Category Archives: romance

african american author, african american authors, best seller, classy, clingy, criticism, essence best sellers list, gold digger, independent, love, romance, sex, shelia goss

I Ain’t Sayin’ She’s a Gold Digger…

2 Comments

I just read Shelia Goss’ post on gold digger vs. independent vs. old school vs. clingy women. Yes a mouthful…

Shelia starts her post off like this, “Does it make you a gold digger because you like nice things and want to be spoiled by your significant other?”

Answer: No, you would be a gold digger is your sole interest in being with a man is for what he could spoil you with. If you only like him for his money, his material things and the material thing you can get from him, you’re a gold digger. If you don’t really love him and will be gone once “the well runs dry”, say it with me… You’re a gold digger.

Another question Shelia poses is “As much as men confess to want an independent woman, some can’t deal with our independence. Why?”

Answer: It’s simple. Most men have been mentally groomed to be a provider to their girlfriend, wife and family. (Separately. I’m not talking about the cheating guy…) When a woman is so independent that her man really doesn’t serve a purpose, what’s the point? If you have every single thing together, where do I fit in? The ocassional sexual interlude?

Sure there are some men who want their women to be clingy. I wonder about them, too. But if you are so independent that you don’t seem to need me for anything, then where do we go from there. We have to have a symbiotic relationship where neither on of us are “clingy”. Instead, we have get past wanting each other. We have to need each other to reach a higher common goal.

Let me end by saying this:

Shelia Goss is a very, very classy woman.

african american author, african american authors, african american book, african american books, amazon.com, book reviews, consumed reduced to beautiful grey ashes, criticism, linda addison, love, poems, poet, poetry, romance, time and space

Book Review: Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes by Linda D. Addison for Time and Space

1 Comment

(hover your cursor over the book cover to get the Amazon prices)

Although only 31 poems, Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes takes the reader in a million different directions as author Linda Addison ponders life, death and the love between. While some of the poems in this book are disturbing, like “Mourning Meal,” others are so personal that the reader may find themselves feeling like they are looking into a mirror more so than reading the words of another.

Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes has a dark energy, not to be confused with being evil nor depression. Darkness in the sense of being the opposite of ignorant bliss. For example, there are poems of love that are not lighthearted in nature.

Linda Addison composes these poems in a way that explores the depth of emotions that can be conjured when you give yourself up in totality to another person. “Before You” is such a poem. The relinquishing of the subject’s independence is what we all experience on some level when we enter deeply into a relationship.

There are other poems in Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes that exposes the curiosity of the writer. Poems like “A Bare Tree in February,” “Turning Edges” and “Breathe” ponder the origin of human existence in a way that only Linda Addison can render.

Consumed, Reduced to Beautiful Grey Ashes is a personal collection of poetry that is timeless in its approach to be an offering of one’s soul. The level of introspective creativity will call the reader to come back to the poems in this book time and again.

african american author, african american authors, african american book, african american books, amazon.com, book reviews, Griffin, interview, mari walker, never as good as the first time, romance, romance novel, romance novels, sex, sexier, St. Martin, street lit, urban book source, urban fiction, urban lit, urban/street lit

Interview with Mari Walker author of Never As Good As The First Time for St Martin’s Press

The Mari Walker interview can be found here.

Urban Book Source sent me Never As Good As the First Time, and I thought it was going to be just another romance story. I was wrong as couple be since this book was anything but typical.

After UBS published my review of the book, Mari Walker actually sent them some kind words in my regards. Fast forwards a couple of weeks, I interviewed this very talented author.

Ms Walker is a very giving person, and you will be able to tell that in the interview. This informative interview couple help many authors who desire the inside track on getting published by one of the major publishing companies.

Read Mari Walker’s interview. Come back and tell me what you think.