With each book I’m more impressed with the author. Once again sucked in and invested in the characters. I love how she keeps the town and the every dynamic involved. With newly arriving figures in the story, she managed to intertwine them in a manner that didn’t make you feel as though they took away from the others. So excited for part 3 – what’s on the horizon for Trent & Lily? Malachi and Bernadine? And most importantly Tamar (Lawd knows I’m not ready for her role to diminish). There’s just soooo many characters that I wish I knew personally … matter of fact where is the REAL Henry Adams, I may need to take a trip. 5 stars and beyond …

Bring on the Blessings. Beverly Jenkins. 2009. 383 pages. HarperCollins. [Source: personal copy.] Love love loved this book! When I opened and realized the entire “back” description was the opening pages, and that I wouldn’t be starting from Bernadine’s tragedy and reading her rise to triumph, I was immediately skeptical. But the book literally grabbed me and never let me go. In the first couple of chapters, you were overwhelmed with characters but the author ultimately formulated each and every one of them. Committed to reading the entire 6 book series now, I have to know what happens to the kids, the town and everyone receiving the Blessings thanks to Bernadine. Definitely 5 stars!

Lust: A Seven Deadly Sins Novel. Victoria Christopher Murray. 2017. 368 pages. Touchstone. [Source: personal copy.] Unusual that it took so long to complete a VCM book. Definitely not her normal writing style, and despite the characters being interesting it failed to truly captivate me. I was into it, but not committed enough to focus entirely on it. I’m definitely intrigued to see how the rest of the deadly sins series will go.

Wives, Fiancées, and Side-Chicks of Hotlanta. Shereé Whitfield. 2017. Dafina. [Source: Personal copy.] It was everything I expected it to be…ratchet, basic, based on Real Housewives of Atlanta characters. Seemingly depicting Kim, Nene, Sheree and Dwight, the book was the whirlwind drama that comes with being in the “in-crowd” of the TV version of Atlanta. With the opening, she could have recapped the saga of Sasha & Terrance without going into so much detail, and that would have allowed her to cover more ground. My guess is the detail and redundancy will allow for a book 2 and 3 so that we can see just how Sasha learns to “play”. Three stars; it wasn’t good, but like the show I’m sure I’ll pick up sequels because it’s like a train wreck you can’t turn away from.

Getting Inside. Serena Bell. 2017. 198 pages. Loveswept. [Source: ARC provided courtesy of NetGalley.] The book has to be compelling if me, a complete non-sports fan, can’t put it down. From the start, I was pulled in by Iona and Ty and was so intrigued at how they’d ever manage to fight their attraction while balancing their messy coach-player relationship. Serena Bell wove their story together well. Too often, romance stories with a focus on sports are either too heavy on the sport or don’t include enough detail, making it an afterthought. With Getting Inside, she shows that she’s done her homework on the sport but isn’t beating the reader of over the head with her knowledge. I was clued in enough to understand that football was the heart of the book, but still enjoyed the actual story.