After the Dance by Lori Johnson

Reviewed by Gypsy Culp Houston

Sometimes I feel like reading a good romance novel. However, I often find the storyline to be very formulaic….Girl meets boy, boy likes girl, their love faces a challenge, but in the end the challenge is overcome and they live happily ever after. After the Dance broke the usual formula.

The story centers on Faye and her neighbor Carl. After being neighbors for months their paths finally cross and the two become friends. Eventually, Faye presents Carl with the opportunity of three no strings attached, no looking back, hit it and quit it rendezvous. Figuring he would be a fool to pass that up, Carl accepts. This is where the story gets interesting. As their feelings grow, Faye is hesitant to admit that Carl just might be the guy for her. When a blast from the past enters the picture and brings along ancient drama, Faye is forced to make a choice. She does not choose Carl.

As the story progresses, the reader learns more about the history of both Carl and Faye. Several circumstances have led up the choices being made and to the emotions involved. After the Dance, does not end with, “Happily Ever After” but on a high note full of possibilities.

Now let’s talk about the writing itself. This book is very well written and unlike some romance novels, it is believable. While the main characters are thoroughly developed, the secondary characters understandably lack depth. It would have been nice to learn more about Nora, Squirrel and even Betty, but there is plenty of time for that Johnson’s next book.

Johnson allowed both main characters to tell their story in first person. It is interesting to see how differently each one perceives certain events. The conversational tone lets the reader feel as if Carl and Faye are sharing their deepest thoughts and concerns. This allows the reader to become invested in the story.

After the Dance is not your run of the mill romance novel. There is enough juice for those interested in that type of thing, but also enough meat for those of us that require a little more sustenance. Lori Johnson does a good job of allowing the reader to become concerned with the characters and their well-being. After reading After the Dance, I look forward to hearing more from Lori Johnson.

Girls Hold Up This World by Jada Pinkett Smith

Reviewed by Gypsy Culp Houston

I read Jada Pinkett Smith's Girls Hold Up This World, years ago, and I thought that it was a very powerful, affirming book for young girls. I vowed that if I ever had a little girl, this would be required reading.

Fast forward a few years, and I finally got the chance to share Girls Hold Up This World with my three year old daughter. She thoroughly enjoyed it, but her favorite part was when I explained that the little girl on the cover was same girl that sings her favorite song, "I Whip My Hair Back and Forth."

While some of the affirming messages of self love and acceptance, were lost on my three year old, she loved seeing pictures of different little girls. Just seeing positive images of girls, many of which were of color, opened up a dialogue between the two of us about all the great things that girls can do and dream and be. This book helped me to explain to my daughter that being a girl doesn't look like one particular thing. We are all different, we are all valuable, we are all beautiful and we all "hold up this world."

Eight Days: A Story of Haiti by Edwidge Danticat

Reviewed by Gypsy Culp Houston

Eight Days tells the story of Junior, Haitian boy, who was trapped under the rubble of his house after the Port-au-Prince earthquake. Junior uses memories of family times past and his imagination to keep himself occupied during the eight days leading up to his rescue.

The illustrations in this book are simply beautiful. The richness of Haiti shines through the vivid colors and expressive drawings. The spirit of determination and survival are evident in this moving children's book. Eight days gives the reader a much needed positive view of Haiti and the resilience of the Haitian people.

A Million Blessing by Angela Benson, Marilynn Griffith and Tia McCollors

Reviewed by Gypsy Culp Houston

A Million Blessing consists of three novellas written by established Christian fiction authors. Each novella deals with the main character winning the lottery. These stories are not your mother’s Christian fiction. Each author presents a different story with varied circumstances and diverse results. All three writers create characters that are relatable and for the most part likeable.

In Angela Benson’s Showers of Blessings, the reader is introduced to Andrew Gooden, a man of the cloth with a secret. He has a severe gambling problem that could cost him everything, or will it make all his dreams come true? The reader witnesses Andrew’s weakness bring him extreme wealth only to be brought right back to the brink by his little problem. In the end will Andrew learn from his mistakes or continually repeat them?

In Marilyn Griffith’s Second Chance Blessings, Craig Richards an injured professional football player has lost his career, his money and his wife. After so much loss, the one place he can go is home to his aunt in Tampa. There his Aunt Tee, the church and the community of his youth embrace him with open arms. Unbeknownst to him, his aunt had started a scholarship fund with the money Craig had sent to her over the years. The money had touched so many lives that everyone saw Craig as a local hero. How could he be their hero and such a failure in both his professional and personal life? As the story unfolds more is revealed about his relationship with his wife and God. Is there a way to honor the God that he now depends on, and prosper without a football?

Tia McCollors’ A Knight in Pink Armor focuses on thirty-something, motorcycle riding, entrepreneur, Dara Knight. Winning the lottery seems to be the answer to her life long goal of helping others. Dara is opposed to playing the lottery, but after her cousin buys her a ticket, they win. After winning, Dara vows to secretly use the money to help a group of people to whom she has regularly ministered. At first, everything seems to line up perfectly, but unfortunately things take a turn for the worst. Faced with trouble and the unraveling of her dream, Dara is forced to expose her secret and risk loosing everything.

A Million Blessings presents three different scenarios with three different outcomes. All of which include a healthy dose of mistakes, faith and redemption. Is playing the lottery a sin or simply marginally questionable? A Million Blessings allows the reader to consider the presented information and draw his or her own conclusion.

Getting to Happy by Terry McMillan

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Reading Terry McMillan’s Getting to Happy was like having a conversation with old friends that haven’t been heard from in a while. Robin, Savannah, Gloria and Bernadine have matured, but remain the lovable women that America fell in love with in 1992’s Waiting to Exhale.

McMillan continues to create well-rounded characters that are not easily defined or confined to one category. The reader is allowed learn what the ladies have been doing since the early 90s. The happily ever after ending that we expected to find, is not there, but instead there are four very distinct stories about women in middle of their lives and the struggles that they are currently fighting. Drug abuse, parenting, lost love, financial woes and death are all being handled by this remarkable group of women.

While this is not McMillan’s greatest accomplish, it is worthy of the praises that will bestowed on it. She manages to bring the reader up to speed without overstating or dwelling on past events. The characters lives continue to unfold throughout Getting to Happy and allow the reader to take part in the development of these women.

Getting to Happy is a must read for fans of Waiting to Exhale and Baby-boomers everywhere. It is rare that we see an African American novel that focuses on this oft-forgotten segment of the population. Vivacious, energetic, mature women, teach us that 50 does not signal the end, but can be used as a new beginning to something new and exciting.





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Glorious by Bernice McFadden

by Gypsy Culp Houston

Bernice McFadden’s Glorious grants 21st century readers entry into the early 20th century, the whirlwind of the Harlem Renaissance, the Back to Africa and the Civil Rights movements. At the center of this story is Easter Bartlett, a young Black from a small town in Georgia. The reader witnesses her in a myriad of circumstances, all seemingly ending in unhappiness and loneliness.
Upon loosing her mother, gaining a stepmother and hearing hurtful words from her father, Easter decides to leave Waycross Georgia and her mute sister, Rlizbeth, behind. What follows is the nomadic life of someone looking for a place to call home. As the story unfolds, Easter goes through several transitions. She morphs from cook to carnie, to school teacher to wash girl and more. Though scenarios and scenery change, the one thing that remains constant in Easter’s life is her love for words and writing.

It is Easter’s writing that provides her with the strength to carry on during the difficult times of her life. During her time in Harlem, her writing allows her to move in interesting circles and to make important literary connections with other writers of her time. The Harlem Renaissance is in full swing and Negrophile benefactors are willing to pay money so that talented Negros can devote all of their time and energy to their craft. Meredith Tomas, volunteers to fill the role of benefactor for Easter. This leads Easter to entering a contest that will change her life forever.
Easter’s travels take her from Waycross to New York City with a few stops in between, and finally ending back in Waycross. During her travels she falls in love, takes a lover and gets married, not necessarily in that order. Every moment is an opportunity for self discovery and reinvention. Letting no dust settle on her feet, Easter moves seamlessly from one place to the next, basically from one life to the next.

While a quick read, Glorious allows the audience a connection with key moments in African American history. McFadden’s writing is such that the underlying theme of desperation and despair become almost human. Racism is ever-present in the novel. There always seems to be an unspoken threat to the African American characters, ‘You better watch your step, Darky.’ How saddening that even in progress there is the fear of not belonging or being welcome.
Though, it is a novel primarily about African American life and culture, all audiences will find a piece of themselves in Glorious. Whether it’s the tenacity of youth, the perils of unrequited love or the loss of love ones, everyone will find something with which to identify. Beautifully written, Glorious, is a thought provoking novel that is sure to leave readers in deep contemplation and reflection.

Till You Hear from Me: A Novel by Pearl Cleage---loved it!!

Till You Hear from Me: A Novel by Pearl Cleage

Reviewed by Gypsy Culp Houston

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Okay, hands down, Pearl Cleage is my favorite author of the last few years. I have yet to read anything of hers that wasn’t topnotch. She weaves a story like no one else. I first came to love her writing with What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day and have read and loved every novel she has written since then. Till You Hear from Me is no different.

The protagonist, Ida B., is a strong-willed daddy’s girl that has had a falling out with her Civil Rights legend father, the fictitious Reverend Horace A. Dunbar, due to his lack of support for Barack Obama. Cleage does an outstanding job of creating a story around the monumental 2008 election and some of the lesser known opinions and fears of older African American leaders and the community as a whole. She gives us a peek into discussions that continue to go on at several Black barber shops, kitchen tables and churches around the country. Will there be a passing of the torch or will the torch be extinguished due to lack of trust, misunderstanding and hurt feelings?

As with her previous novels, the characters are so real that you feel like know them. By using supporting characters and the community from her earlier works, Cleage gives credibility to the new characters and issues they face. She does such a good job of describing the community of West End, that it is almost a character in and of itself. While the community doesn’t serve as a focal point of this novel, the ideologies and way of life are very much on display. Who wouldn't want to live in West End? The people are very caring and look out for one another. Because of its history of activism, racial success and opportunity, Atlanta, and more specifically, the fictitious West End, is a fantastic setting for this story about the post- Obama ‘freedom high’ and the subsequent prospects, confusion and challenges that lie ahead.

Pearl Cleage continues to challenge social mores and bring attention to important issues through her writing. While this book allows you to feel socially conscious, it also highlights relationships. The love between a father and child, a leader and those that are led and the love of country are all explored in this novel. Everything is intertwined to deliver a thought provoking read. Till You Here from Me will leave you feeling uplifted, refreshed and that anything is possible.

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