Double Yoke A Novel By Buchi Emecheta

Written By: Nicole Parker-Jones—Set on the campus of a Nigerian university, Double Yoke tells the story of two undergraduates who must confront the conflicting demands of tradition and modernity. While Nko pursues an education despite the resistance of those who feel a woman's identity is assumed in traditional marriage, Ete Kamba's love for her is severely tested as he is himself locked into the rigid attitudes from which Nko is attempting to break free. Nko must further contend with unscrupulous professors who would take advantage of her tenuous role as a woman in a male-dominated environment. As the author candidly portrays the status of women in emerging African nations, the choices facing Ete Kamba and Nko are neither clearcut nor perfect. In Double Yoke, Buchi Emecheta faces them head on.

(Photo Credits: Book Cover Art)

Book Review - Louie Morelli's Daughter

About the Book
Stella Romano's husband, Johnny, is gambling with her life.

When Johnny mortgages the Boca Raton mini-mansion gifted Stella by her rich daddy, Louie Morelli, he fully intends to pay off his loan-sharks. But Johnny blows the money in Vegas, and his nasty creditors seize Stella as collateral. In one terror-filled night, Stella's world is turned upside down.

While Stella struggles to stay alive, Louie and his faithful friend, Victor DeAngelis, launch a rescue mission. Stella's kidnappers are from Detroit, and in desperation Louie appeals to a man he doesn't even know, but who he is confident can help him.

Louie's Detroit connection proves cooperative and with a little help from longtime associate, Nathan Roth, Louie sets a trap for the kidnappers. From glitzy Palm Beach to the snowy streets of suburban Detroit, to the hot hills of Acapulco and narrow alleys of New Orleans, Louie's revenge is plotted and extracted.

When an innocent man gets in Louie's way and becomes the victim of a fatal "accident", bad things begin to happen. Louie will do anything to help his beautiful daughter and his mission soon changes from one of revenge to silencing adversaries. To protect his loved ones, Louie must commit one final murder. For this, he will need Stella's help.

My Take on the Book
This book is a page turner. As a reader you are taken on a journey where you must figure out where Louie's loyalties lie. You are also brought into a world of crime, where loan sharks will take your loved ones to settle a debt, not a word that I want to be meeting anytime soon. I have to say that this book was a fun and engaging read. While there were parts where I was simply flabbergasted by the audacity of the characters, I was drawn into the book, and I found it to be one that I could simply not put down.

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.
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Book Review - Insight

About the Book 
The disappearance of her father, combined with her sister’s strange gift, leaves a young girl feeling disconnected and vulnerable in Diana Greenwood’s moving drama, INSIGHT (Zondervan; $15.99; May 2011). After her father leaves their rural Wisconsin home and goes to war, never to be heard from again, Elvira Witsil is forced to share the house with her grumpy grandmother, oddly special baby sister, Jessie, and disgruntled mother, all without the reassuring presence of her dad. Though Ray Witsil left the family with little money and even less hope, his memory still looms over the broken family—especially for Elvira, who feels partially responsible for his departure.

Elvira never really accepted the sudden arrival of a new baby in the house but was always the one left with babysitting duties while her mother’s famous temper flared and her nosy grandmother meddled. It didn’t help that Jessie either refused to or couldn’t utter a word until she was four years old. And Jessie’s first words are ones she never could have known.

When Elvira discovers that Jessie is a gifted seer, both their worlds collide in a way she could have never imagined. For the first time, Elvira feels connected again to her father and to the sister she has never understood. But when Jessie uncovers secrets about the family’s past, secrets kept hidden for many years, her mother hastily packs up the family and takes them on a journey far from home. Along the way, Elvira embarks on her own personal journey toward self-forgiveness and faith.

INSIGHT is a book that lingers with the reader even after the last page is turned, woven tightly yet sensitively by a promising new name in young adult literature. Offering the compassionate story of how a parent’s love gone too soon crippled one girl’s journey to move forward, Greenwood masterfully details a story of redemptive faith.

About the Author

Diana Greenwood grew up with the Bobbsey Twins, Laura Ingalls, Huck and Tom, the Hardy Boys, Jo, Francie Nolan, and Oliver Twist. She tried to duplicate the adventures of her favorite characters by writing poems, stories, and scripts for summer performances in her backyard. Today, she still has those childhood editions on her bookshelf and spends her days writing stories of young people embarking on life-changing journeys. Diana makes her home in the Napa Valley, where she watches college football, volunteers at her church, and continues to devour books.

My Take on the Book

Talk about intense. This book brings out the harsh realities within one girls' life and what happens when a sister is born into it with special insights on what is to come. This book takes readers on a journey through the depths of loneliness and brings forth concepts of acceptance and love while taking the reader on a journey of discovery as well. A well crafted book and one that I would highly recommend to other readers!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

   

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Book Review - My Impossible Year

About the Book
 My Impossible Year  is a stunning coming-of-age novel by veteran author Mark Littleton. It is a love story shrouded by mystery that surrounds Christian college students who band together to fight a vindictive professor who wants to destroy all vestiges of faith.  When Tris, a college junior, suspects that his crabby and obnoxious professor is behind the overdose that caused his friend’s coma, he is driven to find out why. When the arch-liberal, tyrannical professor sets his sights on Brooke, Tris’s new love, he senses real danger and feels an urgency to uncover the truth – even if it leads him to places he never imagined!



About the Author
Mark Littleton is a graduate of Colgate University (B.A., 1972) and Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M., 1977), and is a former youth pastor and pastor.  He speaks at both Christian and secular events and is available for speaking anywhere in the U.S., depending on the need and context.  

He is happily married to Jeanette Gardner and has four children: Nicole, Alisha, Gardner and Elizabeth. They all think Mark is the greatest father ever, though their opinions change depending on whether he has given them what they wanted for that day. The family have a dog named Zoe who is stupider than mud, a backup dog named Aussie, who’s quite smart but not smart enough to escape and find another family who will feed him better. They also have a cat named Frodo who hates Zoe and Aussie but loves everyone else. They used to have a hamster, too, but … well, you know what happens to hamsters

He has written for numerous publications including Reader's Digest,  The Chicago Tribune, The Baltimore Evening Sun,  The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Moody Monthly,  Today's Christian Woman, Discipleship Journal, Leadership, Sunday Digest, Power for Living, Zelos, as well as many others.

He is also the author of over ninety-eight books which have collectively sold over one million copies, including:

My Take on the Book
This is a powerful book that brings you into the life of the character within it. I was amazed at how well the author tied together both love and vindication (not always two things you see together in one place). The story flows well and you find that it is over almost before it has begun. I found myself wanting to read this, instead of feeling like I had to read this, which shows how engaged I was as a reader as well as how well written the story and the storyline was. While this is the first book that I have read from this author, ir will not be my last.


All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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Book Review - Help Wanted

About the Book
Music industry veterans Darlene and Dan R. Brock, co-founders of Forefront Records, home of five-time GRAMMY ® Award winning artist TobyMac, are proud to present The Grit & Grace Project. A company that is dedicated to helping women reach their full potential, merging two of the primary strengths innate to women, Grit and Grace, calling upon those strengths to find purpose as individuals, wives and mothers. On April 25th, The Grit & Grace Project will release their first book titled Help Wanted: Moms Raising Daughters, written by Darlene Brock.
 

Published in association with OakTara, Help Wanted is flavored with honesty, humor, compelling stories and creative solutions. It navigates the 13 jobs moms must accomplish in the dynamic, yet often challenging mother-daughter relationship to make the maximum difference in their girl’s life:

Coach

Creative Counselor

Time Manager

Media Director Academic Advocate

Professor of Gender Studies  

Relationship Counselor

Sex Ed Teacher

Financial Consultant  

Bodyguard

Communications Specialist  

In-Home Demonstrator

Military Specialist 

In talking about her new project the mother of two stated:  “This book is about what I learned - about the jobs you need to master, the advice from other women that helped me, as well as some realities about the life and culture we live in that informed my perspective. You can take on the most difficult job in the world – raising daughters  – and not only live to tell about it, but smile along the way.”

The 224-paged paperback will be available for $14.95 at stores nationwide. In addition, it will also be available at special ebook prices at www.amazonkindle.com, www.barnesandnoble.com and other digital download locations.

Known primarily as a publisher of fiction, OakTara’s new association with The Grit & Grace Project marks an increased move into selective non-fiction works.  OakTara was founded by Jeff Nesbit and Ramona Tucker, two veterans of the publishing world

About the Author

Darlene Brock is a motivated self-starter who, while raising her two daughters, found time to produce award-winning music videos, manage recording artists, promote concerts throughout the US and serve as the Chief Operation


Officer of ForeFront Records. Yet, when reviewing her varied accomplishments and successful career, she proclaims her most important and fulfilling job is being a mom.  



My Take on the Book
Help Wanted is a book that is a page turner! I found it to be fun, engaging and one that will make you look at your own mom in a whole different way. I know that I have always appreciated my mom and also my wife for what they do on a daily basis, but as a father, this book opened my eyes even further. As I get ready for mothers day I have to say that this book is a must read for any mother or anyone who has a mom. You will definitely appreciate what is shared and will find that this is something that you will want to share with others!

All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company.  Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Terms of Use  for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.

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Swallow A Novel By Sefi Atta

Written By: Nicole Parker-Jones—It is the mid-1980s in Lagos and the government’s War Against Indiscipline and austerity measures are fully in operation. Tolani Ajao is a secretary working at Federal Community Bank. A succession of unfortunate events leads Tolani’s roommate and colleague, Rose, to consider drug trafficking as an alternative means of making a living. Tolani’s subsequent struggle with temptation forces her to reconsider her morality and that of her mother Arike’s, as she embarks on a turbulent journey of self-discovery. This sets the stage for chartered accountant and CPA turned literary talent Sefi Atta's uniquely narrated novel, Swallow.

Sefi Atta's first novel, Everything Good Will Come, won the Wole Soyinke Prize for Literature in Africa, and Swallow is also earning critical acclaim. Read an excerpt from Swallow: A Novel below.

Read more »

The Association Of Foreign Spouses By Marilyn Heward Mills

Written By: Nicole Parker-Jones—Author Marilyn Heward Mills, the daughter of Ghanaian father and a Swiss mother, was born Switzerland and brought up in Ghana. Her first novel, Cloth Girl, was shortlisted for the prestigious Costa First Novel Award. This year, she released her second novel, The Association of Foreign Spouses. Set in Ghana in the turbulent eighties, Marilyn shares "The Association of Foreign Spouses is a story of love and friendship, betrayal and forgiveness. it is the story of a group of women who live in a land that at times defeats them, among people who often disappoint and baffle them. Through their trials and hardships, the women support each other, unified by their foreignness, their distance from home and the choices they have made, as ultimately they are wooed by this strange place that they come to call home."

The story hits close to home for Marilyn who explains, "I grew up in Accra, Ghana, surrounded by foreign women, like my own mother, who had married Ghanaian men, moved to Ghana and then stayed there raising their half-Ghanaian children. Life was not easy for these women. Most of them had difficult marriages, mainly because of the immense cultural differences, and circumstances were exacerbated further by the hardship of life in a country that during my childhood often suffered political upheaval. There were endless shortages; of petrol, water, electricity – I remember a long stretch when there was no flour and so bread became a luxury. I wanted to know why some or most of these women didn't leave it all behind. What made them stay when, I imagined at least, that they could have gone home to easier lives in Europe."

Read more »

The Secret Lives of Baba Segi's Wives By Lola Shoneyin

Written By: MIM!—Nigerian poet Lola Shoneyin (whose father-in-law is Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka) was born in Ibadan, Nigeria, and spent her childhood at boarding school in Edinburgh. She studied English at Ogun State University, and went on to teach English and Drama at an international secondary school in Nigeria. Last year, Lola made her stunning debut as an author with the novel The Secret Lives Of Baba Segi's Wives (also published under the title The Secret Lives Of The Four Wives), a perceptive, entertaining, and eye-opening story about the domestic drama that disrupts in a polygamous family living in modern-day Nigeria.

The characters: Baba Segi ... a plump, vain, and prosperous middle-aged man of robust appetites, Baba Segi is the patriarch of a large household that includes a quartet of wives and seven children. But his desire to possess more just might be his undoing. And his wives ... Iya Segi—the bride of Baba Segi's youth, a powerful, vindictive woman who will stop at nothing to protect her favored position as ruler of her husband's home. Iya Tope—Baba Segi's second wife, a shy, timid woman whose decency and lust for life are overshadowed by fear. Iya Femi—the third wife, a scheming woman with crimson lips and expensive tastes who is determined to attain all that she desires, no matter what the cost. Bolanle—Babi Segi's fourth and youngest wife, an educated woman wise to life's misfortunes who inspires jealousy in her fellow wives ... and who harbors a secret that will expose shocking truths about them all.

Read more »

Nelson Mandela Pens Second Autobiography, Conversations With Myself

Written By: The Nelson Mandela Foundation—"In real life we deal, not with gods, but with ordinary humans like ourselves: men and women who are full of contradictions, who are stable and fickle, strong and weak, famous and infamous."—Nelson Mandela.

Nelson Mandela is one of the most inspiring and iconic figures of our age. Now, after a lifetime of taking pen to paper to record thoughts and events, hardships and victories, he has opened his personal archive, which offers an unprecedented insight into his remarkable life.

Conversations With Myself gives readers access to the private man behind the public figure: from letters written in the darkest hours of Mandela’s twenty-seven years of imprisonment to the draft of an unfinished sequel to Long Walk to Freedom.

Read more »

Who Fears Death? A Novel By Nnedi Okorafor

Written By: Nicole-Parker Jones—Nigerian writer Nnedi Okorafor is known for weaving African culture into creative evocative settings and memorable characters. She is know for her young adult fantasy novels, including Zahrah the Windseeker and The Shadow Speaker. Her latest novel, Who Fears Death, is set in a post-apocalyptic futuristic desert in Saharan Africa, and follows a young sorceress Onyesonwu (born Ewu)—whose name means "who fears death?" As Onyesonwu grows into her powers, it becomes clear that her fate is mingled with the fate of her people, the oppressed Okeke, and that to achieve her destiny, she must die. Okorafor examines a host of evils in her chillingly realistic tale—gender and racial inequality share top billing, along with female genital mutilation and complacency in the face of destructive tradition—and winds these disparate concepts together into a fantastical, magical blend of grand storytelling that Nnedi is known to deliver.

Nnedi shares about the book, "I started writing Who Fears Death just after my father passed in 2004. I was very very close to my father and writing was my way of staying sane. I based My Father’s Face [a chapter in the book] on a moment I experienced at my father’s wake when everyone had cleared out of the room and I found myself alone with his body. I was kneeling there looking at his face, thinking how much it no longer looked like him and how terrible that was. My morbid thoughts were driving me into deeper despair. Then suddenly I felt an energy move though me. This energy felt highly destructive, as if it could bring down the entire building. Almost all the details in the scene I went on to write were true, I felt them…well, up to the part where Onyesonwu makes her father’s body breath. As soon as I wrote that scene, everything else rushed at me. My father’s passing caused me to think about death, fear, the unknown, sacrifice, destiny and cosmic trickery."

On Black Sisters' Street By Chika Unigwe

Written By: Nicole Parker-Jones—Not many novelists would wander around the seedy red-light district of Antwerp, Belgium in a mini-skirt and thigh-high boots to carry out research for a novel. But this is what Nigerian writer Chika Unigwe did for her powerful novel On Black Sisters' Street.

On Black Sisters' Street is a moving and unsettling story about the many factors that lead African women into prostitution in Europe. The story follows the stories of Sisi, Ama, Efe and Joyce, four African women who are illegally trafficked into Belgium by pimp "Senghor Dele" who sells them the illusion of an affluent life in the West. Rich and ruthless, Dele specializes in exporting girls to work in Belgium for a modest fee of 30,000 euros, a fee the women must pay back by years of prostituting. The women, of course, don't know that this is what lies in store. Working in Belgium, we learn about the women's lives that have been torn apart by war, sexual abuse, and family breakdown, which led them to fall for Dele's exploits.

Chika Unigwe gives voice to women who are stripped of one, and breathes life into their existence. On Black Sisters' Street is not one to miss.

Powder Necklace: A Novel By Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond

Written By: Nicole Parker-Jones—Dear MIMI-istas, it's been a while since I've blogged in this space with my book reviews, but I have been busy reading so that I can return with some new reviews.

Just one month ago, Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond had her first book, Powder Necklace, published. The book, which Nana took 6 years to write, is about a teenager living in the UK who is sent to Ghana by her mother in an effort to protect her from the UK's "bad influences." As Nana explains, the book was inspired by her own childhood: "As a kid, I lived in Ghana for three years where I attended boarding school and encountered a small group of kids whose parents had also sent them to Ghana from Europe and the States. I wanted to write a book about that unique hybrid experience of being from two places at the same time, reconciling a first world superiority complex with respect for your immigrant parents, crisscrossing the globe to visit family "back home" and on other dots of the map, and figuring out how to answer when people ask you where you’re from—all while meeting the challenge of growing up."

This book had me immediately engaged, so much so that I finished it in two days! Although I cannot personally relate to the experience of being forced to grow up in different countries, Powder Necklace is about more than that, it is a universal story about trying to understand one's identity. As the long-time writer, first time novelist says about the book: "It tells the story of a heroine I'm so proud of—a sharp, honest young girl making the turbulent journey of adolescence across three continents ... It offers a new perspective on important issues that need fresh examination including: the superiority complex Westerners have regarding the so-called "Third World," the effect of single parenthood on girl children in particular, what it means to grow up American/British/etc when your parents are trying to raise you as a good African/Jamaican/Trinidadian/etc."

If you pick up the book, let me know what you think!

Maaza Mengiste's Beneath The Lion's Gaze

Written By: Nicole Parker Jones—Maaza Mengiste whose writing has earned her accolades such as “New Literary Idol” by New York Magazine and a Pushcart Prize nomination has published her first book, Beneath The Lion's Gaze. If you're looking for a piece of historical fiction (Beneath The Lion's Gaze depicts in part the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie), this "epic tale of a father and two sons, of betrayals and loyalties, of a family unraveling in the wake of Ethiopia's revolution" should be right up your alley.

Here's what we know about the book which will be released in the US today and in the UK on March 11:

This memorable heartbreaking story opens in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1974, on the eve of a revolution. Yonas kneels in his mother’s prayer room, pleading to his god for an end to the violence that has wracked his family and country. His father, Hailu, a prominent doctor, has been ordered to report to jail after helping a victim of state-sanctioned torture to die. And Dawit, Hailu’s youngest son, has joined an underground resistance movement—a choice that will lead to more upheaval and bloodshed across a ravaged Ethiopia. Beneath the Lion’s Gaze tells a gripping story of family, of the bonds of love and friendship set in a time and place that has rarely been explored in fiction before. It is a story about the lengths human beings will go in pursuit of freedom and the human price of a national revolution. Emotionally gripping, poetic and indelibly tragic, Beneath the Lion’s Gaze is a transcendent and powerful debut.

You can find out more about Beneath The Lion's Gaze and read an excerpt by visiting maazamengiste.com.

MIMI Book Review: Lola Jaye

Written By: Nicole Parker-Jones—Young, up-and-coming, Nigerian-British author Lola Jaye has three published works under her belt, and she's only just getting started! Lola's first novel, By The Time You Read This, follows the life of Lois Bates from age twelve to thirty, as she grows up in the company of her father Kevin, who passed away when Lois was just five-years-old, but left Lois with a manual to live by. Lola explains, "The manual tells her how to live, work and love and she tries her best to follow everything her dad has written, but sometimes it's hard." Lola's second publication Reaching For The Stars, was released in the UK in the Spring of this year as part of the UK’s “Quick Reads” program in which bestselling authors deliver short new works. Lola describes the book as a guide "on how to follow your dreams." Lola's third, and newest book, While You Were Dreaming, is described by Lola as a "modern day Sleeping Beauty story."

Read more about the inspiring novelista by clicking on the "Read More" link ...Read more »

Marie Ndiaye's Trois Femmes Puissantes

Written By: Nicole Parker-Jones—For the first time in its history, France's top literary prize, the Prix Goncourt, was awarded to a black woman: French Senegalese author Marie Ndiaye. The Prix Goncourt was awarded to Ndiaye for her novel Trois Femmes Puissantes ("Three Powerful Women"), which is about three African women, each with one foot in France and the other in Africa (the novel is not currently available in English).

A prodigy, Ndiaye began writing at the age of 12 and published her first work when she was 17. Her 2001 work, Rosie Carpe, garnered her attention when she was awarded the prestigious Prix Femina literary prize. Despite touching on social themes (such as race and gender) in her oft-times surreal stories, Ndiaye has reportedly gone on the record to explain: "I don't represent anything or anyone. I have met many French people raised in Africa who are more African than I am."

Wife Of The Gods: A Novel

Written By: Nicole Parker-Jones—Looking for a good mystery? How about Kwei Quartey's debut novel Wife of the Gods? The premise: in a small town in Ghana's Volta Region (Ketanu), a young promising medical resident working with Ghana's Ministry of Health's AIDS program is found dead under suspicious circumstances. Eager to close the case, the local police have arrested a poor teenage boy and charged him with murder. The police are less than thrilled when an outside force—Detective Inspector Darko Dawson—arrives from the big city of Accra to lead an inquiry into the mysterious case.

Inspector Dawson is an excellent detective armed with remarkable insight and a healthy dose of skepticism; with family ties to Ketanu, he is a perfect fit for the investigation, but nothing about his investigation is simple. In Ketanu, Inspector Dawson finds that his cosmopolitan sensibilities clash with age-old customs, including a disturbing practice in which teenage girls are offered by their families to fetish priests as "trokosi," or "Wives of the Gods." Katanu is also filled with emotional landmines for Inspector Dawson: an estranged relationship with the family he left behind and the painful memory of his own mother's sudden, inexplicable disappearance. The growing rift between Dawson's modern police work and a local inspector's refusal to move past traditionally accepted beliefs jeopardizes a successful arrest.

Lyrical and captivating, Quartey's Wife of the Gods brings to life the majesty and charm of Ghana-from the capital city of Accra to the small community of Ketanu where long-buried secrets are about to rise to the surface.

For more information, visit: www.kweiquartey.com.