The Manual by Sherryle Kiser Jackson
Sherryle Kiser Jackson is the author of Soon and Very Soon and her latest novel, The Manual (October 2009), which is dedicated to her only living aunt, Janette. Sherryle Jackson describes her novels as too real to be preachy, Biblically based, and out-the-Christian-box. She has also branded herself as a book club’s best friend, making sure to be accessible to book club’s either in person or by phone conferencing during her 2009 book tour schedule. To schedule speaking engagements, book signings, online/telephone conference contact Author, Sherryle Jackson at www.sherrylejackson.com or email: sherrylek@aol.com
THE MANUAL: 304 PAGES/ ISBN: 1601629354/ OCT. 2009/ URBAN CHRISTIAN
Sherryle Kiser Jackson’s “The Manual” is a grand read with an abundance of real life conflicts. The main characters Deidre, Andre, and De Andre are all trying to deal with issues both individually and with one another. DeAndre is the teenage son of Deidre and Andre who is at the cusp of sexual awareness and trying to find his position in his group of friends and at school. DeAndre is also attempting to figure out girls and temptation.
Deidre has been a single mother for the last 8 years and is having trouble finding a way to get through to her son and help him see the importance of the choices he’s making in his life. She makes sure to keep him active in church and wants to lead by example a Christian life. She is encouraged to allow his father to play an active role in his life and give a man’s perspective on some of the issues DeAndre’s is dealing with. Deidre and Andre are seeking to successfully co-parent DeAndre after not communicating for a long time. Old wounds are opened and new dilemmas come their way as well.
Andre is trying to be an active father in DeAndre’s life and clear up some past mistakes. In doing so, he finds himself being drawn more and more to Deidre. Andre gets assurance from his body and the ideology of fitness guru Bo Donovan. Will they allow God to order their steps and navigate their path as a family? Read “The Manual” and find out! This book is both entertaining and enlightening.
The List by Sherri Lewis
Sherri Lewis authored her first book at the age of six. Her family considered her pencil and crayon on brightly colored construction paper creation a masterpiece. She continued to enjoy writing short stories and poems throughout her young adult life. Her writing was put on hold while she attended Howard University as an undergraduate, then medical school at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. The writing bug bit again a few years ago and pencil, crayon, and construction paper were replaced by laptop and printer. After working almost fifteen years in the medical field, Sherri recently left her last position as a staff physician at a Georgia Department of Corrections’ Women’s prison to pursue writing and ministry full time. Sherri’s life passion is to express the reality of the Kingdom of God through the arts including music, dance, film and television, and literature; and through sound biblical teaching. Her ministry thrusts include the message of the Kingdom, intimacy with God, intercessory prayer, understanding prophetic ministry, ministering emotional healing, and birthing individuals into their destiny. Sherri is co-founder of the Faith-Based Black Fiction Writers of Atlanta with Essence Best-Selling author Tia McCollors. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia.
Contact Sherri at sherri@sherrilewis.com.
The Urban Christian book “The List” by Sherri Lewis tells the story of five friends changing their normal girls’ night out to dating progress reports. In this story Lewis has the main character saved and single Michelle and a group of her friends using various ways to find Mr. Right from the list they have created. The list they have written has all of the characteristics a man must have to be their individual Mr. Right. Michelle finds that entering the dating scene and finding a man to match your list isn’t at all easy, especially for a Christian. The ladies go on a roller coaster of dates and share the ups and downs during sister time with one another. The characters also learn a lot about themselves on their search for the man of their list and learn to step out on faith.
“The List” is a phenomenal read. You will laugh out loud and feel disappointment right along with the characters. Lewis gives a story full of hilarious moments, drama, and entertaining scenes with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The book shows what can happen when women do and don’t have a realistic list and make themselves available to be found by their Mr. Right. Contemporary dating and following The Word has Michelle, Angela and Lisa on a search for their Mr. Right. Buy one for your single girlfriends too, I did and they loved it.
Nina’s Got A Secret by Brian W. Smith
Brian W. Smith is an author and the owner of Hollygrove Publishing, Inc. With less than three years of fiction writing under his belt, Brian's story telling ability along with his flare for serving up surprise endings has earned him thousands of fans. He released his first book, The S.W.A.P. Game in April 2006. The book has sold more than 3,000 copies during it's first year with very limited promotion, and has since eclipsed the 8,500 copy mark. The book impressed a couple of producers and has been targeted for the big screen. In January 2007, Brian's second book, Mama's Lies - Daddy's Pain, was released and received rave reviews. MLDP chronicles the life of a young man who raises a child for 17 years and then discovers he's not the child's biological father. MLDP has sold nearly 15,000 copies and has been converted into a screenplay.
In September 2007, Brian released his third book, Donna's Dilemma and it continued his string of successful books. Donna's Dilemma has sold nearly 9,000 copies and currently has a 5 star rating on Amazon.com. In June 2008, Brian ventured outside of his comfort zone and into the world of Erotica when he released Final Fling - his long awaited sequel to The S.W.A.P. Game. The book is co-authored with Essence Magazine Best Selling Author, Torrian Ferguson and currently has a 5 star rating on Amazon.com. In December 2008, Brian released his fifth book, Nina's Got A Secret; the book broke several HG Publishing sales records, received rave reviews, and has a 5 star rating on Amazon.com. Go to the "Purchase Book" page to order a copy of each book.< xml="true" ns="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" prefix="o" namespace="">
In “Nina’s Got A Secret” author Brian W. Smith writes a story about loyalty amongst friends, the bonds between parents and their children, and communication lines in a marriage. The story is full of drama and makes you wonder what choices you would make in the same situations. In typical Brian W. Smith writing fashion, the book tells a full story that you won’t want to end in a small amount of pages. The details and descriptions of the settings and characters truly made it easy for the reader to visualize each scene. I read the book in about 5 hours and enjoyed it from cover to cover. There were so many unexpected twists and turns in it the ending will truly catch you by surprise. The characters include a little bit of every type; scandalous, spiritual, devoted, loyal, money hungry, and backstabbers. If you love a good story, quick read, and have been sleeping on Brian W. Smith then I recommend you read “Nina’s Got A Secret”.
My Love by Nathan Eshe
Nathan A. Chowilawu-Eshe is a multi-media artist currently living in Sacramento, California. He has worked with artists locally in the State of California, USA, as well as artists in Europe, Canada, Australia, Japan, Brazil, and many other Central American countries. From acrylic & oil, to video to poetry Eshe has been praised for his emotional honesty and his ability to present very difficult subject matter in creative ways. Having published both poetry and short stories, Eshe’s original and fresh approach to literature takes the reader through the challenges and victories of life.
My Love by Nathan Eshe is an extraordinary book to read. In My Love Nathan Eshe reveals that he is a poet, philosopher, and man of God. The love proverbs, psalms and poems are spiritual, sensual, intellectual and very observant. Nathan Eshe pens the male perspective on the difference between strong and weak men, the natural complimenting relationship between man and woman, and how to build a woman up. My Love tells in detail about the beauty of a woman and loving her mentally, physically and spiritually. The Messenger poem should be a daily mantra for all women. My Love is appealing to both men and women individually and/or as a couple. Any woman questioning her relationship should read this book. Any male needing to know the dynamics of being a man should read this book. Eshe also offers a simply awesome perspective on fatherhood. Certain parts of this book should also be read by young adults so they can seek, know, and understand a nurturing relationship. The poem An Ounce is like a wedding vow and captures all of the feelings and sentiments of true love and commitment.
The Bishop’s Daughter by Tiffany L. Warren
Tiffany L. Warren is a technology manager who lives in suburban Cleveland, Ohio with her husband and five children. She is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel, Farther Than I Meant to Go, Longer Than I Meant to Stay.
While main character Darrin Bainbridge is on a mission to see if Bishop Kumal Prentiss is answering a higher calling from God it becomes obvious to the reader that Tiffany L. Warren is indeed answering her call as a writer. The Bishop’s Daughter tells the stories of Christian characters that all have secrets and are flawed, especially those that seem perfect on the outside. The messages are very clear and quote scriptures as confirmation often. The general theme of the book seems to be that we are all works in progress and need to be in constant communication with God on everything. The book is a special read and all readers can identify with at least one character personally.
The characters in The Bishop’s Daughter show us what can happen when we interfere and don’t bring it all to Him. Darrin struggles with his temptations of the flesh, Emoni tries to become comfortable in her own skin as a grown woman and Bishop Prentiss deals with past, present and future. The children of Bishop Prentiss are all trying to gain more individuality and follow their own heart’s desire instead of doing what is always expected of them as the bishop’s kids. From cover to cover The Bishop’s Daughter did not disappoint.
Chased by Henrietta Elmore-Smith
A native of Los Angeles, California, Henrietta Elmore-Smith is employed as an administrator for the University of Southern California, where she also obtained her master’s degree in public administration. She is a member of the League of Women Voters, the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, the University Staff Club, and the First A.M.E. Church of Los Angeles, where she is steadfastly musically inclined.
Chased by Henrietta Elmore-Smith is a romantic novel, full of suspense and peaks. The descriptions were very thorough and made it very simple to imagine the setting and characters’ appearances. The main character, Carmel Delarue, is a young savvy business executive, climbing the corporate ladder. Carmel Delarue is a wholly rounded character; educated, beautiful, independent, makes good professional decisions, is morally unwavering and has men dropping to their knees to propose.
The way the author allows Carmel to meet her perspective boss, Durrell Chase in a car accident and how the author continues these chance meetings everywhere they go are those extra elements that made this book a good read. Carmel has a lot of admirers trying to get her to marry them but Carmel doesn’t let anyone, including her parents, pressure her to get married and she waits to make the best decision for herself. It was also quite entertaining to read how Carmel had her choice of romantic suitors, proposals but remained true to her morals and gut feeling. Would she choose the handsome pro basketball player Craig who she has known the longest, the soon to be divorced successful Randall who completely adores her, or her boss Durrell Chase who she is afraid to open up to. Overall the book kept my attention because it was interesting to find out if, how and when Chase and Carmel would finally get together. The whole scenario of waiting to see if Carmel and her boss Durrell Chase would break professionalism and acknowledge their romantic feelings made this book a fine tale.
Initially we went with the idiom and judged a book by the cover. The unprofessional look of the cover was found to be unattractive and hopefully the second edition will be an improvement. Secondly, the style writing used in Chased makes reading jerky and it was very distracting to the flow of the book. It also seemed that Carmel was too perfect at times with her only flaw being that she got entertained and was involved with a married man.
The surprise ending makes the reader walk away with a complete story and most likely a smile. To find out what happens you’ll have to read the book.