Sweet Magnolia

Sweet Magnolia

Norma L. Jarret

Two embattled sisters and a family full of secrets all return to their beloved New Orleans for a summer wedding/ family reunion. Rife with family drama and secrets that lie underneath all families- the secrets uncovered this summer will require and abundance faith, love and hope to overcome.

I was excited about this book- even picking it up to take with me on a trip to visit my college roommate, but I forgot it in the car and had to due without it. Anyway, so when I finally got around to reading it I enjoyed it, but not as much as Ms. Jarrett’s first book- Sunday Brunch. It was a little harder for me to relate to the characters, but I still enjoyed it. The writing is excellent, the Christian themes are not too heavy, but perfect and make the story and enjoyable read.

I did enjoy the fact that the story took place in New Orleans. All my prayers that the city will one day recover, despite all the obstacles

Recommended.

I Say A Little Prayer

I Say A Little Prayer

E. Lynn Harris

I love E. Lynn Harris. I’ll still never forget the day I found Invisible Life ( never mind the fact that I was 13 and had no clue what I was in for )in my library and got hooked on the Raymond-Nicole-Jared-Basil-Yancey saga. I loved those books and how we got to follow them and even grow with them. So when I saw that after 3 years he was coming out with a new fiction book (his last book, 2004s What Becomes of the Brokenhearted was a memoir) - I was so excited. I even went as far as to pre-order it.

However, after reading it, I was so disappointed.

I didn’t like it too much. I felt like it was really preachy- as though E. Lynn was trying to preach acceptance of gays and show the hypocriticalness of the Black church to African Americans and frankly I didn’t appreciate it. It’s not about whether I agree (because I do); I just don’t like getting preached at in my books. It makes me cranky.

The story was good. I wasn’t expecting “my old friends” so that had nothing to do with my disappointment. I just saw right through Harris’s agenda and didn’t care for it. I was expecting to read for pleasure, had I wanted something more this might have been it- but man was I disappointed in this. Although I did love the Basil update.

My friends and I always wondered how you would pronounce his name- we each had our own theories. My friend said Basil like the herb, I though it was more BA-sil ( Ba like baby, sil silk). Anyway- final verdict:

This is hard for this one- good story, good characters- but be wanted there is an ulterior motive in this book.