Books with Lesbian Characters
Pages:  288
Website:  http://www.urbanbooks.net/angel.html

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Sequels usually take off where the last novel begins, hopefully with the characters wiser than they were before. This is the case with SISTER GIRLS 2, but author Angel M. Hunter offers a twist from its predecessor by adding new women to the mix.

Wrestling with her sexuality in the last book, Elsie is back with a new job and different goals. She begins Essence of Self, a non-profit organization to benefit young women, and spends most of her time thinking about being a mother. While her biological clock ticks away, Elsie begins realize she made a mistake by letting go of her ex, Summer, and her young daughter. If she hadn’t broken it off, Elsie cold have had the family she wanted. Can she finally make things right between them?

Faith is the counselor employed at Essence, who might need a therapist of her own. She advises women on their issues, but comes home to an empty marriage with her husband Raheem. He saved her from the destructive path she once lived, and will never let her forget it. When she meets a man who loves the new woman she’s become, is it too late for her to save her marriage?

Harmony, the new receptionist at Essence, sees her job as a fresh start. Tired of working dead-end jobs, she wants to make something of herself, and give her three children a better life. Though they all have separate daddies, her boyfriend Shareef has been there for all of them. He wants to give Harmony the world, but she can’t appreciate all he does for their family. Will she figure out that Shareef is truly there for her?

Last but not least is Pastor Bella Gold, who provides a spiritual influence for the center. She struggles with her own demons from her past. Running a church is a responsibility she takes seriously, and feels if her congregation will never accept whom she was before. It gets more complicated when a face from her former days shows up in her pews. Has he come to ruin her chance for redemption?

Hunter’s Sister Girls 2, just like its original, presents readers with four women with pasts they can’t run from. They have to face the truth about their lives, no matter how painful. Unlike Sister Girls, though, it seemed as if the women were more disjointed, but they pull together by the novel’s close. Hunter dug deeper into her characters this time, and it made the experience a little more sisterly.

Reviewed May 2008

My Secrets Your Lies by N’Tyse (Mar. 2008 Pick of the Month)

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Publisher/Date:  A Million Thoughts Publishing, Mar. 2007
Genre(s):  Romance, Street Life
Pages:  229
Website:  http://www.ntyse.com

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

If you’re looking for a dramatic tale about two scandalous females, then MY SECRETS YOUR LIES will definitely fit the bill.

This delicious novel, written by author N’Tyse, is off the chain. It begins with Sand, a hustla willing to do anything to keep her lady Rene satisfied. Both hitting the streets as teens, out in the cruel world, the two became inseparable. Sand was attracted to Rene’s natural good looks and banging body, while Rene was drawn into the security her stud offered. With a little ingenuity, they manage to hold each other down for the long haul.

Everything changes one day for Rene, though. She feels stifled in her relationship and is tired of being treated differently for being gay. She begins seeing someone new (gasp, a man) behind Sand’s back, spitting more lies than President Bush at a FEMA press conference. Yet, Rene is sure her life would be better with a man as her partner than a woman.

Predictably, Rene soon learns that the grass isn’t greener on the other side. Despite her issues with being gay, she realizes where her heart truly is – with Sand – although it might be too little, too late. Too much has happened between them to go back: infidelity, kidnapping, a baby. Will there be enough love to bring them together?

N’Tyse kept me mesmerized with the love affair between Sand and Rene. My Secrets, while it has some exaggerated drama, is true to the life of some black lesbians. Urban lesbian novels are on the rise in the literary world, and N’Tyse has created one of the better ones. It’s a story I would recommend to both women in the life and straight folks who want to understand what the lifestyle is all about.

You will undoubtedly be schooled.

Reviewed March 2008

In the Game by Nikki Baker

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Publisher/Date:  Naiad Press, Sept. 1991
Genre:  Mystery
Pages:  224

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

When your best friend’s lover turns up dead, do you:

a. accuse your friend of murder
b. hire her a top-notch attorney who begins stalking you after your affair goes sour
c. begin your own investigation that almost gets you killed
d. all of the above

If you picked D, you’re one step ahead in Nikki Baker’s debut, IN THE GAME, a mystery starring Virginia “Ginny’ Kelly as an amateur detective trying to piece together a crime of passion.

What begins as a romance through the personals for Ginny’s best friend, Bev, ends as a homicide. Bev meets Kelsey through the newspaper, and they do the whole U-Haul thing after only a month of dating. Ginny is skeptical of the whole arrangement, always having a soft spot for Bev and detesting the way Kelsey took advantage of her. The last straw is when Ginny discovers Kelsey is being unfaithful to Bev, and she has to find a way to tell her friend that her lover is no good.

But she never gets a chance to – Kelsey winds up dead shortly thereafter. Despite their differences, however, Ginny never wanted Kelsey to be killed.

On top of all this, Ginny has her own fish to fry with Em, her white lover of three years. They’ve reached a plateau in their relationship where it’s neither good nor bad, but just is; the lesbian bed death has hit their household and Ginny can’t find a cure — until she meets Susan, the attorney enlisted to help Bev in her sticky situation.

Aside from these issues, Ginny doesn’t want to see her friend framed for this heinous crime. The two have remained tight since their days at a lily-white business school, depending on each other in a world that caters to the white majority. They need each other for strength and that familiar, unspoken comfort that comes being sistahs. It’s only right that when Kelsey is murdered that Ginny try to track down her killer. What Ginny uncovers, though, is way more than she bargained for, cause Kelsey has way more skeletons in her closet than is allowed.

Baker manages to engage with In the Game, providing an interesting picture of an upper-scale, professional black lesbian. Ginny knows the game well enough to play it with finesse, and has a great sense of whom she is. The story was a little predictable in parts, but I will be glad to read more in this mystery series featuring a great sleuthing sistah.

Reviewed March 2008

The Lezory Files by Safari Ann Jones and Rose Sutra

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Publisher/Date:  Lulu, July 2007
Genre:  Lesbian Real Life
Pages:  166
Website:  http://www.lulu.com/content/921620

Rating: ★★½☆☆ 

Safari Ann Jones and Rose Sutra’s THE LEZORY FILES speaks volumes that love is surely a killer.

This memoir recounts the experiences of Safari and Rose’s rocky road to true love, a street littered with unfulfilled dreams and broken hearts. They share their experiences in the life – some of them happy, most not. The pain and disappointment of lesbian love are detailed from their childhoods to discovering first and finding everlasting love. The real-life stories they describe are relatable to the black lesbian experience in that we all have dealt with coming to terms with ourselves and trying to find our place in the world. Poems from the authors are also included in the book.

Growing up for Safari was a time full of lost dreams. She discovered the sweetness of women through her innocent crushes on girls but it was years before she would fully admit her preference. Even now, she sums up her lifestyle as being a “choosebian,” meaning she is straight and choses to be with women.

Rose, on the other hand, always knew she was gay, but it didn’t stop the wreckage she endured in her life. Being abused when she was younger took its toll on her adult life, but it leads her to Safari and their intense relationship, where the pair fell hard after two chance meetings. All of the drama they faced was worth finding love with each other — right?

In The Lezory Files, Safari and Rose gear this book to black lesbians as “a wake up” call to love one another and ourselves, and the authors’ purpose was fulfilled as they bared it all, from happiness to heartbreak. It reads more like novel than a real-life story. Nothing was held back, intricate and sordid, and accounts like these are honest and reflect, in some part, our lives. We love and hurt like everyone else. What made the book a little bitter, though, were the excessive grammatical errors throughout the book. Parts of the book were choppy, as well, and it made for a belabored reading.

Yet I will say had The Lezory Files been edited more, it would have been a great story of two women finding love in all the wrong places – but still hopeful that it will conquer all.

Reviewed March 2008

Orchids II Reality or Fantasy by The Lesbian Goddess

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Publisher/Date:  Women of Choice LLC, May 2007
Genre:  Erotica
Pages:  56
Website:  http://www.womenofchoice.com

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Can you tell the difference between fantasy and reality?

The Lesbian Goddess straddles the distinction between these realms in ORCHIDS II REALITY OR FANTASY, a short but sweet collection of bonafide bedroom bliss. This second in a series is the sequel to Orchids: African American Lesbian Erotica One Night Stands, and this time it’s every woman’s desires on display.  Ranging from poetic lovemaking to kinky sex shop romps, seven unique stories make up this compilation and every one is well worth the read.

It begins with “Sensual Exploration,” a picturesque, sensory escapade between two very sensual women. Their lovemaking is described in such graphic language that one can visualize the romantic rendezvous with the unnamed women. Then in “Making My Rounds,” a nighttime security guard finds her job to be much more stimulating when she sees a sexy co-worker in a compromising position — with herself. While her job requires her to take action, the voyeur in her can’t resist wanting to join in the festivities.

Everyone has got a certain “Weakness,” and a sexually uninhibited woman Mil meets at a party is hers. The two hit it off, but Weakness wants the sex with no strings attached; the issue is can Mil handle that. And there’s always that special someone you can’t seem to shake, even when it’s over. That’s what an anonymous woman faces when she begins feenin’ for her former lover in “My Ex.” Can she break the hold her ex has over her?

Naughty walks this way in “Get Yo Freak On,” as a stud tries to find just the right sexual items to turn her girl on and gets a very hands-on lesson from the adult store worker. Trust, she leaves there with more than just a bag of goodies. Then a femme turns the tables in “Shangri-La,” taming three seemingly aggressive women with her feminine wiles. It’s all a part of her game and she loves the thrill it gives her to doiminate a stud.

Finally, Natalie takes a first-class plane ride and falls for Vanessa, her flight attendant. Lucky for her, the stewardess pays extra special attention to the stud passenger, and they finally hookup when the other customers have been taken care of. Then Natalie gets more service than she ever expected.

The Lesbian Goddess creates this world of sensual adventures that gets you every time. This was a more enjoyable outing than the previous one, as it seemed the author turned up the heat on this second pleasure trip. Even with only a few pages per story, I was very aroused — and relished it. The tawdry tales are hot and you will enjoy every one of them.

I know my girlfriend did.

Reviewed March 2008

In the Company of My Sistahs by Angie Daniels

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Publisher/Date:  Dafina, Jan. 2007
Genre(s):  Contemporary Fiction, Straight Books with Lesbian Characters
Pages:  448
Website:  http://www.angiedaniels.com

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

The tomfoolery of four females in Jamaica is at the center of IN THE COMPANY OF MY SISTAHS, written in fun and all seriousness by romance author Angie Daniels.

Sistahs reads like a black soap opera with all the drama consumed in its 488 pages. The book is mostly narrated by Renee Moore, the wild child of the women, who has been through two failed marriages. It will soon be three if Renee can help it. And what her current husband doesn’t give her, she finds in frivolous flings. Going on this trip with her sister and two friends was just what she needs to make a decision about her marriage – if she can manage the time between her many suitors on the island.

Her big sister, Lisa, is using this trip to break some heart-wrenching news to her younger sibling. Figuring the sun and surf of Jamaica would provide a relaxing backdrop to reveal her devastating confession, she only hopes that the secret will help Renee realize that life is too short to take granted.

If anyone needs that lesson it’s their friend Kayla, who has resorted to being the mistress of a married man. She spends most of her time catering to the illicit ills of a Baptist preacher whom she’s sure will leave his wife and soon make her a minister’s wife. Kayla can’t see beyond her weight that she is a woman worthy to be loved. A man she meets on the island hopes to change her mind.

Last, but certainly not least, is Nadine, a closeted lesbian who has a great relationship with her lover, Jordan. She knows Jordan is exactly what she needs in her life, but familial obligations won’t allow her to reveal the woman she’s in love with – even to her closest friends.

I could turn the pages fast enough with Sistahs, and I didn’t want to because I was afraid I would miss something. The plot is so detailed and the characters’ flaws were so undisguised. Daniels wrote the novel in a candid and honest fashion, almost the point you wanted to knock some sense into the ladies. She also provided enough background of the characters that you could understand why they do what they do. And by the book’s end, you realize that they are far from perfect.

I would definitely recommend Sistahs for anyone who wants a quick and entertaining story with heart.

Reviewed February 2008

The Lesbian’s Wife by Sidi

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Publisher/Date:  Harlem Book Center, Mar. 2006
Genre(s): Contemporary Fiction, Romance, Young Adult
Pages:  282

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Imagine being abducted from the life you knew and the woman you fell in love with…

That’s the predicament Aisha Kone finds herself in when a vacation to the motherland goes horribly wrong in THE LESBIAN’S WIFE. Aisha’s story begins in New York City, where she grew up the daughter of an African immigrant. Despite the worship of her father in the Islamic community, Aisha was being tortured at his hands, as well witnessing the mistreatment of her own mother. Being a woman in an Islamic household meant she had no power, and she vowed never to be tied down to religion if it means giving up being whom she is.

While seeing her case worker, Aisha meets Beyonce (no, not the singer), and they begin a romance, finding solace in helping each other overcome their tragic upbringings while falling in love. Once her father finds out, he is outraged. He figures he has to do something about his wayward daughter before it’s too late. So he arranges a trip for Aisha’s birthday, an African vacation to her homeland of the Ivory Coast.

Aisha naively accepts. She’s so excited, so much that she doesn’t realize the trap about to befall her. She makes it to her destination, and the trip begins with much excitement. She visits areas she’s only dreamed about and talked with people who paint her a colorful image of the land where her father grew up. When Aisha’s about to depart the beautiful country, however, she’s abducted.

Forced to be with an older Islamic preacher, Aisha becomes one of four wives of the Marabout, arranged through her dear old daddy, and and is forced to be with the older Islamic preacher. She’s held captive as a concubine and doesn’t know when she’ll see her family again, most importantly, her girlfriend Beyonce. How will she ever find her way back home?

Author Sidi has created a tale that could very well happen in this day and age. The Lesbian’s Wife has promise as an energetic, informative piece of work, but some details could have been a bit sharper. It’s too bad Aisha never followed her instincts – otherwise she might not have been in the situation she was, but she learns a valuable lesson that she shares with others. And in the end, it only makes her stronger.

I enjoyed the relationship between Aisha and Beyonce, which demonstrated that the power of love can survive even the direst of circumstances.

Reviewed February 2008

London Reign by A.C. Britt

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Publisher/Date:  Ghettoheat, Sept. 2007
Genre(s):  Street Life, Young Adult
Pages:  224
Website:  http://www.ghettoheat.com

Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

If your back is against the wall, what do you do? Do you cower in fear or fight back?

If you’re 16-year-old London Walters, the protagonist of LONDON REIGN, you’re both a lover and a fighter. For most of her young life, London has been fighting against everything – living with an alcoholic father, surviving the inner-city Boston streets, being gay and being perceived as a man. Unbeknownst to most women she dates, London is a man trapped in a woman’s body. The love-em-and-leave-em playboy needs a special woman that can handle her and give her a reason to settle down.

London thinks she might have the one – until one night she is forced to leave home. It’s not something she wants, especially since she would have to abandon her little sister, Shantell, whom she always promised to protect. But she leaves anyway, taking a bus ride to Detroit, where she settles with little money and nowhere to stay.

She looks for employment in an auto shop, and runs into the boss’ daughter, Mercedes. London finds her attractive but hesitates because Mercedes is a bitch with a capital B; she doesn’t want to mix business with pleasure. The pair begin dating, yet it comes to a head when Mercedes learns the truth about London’s past. It jeopardizes her job and her well being.

But London’s a hustler, and has never let anyone keep her down for too long.

A.C. Britt’s London Reign takes you into the world of doing what you gotta do to stay alive. London is a real stud-thug, but you see she has heart. Good storytelling is the gift you’ll receive in reading London Reign. You’ll want to know what happens next to the bad boy, and if she makes it out.

Reviewed February 2008