{"id":6223,"date":"2014-06-30T12:15:04","date_gmt":"2014-06-30T16:15:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sistahsontheshelf.com\/?p=6223"},"modified":"2020-05-07T20:36:46","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T00:36:46","slug":"cream-by-christiana-harrell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/?p=6223","title":{"rendered":"Cream by Christiana Harrell"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"Publisher\/Date:<\/strong> \u00a0CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Aug. 2013
\nGenre(s):<\/strong>\u00a0 Romance, Sexuality
\nPages:<\/strong>\u00a0 230
\nWebsite:<\/strong>\u00a0 https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/girlnovel<\/a><\/p>\n

Rating:<\/strong> \"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"★\" <\/p><\/strong><\/p>\n

CREAM<\/em><\/strong> is my first\u00a0Christiana Harrell book. *hangs head in shame*<\/p>\n

But it definitely won’t be my last because Harrell, whose Cream<\/em> was a 2014 Lambda Literary Award finalist, truly proved her talents with a book surrounding the life of a character I loved and rooted for the entire way.<\/p>\n

Cream is her stage name, a strip club performer with an androgynous appearance and a beautiful body. Dancing for men became a means to an end after being in a foster home after her parents’ abandonment. The first few pages introduce this past and her take-no-shit personality that serves her well as a stripper.<\/p>\n

But it also gives credence to why she moves from city to city. Why she\u2019s never befriended hardly anyone since her group home days. And why, even with the fights she\u2019s had (and won), there\u2019s still there’s an innocence about her.<\/p>\n

Cream\u2019s sexual naivety is the meat of this book. It\u2019s shown in the way she was drawn to her friend Kitty \u2013 until she suddenly left Cream’s life. In the way she latched onto Payton, the daddy\u2019s girl who shows her being a stud is her real meal ticket \u2013 both professionally and romantically. And when finally she finds unconditional love, she almost runs in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And this realness is what I loved about Cream<\/em>, both the book and the character. This gullibility Cream owns is not a Mary Sue plot device, it\u2019s a journey Harrell writes so we can take this journey with her main character. You feel as if you\u2019re a newbie right along with her, from Kansas City to Atlanta, and everywhere else in between.<\/p>\n

Just the way Cream drops her boxers on the stage, Harrell\u2019s writing leaves it all on the page. There\u2019s very realistic dialogue, the sex is on fire, and Harrell\u2019s voice is loud and clear through Cream<\/em> without muddying the two voices. Her supporting characters also play a big role in the book, to the point where I thought Cream molded herself to any woman who offered her a hand.<\/p>\n

That leads me to my next point that one of the most interesting aspect of Cream hinges on the sexuality of the characters. Though Cream dressed and performed as a stud based on Payton\u2019s advice, it should be noted that Cream sometimes questions defining herself as a stud. Until meeting Payton she wasn\u2019t aware of what a stud was, which at times I did find a skeptical. I could say it was because of her upbringing and her singular focus on survival, but never thinking about who you are sexually was a small part of the book that nagged at me. But her exploration of who she is was genuine.<\/p>\n

Cream<\/em> definitely fulfilled my expectations. The love she found and the book\u2019s conclusion were so fulfilling, and worth the learning curve Cream took to find what I think she was always looking for \u2013 whether she could admit it to herself or not.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s a reason why Harrell has more than 10 books to her name. I plan to read every one of them.<\/p>\n

Reviewed June 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a>8 Quick Questions for Christiana Harrell about Cream<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Tell us about your book, Cream<\/em>.<\/strong><\/span>
\nWell, in as few words as possible, Cream<\/em> is simply a story about a woman who learns some hard lessons about love and money, while discovering her identity and sexuality along her journey.<\/p>\n

Who is Cream?<\/strong><\/span>
\nI want to say that Cream could be any of us, but she\u2019s just too unique to be categorized. She\u2019s carefree, she makes her own rules, she has tunnel vision, she just is.<\/p>\n

One of the things I enjoyed about your novel was it felt as if you put yourself in the head of Cream: being on the stage, discovering her sexuality. How did you create her as a character? Any research involved?<\/strong><\/span>
\nOh, there was plenty of research (lol). If you noticed, in the novel I mentioned real stud strippers like Face and Juicebox. I watched every video that I could find, but this time for \u201cresearch,\u201d rather than enjoyment. I watched their moves carefully and their facial expressions. I had to pay attention to costumes and audience reaction. Basically, none of the things I would normally pay attention to. We tend to forget that during the fantasy they create, they are people and they have lives outside of those neon lights. I try to be my characters in my real life when I write them. The people around me get some great entertainment.<\/p>\n

Is Cream based on a true person or situations?<\/strong><\/span>
\nCream is part fiction and part non-fiction. I don\u2019t remember how this person came up, but my ex-partner and I were talking\/gossiping like most couples do and she was telling me about a \u201cstud\u201d that lived the same lifestyle as Cream. The little bit that I learned made me want to give her a story. I didn\u2019t know this person myself so I had to fill in the blanks. Literally, all I had to go on was a dancer who danced for both men and women because she was \u201cabout her money.<\/p>\n

The gist I took away from Cream<\/em> is that sexuality can\u2019t be defined by roles or labels. Was that your message?<\/strong><\/span>
\nThat was definitely one, the biggest one. Roles seem to be a big deal in our community when they really shouldn\u2019t be. If people can read about Cream and accept her the way that she was, then they can accept anyone.<\/p>\n

Will you continue Cream\u2019s story?<\/strong><\/span>
\nI thought about it, but if I did that, I\u2019d have to continue so many others. I couldn\u2019t stand the pressure<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for Christiana Harrell?<\/strong><\/span>
\nAt the moment, I\u2019m working on the second stud in the \u201cStud Life Series.\u201d Her name is Magic. There are three others that have to come after her. That should keep me busy for the next two years or so. Hopefully, one of them will get an award. I won\u2019t complain.<\/p>\n

Cream<\/em><\/strong> was a finalist for a Lambda Literary Award in the <\/strong>Lesbian General Fiction category. Congratulations! <\/strong>How did it feel to be finalist?<\/strong><\/span>
\nAw man. I literally almost fell out of my chair. The day that I submitted the novel, I honestly did not expect to hear anything back. You\u2019d be surprised how much I doubt myself. Being a finalist definitely gave me confidence, but now I have to top Cream<\/em> and I\u2019m not sure that\u2019s possible. Either way, I\u2019m happy and humbled for the experience.<\/p>\n

Want to know more about Christiana Harrell? Read her Sistahs on the Shelf interview A Sistahs Favorite Things interview.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Publisher\/Date: \u00a0CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, Aug. 2013 Genre(s):\u00a0 Romance, Sexuality Pages:\u00a0 230 Website:\u00a0 https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/girlnovel CREAM is my first\u00a0Christiana Harrell book. *hangs head in shame* But it definitely won’t be my last because Harrell, whose Cream was a 2014 Lambda Literary Award finalist, truly proved her talents with a book surrounding the life of a character […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"NEW SOTS REVIEW: Cream by Christiana Harrell @writeherbooks"},"categories":[4],"tags":[33,44,45,54,126,282,401,430,470,513],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6223"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6223"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6223\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7165,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6223\/revisions\/7165"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.sistahsontheshelf.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}