Callaloo and Other Lesbian Love Tales by LaShonda K. Barnett

sots Leave a comment

Publisher/Date:  New Victoria Publishers, Oct. 1999
Genre(s):  Short Story, Romance
Pages:  123
Website:  http://www.lashondabarnett.com

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Stories of love, loss and affection are finely written in CALLALOO &OTHER LESBIAN LOVE TALES. LaShonda K. Barnett book consists of 17 tasty morsels, each one portraying a distinct flavor of black lesbian love.

All of the tales are written realistically and with passion and soul, and cross various eras, locations and cultural variations for their inspiration. From the late 1950s to the present, Barnett presents these sensuous journeys that travel straight to the heart.

In the first story, “The Homecoming of Narda Boggs,” it’s 1959 Texas, and Jeannie Mae has fallen for the boss’ daughter, discovering that being with Narda is much more exciting than being with her beau, Booker. “Rituals” finds Nella and Muriel more settled with each other in their old age, while Lilah finds her cinematic muse with Kelsea, a white woman she tries hard not to love.

“Miss Hannah’s Lesson” is one of the highlights of Callaloo, and it beautifully portrays the love between a house slave named Sarah and her mistress, Miss Hannah. Hannah cares so much for Sarah she helps the girl learn to read in spite of the trouble it could cause. Through Sarah’s teachings, their love develops so effortlessly despite the differences in their skin color and stations in life.

Every sound has Lily “Remembering Hortense,” and food takes on a passionate meaning in “Breakfast with Dinah.” Shawn can’t play the fool anymore in “The Telephone Call,” while Dorie’s fascination with gay symbols in “Black Triangles, Rainbows and Dykes” helps her figure out whom she is.

Another highlight of Callaloo is the story “Meatloaf,” a woman who agonizes over her lover’s death, but realizes that life with Carmen wasn’t a walk in the park. She relives the pain of living with an alcoholic lover, and decides that she’s been grieving over Carmen far before her tragic death.

A girlfriend’s illness brings a couple closer together in “New Kid on the Block,” and “It Happened One Sunday Afternoon: A True Story” that a young girl falls for a much older woman despite what the world thinks. And Lynn gets a sensuous surprise when her girlfriend unexpectedly shows up in “Tennessee.”

“Losing Sight of Lavender” is a poignant tale about Sael, a lesbian in a HIV-positive support group coming to terms with her mortality. Going to her meetings helps her to reminisce on her life and hope for a better tomorrow despite the prognosis she’s been given.

“Bitter Wine” finds Leta rekindling a friendship with a childhood friend, while an anonymous couple recalls how they met in a “Conversation at Lucy’s.” Death takes its toll “When Sunny Gets Blue,” and a Linda brings a taste of home to her lover with a pot of “Callaloo,” the title story.

Barnett does an excellent job with Callaloo and these adoring tales. It shows the many forms love can take, and just how we all can’t live without a taste.

Reviewed February 2006

Loving Her by Ann Allen Shockley

sots 2 Comments

Publisher/Date:  Northeastern University Press, Oct. 1994
Genre(s):  Romance, Mature Lesbians
Pages:  187

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

That which we call a rose by any other name is just as sweet, and the love between a black musician and a white writer can be just touching in LOVING HER, Ann Allen Shockley’s tragic story about an interracial romance.

When the novel begins, Renay Lee is packing her suitcase and trying quietly to escape with her daughter, Denise, to escape her abusive, alcoholic husband, Jerome. The mother and daughter run to Terry Bluvard, a wealthy white woman Renay’s fallen in love with. They live together quite nicely and Renay finally feels free from Jerome Lee’s suffocating grasp.

Renay met Terry while working as a musician in an upscale supper club, and introduces herself to the writer after she requests a song. It was something Terry that drew her to the woman so different from herself, a woman who grew up with a silver spoon her mouth, compared to Renay’s meager upbringing. Here was a woman who with one touch could make her feel things she never though possible, after years of detached feeling with Jerome Lee. Things at home with her husband are worse than ever and the last straw comes when Jerome sells her beloved piano, the one thing her hard-working mother was able to give her daughter.

So she runs to Terry, a woman who is able to give her what she’s been missing: love. They make a great home together, for themselves and Denise. Jerome Lee is a miserable mess, and tries his hardest to make life a living hell for her, terrorizing her and stalking their home at every turn. He can’t fathom that Renay can actually make it without him, and tries his hardest to get her back.

It all comes to a head when Jerome Lee discovers whom she left him for, and his outrage is evident: Renay’s left him for a woman! His anger leads to tragic events, and Renay has to figure out whether her guilt will allow her to love a woman despite the pain their relationship has caused.

Shockley makes it quite clear that love has no boundaries in Loving Her. Black or white, genuine affection is what’s most important. She doesn’t sugarcoat the romance between Renay and Terry, as they encounter many roadblocks to their love. Shockley spells out their pitfalls and outlines their sensitive love story with care. Flowery writing is still her trademark, and although it makes the story too long-winded at times, it kind of works here, keeping you on the edge of your seat.

Loving Her is a great love story for anyone who believes in beating the odds.

Reviewed February 2006

Speaking in Whispers: African-American Lesbian Erotica by Kathleen E. Morris

sots 1 Comment

Publisher/Date:  Third Side Press, Oct. 1996
Genre(s):  Short Story, Erotica
Pages:  161

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

Sometimes sweet, sometimes sour can best describe these outrageous tales of lesbian passion in Kathleen E. Morris’ SPEAKING IN WHISPERS: AFRICAN-AMERICAN LESBIAN EROTICA.

Morris has compiled 14 stories of lesbian lust with candor, with four interludes named for a season thrown in as a quick tease. The style and characters are contemporary, and some will leave you hot and bothered. Here, black lesbians are referred to as “wimmin” or a “womon,” Morris’ own term she coined.

In “HER,” a womon meets HER on a crowded train and lives out her fantasy with the stranger, while Loren has to teach her stud a “Lesson” she’ll never forget. Jaime gets a “Second Chance” at love with a new wommon after boarding up her heart.

Speaking in Whispers does manage to venture out for pleasure. A trip to “The Movies” gets a little freaky for one pair, and a spicy encounter with a womon at “The Club” gets Tita’s blood racing. In “The Painter,” an art student finds a new source of inspiration with a sexy classmate, while an overworked womon gets a different kind of treatment at “The Spa.” “Appetizers” are what’s on the menu for Carmen and Paula, two wimmin wanting to taste the rainbow.

Making time for love is also a theme in Speaking. At “The Festival,” a security guard at a wimmin’s camp can hardly find sometime alone with an exotic, dreadlocked beauty vying her a little of her attention. “The Honeymoon Cottage” is where it all goes down between Hillary and Sonia, two passionate wimmin with no time for each other between their busy schedules. Kimberly finally gets her fantasy with “Pongee,” a professor she’s lusted after for years and gets her chance with years later.

Other tales include a lover getting caught looking in her girl’s “Honey Eyes,” while there’s nowhere for desire to hide in “The Exit.” “The Gateway” leads Patrice to another dimension, one where an erotic alien is taught the real meaning of human sexuality.

Morris’ stories are titillating, but a few didn’t hit the spot. There were a couple of stories that left me hanging with how short they were, and there were a couple that just didn’t do it for me. And I’m not quite sure what the seasonal interludes were supposed to do. Morris also should focus more on making her stories more varied and wide-ranging, as sometimes I felt I was reading the same story twice.

But most of the tales I enjoyed, the ones that managed to do their job, leaving me craving for more.

Reviewed February 2006

You Make Me Wanna by Nikki Rashan (Jan. 2006 Pick of the Month)

sots 1 Comment

Publisher/Date:  iUniverse, Nov. 2005
Genre:  Romance
Pages:  202
Website:  http://www.nikkirashan.com

Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Kyla, Kyla, Kyla.

The naïve heroine from Nikki Rashan’s Double Pleasure Double Pain is back in YOU MAKE ME WANNA, this time armed with the truth about who she is. This sequel picks up where Kyla left off, trying to decide between the man she is to marry and the woman who stole her heart. When she finally does choose, Kyla has lost them both, and instead heads to Atlanta with out-cousin David to begin her newly-minted lesbian life.

In “the gay Mecca of the South,” Kyla throws herself in numerous sexual affairs with women, avoiding at all costs a deeper connection. She’s still holding on to the hurt she felt from her two previous relationships that went sour. It prevents her from giving herself completely to another woman, afraid to feel any type of pain again.

Until she meets Asia, the exotic beauty Kyla spies one afternoon. Enraptured by her luxurious locks and ebony complexion, Kyla wants to meet this woman and does after a set up by David’s boyfriend, Marlon. And just one meeting with Asia tells Kyla that she’s the one. They begin a courtship, and Kyla has to deal with letting go of her past to commit to her future. Their relationship is built slowly, as Asia’s been hurt, as well, but their love for each other heals the wounds.

You Make Me Wanna definitely keeps your attention. Kyla is an engaging character who has an honest voice. You will journey with her through love at first sight and on her way to happily ever after. The secondary characters — David, Marlon, and friend Nakia – added something extra to the tale, as the three characters deal with their own issues.

Rashan wraps up the Kyla saga very well, settling all unanswered questions from the first book, and manages to make Kyla a character to remember. She feels like an old friend who’s coming back to catch you up on her life…and you’re hanging on to every word.

Reviewed January 2006

Ain’t Gonna Be the Same Fool Twice by April Sinclair

sots Leave a comment

Publisher/Date:  Harper, Feb. 1997
Genre(s):  Coming of Age, College Life
Pages:  324
Website:  http://www.aprilsinclair.net

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Everything feels fresh and exciting much like Stevie in AIN’T GONNA BE THE SAME FOOL TWICE, this colorful sequel to Coffee Will Make You Black.

By the novel’s start, Stevie has graduated high school and is leaving and is leaving to attend college in a small Illinois town not too far from her native Chicago. Although the school is predominately white, Stevie manages to hang with Black folk, making fast friends with Sharlinda and Today. But it’s her relationship with French girl Celeste that proves to be her life-changing moment: that’s when Stevie discovers the delicious taste of a woman.

It’s also confirmed when she, Today and Sharlinda travel to San Francisco for a getaway after graduating college. After her buddies ditch her dates, Stevie decides to explore the city on her own by going to a women-only dance. There she meets Traci, one of the few sistahs in the place. The two hit it off, and pretty soon Stevie decides to stay in San Francisco to carve out a life of her own.

Stevie moves in with Traci, taking over the room and rent for one of the roommates who’s traveling abroad. Although the romantic relationship is great with Traci, it’s hard for Stevie to adjust to the city a first; trying to find a job is pure hell and San Francisco has its share of far-out folk. But you can never keep a Black woman down, and Stevie’s willing to explore new experiences. It’s 1975, and the world is changing; Stevie wants to change along with it.

In time Stevie finds out the more things change, the more things stay the same. Racism might to be as blatant in the City by the Bay as it is in the Windy City, but people are still hung up on color. And after her affair with Traci goes sour, she discovers love is a bitch, too. But she takes everything in stride, and learns that you can be a fool, but you won’t ever be the same fool twice.

Sinclair’s Ain’t Gonna Be is dynamite. Stevie’s spunky character is a hoot, complete with the 70’s lingo and all. The story is fulfilling and leaves you wanting more. Although not as sweet as its predecessor, it’s still a funky good time.

Reviewed January 2006

Black Girl in Paris by Shay Youngblood

sots 1 Comment

Publisher/Date:  Riverhead Books, Jan. 2001
Genre:  Coming of Age
Pages:  238
Website:  http://www.shayyoungblood.com

Rating: ★★★★½ 

When reading Shay Youngblood’s BLACK GIRL IN PARIS, you’ll feel as if you’ve stepped in to France’s capital city yourself. You’ll rendezvous with Eden, the protagonist in Youngblood’s adventurous tale, as she travels the city in search of literary greatness and her mentor, James Baldwin.

Eden grew up a poor Southern girl in Birmingham, when in the late 1960s, the racial climate was violent at its worst. The four girls killed in the infamous church bombing was a significant event in Eden’s young life, and she vows to one day live in a city where life is free. In Paris, Eden believes, black people are just people and not a color.

So at age 26, recently graduated and looking for something more, Eden takes off to Paris. She arrives with only $200 but hopes to gain immeasurable riches from life experiences.

During her stay in the City of Lights, Eden befriends many eccentric personalities, including her flamboyant tour guide, Indego, who shows her the real Paris that tourists never see. She also involves herself in romantic tête-à-tête with Ving, a white jazz musician. It is with him that despite how liberated Paris seems, she’s reminded with disdain that she’s still a black woman. Eden also engages in an erotic friendship with a woman, Luce, which teaches her the true meaning of love.

Every adventure, every moment is vividly captured in Eden’s expedition in Paris that you feel as if you’re there, traveling with her through the French boulevards and savoring the foods. Although her outing was the poor man’s experience of Paris–many days she didn’t know where she would lay her head that night– she emerged a much stronger person.

Youngblood’s lyrical prose was superb, and her characters rang true. I wouldn’t take nothing her
Eden’s journey now — except to one day go myself.

Reviewed January 2006

Jada by Denise Alexander

sots Leave a comment

Publisher/Date:  iUniverse, July 2005
Genre:  Romance
Pages:  100

Rating: ★★★½☆ 

If I had three words to describe JADA, author Denise Alexander’s debut novel, it would be: no more drama!

Alexander’s tale is the semi-erotic tale of Jada Williams, a sexy diva in a new relationship with femme Shanice. Jada, who’s only out to her friends, has been in the life for a few years, and thinks she has finally met the perfect woman. After meeting at a club, the two hit it off and get pretty serious after a couple of months.

Both Jada and Shanice have endured dead-end relationships in their in their pasts that took tolls on their souls. Jada learned she can’t be something she’s not to please others, while Shanice survived endured an abusive affair. They lean on each other and try to trust again, though it’s not easy.

Everything is peachy for the pair until Shanice loses her job. Jada soon learns the real Shanice is ugly — and it takes something piercing for Jada to realize that Shanice is not as perfect as she seems.

Alexander is a good storyteller, I’ll give her that. But Jada moves too quickly to for the reader to get a real hold of the characters. The novel’s namesake comes off kind of immature and shallow at times, and the couple’s problems seem to be easily solved with sex. The grammatical errors also take away from the tale, too.

However, I do recommend Jada for lazy afternoon read — one that starts off good but ends too
swiftly.

Reviewed January 2006

What Becomes of the Brokenhearted: A Memoir by E. Lynn Harris (Oh Brotha! Feature)

sots Leave a comment

Publisher/Date:  Doubleday, July 2003
Genre(s):  Autobiography, Oh Brotha! Feature
Pages:  288
Website:  http://www.elynnharris.com

Rating: ★★★★★ 

Bestselling author E. Lynn Harris speaks to the weary in WHAT BECOMES OF THE BROKENHEARTED, a story tailored to the heart.

Harris’ memoir recounts both horrid and triumphant moments in his life, through the eyes of a man who never grew comfortable in his own skin. He was always looking for acceptance through others, instead of himself.

Harris grew up a poor, Little Rock, Ark. boy, dreaming of one day becoming a success. Although he did become a well-known author, his journey was paved with pain. His father physically and emotionally abused him because he wasn’t like other boys. Lynn, as he was known, was a tad more effeminate and caught hell for it almost daily. It was only when his mother divorced her abusive husband that Lynn got any peace in the house.

Searching for the love he never received from his father, Lynn began looking for approval through being the class clown. When that got him nowhere, he then used his intelligence for good and became an upright student. However Lynn was still confused about his sexuality. He knew loving men was wrong and set about acting straight despite his true feelings.

After a successful college experience where he met “men like him,” he landed a great job at IBM but couldn’t find success in love. In the course of 15 years, he moved to five different cities, each time after some love of his life broke his heart. And each time he sank deeper into depression, so deep that at times he wanted to take his own life.

The two things that saved him was his faith in God and his writing. Harris new he was here for a reason, and that purpose was to write. His first novel, Invisible Life, saved him from himself.

Brokenhearted is a motivating book not only for black gays and lesbians, but for everyone who never felt worthy. Reading it gives you the armor to fight your battles and to keep your head and your heart up.

Reviewed January 2006

Am I My Sister’s Keeper? by S. Stephens (Dec. 2005 Pick of the Month)

sots 3 Comments

Publisher/Date:  iUniverse, Sept. 2005
Genre(s):  Romance, Coming Out
Pages: 164

Website:  http://www.sstephens.info

Rating: ★★★★★ 

When your head is torn between your sexuality and the expectations your parents, where does that leave your heart? That is the struggle starkly captured in S. Stephens’ debut novel, AM I MY SISTER’S KEEPER? Stephens brings the protagonist Elise James to life, along with her grueling inner struggle to both stay true to herself while pleasing her family.

Elise has acknowledged her attraction to women since she was 15 years old. With that knowledge, she delved into the world of same sex relationships only to have it blow up in her face when her parents learn of her “lesbian episodes.” It plants a wedge between Elise and her parents, and ruins the relationship with her younger sister, Lynn. It’s then Elise realizes the world does not accept her kind of love, and after a four-year respite at a college far from home, she leaves women behind to live a “normal” life. She doesn’t want to put her family through any more pain and yearns to be the daughter her parents could be proud of.

After settling at home in Miami, Elise begins dating Grayson, a high school classmate. They become serious very quickly, and are engaged within weeks – to the pleasure of her parents, but to the chagrin of her other “family” – best friends Carmen, Iran and Donna. They know Elise is simply fooling herself being with Gray. In spite of disagreeing with her decision, the friends take Elise out to celebrate, and that’s where Elise meets Symphony.

Symphony is the type of woman Elise has always desired – smart, sexy and self-confident. Despite being engaged to Gray and, she begins seeing Symphony on the sly, carrying on a wicked tryst. Elise is torn between the perfection of Symphony and the perfect life she has mapped out for herself with Gray.

Meanwhile, baby sister Lynn is falling through the cracks. Lynn always looked to Elise, but because of Elise couldn’t be true to herself, she fails Lynn. Their parents spent so much time trying to keep Elise “straight” that Lynn acts out to receive any attention at all. When Lynn’s so far gone that the worse happens, it takes the whole family by shock, but finally brings them together.

Am I My Sister’s Keeper? is a heart-wrenching tale of a woman who sacrifices her heart and soul to please her family. It takes her a while but Elise figures out that being herself, without qualms, takes true courage. S. Stephens writes a true story with intensity and a great ring of truth. The plot is carried out smoothly, to a climax that will keep the reader hanging on for dear life. Make room on your bookshelf for Stephens as she is an author worth reading every single time.

Reviewed December 2005

Coffee Will Make You Black by April Sinclair

sots 2 Comments

Publisher/Date:  Harper, Feb. 1995
Genre(s):  Young Adult, Coming Out
Pages: 256
Website:  http://www.aprilsinclair.net

Rating: ★★★★★ 

I can remember reading COFFEE WILL MAKE YOU BLACK as a teenager. It was the first novel that truly moved me. Rereading it years later, it still touches me.

Coffee Will Make You Black, the classic coming-of-age novel by acclaimed author April Sinclair, follows Jean “Stevie” Stevenson as a teen growing up late 1960s Chicago. Back then, times were truly a-changing: black folks were still known as colored, but were slowly beginning to embrace the mantra “Black is beautiful.” It was an era where parents wouldn’t let their children drink coffee for fear it would darken their skin color. Social unrest and the civil rights movement were in full force. Born to working poor parents—her mother a bank teller, her father a janitor—Stevie, as she’s affectionately known, is just a black girl is trying to make her way through adolescence in one piece.

At the novel’s beginning, Stevie is 11 and a half and in the sixth grade. She’s in that awkward stage, flat-chested and taller than most of her male classmates. Her skin is the color of Cracker Jacks, but “most Negroes didn’t get excited over folks who were darker than a paper bag.

Stevie’s only desire is to be popular, to hang with Carla, the girl everyone adores. She finally gets her wish when, after an altercation, the two become fast friends. Carla’s a lot faster than Stevie and teaches her a lot about life.

The novel traces Stevie’s five years of her life, from first crushes to first kisses to first love. She learns a lot about herself through her friendships and her family, all while trying to pave her way in a racially-conscious time. But Stevie does make a white friend in Nurse Horne, one of the few Caucasian faculty members at her predominately black school. Nurse Horne believes in her and tells her she can become anything she puts her mind to. She also lets Stevie know it’s ok to be “funny,” to embrace her blossoming sexuality.

Written with great heart and down-home humor, Sinclair’s debut novel sizzles and makes a bold statement about being black and being yourself. Coffee has a fresh voice and takes you back to being young and trying find your way in this world. Sinclair has crafted a novel that 10 years later, still resonates with the little black girl in all of us.

Reviewed December 2005