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National Reading Month With… Cheryl Donovan, author of The Ministry of Motherhood

March 31, 2009 Joey Pinkney 2 Comments

I remember when I was a child I would complete my work and commence to harassing everyone else that hadn’t. As a result my mother would be contacted, and I would be reprimanded for my mischief. Eventually my mother grew weary of the constant phone calls, so she instructed my teachers to send me to the library. Thus my love for reading began.

I believe mother is a verb. It’s something you do not just who you are. I learned this lesson the hard way. The Ministry of Motherhood is my journey on the path we call motherhood: the ups, the downs, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’d like to share with you my labor of love and dedication to make sure that others don’t follow my path. Initially, I will share with you my angst upon finding out I was pregnant. Telling my mother was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.

In Chapter three you will discover the parallels between modern day single mothers and those in the Bible.Â As the book progresses, the latter chapters deal with my adaptation to motherhood and the implied tenets of ministry. Each one of these episodes give you a look inside my heart my soul my very being. You will find me sharing and digging deeper in myself for those nuggets of wisdom.

I use biblical scripture and â€˜thus sayeth the Lord’ dictates to guide me. It’s the ministry fundamentality that propels the outreach gesture so that you may be mindful of doing the right thing. This is what this book is all about.

To learn more about Cheryl’s The Ministry of Motherhood, please visit her website at http://www.cheryllaceydonovan.com.

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Book Review: Good to the Last Drop, by Elissa Gabrielle

January 23, 2009 Joey Pinkney 4 Comments

Good to the Last Drop
by Elissa Gabrielle
(Peace in the Storm Publishing)
5 of 5 Stars

There are three kinds of books. There is the book with a plot you can predict. Then there is the book where you can’t figure out the plot, but you end up shaking your head in disgust as the scenarios unfold. Finally, there is the book that is totally unpredictable yet is able to provide thoroughly amusing surprises. Elissa Gabrielle’s debut novel falls into the third category. Good to the Last Drop contains a world as strange as the secret lives we lead–all the way to the end.

Good to the Last Drop follows Amber through the first couple of months after her marriage to the love of her life Khalil Devereaux. Khalil cheated on Amber numerous times while they were in college. The fun stops when he meets up with the shameless Shayla McNeil. His involvement with the insatiable Shayla is both intense and inexcusable. His moments of infidelity result in a daughter, Lexis, and a mentally annihilated Amber.

Since that incident, Khalil is a man trying his best to live down the embarrassment of his indiscretions. The distance he keeps from Shayla makes her eternally bitter and perpetually available to Khalil’s sexual advances.This voracious vixen is the type that unknowingly lives up to the phrase “you can take the rat out of the hood, but you can’t take the hood out of the rat”. That same distance makes Khalil a long-distance phone call father; one that Lexis couldn’t identify in a police line up if Khalil’s life depended on it.

Shawn is a college buddyÂ to both Amber and Khalil. He is really the glue to Khalil’s relationship with both Amber and Shayla. Shawn is the voice of reason when Khalil fails to guide himself. He was the shoulder to cry on when Amber was devastated by Khalil indiscretions. Shawn not only convinced Amber to take Khalil back; he stays in contact with Shayla and even visits Lexis on Khalil’s behalf.Â He finally finds the love of his life with Aaliyah, a beautiful model that has a mysterious past.

Gabrielle’s cast of characters are rounded out by Amber’s friends Keisha and Scott. Keisha is a close friend from Amber’s job at a convalescent home. She is a dark skinned bomb shell that works as hard as she kicks it. Scott is the flamboyant diva that has no shame in his game. He is classy in style and quick with the quips. Both friends subconsciously fight for Amber’s attention and time. When in each others presence, they shoot the dozens like nobody’s business.

Gabrielle’s writing style is multifarious. She can make her readers cry just as easy as she can elicit laughter. Sometimes she is able to get the reader to do both at the same time. For example, the scene where Amber visits Khalil’s mother for the first time since being married is classic. Written from Amber’s perspective, this scene was funny and touching at the same time. Amber’s dislike for Khalil’s mother only rivals in hilarity Amber’s apprehension towards Khalil’s fast-talking, crack head sister.

Gabrielle took a very interesting approach to telling the story of Amber Devereaux. Although Amber is the central character, each chapter is told through the perspective of the characters who are closest to Amber. Gabrielle was able to keep each character’s voice distinctive and true to their way of thinking regardless of character’s sexual orientation or gender.

Gabrielle’s characters and their situations will come alive in front of your eyes. The synergistic effect of letting each character tell their portion of Good to the Last Drop was very powerful. The characters’ individual stories gave Good to the Last Drop a totality that simply can not be achieved by the voice of Amber alone. With their stories combined, the characters of Good to the Last Drop created an intoxicating world of inhibitions, intimacies and ironic incidents.

Reviewed by Joey Pinkney

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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… Lorraine Elzia, author of Mistress Memoirs

January 14, 2009 Joey Pinkney 1 Comment

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Interview
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
Lorraine Elzia, author of Mistress Memoirs
(Peace in the Storm Publishing)

What kind of woman becomes a mistress? Someone who has no regard for the unspoken cardinal rule among women of “Thou shalt not covet another woman’s husband?” Certainly not Kahla Thompson; or so she thought.

Kahla is beautiful, single, and independently successful, possessing all the material goods a woman could desire. Her life is surreptitiously turned upside down when she meets Kevin Eckhart, a married man with a million-dollar smile and a seductive charm she falls prey to. The two have a magnetic, compelling attraction for each another and begin a relationship under the guise of friendship.

Kahla struggles to suppress her hunger for Kevin, but soon finds herself in a paradox: fighting her natural propensity to avoid an affair versus her lascivious desires for a married man and all he represents.

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Mistress Memoirs?

Lorraine Elzia: There is one thing that women do. They share their feelings with family, friends and via the internet. Over the years my “sistergirl” conversations seemed to have a recurring theme, and I began to recognize that a lot of women were sharing men. That observation intrigued me to delve in a more detailed level into the mindset of a woman who had placed herself in the position of “the other woman”.

JP: Do you think that it will be hard for your readers to sympathize with a main character who 1) is in love with another woman’s husband and 2) smart enough to never have gotten caught up in the first place?

LE: I think the topic of my book is profusely more rampant than women want to publicly acknowledge or admit, yet it is a topic that readers will be able to either empathize or sympathize with. Mistress Memoirs is that dirty little secret in the closet that is interesting to most women even though it may be a topic people may not want to openly address.

We live in a day and age where the African-American male to female ratio is slightly to the advantage of men. There simply are more women then there are men. Add to that ratio societal plagues against our black men, and the pool of potential mates becomes smaller and smaller. This has caused some women to reconsider their options of either sharing a man, remaining alone or going outside of their race.

Today, more than ever, women are realizing that a good black man is a precious commodity. That has left a portion of black women finding themselves in situations they may otherwise not have been involved in. That fact alone makes my book a bit of insight into the â€˜how’ and â€˜why’ of affairs.

JP: What have you learned from your past publishing experiences that you were able to apply to this project to make it better?

LE: In writing for anthologies, I had to tailor the pieces to the needs of the publisher and adhere to what they were looking for. In doing so, I lost a little bit of me as a writer in the process. The anthologies gave me the foundation, experience and much needed exposure that a writer wants and needs. It also muzzled on my individual form of expression.

Readers like a good story, but they also like one with some pizazz, a feeling that the author put every bit of themselves into what they are reading. That’s what I was able to bring to this project that I think is better than previous publications I have been in. Less restriction has bred more creativity.

JP: As an author, what is your writing process? How long did it take for you to start and finish Mistress Memoirs?

LE: I began writing this book about 5 years ago, writing a chapter here and there as I was inspired to do so. Then I put the manuscript up on a shelf in my closet where it sat for a couple of years until I was encouraged to publish it. Once I was serious about giving life to the book, I blew the dust off. It took me about 5 months to complete.

JP: What’s next for Lorraine Elzia?

LE: Right now I am ghost writing. Because of the need for anonymity, it doesn’t allow for my name in lights or for personal publicity; but it is something I enjoy doing. Eventually, I’d like to publish a book that encompasses my ADQ’s (A Deeva Quickies), which are short antecedents of motherhood and family life. It’s kind of like an ongoing sitcom of words, just without the actors. I have been writing my ADQ’s under the pseudonym of “A Deeva” for years. One day I would love to have them published into a coffee table type book so that others can smile, relate and release.

www.lorraineelzia.com
www.Myspace.com/adeeva4real

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