Niobia BryantCritiques

Riddled with guilt and driven to find answers, Naeema's sheer determination moves her between two worlds. Every lead reveals more through death than she every fathomed. Shame burdens her heart and keeps up the wall around her feelings.

The more I read, the more I was pulled into Naeema's head. I understood far more about how she felt than most would imagine. The shoulda, woulda, coulda of the past will haunt you and hold you hostage, if allowed. The urge to rewind the hands of time make you rethink what is already done and second guess your previous actions regardless of your initial intent.

Naeema walked a mile in her own shoes, faced only some of her demons and exhaled.

Never judge a book by its cover, although cliche, very true. Pleasure finds himself in a very compromising position and wrecks his brain to figure out his captor. All of the obvious suspects have motive but the least suspected rocks him to the core. You'll definitely need to read between the lines to appreciate the outcome. The spin put into this novel leaves me wanting more but I must admit that I am a greedy reader.

First -- I read this book in less than a day, it is THAT engaging. I absolutely could not put it down. This was my first time reading Ms. Bryant, and I am thoroughly pleased!

The plot is so believable, it's not funny. I can actually think of people I know personally who have lived through the situation Caress and Julius find themselves in. That being said, I appreciate the author's ability to convey the reality of the situation and paint a story that is realistic in how the characters react, not just a fairy tale for the readers.

The characters are, for the most part, well-developed. I could have used more background on some peripheral characters (although I realize that Jordan and Mia are recurring characters), but don't mistake that to say that any of the characters are so underdeveloped that you cannot get through the book.

Would I recommend this book? I already have, and I hope you enjoy it, too.

Take a bad soap opera, a bad porno, mix them together, and convert them into book form, and this is what you get. I wish there was a rating lower than one star. I wish I could un-read this book. If you want to read in great detail what "Tavon" does in bed with twins "Suga" and "Spyce," and how his girlfriend is all jealous of his best-friend/transvestite lover, thenthis might be the book for you.

I started this book, and within the first 15 pages, I wanted to smack myself for buying it. I'm sure that this is going to be one of those books where the main character is a shitty person that no one gives a fuck about, but then some life changing thing happens and she suddenly turns around her life, gets the guy, and lives happily ever after, but I really don't have the patience to find out.

Side note: Is this part of a series? If so, that should really be made clear. I never would have bought this book if I'd known that it was # whatever in a series.

I started this book, and within the first 15 pages, I wanted to smack myself for buying it. I'm sure that this is going to be one of those books where the main character is a shitty person that no one gives a fuck about, but then some life changing thing happens and she suddenly turns around her life, gets the guy, and lives happily ever after, but I really don't have the patience to find out.

Side note: Is this part of a series? If so, that should really be made clear. I never would have bought this book if I'd known that it was # whatever in a series.

I started this book, and within the first 15 pages, I wanted to smack myself for buying it. I'm sure that this is going to be one of those books where the main character is a shitty person that no one gives a fuck about, but then some life changing thing happens and she suddenly turns around her life, gets the guy, and lives happily ever after, but I really don't have the patience to find out.

Side note: Is this part of a series? If so, that should really be made clear. I never would have bought this book if I'd known that it was # whatever in a series.

The After Life

I gotta start this review with a slight rant. I normally don't read other reviews until after I've written mine, and even then I don't read them often. But with the overall low rating on this book, I wanted to see what people were taking issue with. This issue doesn't seem to be this book, but the last book. If you didn't like "Message from a Mistress," why even pick this one up? And if you can't separate the two books, why bother with a review? Review the book at hand on the merit of its content and stop tripping off what she did or didn't do to your liking in book one. What did you expect? I don't know what Bryant could have done, if anything, that would have made some people happy, so the book was pretty much doomed to begin with for some folks. And what in the world is up with all the spoiler reviews?!? If you can't write a review without telling who shot JR or giving away paternity results like you Maury Povich, you shouldn't be writing nobody's review! Now moving on to my review of THIS book...

"Mistress No More" picks up a month later with the good residents of Richmond Hills picking up after the hot mess disaster of Hurricane Jessa Bell. As all husbands returned home, somebody's man is lying. The question is who. Not only is the identity of said scumbag revealed, "Mistress No More" deals with the personal struggles of each woman and the state of each of their marriages moving forward.

Let me start off with what I didn't like. It took too entirely long for the cheater to be exposed. And once his identity was revealed, the crux of the two books, it was downplayed and took a backseat to everything else. While I enjoyed that this novel focused on the ladies dealing with their underlying issues and getting right, a little more focus should have been given to the reason why we all read the books to begin with. I came away still not understanding why and how the affair started. Next, Jessa Bell, everyone's favorite home wrecking hoe, was pretty much nonexistent in this book. She set all this nonsense in motion and then basically disappeared, making a cameo here and there. She should have played a bigger role in this sequel.

Had those two things not been issues for me, I could have really really liked this book. Bryant brought the drama and emotion with this sequel. While the plot was simple and a little predictable, the read was made enjoyable through each woman's individual story and the need to find the answers within. "Mistress No More" is very entertaining and a quick read. And though I enjoyed these characters, I do hope this is it. Sure, some questions were left but in a way that allows readers to come to their own conclusions based on what they've learned about the characters. Great character development allows for that. You know the characters well enough to know what they'll probably do. I, for one, am glad that this was not concluded by being neatly packaged with a bow on the top.

Dafina - what's up with the synopsis? What's really going on???

Reviewed by: Toni

I loved Gossip Girl and the books that inspired the tv show, I have an early review of Famous, which can be found at the URL below.

http://moiraethefatesbookreviews.blogspot.com/2010/11/famous-by-simone-bryant-ea...

This book was way better and went a lot faster than the first book. I can't wait for The Hood Life. These ladies had a lot of drama going on. I don't even know which one of these ladies had it worst. So much drama in one place makes for a very good book :)

At first I was disappointed because I thought it would be a "hood" book. The only thing hood about this book is where the main characters live.However,it was some crazy stuff happening in this book. What really got me was the end. This book proves that men are the root of all EVIL!!! lol

I'm in love with Alexander!

wonderful sequel. We had to wait an entire year for this one, but it was well worth the wait. Very cute and relatable. 3hrs 51mins½

Extremely saddening, but surprisingly entertaining. It reaffirmed my aversion to street lit, but it kept me reading. 3hrs 13mins½

The title is dead on with this one. This is the second in a series, and I thought I was in love with the other brother. I was wrong. Kade was hilarious and real. Real. The entire book was real. I love Ms. Bryant, because unlike a lot of the older writers, she writes how she talks. There are so many writers out there who are afraid to use contractions, or real curse words. They sugar coat it, "He let fly a string of expletives?" oh, you mean he curse. Well, yeah, real people do that and there isn't a narrator to bleep it out. Anyway, I digress. I loved this book. Loved it. The interactions with the characters were hilarious, eotic and real, all at the same time. Kudos. 3hr 42mins

This book is funny as hell. Another one of my favorite topics: ex's getting back together. They were so cute. I loved how she showed us why they broke up and how they'd gotten together in the first place.

I absolutely loved this book. Great sequel. 2hrs 9mins

This is my all time fav of hers. The characters were so real and so lovable. The dialect made me feel right at home. 4hrs 29mins

This is a damn good book. I loved it. Loved the drama and how even though it's considered a "main stream" novel, there were underlying hints of romance. Irritated that I have to wait an entire year for the freakin sequel. 3hrs 38 mins½

This was a good book. A great book would be better. 3hrs 11 mins

Great book, loved it. 3hrs 40mins

Loved this book. The sequel was better but still a good one. 5hrs 15 mins

This was a really good book. Love it. 5hrs 7mins

This was a good book½